Spoiled city folk adjusting to small-town life

Is it a farming area?

Most folks I know complain constantly about the lack of clubs, concerts, etc (or they shut up and deal )

As hinted at, manure smells drifting about, roosters crowing, etc could all drive someone batty.

Yep. Smells and noises. And the fact that the countryside is a working entity and not a theme park......

A short list of the horrors

Dirt roads always shedding mud and dust
Power outages
No high speed internet
No gourmet foods, or in real truth little food that is even good for you, rural areas are often food deserts.
Few services.
Smelling diesel fumes all the time
Rednecks.
People whose houses have dooryards full of junk cars.. etc
Bad radio stations.
Nosy neighbors.
Wal-Mart is the only store
Not to mention no bookstores......

My boyfriend is from such a town, pop'n 1600, in southwestern Ontario (farming area, but he lived "in town") and I am from Toronto, where we now live. Generally because of where farming country is located in Ontario, you are no more than an hour from at least a small city, and probably closer. However, people from Toronto sometimes refer to places of 100,000 as "small towns," heh, so they might not consider London or Guelph or Waterloo or Kingston a real city. But you would usually be able to go to a decent place for shopping on the weekend, and some people live in the small town, but work in a bigger center.

Things I notice when I visit his family, not necessarily annoyances:
-It is dark and quiet and you can see stars!
-His dad doesn't lock his door ever. People regularly leave their keys in the car.
-Everyone is white except the families who run the convenience store and Chinese restaurant. Whereas Toronto is about 50% visible minority.
-Once you get out of town (which has all of one traffic light), there are no lights, and I find it really weird driving in the dark, having to use highbeams...you know, all the stuff in the driving handbook that doesn't apply in the city. This still freaks me out a bit.
-A car is pretty much a necessity. You don't need one in Toronto. On the plus side, no traffic.
-Crappy selection at grocery store.
-Smell of manure. Apparently chicken shit is the worst.
-Big lawns, few people have fences. Land is cheap.
-In this town, there is not even a bar! Just the Legion...But people generally drink a lot. There are way more RIDE checks (drunk driving).
-There are some slight differences in how people speak.
-Restaurants in this area always seem to advertise "home cooking." I do not see this in Toronto.
-There are a couple anti-abortion billboards on the drive there which you wouldn't see in the city.
-People get married earlier--nearly everyone my bf knew from back home got married by 25. Not so common in Toronto.
-Lots of people are related to each other. There are a few last names that you hear a lot of.
-Gossip.
-I think it really sucks to be in any way different in a small town like that.
-This place didn't even get a Tim Hortons until somewhat recently...
-These towns often seem to have signs directing you to the "business district." As if you could miss it because there is only one main street. And "business district"...heh.

The restaurant thing, and limited groceries, is what would bother me. Before my bf and I started dating, the list of foods he'd never tried was enormous. Like, Mexican=Taco Bell, Italian=Pizza. He'd never had lamb, but it isn't hard to find sheep grazing in the fields around there...

Shitty internet.

Similar to the lack of restaurants - you can't just "go get something" from the store. City girl, and I do a pretty good job of keeping what I need in my kitchen, but once in awhile I find myself out of a particular ingredient. I can just go to the store to buy it.

Same with other consumables - toilet paper, shampoo, etc.

You'd have to organize all your errands at the same time - so you'd have to do one BIG day into town to buy groceries, stop at the library, go clothes shopping, mail packages, whatever other errands you may need.

One thing that would be especially applicable in Ontario - you MUST have a 4-wheel drive vehicle, probably a truck or SUV. I have a friend who moved into the country, living on a dirt road, and during the summer her little Honda Civic was okay. But when winter came, and bad snow, she was literally STUCK - couldn't even get that car out of the driveway. Had to buy an SUV for her and another for the husband.

Also, during winter/bad weather, you'd be more or less stuck at home. You would need to have enough groceries and supplies to last until the weather cleared up enough for you to get out. (Not to mention entertainment - things to do until you can get out. Oh, and hope your boss is okay with you not coming to work until the weather clears.)

