Cosima Pole: Rural Life vs Urban Living

Rural or Urban life... the eternal debate

And so to the omnipresent question... life in the countryside full of fresh air, clean living, fields of cows mooing, stars twinkling in the night sky, those nights only interrupted by the gentle twit-ing and two-ing of owls on the hunt, a quiet life of calm, with quite a bit more space. Or should it be an urban life? The air not so very clean, the streets pretty filthy, the nights filled not with stars but with the blinking of aeroplane lights ferrying busy people in and out of the busier city, and not so much the sound of owls, but the odd screech of an urban fox mixed with the echos of people partying hard and the resultant effects of said partying... but an amazingly diverse life, full of inspiring people and inspiring things, each with a tale to tell. Amazing galleries, beautiful parks and places to visit, the joys of finding a little hidden place of solace on a street you've walked up a thousand times... cool and curious people everywhere hurriedly going about their daily lives. The visual inspiration from the street art on the walk to school each morning alone is pretty special. Just the joy of hopping on a bus or on the tube and ending up where you want to be within a pretty short space of time... and as someone with epilepsy who hasn't driven in years, maybe this is the icing on the cake. But it's a very squashed life. No space, no freedom, no leaving windows open, no fresh air and no matter how safe you feel, you're always slightly on your guard.

We've had quite an interesting few days, a weekend spent with dear friends in the very beautiful and idillic Strawberry Cottage in Norfolk, then back to the East End of London via a hideous train and bus journey (the joys of travelling alone on a Sunday with 2 small children and the never ending Weekend Preplanned Engineering Works) and blowing bubbles in Arnold Circus.

There are such joys to be taken from both paths, but which is the one to choose?

Rural Living: