Monday
Oct252010
Life in Suburbia
Monday, October 25, 2010 at 4:49AM
Every city or town has its suburbs, and they just so happen to the places where a vast portion of the state's voters live. And so it is in the suburbs where I often find myself, walking from street to street, traversing up a variety of pathways, and knocking on an eclectic mix of doors. It's always fun to guess whether this door bell is going to work, or figure out if there is a knocker. I often have to resort to opening screen doors and just using my knuckles. It is not unusual for me to find various paint marks on my knuckles after a day of hitting the houses.
Because the thing I find most about the suburbs, is that these doors are old, and are often in need of some TLC. (That's tender, loving care for you Americans). One might expect them to need a lick of paint and some home improvements because they are used so much right? Well in actual fact, I find it's the opposite reason. These doors are barely opened. I honestly cannot tell you the number of times I have face-planted a spider's web, which form over the rarely used entrance ways. Dust and dirt gather around door handles, hinges look rusty and sound creaky, and I regularly worry I am going to fall through old wooden planks on the patio.
This seems to be because a large number of Wisconsinites simply prefer to keep their front door locked, and enter the house through either an attached garage, or via a side door or back door. Whichever is closest to the car. There is probably good reason for this; no sense traipsing around to the front of the house with heavy shopping bags in 3 feet of snow in the winter! I do wonder what these people do when they have guests over though. Do they get directed around to the side of the house too? There have been many times when I knock on the front door and get sent to the back, or the owner randomly appears around the side of the house, because I am at the 'wrong' door.
In some places I have been, they don't even bother locking the front door. Anyone is free to just walk on in. I didn't think those places existed, but apparently some suburbs in Wisconsin are still safe enough to leave garages open and doors unlocked. It's nice that it's possible to do that, but is certainly a strange thing to come across. I went up to one house with the front door completely wide open. I knocked but there was no answer. A kid on the street behind me shouted up that no-one was home, but that they would be back around 4.30pm. I retorted that they must be home, because the door was obviously open. He replied "They leave it open all the time, there's no cars here, they're not in!" Imagine the consequences if we did that with our student house in Coventry!
Another thing I have observed about suburbia, and American roads in general, is the lack of street lights. It's kind of unnerving at first, to drive these streets with no lights except those from the car headlamps, and it does make the roads seem so different, not having lamp-posts on them. Everywhere is extremely dark. But then when you think about it, there really is no need for street lamps in these little side streets. They are just lined with houses, and each house will often have a light on the outside. And when you are inside, why do you need big bright lights on outside, shining into the dark room when you are trying to sleep? The same is true of main roads, the street lights are unnecessary. I hadn't stopped to think about it until now, but there are plenty of lights coming from shop windows and other car headlights, that having big huge lamppost wasting energy is just kind of redundant. Sure, in cities, it makes the roads a lot safer, but out in the suburbs they really don't seem worth the cost. Without them, it is a little harder to navigate in unfamiliar areas.
The one feature of suburbia that drives me crazy is the house numbers. At times they are just so incredibly illogical, it blows my mind. At first glance, houses appear to be missing, and it has become quite a skill to pinpoint which houses we have to go to, and where they will be located. Numbers regularly jump from 5340, to 5378 for example, then the next one might be 5400. You might find 102, 104, 106, 112, and then 200. Apartments, and homes with numbers like 56B are even more fun. And I kid you not, I have seen houses with numbers like 320 1/2. Now, it kind of makes sense in some ways that each block corresponds to a hundred number, so after you cross a street, the numbers will begin in the next hundred section. From 2500, to 2600 for example. But the rest of the numbers are just confusing. I also don't understand why the numbers are so high either! Whats wrong with 2, 4, 6 Kingston Road? Why do they have to be 1402, 1404, 1406?
Still, though at times it's challenging, I do enjoy wandering around suburbia. It's a great to see tons of different homes, and I am getting some great ideas for what I want my house to look like in the future. It certainly is fun to be nosey!
Because the thing I find most about the suburbs, is that these doors are old, and are often in need of some TLC. (That's tender, loving care for you Americans). One might expect them to need a lick of paint and some home improvements because they are used so much right? Well in actual fact, I find it's the opposite reason. These doors are barely opened. I honestly cannot tell you the number of times I have face-planted a spider's web, which form over the rarely used entrance ways. Dust and dirt gather around door handles, hinges look rusty and sound creaky, and I regularly worry I am going to fall through old wooden planks on the patio.
This seems to be because a large number of Wisconsinites simply prefer to keep their front door locked, and enter the house through either an attached garage, or via a side door or back door. Whichever is closest to the car. There is probably good reason for this; no sense traipsing around to the front of the house with heavy shopping bags in 3 feet of snow in the winter! I do wonder what these people do when they have guests over though. Do they get directed around to the side of the house too? There have been many times when I knock on the front door and get sent to the back, or the owner randomly appears around the side of the house, because I am at the 'wrong' door.
In some places I have been, they don't even bother locking the front door. Anyone is free to just walk on in. I didn't think those places existed, but apparently some suburbs in Wisconsin are still safe enough to leave garages open and doors unlocked. It's nice that it's possible to do that, but is certainly a strange thing to come across. I went up to one house with the front door completely wide open. I knocked but there was no answer. A kid on the street behind me shouted up that no-one was home, but that they would be back around 4.30pm. I retorted that they must be home, because the door was obviously open. He replied "They leave it open all the time, there's no cars here, they're not in!" Imagine the consequences if we did that with our student house in Coventry!
Another thing I have observed about suburbia, and American roads in general, is the lack of street lights. It's kind of unnerving at first, to drive these streets with no lights except those from the car headlamps, and it does make the roads seem so different, not having lamp-posts on them. Everywhere is extremely dark. But then when you think about it, there really is no need for street lamps in these little side streets. They are just lined with houses, and each house will often have a light on the outside. And when you are inside, why do you need big bright lights on outside, shining into the dark room when you are trying to sleep? The same is true of main roads, the street lights are unnecessary. I hadn't stopped to think about it until now, but there are plenty of lights coming from shop windows and other car headlights, that having big huge lamppost wasting energy is just kind of redundant. Sure, in cities, it makes the roads a lot safer, but out in the suburbs they really don't seem worth the cost. Without them, it is a little harder to navigate in unfamiliar areas.
The one feature of suburbia that drives me crazy is the house numbers. At times they are just so incredibly illogical, it blows my mind. At first glance, houses appear to be missing, and it has become quite a skill to pinpoint which houses we have to go to, and where they will be located. Numbers regularly jump from 5340, to 5378 for example, then the next one might be 5400. You might find 102, 104, 106, 112, and then 200. Apartments, and homes with numbers like 56B are even more fun. And I kid you not, I have seen houses with numbers like 320 1/2. Now, it kind of makes sense in some ways that each block corresponds to a hundred number, so after you cross a street, the numbers will begin in the next hundred section. From 2500, to 2600 for example. But the rest of the numbers are just confusing. I also don't understand why the numbers are so high either! Whats wrong with 2, 4, 6 Kingston Road? Why do they have to be 1402, 1404, 1406?
Still, though at times it's challenging, I do enjoy wandering around suburbia. It's a great to see tons of different homes, and I am getting some great ideas for what I want my house to look like in the future. It certainly is fun to be nosey!
Reader Comments (2)
A thoroughly enjoyable impression of suburbia. No need to define "tender loving care" for us Americans. TLC is standard in American english language. Thanks for a great piece of work! Keep them coming. (:->
Thanks Liz! I asked Nicole whether Americans said TLC, and she had never heard it! My apologies!