Country Life

A long thoughtful post about the good and bad, but above all the different things about country as opposed to urban life. A snip:

"More often there is instead a deep reserve of caution. This wariness is a byproduct of living a connected life. The outsider does not know or feel the history of shared experience. To have an address is not to live in a small town. Living in a small town means being connected to the flow of its collective life. One does not jump into such a stream without a shocking jolt of cold water. It takes time to acclimate oneself to this river. One has to submerge oneself, drifting along for awhile before your system becomes adjusted. One adapts to the river’s temperature, not the other way around. The community molds the individual by including him in the story of the town."

And a fierce lament for country things lost by the English group Show of Hands. The details are different here but many of the stories are the same.