Minimal emergency services - if you're far enough out, you may have no local police, only a sheriff or state-level law enforcement. No fire department, or only a volunteer fire department, so you may be stuck if your house catches fire. Ambulance or fire department might take a long time to get to your house.

As to internet, not shitty but nearly every house has a satellite disk. We have 2 cafes (they serve the same things) and an A&W that's open in the summer. Only smell manure when the wind is from the stockyard, or in the spring... and in the fall. Winter you don't smell a thing. Massive traffic jams in the spring and fall - too many tractors and wagons, with an occasional combine (although those are frowned on). Pickups are almost standard issue; an occasional semi gets tossed in. Have to get your shopping done by 9 every evening or go to the one 24-hour convenience store; Sundays you can groceries but that's about it. Kids are everywhere - no such thing as playdates so they actually just run around outside and... well, play. Chainsaws wake you up in the morning - lots of people getting the winter wood stacked during the summer. Oh, and winter - snowmobiles running 24/7. Everyone has at least one dog - about half keep them tied up or fenced - at least until a hawk grabs them. And people who don't go to the Friday night high school football and basketball games tend to get semi-hostile looks (the high school provides most of the local entertainment). The VFW - yeah, but we also have two taverns (and a beer joint, but only the riff-raff go there).

Still, I'd rather live here than a city any day.

Trash collection -- no truck goes around, you have to go to the dump. And the fact that the dump is a social center really baffles them.

Water pump dying -- what do you mean there's no water department to call?

Septic tank pumping -- what the hell is a septic tank? You mean I've got a thousand pounds of shit on my property?

Part-time police -- What do you mean there's no officer on duty and you need to call the nearest state trooper? And it will probably be half an hour before he/she arrives.

Lack of competition -- What do you mean Joe is the only guy around who fixes cars? He's a crook and I want someone else.

Town meeting -- once a year in New Hampshire, like the other New England states, we have something called "town meeting." Has to be seen to be believed. But it is democracy in action.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

My big annoyance is that everything closes early. You can't even get gas after 9:00 in my town, and the grocery store closes at 8:00.

Also, if your character goes from a big area to a small one, they might be surprised at the sudden lack of anonymity. You can't go anywhere without seeing someone you know. And I remember when we first moved to our area, our dog got out of the yard, and the next day we had close to a dozen people come over to our house (people I'd never even seen before, let alone talked to!) and ask if we'd found him, because word had gotten out he was lost. It was weird. (I'm used to it now, but when I lived in the city, you minded your own damn business, ya know? *grin*)

My husband is form a small town in central Illinois and I have lived in big cities most of my life (New York and Chicago). I tended to idealize small town life until we spent an extended time there. Food was probably the hardest adjustment. Every salad consisted of iceberg lettuce and pale tomatoes. I told a waitress at one place that I wanted some vegetables and she offered fried mushrooms. The "Asian" restaurant claimed to have sushi and it was the worse excuse for a California roll I have ever seen--nevermind actual raw fish.

On the other hand, I was happy to find out that there are lots of people in this town who are very well read and funny and smart and interesting even though they never went to college or traveled much. So the surprises weren't always of the "aren't they backwards" variety--sometimes the surprises were that I expected the people to fit a rural stereotype, and though many did, many did not.

I moved from a huge school to a tiny one. Everyone seems to know your business in a small town and find things like, catching you check your mailbox, exciting and then they tell you about it. They know how much you paid for your house and that you paid cash for it. They know your birthday and your grandmother's name even though you never told them.

Lack of a variety of restaurants. No mall. No movie theatre or a theatre that only plays one movie a week and on weekends only and the theatre has sticky floors and tiles missing from the ceiling.

No stop lights. Only four-way stops and getting a stop light is dangerous because people aren't used to it being there so they don't see it and run it all the time. Getting a new gas station is the talk of the town and a huge source of excitement for people.

When we moved in, half our neighbors brought by "goodies" for us: cakes, pies, casseroles, stuff like that.

I moved from the country to the big city. Whenever I go home to visit my family, the biggest thing that annoys me is how early everything closes. The grocery, the gas station, the movie store, everything. Maybe one shitty bar is still open. But everything closes very early.

