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Why do you like living where you do.

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MrFluffy:
I love living where I do in rural france because you get deer walking past the house, lots of wildlife in the garden, 10 hectare lake at the foot of the garden with a stream which winds it way round, tractors at the supermarket when it snows with family in the cab and farmers putting their shopping bags in the front loader bucket, I only ever see coppers manning speed traps and I leave all my vehicles unlocked in the yard (indeed the jcb and tractors don't even take keys) and the locals seem to know the value of being able to fix things, and keep things in service longer. Planning permission is only on exterior changes of buildings unless its a very protected graded listed building, so you can change what you like without some inspector coming round and dictating how its done, or having trenches etc left open waiting for him to arrive on his schedule.
Its not uncommon to see some vintage tractor from the 40's or 50's toiling away still, scruffy and unrestored but in working condition pulling some water bowser or running a topper, no doubt left hitched to it to save messing round with implements on the main tractor. And theres none of this having a new car to keep up with people to get the latest numberplate as the plates have no year coding, in fact my neighbors just bought a "new" car and they actively chose a older one because it was still based on stuff they could fix. Given the amount of 2cv's and renault 4's still bouncing round as workhorses and not as some sort of quirky statement, I suspect thats quite a common view. Last year we saw a r4 parked outside the mairee's with the rear seats taken out and two goats inside munching on hay and watching passers by, presumably en route to the vets for some treatment.
Ive helped neighbors get cow's hips back in with my engine hoist, used the hydraulic press to straighten bits of combine mid harvest and other typically rural bits. In return they're happy to dig small stuff with their mini digger when my old jcb is too large, unload new toys with a telehandler and fork it into the buildings etc.
In summer my neighbors one way often have soiree's where they consume wine and laugh a lot late into the evening with their friends in their (immaculate) garden, and I often see them out cycling, and theyre well into their 70's, and still having fun. Just a slower pace of life, and more focus on quality of life than money and plastic doodah's.
I think theres probably places that this sort of life happens still in the uk, in very rural parts, but it always seems to me that sort of thing is so sort after there its a preserve for the rich. Here the cities seem to be where its at, and so its cheaper to live here than in some horrible concrete jungle :scratch:

I also ride a motorcycle, and the whole attitude is completely different. People move out the way for me when I come up behind them on the autoroute, or to one side on the smaller routes if Im moving faster, theres none of this deliberate blocking and people mostly practice lane discipline or rapidly get flashed out the way by others. I havent seen a "no motorcyclists" sign in a bar at all either. Complete contrast to the uk, its like Im just another person instead of some subhuman animal...

On the minus side, the business legislation and reporting systems/taxations/social charges systems are insane, everything runs on paperwork here and its a nightmare and there is no real desire to minimize that because 1 in 4 are employed to shuffle paperwork round in some capacity. Its taken us years to understand the details and we're still learning. Theres the language problem, which eases with work and time if you put the effort in and my kids are completely bilingual at 3 and 6, switching without a accent in both and the 6yo boy corrects his english teacher, which is a asset I hope they exploit in future ;)

However all this was just a happy accident, when I bought my first house here I had only ever been for a booze cruise for the beer for my wedding, in fact I committed to buy before even seeing it (my wife liked it, so who am I to argue with the boss?), it could quite as easily have been italy, somewhere in scandinavia, aus, the US, canada etc.
Its a big world out there, with a awful lot of pleasant places. I'd be tempted to do some controlled wandering if I were you. People are mostly friendly and the same species wherever you go, steer clear of big cities and expensive places and everyone gets a lot friendly when their stress level goes down  :headbang:

Bernd:
Well I guess I'll be the first US resident to jump in here.

I live in western New York. If you want to google that just type in Rochester and I live approximatley 20 miles (32 Km) of there. It's not quite out, what some call the sticks or woods, but close. I kind of like the change of seasons, even though this year I think winter over stayed it's welcome. Summer's can get quite humid for a couple of days or weeks. We usally cure that by going to our retread in the 1000 Islands and go out on the boat to keep cool, also our little retreat has central air. I always tell the wife "Nothing like camping with a porcelin toilet and airconditioning'. I also like the change of seasons. Spring brings the birds back and I'm always interested to see if the same birds come back to their nesting areas. Autumn is wonderful to with changing of leaves.

But if I "had" to choose to live somewhere else it would be somewhere south like Virgina or up northeast, Vermont or New Hampshire. As far as state goverments are concerned, your not going to run away from taxes or outlandish laws.

Oh, I did forget to mention we live on almost 6 acers of land back off the road about 1/10" of a mile. Makes for one long drive to plow in the winter, but who cares, I'm reitred. It's the wife that needs to go to work. So far she's only got stuck once. We had a lot of snow over night. When she left she got about 20 feet out of the garage and had a huge amount of snow she was pushing with the car. So I had to start the tractor and make a path. So that's not to bad for living here almost 11 years. I've grown up in this area so being in the same place for almost 50 years it kind of grows on you.

I'm staying were I am.

Bernd

tumutbound:
Time for an Aussie to chime in.
I live in Sydney and have for the last 40 or so years.  The  winters are pretty mild i.e. it rarely gets below 10°C but the summers are hot and humid and I've decided it time to move.
I'm in the process of moving to Hobart, Tasmania where 10°C would be a warm winter day.  I was down there a month ago and the temperature where I was, got down to 6°C -  at the same time Sydney was having a week of  37+°C temperatures.

Most of the people I know of my age, at or near to retirement plan to head north to warmer climates, I;m the only one I know who plans to move south.

Trion:
Trying to keep it short. ::)
Norway has great nature, loads of "untouched" places available for anyone to hike on or go skiing in the winter. A lake around every corner where you can take a swim in the summer, though the water rarely goes beyond 16-17 deg celsius. A warm summer day is 25 degrees celsius or warmer, we have about 20-30 of those a year, give or take a few.. I live southwest quite close to the ocean, so winter temps rarely drop beyond -5 degrees C. Snow usually stays for 2-3 weeks a year, 2010 was out of normal. In between the hot summerdays and snowy days there is a nice spring and fall, often with good weather but lower temperatures. Mind you, we do get our fair share of rain too..
We have great healthcare and retirement programs, but also very high income taxes ~30%-40%. Oh, education is practically free, I pay 70£ a year to go to university to get my masters degree.
Cars are silly expensive, so is petrol and houses. In my region a house in a town easily costs twice as much as the same house on the countryside (at least 45minutes away). A house on the countryside can be very cheap, but you need to find a job there, like everywhere else.

foozer:
Pacific Northwest, Washington. Doesnt rain, its a constant drizzle, if it hits 70 degrees its a heat wave. Northern California born and raised, left there as the english language was becoming a second language and the 10 percent state income tax on top of federal is just crazy.

Some mornings get this view. Considering moving a bit east to the other side of the mountains to get away from the dampness here. Perfect place tho, is where ever the Bride still believes I'm a handsome bloke and the dog wags her tail when she sees me.

Robert 

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