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Blog entries | Reality of country living
Like others who live and blog around here, I often talk of the many idyllic reasons that brought us from the urban life to the tranquility of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Mountain life offers many advantages and I’ve written long, passionate essays praising such advantages. But there are drawbacks that lead to complaints, led — of course — by Amy’s constant desire for a Chinese restaurant that delivers (or at least offers carry out). You have to realize that my wife is a city girl and, to her, the five basic food groups are: Eat in, take out, canned, frozen and microwavable.
But I also have to admit that when I’m stuck behind a 68 Olds Cutlass driven by a local at 35 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone, I grit my teeth and mutter things about “damn country bumpkins.” And I grew up here as one of those damn bumpkins.
Relocating from the hectic pace of urban madness to the more sedate, make that slow, pace of country living takes an adjustment in attitude and an incredible increase in tolerance.
For example:
Shutting your ears to the constant whine about how all us “newcomers” are ruining life here in the county;
Keeping your mouth shut when the locals circulate petitions to keep a state ABC store out of Floyd because God don’t want no drinkin’ around here. Don’t these people realize God gave them pickup trucks so they could drive to Christiansburg and Roanoke to buy booze?
Having the local news interrupted for 30 minutes each afternoon for reruns of The Andy Griffith show.
Understanding that the contract carrier who delivers the mail too often gets out of sequence so that you get your neighbor’s mail while he gets mail from the next mailbox down the road and so on.
Accepting the fact that DSL internet service runs at half the speed but costs three times more and that wireless phones work work where you least expect them to and don’t work where they should.
And so on…
No, life in the country ain’t perfect. But it beats the hell out of the alternative.
Or it will as soon as we get Chinese carryout.
mark
January 25, 2006 at 7:51 pm
I’d settle for ANY good Chinese food, eat-in or eat-out. I haven’t had decent hot and sour soup since I moved her.
D L Ennis
January 25, 2006 at 8:54 pm
Man, you nailed it…but my wife and I will never return to the city!
DL
Scrgr
January 26, 2006 at 2:41 am
You can get DSL there? Talk about suburbia. Out here the options are dialup (26kbaud on a good day) or satellite…
Liz Donovan
January 26, 2006 at 9:22 pm
At least you GET DSL…out here in the edges of Cherokee County NC, it’ll be awhile……
Don
January 25, 2006 at 5:22 pm
There are, however, a few other positives:
(1) Buying liquor in the next county allows some drivers to develop skill in driving over mountain roads while impaired. Of course, we volunteer rescue people toned out for a vehicle
crash at times can return to bed early because no one is found at the scene. This probably means the drivers didn’t want to talk with law enforecement, at least not yet.
(2) Mail is, on occasion, delivered right to the door when the carrier, in our case, my wife’s brother, needs to discuss something or to drop off a large amount of mail.
(3) With the frequent Andy Griffith reruns, you will eventually become an expert on Mayberry trivia. In case you ever need it.
(4) High DSL costs! Maybe it will attract competition. Or something.
Have a great day!
D L Ennis
January 25, 2006 at 10:03 pm
“But it beats the hell out of the alternative.”
You’ve got that right!
DL
Bruce Robinson
January 26, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Boy, ain’t that the truth. We’re still waiting for our one Chinese restuarant to open. It was originally promised for before Thanksgiving. It’s always about quality of life, and rural beats urban for me, any day.
From a recovered Bay Area resident.