Living near people or big separation

[lph]

I like having it all

Oslo is probably a small town to most of you. The town itself is easily bikeable, and from most of the residential areas around Oslo you can also bike into town given just a little bit of oomph. The single best thing about it is that it's surrounded by woods, and lies on the coast as well, so the affluent or lucky ones can live by the seaside. We also have decent public transportation, at least if you keep your wits about you when picking where to live.

I spent most of my childhood years in an isolated area, not more than an hours drive out of Oslo, but very sparsely populated, and I would not go back to living that way. We didn't have a car, so we were dependent on the bus which ran at best once an hour, we scarcely had any neighbours and our circle of contacts was just very limited. Any socializing had to be rigorously planned. I wouldn't mind living like that if I had a large family and somewhat more friends and neighbours around, but that degree of isolation I would not choose.

It did leave me with a need to "keep my back free", though. I live right up against the woods surrounding Oslo, and can wander right into them in the course of minutes and be gone for hours, without having to cross a single road, just minor driveways. Living like that makes me happy I like having neighbours, and I very much enjoy having large communal green areas where kids play, people walk their dogs, you bump into people you know. But I still need to have one side "free". A park is not the same.

btw, since being car-free has come up - that was a big part of choosing where to live. We wanted close to the woods, not more than about 25 min by public transport/35 minutes by bike to the town centre, and then within our budget of course. Stuck a pin and drew a circle, and narrowed it down.