Today we will be talking all about my city. Since I was
given the option to choose either the city I live in or the city I was born in,
I decided to do both!! Did you expect anything else? The city I was born in and
the town that I currently call home are complete polar opposites--Night and
day. I grew up as a city girl with a thick Yankee accent and now I go to the
river to watch rubber ducks racing. (True story…you’ll read about it below). I
am going to offer you a comparison of sorts between the two…hopefully by the
end I will have convinced you how amazing small town southern living is!
I was born in Philadelphia, PA and lived there until I was
24.
Population:1,548,000 as of 2012
*The city smells. Awful.
*It is so terribly dirty. Look, I’ve been to NYC and I know
what that many people can do to a city. But c’mon people, have a little
respect. I cannot count the number of people I have witnessed dropping
McDonald’s cups, take out containers, PIZZA BOXES (no joke) and anything else
right on the ground without a second thought.
*There is a layer of smog that coats the entire city. Seriously,
I didn’t know what a cloud truly looked like until I was 24.
*The closest beach is 90 minutes away, and the water is grey
at best. And that’s on a good day.
*Don’t expect anyone to be nice to you. Seriously. I once had
a nun yell at me on the subway for having my bag too far out in the aisle.
Downtown Philly...crowded much?
*Speaking of the subway, I had TWO grown men on TWO separate occasions
grab my crotch. Apparently riding the subway during rush hour, in jeans, is an
open invitation for someone to grope you. I must have missed that memo.
*It gets cold. Like really, really cold. And then it snows,
and the snow turns to slush. And then that dirt that I mentioned above gets
trapped in the slush. Every winter the city turns into a pile of wet, black
mush that coats everything. Charming, right?
Philly slush at its finest
*The crime rate is outrageous. The year that I decided to
move down south, there were 405 homicides in Philly!
Four-hundred-and-five...Getting a bit ridiculous, dontchathink!?
*Nobody looks out for anyone. People don’t hold doors. You
get cut off on a daily basis. Cars don’t even stop for funeral processions! I
am sure at one time or another, the city had some charm and decency, but I was
never around to see it!
*Ok, so the food is amazing and you can have Chinese food delivered at 2am. I get that there are pro-sports teams and there is ALWAYS something to do. Is it all worth it? Not even a little bit!
I now live in Milton FL, a teeny little town in the Florida
panhandle.
Population: 9,140 (Familiar with the famous Madison Square Gardens in NYC? My entire town could fit in there. Twice. Puts it into perspective huh?)
*The city never smells. Like, ever.
*It is one of the cleanest towns I’ve ever seen. Little known
fact about my town---we use the inmates to clean the roads! Every day as you
drive down the street you will see inmates picking up trash and sweeping the
roads and the wonderful gun-toting warden on the sidelines. Now THERE is our tax dollars actually working
for us!
*The sky is absolutely stunning! I didn’t know that blue
existed in some of the shades I have seen down here. You can see for miles!!
*The beach is 20 minutes away, and the water is crystal blue.
Seriously, you can stand in water as deep as your shoulders and still see the
fish swimming around your feet. And the sand? None of that grayish-brownish
crap down here…Our sand is WHITE!
*Everyone is nice. I’m not joking---everyone is nice. When I
first moved it took me so long to realize that the random man waving as I walk
down the street and the woman who offered to carry my groceries to the car were
honestly doing it just to be nice!
*In the summertime, we have an annual “Milltown Duck Race.”
Throughout the year, the town sells numbers for $10 each. Each of these numbers
is written on a rubber duckie (you read that right). On the 4th of
July, during the festival at the river, a big giant dump truck drives up the
bridge and dumps hundreds of these rubber ducks into the river below. That’s
not the best part though---the crown sits anxiously (and believe me, we sit for
a longggg time…the speed of the ducks is based entirely on the current of the
river on that particular day) to see which of these ducks will make it to the
finish line first. The winner gets $1,000! And you thought your town was cool?
And they're off!!!
So now that you know a little more about my town(s), what about yours? Do you have duck races? Do people
drop pizza boxes on the ground? I’d love to hear all about it!!!
I would also like to wish a Happy 13th Birthday to my baby brother!!!!!! I can't believe he is a teenager already!!!
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