town mouse and country mouse

image sourced from here

Just five nights after arriving home from New Zealand I had to jump on a plane again and fly solo to Sydney for a work related event.  It was a week of early mornings, late nights, decoding bus timetables, navigating city routes and note taking (not to mention the brain swell I experienced from all the new information I had to absorb from the conference itself). It was for me, an all round week of new experiences, some of which were terribly out of my comfort zone.

Yes I'm a big city sook....busy streets, crowded footpaths, interrupted skylines and general city noise...it just isn't my cup of tea! I feel like a fish out of water and no doubt I stick out like one too. Oh I'm happy enough to visit, but by the end, I'm happier still to leave. My sister Lou (whom I stayed with) and I talked about this a lot last week. She adores her inner city life-style while I find it's pace and flurry not only incomprehensible but quite unforgiving!

Sitting on the bus everyday I couldn't help but marvel at how a city functions and survives. To me, they seem like the harshest, most unsustainable, energy guzzling, unfriendly places imaginable, and to think, around the world there are cities much larger and denser than Sydney! I can hardly get my head around it. My sister however, who has visited London, Rome and New York, to name a few, is dazzled by the energy and excitement these cities eminate.

Lou has often tried to convince me of the many advantages inner city living has to offer and insists she feels a strong sense of community in her densely populated suburb. She sees many familiar friendly faces in her daily travels and engages with a plethora of diverse folk.  I don't doubt her feelings are genuine or that community identity does indeed exist in the city, but I find it hard to fathom this sense of belonging when during my city stay, I felt so lonely and a little insecure every time I ventured from Lou's front door. I wasn't in any danger and my suspicious judgements of every stranger were no doubt totally unwarranted, but honestly, I just couldn't relax!

We try to find a common ground Lou and I, to understand each others preference for where we've chosen to live, but it's difficult. At the end of the day, I think her need for the inner city experience is totally nuts, while she finds my desire for life in a sparsely populated, isolated environment to be completely unfathomable. I think we'll always try to convince each other that we've each made the optimal choice but it's always done in jest and we often laugh about our differing opinions! What are sisters for, right?

How fortunate it is that we can visit each other and get a taste for these vastly contrasting environments, and then retreat to the place that suits us best! Lou is definitely the thrill seeking Town Mouse and I'll always be, without exception, the quiet Country Mouse!