And softened water is gross.

I've been in towns without Tims. It shocks me. I've seen this country and Tims is the great equalizer. It's just not right.

I was born and raised in Toronto. At six I knew the subway routes. I live in the suburbs today (it takes me about 35 minutes to get downtown). Being someone who loves and has lived in the city, the suburbs & the country...I love them all. But Toronto will always be my preference. Most things that I can think of have already been mentioned. What I feel most inconvenienced by is the closing time. Here in the suburbs it's only slightly intolerable. I can't go to Starbucks at 5:30am and it pisses me off. The transit and theatre is what I miss the most about Toronto.

When I read your post I immediately thought of 3 towns I love. Uxbridge, Port Perry & Huntsville. I love these towns and frequent them often. You can find awesome culture in all three...they're quite creatively charged towns. It's just...different. It really is basic things. Transit, open times, larger theatre productions...at the risk of sounding like a snob, some of us need these things.

bulldoggerel said:

Wal-Mart is the only store

Click to expand...

Pfft you've got it good if you actually have a Wal-Mart.

"What do you mean there's no McDonalds?"

"What do you mean there's no Starbucks?"

(Replace with Tim Horton's and other appropriate Canadian equivalents.)

kuwisdelu said:

Pfft you've got it good if you actually have a Wal-Mart.

"What do you mean there's no McDonalds?"

"What do you mean there's no Starbucks?"

(Replace with Tim Horton's and other appropriate Canadian equivalents.)

Click to expand...

Canadian Tire. A store I refuse to go near.

The closing early, distance to places and the lack of people/walking area.

If the character is from a proper city, the closing early isn't just annoying, it's kind of endlessly irksome, especially when combined with the other two.

It's currently just past midnight and I could walk outside and within 1/4 mile in any direction I can find an open deli. drug store, food market, restaurant (various types, depending the direction, from sushi, Chinese or Italian or Mexican to basic diners), news stand, several bars of various types, coffee shops (the closest 24-hour Starbucks is farther but there's a 24-hour french cafe/bistro), laundromat, and other stuff I'm not thinking of I'm sure.

It's not just the late, late night stuff that's always there, but things like movies that in small towns have last showings much earlier than cities, and have far fewer movies available. Cities also tend to have multiple art film houses, indie movies shown, theatre, concerts (not just big arena ones), museums, galleries, etc., etc.

That the stuff is all fairly close and much of it walkable is also a big thing to city dwellers. It's an entirely different mindset and way of life kind of when you have to get into the car and drive even 5 miles to go to the market as opposed to just going down the street or just downstairs to the deli in basically your pjs because you feel like ice cream and have none.

Oh, also in towns you have to drag everything around yourself. In cities, people will bring things to you - dry cleaning, heavy groceries, liquor, breakfast, lunch or dinner, pretty much anything is up for delivery.

Also the lack of public transit and cabs, especially if out late or out someplace you'd want to drink.

Also also, as the bird said, the lack of anonymity.

It was a major adjustment leaving Toronto for the town where I now live. The post office (you can laugh, b/c it's a true joke) has posted hours on the door...but if it's a really slow day, the truck has been known to leave early and the PO to close. ?! Oh, and forget home delivery of mail. Everyone has to go to collect their mail at the P.O.

Movies? Forget it. The few restaurants we have cater to tourists, not that tourism has recovered. Fast food? You're kidding. It was major news when the town council allowed a Subway to open up outside of town. The town shuts down at 6, sometimes earlier.

There is a grand total of ONE small independent grocer in town, who stocks basically not much, and whose prices are quite inflated, but hey, you can drive out of town to a big grocery chain, right?

We do have a fire department and EMTs, but the town 'hospital' closes at 5, last time I checked, and there's usually only a nurse practitioner. I've never seen a dr there, though I've heard rumors. There IS no other doctor/hosp in town.

Ditto for no cabs or public transit. We have a police substation with I think two officers who are pretty much...goobers.

The newspaper comes out twice a week. It is basically an ad circular with between 8-12 pages, usually. Around gifting seasons, we'll get mondo issues of 12 and even 30 pages! Mind, those extra pages are all ads.

