I feel a headache coming on...

Me too.....

I have visited Austin three times and I have enjoyed it all three times. Austin is a great place.

Jeanette Isabelle

To add a bit more to BigDaddyTX's comments, I think there are two things I miss at times in the City. A sense of real community, and the idea that we can be self-sufficient.

DW and I live on a floor with four other apts. I've never been into any of their apts., none has ever been into ours. We speak at most a few sentences to each other once in a while. We rode up in the elevator with one woman on a floor the other night, and DW did not recognize her. This was the third time I'd seen her since Mother's Day, so I did. I also went to a meeting of our homeowners' association in the suburbs, and there the people seem to want to talk to me. A number I spoke to have been in our house, or the house that was just gutted. There is a very different attitude, one in which people make an effort to say hello, and not avoid contact. I get that there are real reasons why we do this, but it does not give you a strong sense of community.

There is really no way to be self-sufficient and live in a city, not for a week, unless you change your lifestyle. If I locked the apt. door for the next week, we could live in the apt., but not in a manner near what we normally live like. We could do this, because we have stuff stored to allow it, just in case. This is a preparedness forum, and that's part of our preparations. But I think, few people living in New York have this kind of stuff. I think DW thinks I am a freak because I have bags pakced at all times for us to flee, if need be (maybe many think this forum is for freaks). But in addition to that, helping to keep the community to be self-sufficient and working is also beyond most of us. That's for reasons of both size and, imo, for those that would involve me in a political discussion on this forum. If you live in suburbia or a rural area, it's much more normal to be a person shows up to help your neighbor. In NYC, it's more common that people show up to gawk and watch some government agency provide the help. In many communities, the person who is the first responder is a person who is your neighbor and a volunteer. So, in a forum that is all about being prepared when things don't work as normal, you are going to find more people who want to be in communities that have an attitude of everyone helping each other out.