Why I Don't Live in Suburbia

The arrangement was to meet at 7.30pm at a Vietnamese bar downtown. I was very much looking forward to seeing my "used to live in the city but moved out" friend. We have many friends who have moved out of the city when they had kids because they wanted space, more affordable housing, better schools, and a back yard. I can't argue with any of their points. In an ideal world I would love all of the above but in the city.

Some of our friends moved so far out it takes hours to reach them. Some commute two hours each way. They miss almost a whole day every week just in getting to and from work. When they get home they are so exhausted they have to go straight to bed because they have to be up 6 hours later to go back to work. I just don't get it. I really don't. The back yard they pined for isn't used for eight months of the year and the schools they yearned for are great but the parents, if they both work in the city never set foot in it to see how good they are.

I am convinced commuting shortens life expectancy. Trains are late or cancelled causing blood pressure to boil. On some trains it is impossible to get a seat and so standing for four hours every day puts strain on the joints and the sheer fatigue causes a draining of energy levels. Live in the city and live longer.

At 6pm last night my friend who lives in a middle of a forest somewhere deep in Connecticut, just off the I-95 near the Hutchinson Parkway, close to route 684 and a stones throw away from The Connecticut Turnpike called me to inform me he was about to leave. He asked if we could meet at 8.30pm instead. He said that he had just listened to the radio and there was flooding somewhere, an accident somewhere else and a congestion at a toll a little bit further on. The crossings into the city were backed up because the automatic tolls were slow and then he had to look for off street parking. I was exhausted just listening to him.

I asked him what time he wanted to be back home? He said no later than 10.30pm as he had an 8 am meeting in the city the next day. That constituted maybe half a drink, a quick hello a semi hug and a fast ciao with no time for real chow.

I have a hard fast rule. I do not drink any alcohol if I am driving and I enforce that rule on my friends too. So because it would take my buddy four hours round trip to see me and then not drink anything I abruptly cancelled the rendezvous and stayed in instead. You just can't make arrangements with suburbanites midweek unless they are already in the city and take the train home. And I never want to be on the other side of this equation.