This blogger makes no secret of his love of the outdoors. Whether its woods or wilderness; swamps or savannas; fields or fens; meadows or marshes; pastures or plains, I’ll take being outside most any day to being enclosed in the glass and steel of the city.
Yes, there are plenty of interesting things to do in a metropolis, but if I have to pick one over the other, my first choice is always going to be the countryside.
As such, I’ve never understood those that willing live in crowded cities where greenery is almost non-existent and it’s a lengthy drive to romp in legitimate open space.
Apparently in the San Francisco Bay Area, green space is at such a premium that a new sharing app has been launched to allow you rent out your backyard or rooftop by the hour.
Nookzy allows the reservation of small “creative urban spaces,” according to its website.
In fact, it is currently beta testing a selection of backyard-based spas and saunas in San Francisco and Oakland, and is in the process of finding swimming pools and other amenities to list.
It has been called the “Airbnb of backyards,” referring to the website that enables people to list, find and rent lodgings for short periods.
Nookzy users can reserve spaces for as little as 30 minutes and as long as hosts are comfortable with.
Upon booking, guests will receive access permission and instructions, agreeing to host-specified conditions for conduct. During their reservation, guests will receive text message notifications, including when they have 15 minutes remaining in their reservation. Guests may extend their reservation if the space is still available.
I never cease to be amazed by the ingenuity of some. Those behind this app apparently identified a need and have created a means to fill it. Good for them.
On the other hand, I can’t help but feel for kids who live in an environment with so little green space that their parents have to go online to rent a backyard or pool. Seems like a rather Dickensian childhood in some respects.
(HT: Carpe Diem blog)
The Cotton Boll Conspiracy 
Green Acres is the place to be.
Farm livin’ is the life for me.
Land spreadin’ out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
source: http://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/greenacreslyrics.html and thanks to Vic Mizzy
Amen, Tom!
In cities, you can’t get away from machine noise, so it’s a shallow comparison. Granted, many city dwellers have never experienced its absence. Even in the former countryside, I can still hear traffic a half-mile away.
No doubt; I can’t imagine not being able to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city, or looking up in the sky at night and not being able to see a single star because of the lights.
Amateur astronomers used to come to my parents’ house to set up telescopes. I saw the Halley’s comet there. Now, there’s so much light and other pollution, I can’t even see the North star.
It’s amazing how development has encroached on areas that were once practically devoid of people. That’s rather amazing to go from a place where the view of the night sky was so good that people would set up their telescopes to not being able to see one of the brightest stars in the sky. I’m sure it’s indicative of many unfortunate trends in that neck of the woods.
Everywhere.
I worked in the city, I like to visit the city, but not to live there. It was worth a two hour commute each way to London to avoid that.
It worries us sometimes how long we will be able to maintain ourselves out in the country as we get older – so we’ll enjoy it while we can.
I once had a 2.5 hour commute to San Francisco from a rental south of San Jose, Calif. We looked at buying something closer and found a 1,000-square-foot duplex in a dingy suburb. No grass, bad neighborhood, concrete everywhere. $267,500 – and this was 20+ years ago. I decided then it was time to leave the Bay Area. Absolutely no regrets.
I hope you can stay in the country for as long as your heart desires.
Don’t they have parks? Or benches?
I suspect it’s a status thing. Having an event in a park probably isn’t “cool” enough for some.