Superficial Living

Regular visitors will know that at present yours truly is living in the grand mega-metropolis of a west of Ireland country town. A pleasant country town, of course, full of interesting, nosey people all going about their busy lives.

Usual small town stuff!

But since becoming a city mouse as opposed to a country mouse I have made some surprising discoveries which, through ignorance or naivety, I find a bit shocking.

For years I have wondered how people can justify not recycling, being ecologically unconscious, shopping to support the local economy from local supermarket produce to artisan work, looking outward to considering the result of all their actions great and small, living as lightly as possible, and so on.

I had a garden so I grew fruit and veg, herbs, I composted, looked for alternative, sustainable ways to do things, recycled everything possible, reduced use of fossil fuels, water, resources, reused and repaired whenever possible, bought second hand clothes, cut down on wastage of every sort, you name it if I thought of it I did it.

Circumstances change and heck! but its an eye opener.

Firstly, choice of action is the prerogative of those who are not on the breadline. If you are so strapped for cash you can't think straight, you are going to buy the cheapest item regardless of where it came from or who made it- particularly food.

Secondly, living in a town insulates you from the consequences of your actions. If I leave a tap running I'm not going to go short of water because it is coming from the mains instead of a stream or well. Others may go short of water in the long term but there is no personal comeback on me. Ditto electricity.

If I fail to recycle, the bin men will collect my rubbish regardless; in fact recycling is a right hassle when you have no parking, live up three flights of stairs and the recycling banks are not in walking distance. And compost? Nowhere to put it except the landfill bin.

If I need something I can walk out and buy it, all I need is money in the bank. If it has unnecessary wrapping I drop it in a street bin as I walk past and once again someone else deals with it. There is absolutely nothing sustainable about my present way of living- I grow nothing and am dependant on shops for everything. Even the weather has very little impact upon a town dweller.

There are advantages to town: I use the car very little, I walk as much as possible, I don't have to shop for a month at a time as I can nip out for things as I need them, the proximity of buildings reduces my heating bill.

The end result, after ten months of town living, is the conviction that everything will carry on regardless of any of my eco-conscious practices and that nothing I do matters. In the country when you see the immediate result of mismanaging resources it seems that one's actions are important.
Perhaps each are wrong- I think it is irresponsible not to care and to carry on in a selfish manner, but I have to admit it is difficult to care when others obviously have no consideration for the environment and are happily living heedlessly with no obvious results. Perhaps living in the country gave me an inflated sense of my own importance, and perhaps living in the town has balanced that.

But in the end, if I take no responsibility for my actions because I feel no impact, than who will take responsibility for mankind's irresponsible acts? In the end as we are all paying I fear we will still be blaming other people for doing exactly what we are doing- which is nothing constructive.

Superficial living may ease ones conscience but it sure removes the impact of our actions.

Country v City...uh...Town?

There's a moral to this story somewhere...maybe...possibly...
...nah! Its just a story!!

Last time I lived in a town was when I was in College, and before that was as a teenager when I lived for three years on the outskirts of London. Which adds up to a total of...SIX WHOLE YEARS by golly!

So basically I am NOT a town girl, and never wanted to be.

Back in October I took the wee hoosie in town in anticipation of not being able to afford to run the Noddy car, ergo I needed everything to be within walking distance...ditto the present flat which I moved into before Christmas.

But d'you know what? I LIKE living in town!

In fact, I like it so much that I am very much afraid that I must be the most terminally nosey person in the whole of the West of Ireland!!
I like the noise and commotion of people all day and half the night.
I like watching and listening to the antics which spill out of the pub downstairs and the hilarity of people having fun.
I like listening to the pounding music.
I like hearing when crowds start singing and take over the riverside with their own entertainment.
I even don't mind walking into my kitchen and having the back wall practically bulging with sound from the Night Club adjoining my flat.
And I really like that when I am tired of my own company I can simply tuck my laptop under my arm, run downstairs, cross the river, through the door of my favourite cafe and carry on working, 30 seconds door to door....which is where I am right now!

Whoda thunkit?

The ultimate country bumpkin actually becoming a town mouse?!

(But I bought ear plugs too, just in case I need to sleep!)