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Tell me about where you live
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Pink
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Nov 14, 2014 07:37AM
It's very interesting to read about the different places everyone lives. I haven't commented so far, mainly because I really don't like where I live. I'm in a large town in Essex, in the UK. It's right by the sea, or rather the start of the Thames estuary, so I have a beach only a short walk away from me, though I don't make enough use of it. The weather is typically English, with four distinct seasons, not too hot in summer, or too cold in winter, but often rainy! The town is known for having the longest pleasure pier in the world, but it's burnt down too many times and there is not much left at the end if you decide to make the 1 and 1/4 mile walk. All of my family have lived here for many years and it has pretty much everything you could want in terms of shops, restaurants, parks, a library, cinema and a small theme park on the beach. However there are far too many £1 shops opening up in my high street and lots of empty shops, as nobody can afford the rent except for these big discount stores. I sometimes think about moving away once my children have left home, but I have no idea where I would go!
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Laura T, I hope you will. and when you have the chance to come to Malaysia, do let me know. save the tour guide fees!
Kara wrote: "Can I share where I'm from and where I live?"Of course!
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I will!!!
@Pink: where in Essex? I was in Dale last spring, visiting a friend of mine who had move there recently. I loved the scenary. Is it in Essex though? I really don't know!
Kara we'd love to hear from you!
Pink, your description of the town you live in really came alive for me. I almost felt like I could see and hear it.
Pink, your description of the town you live in really came alive for me. I almost felt like I could see and hear it.
I live in Sweden about an hour from Stockholm, in Sörmland. In the country. I have woods behind me and a lake in front. Rolling countryside with farms and pine and spruce too. I love country life. I don't find it lonely. I have the birds and the woods behind me. But really I am writing to complain, to say that it is so DARK at this time of the year. I want some sunlight. The sun comes up, if it comes up, at 8AM and it is pitch dark at 4 PM. It is just that the sun is so low in the sky that if there are clouds all you get is a gray muddled light. Yesterday I washed a gate and really I was fumbling in the dark, and that was at 2PM! If only it would snow, then everything gets lighter and more cheerful.
I am complaining about the darkness but I like where I live. Please send me a bit of sunlight so I can rake up the remaining oak leaves. I prefer cold, clear weather with an hour or two of sun. That will satisfy me.
Yeah, winter is cozy, but my body needs a little bit of light.
Chrissie, it sounds beautiful where you live! I used to live in northern Canada, so I know what you are saying about daylight. Five more weeks and you will start getting minutes of daylight back everyday!
Evelyn, yeah, we will soon be going in the right direction. It doesn't have to be this bad if we just get some clear days without clouds or some snow. I am happy living in the country. Northern Canada, you know what I am talking about. Where in northern Canada?
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But I can immagine the environment both in CAnada and Sweden is fantastic. I'll come and see you in june then!
Laura, it is kind of too much light in June. Then you have to be prepared to sleep very little. Keep in mind that Stockholm is not in northern Sweden so many places further north are much worse than it is for me.
Chrissie I lived inYellowknife, Northwest Territories. Latitude 62 degrees north, I checked Stockholm and see it is 59 degrees north, so similar. I loved the light in summer, but it did take a few summers to get used to going to bed for the night with the sun high in the sky.
Evelyn, I like the sun in the summer. I think your body NEEDS that light so you like it, but sometimes I feel it is too much. I need a little privacy.Oh, I thought the Northwest Territories were further north!
Chrissie wrote: "I live in Sweden about an hour from Stockholm, in Sörmland. In the country. I have woods behind me and a lake in front. Rolling countryside with farms and pine and spruce too. I love country life. ..."It sounds like a very peaceful place. I think I couldn't live again in a cold country. I don't like snow and I need hot weather to feel fine. I think I would have also some problems with the few light in winter and the many light in summer.
Before living here on the seaside I lived many years in another Italian region, further North, and there it was always foggy and the sky was never blue: it was grey like the fog. It was so depressing. As soon as we moved here I felt much better: also the winter isn't that cold and I was again able to see a blue sky. It was so good for my mood! I think I could live forever in a hot country.
I live out in the country, border of GA and SC. One store. No stop lights. One post office. Quiet by the river. 20 minutes from town but worth it.
Chrissie wrote: "Evelyn, I like the sun in the summer. I think your body NEEDS that light so you like it, but sometimes I feel it is too much. I need a little privacy.Oh, I thought the Northwest Territories were ..."
You are right Chrissie, the Northwest Territories are gigantic, they go from the 60th parallel to the 90th, aka the North Pole. So in relative terms, Yellowknife is quite far south even though very few people ever venture that far north!
Dely, Sweden is not for you! What IS beautiful is when the temperatures are below zero, the air sparkling cold and a blue sky. You have to get through the bad weather too, unfortunately. Are you talking about the Northern parts of Italy, up near Bolano? I like hot weather too. I like variation. Lee, sounds good to me! We are about 20 minutes from the nearest village too. A car is essential.
Evelyn, It sounds nice living where you have space around you.... It is not for everybody, but for some. I will see if I can find some pictures of Yellowknife.
I reside in the filthiest, most pestilential, most harrowing and blood-curdling; most benighted and Stygian polis in the history of all the hamlets ever fashioned by the hand of man. I dwell in the nadir, the uttermost nether strata of human habitatation. Rank, foul, putrid, excoriating, scorbutic, vilifying. God strafe New York City, USA.
Still, Feliks, there is something magical about NYC. I lived there many years ago. It's in a class by itself.
