Cities

Being downtown reminds me that I'm not comfortable in cities.

Oh, I can handle them just fine - I'm building a map of Vancouver in my head, and between that and my real map there's no problem - but - I don't know - I think it's a sky thing.

It's so sunny here (when it's not pouring), and out where I live, in a very residential area, the buildings are only two or three stories high. There's lots of sunlight. It's a comfortable area, shops are nearby, I can walk places, etc.

Downtown is... big. Well, not really big - it wouldn't take terribly long to walk North to South, or East to West - but it's tall. I dunno what the definition is of a skyscraper is, but...

I guess I'm not really used to cities. I go into Boston sometimes during the school year, but I generally stick to places I know. I see so much more poverty here - downtown, on Granville Island, even down the street where I do basic shopping - than I do at home. It's disheartening. How can you even make a dent in that kind of poverty? And I haven't even been to the areas that are reputed to be really bad.

Cities intimidate me. They have their good points, their attractions, their fascinations, but I don't love the faster pace or the crush of people (this, incidentally, is why I have not bothered to go to New York: too many damn people. Too many skyscrapers. Not enough sky.).

I wouldn't mind living closer to work - in Kits, for example - but I'm glad that I live so far away from downtown, because I don't think that's my world.