Building the return of rural exodus back to the home city or countryside land plot

Consider: How often do you walk to Aldi? No, seriously: every big city has its territories and districts, it’s all similar to the countryside, where it’s also not a given to be addressed by name. Everyone is different: I personally like it when a waiter recognizes me and knows that I drink a Pinot. I’m also working on making sure that those from the Easter fire, with whom I have a beer informally, still know me tomorrow in everyday life while shopping. In that sense: my tip is above: try living there temporarily, whether the unfamiliar scares you because it’s foreign or because it doesn’t fit you.

Whereas closeness to family especially has advantages when it comes to child/children. Civil servants do not have 10 days of child sick leave per parent. Getting grandparents involved or taking vacation? That could offset the disadvantages of commuting.

Works as long as grandparents are still vital. Now the daycare is closed for 4 days. You just get by like that.

and a family can't live on A16, or what? Ridiculous. Especially in this case, every imaginable combination is possible (he at home, she at home, both part-time, one part-time one full-time, ...). The financial argument no longer applies here.

Yes, I already know that it is different for you. All good, but not an ideal picture either. A woman also has the right genes to deal with children. That is often missing in men and they quickly get overwhelmed. Especially when toddlers get sick. Women can do it better! But I know that you see it differently and that's good too.

No, seriously: every big city has its neighborhoods and districts, it’s all similar to the countryside, where it’s also not a given to be addressed by name.

Recently, I had a conversation with a taxi driver in Cologne. He said exactly the same thing. And I know something similar from acquaintances, friends, etc. who live in big cities.

Some of them really don’t get "out" of their "own" neighborhood. And then they want to tell you how great city life is (but only know the street two over), how amazing the cultural offerings are (last theater visit five years ago), how relaxed it is to get from A to B (with a car sometimes gladly taking 30 minutes for 5 kilometers) and so on and so forth...

It already makes me cringe when I’d have to do larger shopping, and then I carry (despite Rewe right across the street / around the corner) every damn beer bottle for the next birthday party home on foot (because once I’ve moved the car out from in front of the house, I won’t get a free parking spot there for the next two weeks) and still carry the beer bottle up to the 4th floor. Freedom looks different to me!

In your situation, I would rather be the Excel sheet type. Write down what you would like about a house and what you currently like. Make a decision matrix!

However... if your little heart would beat for a house in the countryside, then you would already see the advantages now.

Our son lives with his partner in the middle of Vienna, just a stone's throw from the Ring, where the Hundertwasserhaus is. Pro. No car needed. Doesn't have one either. Spar around the corner. Other shops too. Thirty thousand pubs, wine taverns, etc. close by. Contra. Apartment expensive. If you want to go to the countryside, you always have to drive first. Ownership there unaffordable. It's not anonymous. People already know each other in the neighborhood. Special. This is a really clean, safe, very polite big city. No comparison with Ham or even Ber. Young people even offer me a seat on the tram. It was really embarrassing for me. Karsten

/Karsten Did you sit down or refuse?