I live on a little island off of America. Ask me anything.

[Stimmyplip]

Due to living in a small island I'm frequently bored. Hence the thread.

How long would it take you to walk round your island?

What is the main income source for islanders?

Do you know everyone who lives on the island?

Do you have great beaches and a lifeboat team?

Bloody Wisscasset. Took me an hour to drive through it this week!!! I can imagine next week it's going to be insane!

I've not seen Stephen King. I want to see his house though, I'm a huge fan. He's pretty reclusive I think though.

ToeToToe

Also in Maine, but on the mainland

How large is the island (square miles)?

My family are all in the Cotswolds or Wales. None of them can travel for different reasons. I miss them incredibly. It's the one thing that mars living here. I've not been back for a year and a half and it's been too long, I keep breaking down in tears.

Watching the World Cup the other day and the national anthem ruined me! I was never patriotic and now I've bought the whole family England shirts.

Hmm. The island is 14 miles long and I think a mile wide at the widest point, the width of a road at the narrowest. Not sure how long it would take to walk. Maybe a few hours?

It's 14 square miles.

Main income source is probably either working for the big summer houses (caretaker in winter, gardening, cleaning and maintenance in summer) or lobstering. Lots of chainsawing and carpenters too.

What are the price of houses on the island ?

We have amazing beaches. Most are gravel or pebble though. Lots of granite. There are 1000s of little islands in the bay though, we like go go out and camp on them. It's lovely, the dog can run free (as long as it's got no beating birds or seals) and you're totally remote. You find he odd sand beach here and there.

House prices are so odd. They go from hardly anything for an old trailer (not so many of those) to billions of dollars. We're the poor people on our road. The Rothschild's live at the other end lol!

But house prices compared to the UK are way lower.

Ours was priced at around £260-300,000 a few years ago. Dh built it by himself though so there's a fair bit of sweat equity in it. Whether it would ever sell for that I doubt.

Traffic will be insane now with the 4th of July this coming week.

Do you have lobstering permits?

We have a recreational licence so only have 5 traps. That's more than enough for the amount we eat/can give away though. We're strictly not allowed to sell them.

I wanted to go to the mainland and get a haircut and get some shopping today but fuck going anywhere near the ferry or route 1 for the next few days!! It gets worse every year, last year it felt like the whole of the US was on route 1 going North!!

What accent do people have ?

I can't describe it. It's kind of similar to West county accent.

They like to drop r's. So 'summah' 'Mainah' and 'cah' rather than car. Porch can sound like 'pawch'.

But then some put random rs on things! So idea can become 'idear'!

I couldn't understand a word old Mainers said when I moved here. I'd literally nod and smile.

A lot of people in his area moved here from other states though. And a lot are quite posh.

Everyone thinks I'm super posh English person that talks like the Queen (and lots take the piss ) but actually I've mostly got a London accent with a tinge of a West Country in it so not at all Queeny!

What's your house built of? Is it timber frame, blockwork? How do you heat it?

Any PoC there ?

Our house has a poured concrete basement and foundation then timber frame with a LOT of insulation.

It's got red cedar shingles on most of the outside walls and clapboards on a little part.

We've got two wood stoves and an open fire. We also have forced hot air run by a diesel boiler. It's lovely and toasty in the winter but the wood stoves are a lot of work and dirty but obviously lots cheaper. When we've had a good work year we use the boiler more, bad work year the wood stoves more lol!

Maine is the whitest (and oldest) state. Having said that, I've not encountered any racism. Or at least when non white friends and family have come to stay they haven't.

There is a Mexican guy on the island, two adopted kid from Africa, four adopted Indian kids. I think that's about it! A few people with Original American mix but no full.

It's silly I know but we went out for dinner with some new friends the other night and as the guy's wife walked towards me (I'd only met him before) my heart did a little lift seeing she was black!

I'm in Maine too. I can guess which island you're on. Haven't visited but might do this year. It's actually really interesting hearing what it's like living out there all year. I have a lot of friends who live on Peaks/Chebeague year round. It seems like hard work especially Chebeague people taking the ferry to school in winter when it's Really. Fecking. Cold.

We have an island doctor who's pretty awesome but it's awkward going in with vagina problems when you see him at all of the parties.

I'm not on an island but this is also my situation - my doctor is a good friend of mine, as is his wife, and their DD1 is in the same classes as my DD2. So it's "Hi, yes DD's doing great, how's your daughter? So I've been getting these hot flashes..."

Taking the ferry to school would just tip me over the edge!!!!

It's both nice and awful that communities are so small. Ds's preschool teacher has known him since he was born, his kindergarten and year one teacher was pregnant with me and her daughter is in the same year.

It's a great place to visit. Not much to do really though! But pretty and the big summer mansions are quite epic! And we have a lovely cafe.

What types of people tend to enjoy living on an island? People moving there from cities like yourself. It's a common fantasy but I'm sure that many aren't suited to it.

Do you worry about delayed response in an emergency, eg medical emergency, fire, crime?

What is the experience of teens living on the island? Is it a good or bad place to be a teenager?

Do you feel an affinity with people living on islands elsewhere in the world?