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Sun | July 17, 2005
best place
CNN/Money: Best places to live
Chatham, where I live, made this list of best places to live. Pretty amazing.
They are talking, of course, more about places to live out your life-- settle down, and raise children, etc, i.e., not about me, where I am now.
But I have, for awhile, felt that living here has its merits. As compared to living in the city, that is. Though mostly I have felt I was just rationalizing it, because it is where I live, and you've got to try to like where you live, if you are going to be happy. I think of it as getting the best of, or at least some of, both worlds-- being able to participate in the life of the city in some ways, and then getting the down time and alone time of getting away from it.
Money magazine says Chatham "feels more like a small New England town than a bustling Big Apple burb." True, more or less. It's a little New Englandy, though I think the name 'chatham' kind of makes you think that, mostly. It's a direct line to the city but it's not like some towns closer to the state line which seem to be more defined by new york, that are just more urban.
It even feels a bit countryish. Just the way the cicadas (or whatever they are) are humming away right now in crescendos and decrescendos. It's mostly quiet, except for the sound of landscapers' machines on certain mornings. And clean, and not polluted like new york, and not a strip mall, or with a Rte 10ish highway cutting through it, like other parts of nj.
I don't see how it's different, however, from any of the other towns along the train line, like Millburn or Short Hills. Speaking of which, I live two minutes away from the Short Hills mall, which, sorry to sound like such a consumer, but it is the best mall, ever. I try not to go too often because it sucks money out of you faster than Manhattan. But it's nice to know it's right there.
I don't participate in some of the benefits of living here. Apparently there are 5825 restaurants and 416 bars within a 15-mile radius, and 86 golf courses within a 30 mile radius. Also, Chatham was noted for its sense of community, according to an article about the ranking in the local paper. Ok, if you say so. I don't get any of that either. I talk to Phil who runs the Okinawan Karate place, but that's about all the community there is for me. I feel very isolated here, actually. But I stopped hoping to be connected with anyone around here years ago. They seem really irrelevant to me now and I would probably even be a little bothered if they talked to me.
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