How do people live in the suburbs?

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Really? I just dont understand it. You can either find a place to go out near by thats filled with cougars or yuppies couples with 3 or 4 kids at home or alternatively you can stay sober and drive home, but thats scary enough with the way people drive at 3am.

― Mr Noodles, Saturday, 18 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Go-Train is the key.

― Kim, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Cougars?

― bnw, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Noodles, that's even assuming you can *find* a decent place to party in the suburbs. (Trust me, I currently _live_ in one.) Course, you could always try the neighborhood pub: if you can still walk in a straight line by 2 AM, you should be able to make it home; the psychos usually wouldn't be awake;>

― Nichole Graham, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the suburbs. Open space. But then I guess I don't really stay out late.

― jel --, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

All depends on whether you can find someone (and a reliable car) worth hanging out with;>

― Nichole Graham, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Us and Uk suburbs = different, but HOW exactly?? (i have never lived there: deep countryside or innercity only)

― mark s, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mark: Doesn't England only have two types of living space;>?

But truly, I'm not sure how to explain a US suburb: many blocks of houses with the nearest store (newsagent) half a mile away by walking (if you're unlucky). Residents will drive to the market to go shop. Few actually walk anywhere (besides me). Where I live, you could walk down the street naked after midnight; no one would be there to see you doing it;>

Think Pulp's "Acrylic Afternoons" in real life....

― Nichole Graham, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

From my experience, houses that do not visually conform to the neighborhood are hated on. Animosity brews between neighbors when one adds a 2nd story because it blocks the view of the mountains including the houses of even richer folks up there. Groceries are a five minute drive away, and often a road leading to nowhere at all is closer by. New neighbors will be greeted with a batch cookies, while behind closed doors everybody talks shit about each other's kids and dogs and how they clutter the road. Pretty much everybody you meet will tell you "there's nothing to do" and teens often sit around in parking lots with cigarettes together lamenting about this, not knowing where to go. Of course, their surroundings are merely providing convenient excuses for the emptiness in their lives etc. etc. etc.

― Honda, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm beginning to realise that my happy, stable childhood is behind my affection for the suburbs (of London). They are essentially a compromise - bigger, better housing, less noise, more space, proximity to parks etc. Vs the convenience of being near most of the more outwardly F!U!N! elements of city living. Having pretty much always lived in one suburb or other, I barely notice things that city- dwellers get apoplectic about - last trains, non-drink-driving, night buses, whatever. It's just something I do. And unless you're a hedonist with the stamina of a mule, you're going to want and appreciate the quiet times as much as the raucous ones, and I am pretty sure that suburban London, at least, makes these all the more pleasureable.

And that's all for a single 20-something male. If I had a family, kids, then there'd be vastly more in the "pro" camp. Any thoughts?

― Mark C, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Cougars, if I'm not mistaken, is a not so nice name that refers to those kinda slutty but 'past their prime' women that spend a good deal of their evenings in the local bar on the prowl for younger flesh - just like a big predatory cat. Yes, Noodles?

― Kim, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Having been a suburb dweller most of my life -- very handily, actually. UCLA was in the LA sprawl and all, but still felt fairly suburban, not least because Westwood Village was essentially a giant open-air shopping mall, pretty much. Saratoga Springs was the one exception, being in far upstate New York, but I was happy with my books and records in my middle-school daze.

Whether it's the shaping of my personality over time or just something innate, I'm able to keep myself readily amused or restful at home -- the Net certainly has been a great help with that -- rather than going out and hitting the bars with friends, say. It's one big reason why not having my driver's license hasn't really frustrated me much, even living in a place where public transit is nothing like NYC or London, say. But right now where I live has enough things to do right in the general area -- nice places to eat, some reasonable record stores, etc. -- that I can find a balance between impulses to wander and to stay put pretty readily.

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

raggett in california non-driving shockah! (well, shock for those like me who dont know ye too well yet)

― Ron, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

hah, i thought he just meant cougars like the big cats. our suburbs here in seattle approach the foothills of the cascades, so those animals are quite common outside of the city. but i guess they dont hang out in the bars :-)

― Ron, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, Ron, it is true. ;-) I console myself by noting that all the money otherwise spent on payment costs, gas, insurance and maintenance means I have a *lot* of music around. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

People on here are *angry*.

― Mark C, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Cougars? We have foxes in Crystal Palace. Both senses.

― Michael Jones, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I drive a Cougar but my wife is nowhere near past her prime.

― Andy K, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeh -- I live less than a mile outside of a 'major' city therefore I'm technically in a subrrrrb. I could either walk a cpl blocks to several restaurants, grocers, etc within that neighborhood, or I could drive several miles south to get to 'the action' in the non-suburbs.

― Andy K, Sunday, 19 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it seems to help jandek.

shag carpet might help, though carpets is bad for your health, especially if you have allergies and don't have a $3000 vacuum cleaner.

― haloist, Monday, 20 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've only ever lived in the city or countryside proper too (some people still refer to Peckham as a suburb, but it's hardly.. suburban). I would be quite happy to move there one day. I know suburbia drives kids up the wall but I think in a good way. I think growing up in serious inner city is maybe more interesting but not great for mental health.

― N., Monday, 20 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry that was a bit of whine there. Cougars are indeed those female compains to dirty old men with no teeth. They tend not to take rejection well so its best to have a friend to help cockblock. Halifax was horible for them, probably due to the amount of sailors in town but still.
The worse part of the suburb is all the houses look the same. I nearly walked into my neighbours house if it wasnt for the little 3 or 4 year old kid bouncing around as opposed to an overstrung Jack Russel Terrier.
Problem: Go train, while a five minute walk from my house (as is chinese takeout shack), has the last eastbound at 12 from Union.
Guessing there is a differnce betwene UK and Canadian suburbs, no open air here unless you count Lake Ontario shoreline, nothing but your neighbours peeking out their windows at you, or spying on those rowdy teenagers who are up to no good, always with their loud noise and reckless disregard for private property or any sort of decency.

― Mr Noodles, Thursday, 23 May 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nine years pass...

http://i.imgur.com/cRHhV.jpg

― navihchkan (nakhchivan), Wednesday, 16 May 2012 21:54 (thirteen years ago)

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