1) Yes, I'm staying because I like it here.
or
2) No, if I could I'd pack up my home, my family, my friends and find another place as soon as possible.
I saw this posted on our NextDoor page. The split of responses was about 50/50. For the record, my answer is #1.
Do you feel the need to be armed?? Seriously. I ask, because if I ever felt that way, I'd move. But I also figure that no place is perfect. Drugs are everywhere, crime is everywhere, etc. Of course, it depends on the level of crime. Violent crime would have me packing it in, but minor stuff like vandalism or theft happens everywhere.
I live just a few houses away from the biggest drug dealer in town, but I also know the police are aware, watching, and patrolling 24/7/365. He keeps it pretty quiet around his home base. I know there are other houses around town, usually rentals, that are a mess, people coming and going at all hours, drug deals, noise, vandalism to nearby houses, drinking, etc. One by one, the police shut them down. It takes time, which I'm sure is extremely frustrating to the neighbors. It's a college town so tons of rentals, especially close to the university.
Yes, I've never been unarmed...maybe it's a character flaw or a lack of faith in the system but I tend to sleep quite soundly with weapons near at hand
About a month ago I found myself squiring two work ladies all over The Bronx on a maddening work errand, these are both very proper ladies, I think my aggressive driving habits frightened them...
I did not expect this errand to land in my lap but off I rode, two quite pretty Dominican ladies in my non-descript car...they both commented on the framing hammer and hunting knives I stow under the passenger seat mat...it was not a fun time explaining all of that but I was caught a bit off guard!
I don't think it's a character flaw, at all. Everyone has their character traits, if I may call it that. I guess I've never felt comfortable with having weapons around. Maybe it comes from being a mom and worrying that some horrible accident would occur. My ex had a couple of guns when we got married. Once our first was born I made him get rid of them. He didn't mind, though. I guess I'd be okay with a hammer or some such thing. Hmm, now you've got me thinking. Of course, at the moment I have Bailey and she'd raise an alarm if someone tried to get in. I suspect that person would go elsewhere once they heard her.
The commute is awful and the parking is bananas but the paycheck is bumping off the mortgage...you just need to swivel your head in the Dirty Boogydown BX😬blind spots WILL kill you!
You'd be insane to not keep a framing hammer and several hunting knives under your floor mats!
Trust me, I know how awful this sounds but you need a bit of backup in your car for the really crazy types....
I love where we live, but we’re very lucky in that we get to spend at least 3 months of the year travelling abroad, so it’s always nice to get back home.
LOL. So true! I have plenty of those. The window fans are going right now, trying to pull in the somewhat cooler air. I just wish the humidity would back off a little. It wouldn't be so bad.
It was 84 at 5AM this morning but there was a wonderful 22mph breeze from the south I basked in for several hours. My strategy during this heat wave is to get whatever I feel needs to be done before noon. The remainder of the day is mostly about just adapting to the heat. Temps are supposed to start getting better for me starting on Sunday.
On a related note, the other day I picked up some much needed mosquito repellent and discovered it had doubled in price since last month.
You're so right about having a breeze. We haven't had that so naturally it's tougher to bear the heat. I use the same strategy - do the necessities before it gets too bad.
Seriously? Repellent had gone up that much? Wow. Mostly I just stay inside when the bugs get bad. They haven't been as bad as I expected, but it has been a while since we've had significant rain here, so maybe that's why.
It's hard because the mosquitoes seem to always be out during the best time to mow - first thing in the morning or in the evening when the sun finally goes behind the trees.
I remember it, but it's valid and why one has to plan when to mow. I have a neighbor who ignores mowing until his grass (if you can call it that) is about a foot high. 🙄
Moved from NYC to Reno six years ago for the lower cost of living. But costs have skyrocketed the last couple of years, and it is no longer the bargain it once was. I have been quite happy here but do occasionally yearn for someplace cheaper.
The question always is, where would I go? Moving is such a hassle. And I like living without a car so that really restricts my choices.
I can understand this frustration. It IS a hassle to move, and of course, there are no guarantees that it will work out the way you hope it will. I got lucky.
The great state of South Carolina is easily the best one i've ever lived in. Cost of living is low, weather is great, and pretty much anything goes. But I live a bit too far from the coast and there isn't much work around here.
It's a tricky balance of pluses and minuses. One of the reasons given for leaving in the survey I mentioned in my original post was the lack of good-paying jobs.
Lots on NY'ers move to the South (Florida, of course, but also North Carolina) but I thought I wouldn't be able to take the humidity. What's that like where you are?
