to hate living in the country?

[Hullygully]

IT'S SO BORING I HATE IT I HATE IT

I quite like my sprightly neighbour, who helped be unblock the main drain recently and thus saved me the plumber's callout fee.

That said, most of those in my village don't gabble at me or intrude. They leave me alone, which is great.

Agree though about the rural yoof, though it's the same in Oxford.

I live in inner London having grown up in the countryside.

People who're London born-and-bred always want to tell me their plans of moving out to where I grew up, or similar. Because they've been on holiday or a weekend break, they seem to think they'll know what it's like to live there day-in, day-out.

My school; very MC, rural state school, in a naice area. Lunchtimes in the loos typically involved, people doing pills, shagging, girls giving BJ's. Also, knives were being brought in regularly. This was in the mid 90's.

You need to be somewhere where there are a few good schools then Ivor but that's not necessarily in the countryside. Children in my extended family have to travel for nearly an hour to the nearest school which is dire with all the issues you mention. The next nearest school is too far away to even think about so they are coping and using tutors. :(

The children did ok at primary age but now they are at secondary they mooch around the house all weekend, missing their friends and generally sulking. They've no hope of meeting up in the nearest town because there are no buses. I'm lucky that my two can at least meet their friends without too much difficulty

Flatbread - "My sprightly 75 year old neighbour was just running across his roof the other day, to make sure all the tiles were stable. Nary a fall or a broken limb."

Thats the thing though. People in the countryside do things like that and then ...... one day..... kaput!

One of my friends at school was helping his Dad on their farm one day. His Dad fell through the roof of the piggery and he laid paralysed on the piggery floor. My friend couldn't go and ring for an ambulance because the pork pigs would have eaten his Dad alive as he lay there before my friend got back.

Its grim in the country.

Blimey! That is grim.

I really fancy a pork and stuffing sandwich after reading that. Bastard pigs, its eat them or be eaten really

Ooh this is interesting. Making me desperatley want to move out of London! I grew up in the countryside and now live here. It was a bit annoying being a teen and having to ask parents for a lift everywhere until you or your friends could drive, but luckily for me my bet friend lived down the road so I was ok :)

The main things that annoys me about London living is that you can't leave the house without some gross man leering or commenting at you (I am no looker, they would do it to anyone!). Would much rather have a forced hello from a stranger in the countryside.

Also everyone seems so sad in the city, miserable or stressed.

Amazing food in the city though.

I always wanted to move to London, but didn't realise how expensive a nice flat would be.

Also we have a garden flat but I feel like I can't make use of the garden in case we annoy the neighbours with our chatting/BBQ smoke etc etc. Having neighbours above and to both sides of our flat really is not for me! Oh no this thread has made me homesick!

Exactly. Ocado pork belly has been on for last hour. Pigs, no sympathy after reading that.

jins - i like that though.
I'm dreadful at small talk but feel lonely, and I like to smile at people.
in the town, you get blank stares or they look steadfastly at the pavement. in the country, they ope n the conversation and smile back.

I'm in SE London. I can hear birdsong and see actual trees. I live next to a nature reserve with fabulous views and eat honey made locally. I can pick blackberries to make a crumble

Yet, I'm 20 minutes away from town, the centre of the best city ever! I wouldn't live anywhere else.

i don't like the school problems.

thankfully, most of the people around here use cars and take their kids everywhere, even i nthe town, so that wouldn't be a barrier to socializing!

plus, the village is only 4 miles from the town.
and the village (primary) school is excellent.

MoreBeta that's awful!

Years ago, a friend of my brother's was stabbed. He died because the ambulance took 50 mins to get to him He may well have survived if he'd got treatment sooner.

In rural areas, if you phone 999 you have to give an Ordnance Reference as well as your address.

Not just the pigs. A friend worked on a farm and you have to take a mobile phone into the chicken sheds because if you fall injured in there you'll be chicken feed . Those nasty little beaks.

The pigs near here live in lovely lttle pig houses in pairs and like a game of football - fact !

WopBop, where in London do you live with gross men lining the streets to leer or comment?!

'everyone seems so sad in the city, miserable or stressed.' Such a sweeping statement. How about people in the park? People in the pub?

As for your garden issue, why not try making friends or at least friendly acquaintances out of your neighbours rather than just assuming the worst?

I was also worried about DS growing up in the middle of nowhere, given that the local teens used to spend their evenings either standing in a huddle outside the chip shop in the next village, or sitting in the bus stop drinking cider. Also I didn't want him to hit 18 and leave me move to a city hundreds of miles away where I'd never see him

I haven't tried the African restaurant in Gloucester, even though I have heard good things. Thing is because Gloucester is so relentlessly crap, there is nowhere else to go, so to go to dinner there would mean just going there and back. There isn't a nice pub or bar you could go in before or after to make an evening of it. And there are pretty bits to walk around but only a few. Gloucester just doesn't offer anything.

So end up in Bristol or cheltenham.

Lol at beta's stories.

There is something so sinister about those 'accidents'.

Streets lined with gross men? Where, where?

I know a lot of people like talking to random strangers in the countryside nickel. They must do or they wouldn't do it. My DH has has embraced it and talks to anyone and everyone. It makes me uneasy.

I wish I'd known about it before I reluctantly agreed to move to the seventh circle of hell

I have more conversations with random strangers in London weirdly. In the country they just nod and grunt.

Lots of random park chat here, zone two London and neighbourly street chat.

Tamoo - that is precisely why we swore we would never move to a village or small town. I honestly think 'country' teens get up to stuff which is at least as bad as their big city counterparts. In my area it was all cider in school fields and sex in the woods. Until you could blag it into the pubs. Luckily for my parents I was both a swot and looked old, so I hung around at home until 15 and then went to the pub.

I hate the way that in some parts of London, people look at you as if you're fucking mental should you as much as make eye contact.

I had to work in the Square Mile (for an entire week) and I loathed getting the lift for that reason.

There also seemed to be an awful lot of very over-promoted people there. Which might actually be a draw for a mediocre type such as I

yeah...i find people are much more chatty/neighbourly where i live in the city now....much more of a community feel than in the countryside

Fascinating the various opinions on here.

I grew up not far from here (rural west Cornwall) and would never live anywhere else.

Not much to add really except it seems to me that most of those who dislike rural living are refugees from urban environments and did not realise what rural life is really like.

There are many people like that I'm afraid, especially in the more well-known areas like St Ives.