Not sure what class that would be, except for the 8th or 9th circle of Dante's Inferno. I've been in bigger cities around the globe--and not seen the like of the malevolence which occurs here.I can't understand how anyone would think it a picnic. Maybe people with lots of money, have a grand old time here. Or, short-timers. 'Magical' is usually the view of someone who is 'staying here briefly'... but 'has other options', or 'knows they are moving on someday'. When you have to live here permanently, suffering Manhattan's endless and tortuously-repeated ordeals which never vary day-to-day, year-to-year..its no longer the cheerful soiree passers-thru deem it to be..
Feliks, I lived there at the end of the 50s. I wouldn't want to live there now, though I am glad I have lived there.
Heather wrote: "Great thread, Terri. I currently live in Brixton, South London although I have only been here for 3 months. Brixton is a area of south, central london with a very multi-cultural vibe, lots if ama..."
Hi Heather. My aunt used to run a pub in Brixton and I used to work there at weekends. This was back in the late eighties/early nineties and I haven't been back for years. The pub was the Prince Albert on Coldharbour Lane. Is it still there?
It used to be very lively and attracted a lot of musicians and artists and writers.
I live in Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, a small town called Taşucu. It is near the north-eastern corner of the Med and is a pretty quiet place. The ferry from Northern Cyprus pulls in here, but most people pass straight through on their way elsewhere.I am originally from London and enjoy the contrast between urban and rural.
This area has a lot of history, from Neolithic through Hittite and Hellenistic and Roman on through, with a lot of sites about.
Chrissie wrote: "Dely, Sweden is not for you! What IS beautiful is when the temperatures are below zero, the air sparkling cold and a blue sky. You have to get through the bad weather too, unfortunately. Are you ta..."I lived in Piedmont (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piedmont), the city where I lived is Alessandria. Now I live just one hour from there but on the sea and the climate is completely different.
Joe wrote: "I live in Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast, a small town called Taşucu. It is near the north-eastern corner of the Med and is a pretty quiet place. The ferry from Northern Cyprus pulls in here, b..."I was once in Turkey and it was so beautiful and the food so good! We travelled with the car from Istanbul to Troy and then to Cappadocia and Pamukkale and then to Antalya. Wonderful landscapes.
Are you there for work, pleasure or love?
dely wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Dely, Sweden is not for you! What IS beautiful is when the temperatures are below zero, the air sparkling cold and a blue sky. You have to get through the bad weather too, unfortun..."I love the name! At the foot of the mountains. Right next to France.
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I know! Once I was with my husbandin the norther Holand - so not as north as Sweden, and we were quite astonished to see the sun up in the sky at 10.00 PM!!!
@ Joe, yes it's still there. Just round the corner from me. I think it does quite a lot of live music. I imagine it's changed somewhat since you were there!
@ Joe, yes it's still there. Just round the corner from me. I think it does quite a lot of live music. I imagine it's changed somewhat since you were there!
LauraT wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Laura, it is kind of too much light in June. Then you have to be prepared to sleep very little. Keep in mind that Stockholm is not in northern Sweden so many places further north a..."Yeah, in the summer is gets just sort of dark at night. You need thick curtains. I remember as a child, when I lived in the US, how I would bike around in the dark in the evening and one could see in houses all lit up. And it would be warm. Dark and warm simultaneously is not what you get in Sweden. The atmosphere is so different.
Wow, Terri, what a great thread. Will add my location tomorrow:)
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LauraT wrote: "I don't think I could live in a country with so little "natural light" in winter - and also too much light in summer can be a problem. Perugia is already so dark in winter. I remember when living i..."I suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) which means I get clinical depression if I don't get enough sunlight, so I couldn't live in those very northern (or southern) locations!!
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;-)
SAD is a good name for seasonal affective disorder...... ;0) At 15:15, it was practically dark! Completely black now at 16:15. THINK how it is in northern Sweden!!!!! Or in the northern Northwest Territories. It always helps to imagine yourself somewhere worse.
Chrissie that is exactly how I'm feeling right now as I stare out at my very huge driveway which needs to be shovelled AGAIN this morning - shovelled it twice yesterday. BUT at least I am not in Buffalo, New York, the amount of snow that fell there is jaw-dropping.
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Evelyn, I have been reading abut all the snow falling on the east coast. I wish you could send some of your snow to me. Not a ton, please, just a sprinkling to lighten things up. ;0)Greg, yeah well both come together......
Shovelling snow is excellent exercise Greg! Chrissie I know what you mean, that light layer of snow that blankets everything, making all of outside seem clean and pristine. And if the sun shines and it sparkles, all the better!
Evelyn wrote: "that light layer of snow that blankets everything, making all of outside seem clean and pristine. And if the sun shines and it sparkles, all the better!..."
Evelyn, oh, you put that so beautifully!
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Pink wrote: "It's very interesting to read about the different places everyone lives. I haven't commented so far, mainly because I really don't like where I live. I'm in a large town in Essex, in the UK. It's r..."I used to go to your neck of the woods a lot with friends when I was younger; there were good camera shops there and we enjoyed going to the arcades, but not so much these days (though I went through a period of visiting the island nature reserve just to the west with a friend of mine.
I live somewhat to the north of you in the middle of Essex. Our town has a long history, dating back to Roman times, and industrial engineering has been a big part of the town. Marconi set up his first factories here and the first public radio transmissions in the world were broadcast from nearby. We also had the UK's first electrical engineering works. Because of these industries (we also made parts for WW2 fighters and bombers) we were bombed quite a bit in the second world war, including V2 rockets.
Oh wow, that sounds delightful. I would love to visit Portugal at some point
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Time Regained (other topics)Time Regained (other topics)
The Discovery of France: A Historical Geography from the Revolution to the First World War (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
Yann Martel (other topics)Guy Vanderhaeghe (other topics)
Patricia Briggs (other topics)
