Its interesting to see the exact opposite of my own view of cities. I find them oppressive and unless you have somewhere specific to go - to a friend's house, to a shop or office or other place of work, or you can pay to sit in a coffee shop or pub, or pay to go to the theatre. Sure you can walk by the riverside (in London at least) or in the park, but they are prescribed landscapes, designed by mankind. Sure there are few things that are unprescribed, the flight of birds and the movement of the water.
Compare that to a walk in the countryside. Free to sit anywhere, with non-prescribed events everywhere. Yes the fields are devised by mankind, but the plants aren't uniform like a pane of glass, or a brick. They are free to wave in the wind to support insects and wildlife. The bees hum and the birds fly. The pace of life is different.
Just different.
I liked what you wrote. I live in the countryside of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada's in California. I too enjoy those unprescribed events. I've seen a fox and her kits, an owl swoosh down on a snake and many exciting moments which I don't believe could have occurred in city life.
City life has it's charm, especially for those people in younger stages. I'm older, 62 seasons and I've learned to count on myself and my plants and animals to get a change of pace. I leave a large portion of my property untended or rather "natural". I spent Christmas in San Francisco with my daughter and found much there which amazed me. I loved looking at the various shops which had various manner of stuff like backscratchers, doggie nail trimmers, gas cans, dead ducks upside down (Clement Street), people with tattoos of swatsticka's and Daisey Duck, Mad Max hairdo's. "Don't stare Mom". Yes, I now prefer the living out here in the county.
