Urban living is the life for me....

Thirteen years ago, when my children were all fledged from the nest, I moved in to my first apartment, in the downtown area of Hamilton.  I lived too far south to be considered in the core, but coming from quiet, suburban Dundas, the change was significant.  I had never lived alone.  I had never lived in an apartment and I was terrified.   I was afraid of elevators...what if I got stuck, what if someone in there attacked me?  What if the elevator just crashed to the ground?  And underground parking put me in a cold sweat.  Too many crime shows about women being attacked in underground parking lots.

I faced all of those fears however, and found to my delight, and relief, that I actually enjoy apartment living, and urban living.  Even though my dream home would be a log cabin by a river in a forest near the mountains, I have to say that I am pretty happy here.  I love the fact that neighbours are very close to me, and yet I don't hear them, and I don't have to see them.  We are nodding acquaintances that see each other in the elevator or the laundry room.  Not like in the suburbs where your neighbours are practically part of the family.  I can sit on my balcony and be totally alone, but in a house, any time I would sit outside neighbours would see it as an invitation to come for a visit.  Which is fine...sometimes.

I thought I would be afraid to walk the streets at night in the downtown area.  But, it has never happened.  As I mentioned in another blog, I feel quite safe.  I like the anonymity of city living.  I like the privacy.  And I know it sounds strange to talk about privacy when I am living in such a densely populated area.  But it;s true.  I pretty much blend in to the scenery and no one pays much attention to my comings and goings. I have never known a moment of fear since I moved in to the city.   And it's not that it's lonely.  I have a choice to be more social if I want to.

There are drawbacks.  Friends don't drop by like they did when I lived in a house. It's a whole different ballgame when you have to find and pay for parking, And the fact that there is no driveway with a car in it to indicate if I am at home, is prohibitive.  So there's that.  Laundry is expensive, and the hunt for change every week is challenging. Yes, I know I could go to the bank to buy a roll of change, but where's the fun in that?  I love doing laundry in an apartment building because I can do four loads of laundry in 1.5 hours.  A job that used to take all day when I had only one machine.

I live close enough to downtown that I can walk just about anywhere I want to go.  The Art Gallery, theatres, shopping, parks, the waterfront, are all easily accessible from where I live.

Another thing about urban living is the simplicity of going away on vacation.  I just lock my apartment door and go.  No one has to water my garden, take in my mail and paper, check the house and turn on lights.   It's beautifully simple.

I still dream about the cabin in the woods though.  Someday...you just never know.