Town Mice and Country Mice

[TheOtherAgentJohnson]

I'm a bumpkin born and bred. I've occasionally lived in small cities (near parks), but I need to be in the countryside. Cities drain the life force out of me.

I'm happy to visit them from time to time and enjoy a good museum and interesting architecture, but I find them exhausting. I don't understand it at all when people go on holiday to cities for more than about a day and a half—to me, once I've got a feel for a place and the buildings, they're all pretty much the same. Just a vast sea of people, filth, and traffic fumes. A walk around, couple of museums, a nice meal and that's me done. Anything more feels repetitive and knackering.

I can go back to countryside or beach places over and over again though, which I'm sure many people would find tedious. I'm also quite happy to stay at home and enjoy the nature around me most of the time.

I have a friend who is the exact opposite, which I find fascinating—the bustle of cities really energises him. I'm always secretly looking forward to my hotel room and a lovely bath. I only really like cities with rivers in the middle of them too—I find I can rejuvenate a bit by the water and feel a bit of space.

Brought up in the country, now like cities. I don't drive so need to be somewhere with good public transport, shops, etc.

HOWEVER, now I'm older I find myself dreaming of something in the middle, maybe a small town close to the city. I'm fed up of going to the same places, but never knowing anyone, no sense of community...

There's a whole load of 'filth' in the country op

But… people hurt people, in the countryside there are far fewer people to hurt you. We don’t lock our doors, often leave my car key in the ignition overnight. No one around here to take anything or hurt us. Noises at night, mice perhaps, never worry about it being someone in my house. I feel far safer here in my very rural home than I ever felt in the towns I lived in.

This is exactly the post I would have written!

Country mouse!
Grew up in London. I like visiting but I’m always so relieved to get home. I like space and peace.
A PP said about looking at tired tourists and feeling lucky she gets to stay in the city.
I feel exactly the same but the other way round! I look at people on holiday sitting on the beach and think how lucky I am that I can just pop to the beach whenever I want, for as long or as short a time as I want. Loved the fact, for example, that in the heat last week i
could just pop to the sea for a half hour swim after work. No big deal, no drama, just cool off before heading home. I like museums etc but wouldn’t want to pop to one quickly on a hot day after work!

Yes!! I arrived home once having clearly not shut my front door properly, never mind locked it. Door wide open and it was fine. Never lock my car at home, and always leave the back door open so the dog can go in and out. It just isn’t a problem. Although the night I forgot to close it and an owl flew in was interesting…

I’m a seaside mouse! My ideal would be a bustling market town by the ocean.

Can I say I'm a small town/country mouse. Wouldn't like to be way out in the sticks where the nearest small supermarket is 40mins away so I like the convenience of having a few big supermarkets/shops in my town but there is no way I could live in the city. I love my nearest city for a day trip but that's it. The sheer amount of people is just to much

We don’t live far from central London, so do go in fairly often for concerts, exhibitions, etc., but increasingly I’m always so glad to get away from the crowds, the noise, the traffic - and get back to the relatively calm, leafy green of home.

I would have felt quite differently in my 20s, though!

Edinburgh is about a 40 minute drive from me so I feel that's accessible enough on public transport or car (over my dead body) my town is east coast Scotland and I'm 15 minutes from the beach and as I live on the outskirts about 5 minutes from the country/hills/forests and tiny villages. I feel it's perfectly placed

I'm a facilities mouse.

Don't care town or country, so long as there are some decent facilities within walking distance. Hate having to drive everywhere.

I live in a city and have everything I need within walking distance. Huge woodland nearby. Great for me.

My parents live in a small village surrounded by fields, but it has a train station, a decent shop, a playground and a pub. Absolutely fine, can spend a few days there with the kids having fun without getting antsy. We drive for bigger trips but it's nice not having to get the car out because the milk's finished.

My PILs and my sister both live in suburbia on the edge of large cities. Completely inexplicable to me. They drive everywhere, the public transport links are shit, there's no shop within 30 minutes walk, just rows of (nice) houses. No nearby playground (obviously not a priority for them as no young kids) so we're stuck in the house when we visit unless we jump in the car. No rolling fields, woodland or birdsong either.

The town mouse and the country mouse was one of my dcs favourite books 20 odd years ago 😁

I was a town mouse for years but the older I get the more I am a country mouse. Or more specifically a sea mouse 😁

I was born and grew up in various major cities. I've edged further and further out and finally now I'm in the burbs but within a two minute drive I'm in rolling countryside. My eldest lives in a city and I go and stay but I can't bear the noise, traffic, bustle.

Ideally I'd be in a detached property miles away from anyone and not be able to hear or see anything but nature. I'd be scared of aging with no easy access to services though.

That's me! I live at the very very edge of the burbs of a fairly large city. Access to countryside, access to city infrastructure.

Town mouse here. Even when going for a long weekend walk, i'd rather do it round the city than in the fields.

Different kind of filth. It doesn't coat your hair and skin and get in your lungs. There isn't the smell of stale piss and engine gases everywhere. When I visited Mexico City I honestly felt like I was suffocating the whole time.

Same here, in the city centre. Left my key in the door multiple times, and all that ever happens is a neighbour will knock and let me know. Same with cars - there’ll be a message on the street WhatsApp saying “blue Volvo left its lights on” or whatever.

Even in central London I felt safe - always well lit streets, lots of people of all kinds around at all hours, active police presence…

People can hurt people, yes. But people also look after people.

I'm a 'near city but market town'-mouse 😆. We live on the edge of a market town just outside the m25 so excellent train links into London (where DH and I both work) and very easy to drive places. We're also right on the edge of an AONB so lots of lovely countryside around too - the only thing we're not near is the sea! We can walk to the train station and other amenities (shops, mini supermarket, library, coffee shops, restaurants, doctors/dentist etc) and there's loads to do with the kids within an hours drive.

I love going into London for work and day trips, but love coming home to the quiet!

The country is nice for a visit, but I'd go nuts if I lived there - the emptiness, lack of facilities, bad weather, miles from anywhere. No thanks!
Whereas a city works both from a practical point of view, and for the energy, interest, culture etc. Always something to do. I couldn't live somewhere that didn't have a proper pavement outside the front door.
My dream is to life in a beautiful mansion flat in Kensington, but sadly I can't afford it!

Never lived in a city , grew up on the edge of a town , but more countryside than houses all around .
As an adult lived in a big village facing green space / field and a river .

Now live in edge of a village on the outskirts of a national park .
I guess I can't claim to be neither .