Our small town is run by a couple of families who seem to have the council in their pocket. Want to get a building permit to add on a bath or a permit to have your kid's wedding at home? Good luck! I'll say no more.

Shopping is all touristy trash. Wal-mart? We use to have a Sears catalog shop, lol, but that closed.

The snow plow fellows. We have two. Sometimes they seem to have races around 2 a.m. to pass the time while we're waiting for snow. Or maybe they're practicing their synchronized plowing, who knows.

Gossip. That deserves a emphasis. GOSSIP. Oh, and regarding newcomers as something less than a 'resident.' That's always a fun one. "Only eight years? Oh, well, when you've been here a while, you'll get used to it." And don't forget the condescending smile that goes with it.

However, we DO have live theatah, dolling. Who needs anything as vulgar as a shoe shop in town?

Before moving to this town, I considered another in a rural area. It only took one drive - in which I encountered several trucks delivering pigs and cows to their fate - to knock THAT town off the short list!

I've spent most of my life in small towns, and things I see people from the cities complain about the most is a lack of services (ethnic food restaurants, good shopping, community theater, bookstores, etc) and having to drive intergalactic distances for "fun" things.

Depending on your character's age, there might also be a dearth of social opportunities (not to mention dating, especially if the MC's male and single!). Rural towns tend to be either older people who've lived there forever, and any young people are typically young couples (people in rural areas tend to marry at a younger age) and their children. Church also plays a bigger role in meeting people, and I rejoined a church partly just to meet people (who all turned out to be 25 or more years older than me!).

As for dating, perhaps this is just my frustration talking, but I got the idea that most of the traditionally female jobs (except teaching and nursing) are in the cities while there are relatively more traditionally male opportunities in the smaller towns. A gross overgeneralization, of course, but single people in small towns are more often male, and I have only rarely been able to date a local; I've had to have my dates imported from the cities

Everyone has great suggestions, so I'll try not to repeat too many of those already mentioned. Instead, I'm aiming for the senses. These things can really creep out the city folk... Mind you, I'm not in Canada, but I imagine certain things are fairly common all over.

* You may want to google native species in your setting area, as wildlife will probably be highly noticeable.

~ The darkness here really gets under people's skin. No street lights, only the occasional mercury light you can see for a long way (hate those things).
~ Yes, there are manure smells when the farmers are clearing their lagoons, unless you're right next door to a large operation. Otherwise, the smells are incredibly good most of the time.
~Also, don't forget the low of cattle, if there are ranches nearby. It comes at all times of day and night and carries some distance. Trust me, it rarely sounds like a "moo." More like an elk bugle, but not quite.
~Coyotes yipping also freaks our visitors out.
~ There's a certain silence in the snow that is hard to describe, but very eerie if you're accustomed to the cacophony of the city. Trees also squeak and squeal in a very disconcerting way, if you don't know whats making the noise.
~ Folks talk about the weather - a lot. And when they don't know you, they don't trust you. Period.
~ Never expect any place to be open on Sunday. Sometimes you get lucky, but if you plan your errands for that day, you'll be disappointed.
~ There are lots of other things I'd mention, but I think they may be more regional. Like, around here, opening day of deer season might as well be a major holiday. Stay out of the woods, don't expect kids to be in school or half the population to show up at work, and if you're not wearing camouflage, then there must be something wrong with you.
~Speaking of - if your main character dresses "fashionably" rather than "functionally," they can expect some serious sideways looks.

Good luck!

I was born and raised in a small town - reading through this I keep seeing more and more things I just don't even think about! LOL People do seem to be more well read (even the rednecks). We do need our vehicles, but that's only if you need to go to the City - otherwise everything's in walking distance. Lawn tractors and golf carts are big with the older folks for in-town transport. People used to ride their horses into town, but the counsel's gotten a little too stiff-necked for that. Wildlife coming into town is a frequent occurrence - deer, of course, and once a herd of wild turkeys meandered through. Now and then a cow will get loose from the sale barn. I remember a bull got loose one year and that was a bit of excitement.

The longer I think on this, the more stuff I remember...