city vs country: the night.
January 24th, 2012 § 4 Comments
Does your heart belong to the city or to the country?
Now that I’m free from the geographical ties of university, I find myself speculating about where I’d rather live.
City?
Sticks?
I’ve lived in both and I feel that I love/hate each equally. So, I’m going to undertake a whimsical little analysis over the next few weeks to see if my head clears.
First: night-time.
//city image by eye poetry//country image by pittimus84 tumblr//
City traffic that never ceases, trains squealing to a halt at the nearby station, light that transgresses thick curtains, smog-tainted breeze, buildings lit up like fluorescent honeycomb, orange cloud, the magic of traffic lights splashed across wet pavement, glittering city panorama, corner stores open till midnight, neighbours’ arguments echoing through inadequate apartment walls, half-hearted dog fight two streets down.
Country near-silence broken by a dingo howling at the moon, star-pricked sky, dead blackness, fumbling for a lamp in the dark, moths clinging to the 60-watt bulb, breeze flapping curtains violently in the hour before a storm that’s been building all day, eucalyptus and wattle tickling your nostrils, creaking floorboards, screen doors unlocked for lack of concern about security, an unexpected bellow or bleat from the neighbours’ paddocks.
I miss the country so much. Even though I can’t have been out to my grandparents’ places more than a few times a year, it feels like a huge proportion of my childhood took place there.
Now I basically never leave the city, and many of those connections are gone, and there’s a sadness of knowing for certain there will *never be new ones*, because I *am* city. Technology, progress, ideas transcending practical limitations, and impatience at the shops that are closed at midnight. To be without continuous internet connectivity constitutes recklessness and wastefulness that cannot be countenanced.
I know where I belong, but your second paragraph hit me much harder in spite of it.
There are big positives and negatives to both, and I think we peeps who have had the benefit of experiencing city and country are more likely to end up happy.
That’s because we CAN appreciate those pros and cons. We recognise that the grass in green in both instances.
Go with your gut feeling. Trust your heart. I’m a firm believer that this is better than deciding with your head.
Good luck! xx
I’ve been debating on this for a while too. I’m going coastal – best of both with the addition of a beach
Excellent point, dearest.