thebitterbabe

And boy does this sound like the “mixed bag” that was my life in L.A.:

Moving to the city will solve some problems and add new ones. It will provide a woman with privacy– she will be able to come home late without the neighbors talking, but this new gift of privacy also means she doesn’t know her neighbors. It means no lawn to mow, no home to keep up, no taxes to pay, but it also means busy streets too dangerous for your eight-year-old to ride his bike on. It means higher costs for food and baby sitters. But perhaps the greatest advantage for a woman alone is that the city gives her an environment where she is not considered out of step with the rest of the world. She may not know her neighbors, but they include other mothers, single women, widows, bachelors– a variety of people alone whom she can seek out if she wishes. In short, living in the city can mean a mixed bag of freedom, variety, and loneliness.

— Patricia O’Brien, The Woman Alone, pp. 126-127