What town in New Hampshire most closely represents or reminds you of small town America? (Merrimack: living in, to eat)

[DareToDream]

When we first moved up here, we went to all the church breakfasts, (I think we "hit" every church breakfast/dinner there was in town!) town activities, etc. We met a young couple at one of the church breakfasts. We were chatting and told them we had just moved to the area and how safe we felt in this area. The proceeded to tell us exactly where they lived, and the fact that they are rarely home and never lock their doors! We were shocked - we had just met these people, they had no way of knowing what type of people we were, etc.

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by CometVoyager

It appears that this little town near the NH VT border has very little crime and still may have that special feel to it

Anyone else think so or another town?

Morning Comet - I don't know anything about the town, but I think something you'll want to do before deciding on a location for your diner is to scope out the area and see if the area would be able to support one.

I don't remember if it was on the news or I read it in one of the papers, but some eating establishments are having a rough go of it right now because of increased prices - not only food/supplies for the establishment, but also because people aren't frequenting them as much now. Eating out, even "diner fare" is something people are cutting back on or cutting out entirely for the time being.

I don't know of Alstead has a Chamber of Commerce, but if it does, you might want to contact them about demographics, how many live there, estimation of how many pass through there, etc. to help you make an informed choice about location......just a thought.......

[lisa g]

Wow, Dare, I would have been shocked by people I didn't know telling a newcomer like me how unprotected they leave their homes! For the record: we *do* lock up when gone, and put on outdoor lights...but have just relaxed to that minimally hypervigilant extent from locking up every door/window even while home, as in come inside and lock it behind you..AND having motion sensor cameras posted filming every angle of our property. I kid you not. The couple of times in SoCal I came home, parked in the driveway and did NOT lock the car, planning on going right back out then had a kid throw up or something else causing a sudden change in plans..those couple of times my car was broken into.
And Comet- I'm really hoping your diner will be within reasonable driving distance

[DareToDream]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Wow, Dare, I would have been shocked by people I didn't know telling a newcomer like me how unprotected they leave their homes! For the record: we *do* lock up when gone, and put on outdoor lights...but have just relaxed to that minimally hypervigilant extent from locking up every door/window even while home, as in come inside and lock it behind you..AND having motion sensor cameras posted filming every angle of our property. I kid you not. The couple of times in SoCal I came home, parked in the driveway and did NOT lock the car, planning on going right back out then had a kid throw up or something else causing a sudden change in plans..those couple of times my car was broken into.
And Comet- I'm really hoping your diner will be within reasonable driving distance

Lisa - We were shocked as well....then my "cynical side" took over for a minute and I thought, "Hmmmm....telling us exactly where they live, place is open, wonder if there's going to be an insurance scam where they say they were broken into and WE stole they're things..."

We lock our doors when out and when we go to bed and we do have motion sensory lights by our basement entry, basically so we can see coming in at night. We are definitely more relaxed up here than we were in NY and nowhere near as "hypervigilent" as we were there.....

[lisa g]

Originally Posted by DareToDream

wonder if there's going to be an insurance scam where they say they were broken into and WE stole they're things..."

Oh, Dare, you're as paranoid as we are!

[CometVoyager]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Oh, Dare, you're as paranoid as we are!

Lisa G, I love your posts and do appreciate that you lock up now! However, since when I was young I have experienced break ins all over the USA, Sad to say, it does not matter where you live. When you get hit you wish you could catch them little ***tards.

For that reason I have always had a monitored security system which actually costs less than a few hundred $$$ to install. Just the piece of mind is worth it. It is sad but the realm of human behavior is at times so unpredictable.

[lisa g]

Thanks, Comet We had the security system, but needed to monitor the driveway, etc....so we put the cameras up. One thing we caught on film that probably shouldn't have suprised us but did, was after politely saying "no, thank you" to the kid selling magazine subscriptions to 'better his lot in life'...he spat a nasty goober onto the handle of our car door. I like to think that in a town reminiscent of small town America these things wouldn't happen, but sadly, that's probably idealistic.

[Valerie C]

OMG Lisa that's horrible! And next time we have the little gypsy caravans come through the neighborhood (they come by the van-load and just drop off 3-5 kids per neighborhood) I'll keep a good eye out on them when they leave!!!

[lisa g]

Hi Val,
Call me naive, but what in the world are gypsy caravans, and why do they drop off their kids? This sounds downright strange...

[CometVoyager]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Hi Val,
Call me naive, but what in the world are gypsy caravans, and why do they drop off their kids? This sounds downright strange...

Lisa, these are usually sales teams for magazine, newspaper subscriptions or some weird cleaning agent. These kids are driven around in vans by their manager or guardian or what not and usually have a pitch about they are trying to earn money for some kind of educational trip to Washington or even Disney Land! They can be very pushy, as once I was annoyed so much I literally carried this young punk off my property and set him down on the roadside.

Sorry about that incident you had with the kid spitting on your cars door handle. Hope you kept the tape and sent it to his parents. Although today, usually when a kid behaves like that it is also indicative of what the parents are like. My wife is an elementary school teacher and she truly can predict what the parents are like based upon the child's behavior!