Where to live: small town versus big city
If people could choose their ideal place to live, their personalities, hobbies and tastes would undoubtedly have a great influence on their choice. Would they choose a small town or a city?
I was brought up neither in a small town nor in a city, having been raised in the heart of the country. However, I lived near enough to a small town to know that I would not like to live in one. In my opinion, there is something quite claustrophobic about a very small town. I much prefer the spaciousness of the country or the different kind of spaciousness provided by the city.
A great many people prefer to live in small towns because life there gives them a much greater sense of belonging to a community than life in a city. Such people like to be involved in the activities of the community and they are heavily concerned with issues that affect the town. They join local clubs, such as book club, tennis club, bridge club, and protest groups. They may even become engaged in local politics. Their circles of friends live very near to them and they see them very regularly. The small town is the centre of their world.
This is not for me. I need more space and greater freedom in which to operate. I am also quite a private person, although I am not at all reclusive. When I am in the mood, I can be extremely sociable, but I also enjoy my own company. At times, I prefer to be solitary. It has been my experience that people in small towns are more likely to drop in unannounced than people in cities, and that may not always be convenient to those visited.
Because they are so community-oriented, people who live in small towns tend to be much more interested in the lives of their neighbours than people in cities. This can be seen as friendly concern, but I see it as inquisitiveness. I much prefer the anonymity of the city where you might not even know your neighbours. I realize that this can cause problems for elderly people who might need the help of neighbours from time to time, but I do hate to feel that someone is poking their nose into my affairs.
The case for life in the city is, of course, much more positive than this. City life has a great many advantages, particularly those of a cultural nature. It has theatres, mostly providing a wide range of entertainment from opera and serious drama to lightweight comedy and musical. It also has a great many more cinemas than the average small town, which might have one or none, and these provide a wide range of films from the popular to the more esoteric.
I would greatly miss the libraries if I lived in a small town. Of course, many small towns have libraries, but these tend to have a limited selection, often restricted to the more popular forms of fiction. I would miss the central reference library, which houses so much information, even in these days of the Internet.
Then there are the art galleries and the museums. Only a place with a significantly large population can provide a wide range of these and exhibitions, which are extensive and interesting enough to attract visitors in large numbers.
For me, life in a city caters to most of my cultural needs. This more than compensates for the disadvantages of crowded streets, traffic jams and street crime. The small town is definitely not for me!