*I find the constant background hum of a city, interspersed with the occasional siren, extremely reassuring.*

Hmmm. Reassuring of what? I too have a low threshhold of boredom,
but I've learnt the ying and yang thinggy, learnt to switch off,
relax etc. The beauty of just birds tweeting is in fact very
relaxing!

* "They", Yabby? Who are "they"?*

People who live in cities, Pericles. You might be an exception,
but just about all those whom I know, lock their cars, lock their
houses or apartments, lock themselves in, fearing other people.
They have done experiments on this. Fall over in NY and nobody
cares, people don't want to get involved. Fall over in a country
town and everyone rushes to help.

*Use public transport -
Or park "inventively", as the natives tend to.*

Doesen't work for me, as I am nearly always moving some kind of
goods from one place to another. For that I need wheels. At to
the latter, yup, it worked in Paris :) Everyone leaves their cars
out of gear, just the handbrake on. So you push the front car forwards, the back car backwards, hey presto you have parking :)
Mind you, I never did see a car in Paris without dents. Really one
should weld a bit of railway iron front and back as bumpers.

*What is so attractive about living in the country?*

Well firstly
I find nature far more beautiful then I find concrete. It also
comes down to what I call the "Chinese effect", which has to do
with brain function and wiring. The first time you see a Chinaman,
or any other race, they tend to all look the same. As you get to
know them, your neural wiring actually changes. Soon you will see
every little detail, etc. Its the same with nature. People from
cities come out to the country, they see nothing or little. But
there are thousands of things happening, species living there,
interacting with nature, which are fascinating

Fair enough Yabby. There's no way we will ever convince the other, but it is interesting nevertheless to delve into the reasons.

>> You might be an exception, but just about all those whom I know, lock their cars, lock their houses or apartments, lock themselves in, fearing other people.<<

All that says to me is that these folk would be far better off living in the country. It begs the question, in fact, why anyone would force themselves to live in this manner, when there are - clearly - alternatives.

Incidentally, I don't believe that I am in any way an exception. But that may be just because I tend to mix with others who love city life.

>>Mind you, I never did see a car in Paris without dents. Really one should weld a bit of railway iron front and back as bumpers<<

They have actually taken the opposite tack - when I was there last year I saw many that had wrapped foam rubber, or other spongy stuff, around the bumpers. I think I may have a photo or two of cars parked with less than 5cm front and back. And not a parking ticket in sight.

As for the dents (gives Gallic shrug) who cares, it's only a car...

>>People from cities come out to the country, they see nothing or little. But there are thousands of things happening, species living there, interacting with nature, which are fascinating<<

Oddly enough, that's what I find most fascinating about the city, except the different "species" tend to interact with each other, rather than "nature".

*There's no way we will ever convince the other*

Pericles absolutaly, but this is more about understanding
the perspectives of another person and how they see the
world and why.

One of the many reasons I enjoy country life, is the many
challenges that agriculture as we know it presents. Robert
Holmes a Court tried it, he found it easier to make millions
in the city.

The so called Fertile Cresent is little more then rocks in
alot of areas these days. The interesting thing is that
every scientist or expert you talk to in the field, tends
to only see things from their narrow perspective of disease
or whatever they are studying, rather then look at the
big picture. I fiddle with ways of doing things sustainably,
but without going to the extremes of organics and other dreamer
ideas which don't suit broadscale farming.

Next I've always had a great affinity with all sorts of species,
already as a young kid. It was either a pet squirrel, or rabbits,
chickens or something. That continues, only now its wild parrots
flying around here or the odd echidna that walks past the back
door. They are far more similar to us in alot of ways, then
we give them credit for, but its only alot of observation over
time which reveals all that.

If they broke out in fluent English, you too might be interested :)

Not necessarily, Yabby.

>>If they broke out in fluent English, you too might be interested :)<<

Being wild parrots, they'd probably only be interested in getting on talk-back radio.

Depending on what it is that has made them wild, of course.

Hehe Pericles, a while back I was watching three parrots just
outside my breakfast window, eating some melon seeds. There were
a couple of males and a female, both trying to chat her up,
doing little dances with one wing down, trying to impress her.

The whole thing actually reminded me of the fellows down at the
pub, trying to impress some "bird" to chat her up. All very
similar really :)

Fascinating thread. My partner and I are pretty classic 'downshifters', both of us having retired from our former professions 10 years ago and moving from the city to the little country town in Southern Queensland where we now live. We were able to buy our small acreage and the business that now pays the bills with funds derived from selling up and superannuation payouts.

Neither of us would go back for quids. We each work 2-3 days a week in our business, which leaves plenty of time for playing in the garden, fishing, relaxing, bushwalking, spending time with kids and grandkids and all that stuff which is ultimately far more fulfilling than working 60-80 hours a week. We don't owe anybody a cent and have enough tucked away to fully retire when we feel like moving on from here. Like some others have said, Tasmania sounds like an attractive final destination - but not until my youngest leaves high school.

The only negatives for me about living in the bush are similar to those identified by others - restricted availability of medical services, no public transport, few choices in restaurants etc. One of the few things about city life that I miss is going to the movies - DVDs don't quite have the same atmosphere.

I enjoy visiting the city, but after a day or two I can't wait to go bush again - too noisy, everybody seems unfriendly and in a rush, too many crowds and too much aggro. Unlike some commenters, I can't recall the last time I was bored - either in the city or the country. There's always far too much happening for boredom to be a possibility for me, indeed I think that boredom's more of an attitude than a state of mind.

[cont]