I Want to Get Off at Willoughby (manufactured, vacation, cousin)
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I don't think the topic of "where" has been beaten to death, as pointed out, it's a major consideration for most people, even if they decide to stay where they are.
Although I love where I live, I have found out that there are no rheumatologists on the Western Slope, rather, there are two and they aren't taking any new referrals. I will have to fly to Denver (an hour flight) to see a specialist if it comes to that for my current difficulties. I remember "medical mecca" in Boston!
I've spent a lot of the last five years in rural Ontario in a small town with groceries and a little hospital about a 25 mile drive away. Of course, Canada does not want retirees to move here, so I will not be able to stay permanently. When my time here is done, I will likely still visit, but I have definitely begun to consider New York State as a home base when I give up NJ for good. I get a NY state pension, so it will not be subject to state tax.
Twice on my way back to Jersey, my GPS took me through a small NYS town surrounded by farms that I plan to check out when the time comes. I like winter and do not like the heat, so going "upstate" may be as close to Canada as I can get.
I lived in NJ for 3 years in the early 1990s, and liked living on the east coast USA compared to my native California. I liked the variety of cities and green countryside within just a few hours drive.
I spent a lot of free time in central and northern New York state. It defies the stereotypes that most people have of New York that have only visited the NYC area. Plattsburgh NY is a nice small city due south from Montreal, Quebec. Potsdam and Canton, NY are two nice small towns in the St. Lawrence valley. They are slightly more than 1 hour south of Ottawa, Ontario. Adirondack Park is just south of Potsdam & Canton. That area gets a true winter, but the summers are usually pretty nice.
Since most of you took a practical path and got higher education in something lucrative and material I'm going to dust off my old English Degree and have a little lesson in literature analysis.
There was a point to "A Stop in Willoughby" that hasn't been mentioned here. A man spends a lot of time wanting something he remembers but doesn't have now. He sees a paradise on earth just beyond his reach until he finally dares to take the leap to have it. When he does he is met with sudden death and winds up in the Willoughby & Sons Funeral Home. Oops.
He thought he was headed for bliss and in a sense he was. I think Mr. Serling was ironically reminding us that a state of perfection means a place where we never need or want anything different at all, ever.
Enough for interpretation but it's an unfortunate fact I think we all learn. I'd love to finish up my final years in my little hometown but it no longer exists. We can go to someplace new but as Thomas Wolfe reminded us we can't go home again.
"O lost and by the wind grieved, ghost come back again." T.W.
Uncle Joe is being sued. Mr. Kimble comes in to announce the results of his research. "You're in luck! She can only sue you for everything you've got!". Uncle Joe is aghast! Mr. Kimble continues, "Well, by the time they get down to the pocket knife and the fishing pole, they tend to leave that stuff alone.....and that's all a country boy really needs.". (Actually, IMDB really doesn't show Mr. Kimble as part of Uncle Joe's world, so it was probably Mr. Haney).
Ideally, some place without Internet because if it doesn't have Internet, few people want to move there. When it does have that, people move in.....with wanting everything modern and convenient......and the taxes go up with it. Without a phone could probably be a good thing, too,.....for those purposes.
As I noted, I grew up in Willoughby Ohio. The downtown (and Gazebo) still looks very much like it did when I was a kid. The Drug Store is now a Diner with other similar changes but................it's not the same.
After reading through this thread, I decided to take the opportunity to go to P+ and rewatch the episode. The show aired in 1960 and according to the train conductor, it was July 1888 when the train stops in Willoughby, so 72 years in the past, to a more idyllic, slow-paced time for Gart Williams.
I find it interesting that almost as much time has now passed since the episode first aired (62 years), and now people want to escape from the fast-past world of 2022 to the more idyllic, slow-paced world of 1960.
This episode also reminds me of one of my favorite Woody Allen movies, Midnight in Paris. While on a trip to Paris, the disillusioned protagonist goes for a walk, and at midnight comes across a 1920s automobile, gets in, and finds himself transported to the 1920s where he meets some famous writers and experiences life in what he believes to be Paris's golden age. But while there, he meets a woman, they go for a walk, encounter a horse and carriage, get in, and they are mysteriously transported in time to the 1880s Belle Epoch Era, the time in which that girl feels was Paris's Golden Age. And then while there, they meet some famous impressionist painters who believe that Paris has passed its prime and that the Renaissance was Paris's Golden Age.
The point being that everyone thinks that their own time period basically sucks and that they would be happier living in an earlier time period when life was better. Thirty to fifty years from now, I'm sure that people will look back on the 2020s as a great time to be alive.
After reading through this thread, I decided to take the opportunity to go to P+ and rewatch the episode. The show aired in 1960 and according to the train conductor, it was July 1888 when the train stops in Willoughby, so 72 years in the past, to a more idyllic, slow-paced time for Gart Williams.
I find it interesting that almost as much time has now passed since the episode first aired (62 years), and now people want to escape from the fast-past world of 2022 to the more idyllic, slow-paced world of 1960.
This episode also reminds me of one of my favorite Woody Allen movies, Midnight in Paris. While on a trip to Paris, the disillusioned protagonist goes for a walk, and at midnight comes across a 1920s automobile, gets in, and finds himself transported to the 1920s where he meets some famous writers and experiences life in what he believes to be Paris's golden age. But while there, he meets a woman, they go for a walk, encounter a horse and carriage, get in, and they are mysteriously transported in time to the 1880s Belle Epoch Era, the time in which that girl feels was Paris's Golden Age. And then while there, they meet some famous impressionist painters who believe that Paris has passed its prime and that the Renaissance was Paris's Golden Age.