Humidity! Just can't deal with it. I lived in Florida for two years (a long time ago) and for some reason I thought wintertime was less humid. Nope! It's a year-round thing. Hence, the only two-year stay.
Yeah, my brother in Florida loves to visit in the summer just to get away from the humidity. It's just has hot here as there, but at least you can breath.
I'm not sure I would actually stay here, considering the political climate, and the fact that the public school system is so F-ed up that I'd never send my kids there. But this is the only place I've truly felt more content living at than any other state. I like living in a state where the ocean is less than 50 miles away, and there's so much to visit for quick vacations.
Every other state I've lived in had locations far away from the ocean, were mostly flat (save for one state), were excessively boring, and most of the time, the weather was very extreme and the people were not memorable. I never felt like I truly belonged in those places. I always felt like I was waiting for my moment to flee and go live in the state I WANTED to live in.
Oahu. Honolulu. Lived there for two years at the end of the 1990s. The main reason I left was cultural. Some mainlanders do just fine, but I just couldn't assimilate into the culture. Living there is different than being on vacation.
I looked up both terms and apparently rock fever refers to mainlanders and island fever refers to natives. I didn't know that because I don't recall hearing rock fever.
Aha! This explains it since I'm a mainlander, obviously. After I posted my response, I wondered if rock fever was a term used when talking to tourists, and locals knew it as island fever.
I would be more concerned about everything being too danged expensive. I would also be concerned about racism from the natives, as well as volcanoes, tsunamis, or hurricanes.
How can one feel trapped on the islands? You can leave any time you want.
I lived there in the mid-60s and was very much aware of it. It's one of those words that can be interpreted as completely innocuous or offensive, depending on how it's used.
I was there in the late 70s. I really enjoyed the trip but realized I couldn't live there in spite of the fact that's it's such a beautiful place. Rock/Island fever would get me. Oh, and $$$, too. I remember feeling like it was surreal, that I was truly in paradise.
I do remember we used to refer to it as "living on The Rock." And yes, there was a sense of isolation, even feeling trapped. When I left, my plane fare from Honolulu to San Francisco was around $90, not bad for such a trip.
I've actually been to the Grand Canyon. In 2000, my family went on a Spring Break vacation to Arizona. We didn't actually go down into the canyon, beyond seeing the Visitor Center and taking pictures from several viewpoints, but there are many activities you can do there.
- Riding mules down into the canyon
- camping
- white-water rafting
- visiting the local indian tribes
- visitor centers and museums
California has many great places to visit. There's Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, Lake Tahoe (if you like mountains), Monterey Bay, Solvang, and Hearst Castle.
I normally would recommend San Francisco, but they have homeless and poop problems, so stay away for now. I would never recommend Los Angeles, not even to visit Hollywood for tourist purposes. Even before their homeless epidemic, they had issues like traffic and crime. So stay away from those cities.
I have never been to Boston, so I have no idea what you could see there beyond the historical landmarks.
IL used to have a few fun places to visit, despite my complaints. Shaumburg has a Medieval Times you can visit, Springfield has the Lincoln Museum, and St. Louis has their Arch and Field Museum. We used to go to Chicago to visit the Adler Planetarium and Navy Pier, but the city has gotten really bad in the past decade or so. Unless you wanta get shot at while you wait a million years for traffic jams and fruitlessly finding a parking space for any of those sites, I'd say stay away from there too.
Thank you very much for your comments, it will still take a couple of years until I visite one of these places but it is always good to collect several opinions from other persons in order to get some impressions over the years in order to make a summary with them.
Two persons told me that San Francisco is the most beautiful city in the USA, nothing against it... is just that these two persons are from San Francisco so I do not know how "impartial" they are ;-) ;-), but I think anyway I would visit first this city, or Pasadena than Los Angeles.
Related to the Canyon is very interesting what you say, rafting and visiting the local Indian tribes would be nice. Let see what I can do and when..
I went to the Grand Canyon a couple of times during the time I lived in Arizona. It was amazing, even just looking from the rim was wonderful. I never did any of the trips into the canyon. It was enough for me just to see the canyon and bask in the beauty of it. Sadly, I suspect it's another place that's chock full of tourists. I was there many years ago, before the crowds were so bad. Just plain too many people nowadays, made worse by the selfie crowd who don't care about where they are - they just want a picture for Instagram or whatever. It makes it hard for those who are genuinely interested in the place. Also true of many National Parks like Yellowstone and Yosemite.
I've been to Boston a couple of times because I have cousins living there. I'm interested in the historical stuff, being in a place where so many significant events of our country took place. I loved it, but my last visit was a long time ago and I'm sure it has changed, and probably not for the better, unfortunately.