The point being that everyone thinks that their own time period basically sucks and that they would be happier living in an earlier time period when life was better. Thirty to fifty years from now, I'm sure that people will look back on the 2020s as a great time to be alive.
That's a very good observation and I've often thought about that myself.
About 3 weeks ago, I met a woman walking downtown. As often happens here, just walking by each other we said hello and started to chat. She asked me where I was from and when I told her, asked me why I moved to this small town no one outside of the state ever heard of. I told her my story of living in SoCal and dreaming of finding a simpler slower life in a town almost lost in time.
Then she told me her story. She was born and raised here and went on to become an author among other things. She owns a flat in Ireland and a beach house in SoCal. She comes back here where she was born and raised because she loves the town, the people here, and it keeps her grounded. She owns a small simple old house not unlike mine here and comes back as often as she can.
She then asked me to follow her to the local bookstore where she was doing a book signing and proceeded to sign and write a very nice personal note and just gifted me the book. She welcomed me to town, gave me a hug and we parted hoping to see each other again.
So in same cases, you can go back home to a place that hasn't changed much. When it's time for her to retire, she'll come back here to her home in this small town which she loves even though she could probably afford to retire almost anywhere.
Last edited by marino760; 08-09-2022 at 06:55 AM..
I don't think the topic of "where" has been beaten to death, as pointed out, it's a major consideration for most people, even if they decide to stay where they are.
Although I love where I live, I have found out that there are no rheumatologists on the Western Slope, rather, there are two and they aren't taking any new referrals. I will have to fly to Denver (an hour flight) to see a specialist if it comes to that for my current difficulties. I remember "medical mecca" in Boston!
It is quite a trade off.
Part of my calculations of what I "would save" living in the city involve how quickly it might kill me since my spirit would die in that environment. Oh, I suppose I might live longer.......but I probably would be very bitter, in a daily reminder of how mean and thoughtless the world is in surroundings that do nothing to dash that.
This morning, I was rushed passed by a big pickup truck blowing its horn at me when I slowed from 45 to 30 coming into town. It is not marked on that side of the road but it is on the opposite and often going home, I have people coming up my tail pipe to treat all that road as 45.
My temperment is that not really to get bent out of shape of things, usually "Well, if it is that important to you," though this morning it was "Speed on, Brother! Hell ain't half full!' but eventually, we can reach a point where we tip over to other side if there isn't enough to keep us on the good side.
Eyes, teeth, and joints, yes, I have my problems, my pains, too! In the case of pains, no outside way to handle or "neutralize" them, either.
Right now, I'd rather be alone in a forest with my many animal friends than alone in a city with only a few.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda
After reading through this thread, I decided to take the opportunity to go to P+ and rewatch the episode. The show aired in 1960 and according to the train conductor, it was July 1888 when the train stops in Willoughby, so 72 years in the past, to a more idyllic, slow-paced time for Gart Williams.
I find it interesting that almost as much time has now passed since the episode first aired (62 years), and now people want to escape from the fast-past world of 2022 to the more idyllic, slow-paced world of 1960.
This episode also reminds me of one of my favorite Woody Allen movies, Midnight in Paris. While on a trip to Paris, the disillusioned protagonist goes for a walk, and at midnight comes across a 1920s automobile, gets in, and finds himself transported to the 1920s where he meets some famous writers and experiences life in what he believes to be Paris's golden age. But while there, he meets a woman, they go for a walk, encounter a horse and carriage, get in, and they are mysteriously transported in time to the 1880s Belle Epoch Era, the time in which that girl feels was Paris's Golden Age. And then while there, they meet some famous impressionist painters who believe that Paris has passed its prime and that the Renaissance was Paris's Golden Age.
The point being that everyone thinks that their own time period basically sucks and that they would be happier living in an earlier time period when life was better. Thirty to fifty years from now, I'm sure that people will look back on the 2020s as a great time to be alive.
I can watch that episode anytime I wish; I have 3 TWZ series, all on DVD.
A curious thing or two is that we have to remember with good old Rod, there is usually an unexpected twist in the story. Often "bad" as with this or the similar story "Of Late I think of Cliffordville" (Albert Salami, Julie Newmar) but sometimes good like "A hundred yards over the rim".
As to we all think living in an earlier time would be better, well, there's A and B. A: It is 20/20 hindsight and that works best when you have all the answers, there is nothing unknown. It was speculated at one time that if the Titanic had rammed the berg instead of trying to avoid it, it would not have sunk (now, what we know about the metal quality of then, who knows?). The bow would have been crushed, everyone one in it dead, but isn't a few hundred lost better than over 1500?
Except, those 1500 dead would be a completely unknown, a non consideration,.....and there wouldn't be an admiralty court that wouldn't hang Mr. Murdoch out to dry for failure to take standard evasive action.
B: Still, looking at things now, all in all, I shudder at what is to come.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 08-09-2022 at 09:04 AM..
Both DH and I think our generation probably lived in the best time and place for humans in history.
I know every generation thinks the next one will not do as well but this time I think it might be a valid concern. At least in this area of the world.
But there's an ebb and flow to history and the bright side is that tough times make for strong and resourceful people.
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