Weird things you tolerate where you live?

[BlackCurtains]

I live in a sketchy neighborhood. I've heard gunshots twice since living here, one was over a car accident which I also heard, then there was yelling and finally someone shot a gun. I don't think it hurt anyone because I didn't read anything about it, so maybe it was shot into the air (which is its own scary thing). The second time was further away but I could also hear yelling.

Weapons are forbidden in the complex, as are drugs, but of course there are people who break those rules. There always is. My neighbor has a friend that will come by and park near the front of my building and they smoke weed in the car. The smell wafts up to my apartment. I hate that smell.

Regarding sidewalks - Where I grew up in Wisconsin, the sidewalks were built along with the roads, so they were nice and straight. There was a few spots in older neighborhoods where the sidewalk went around a tree, but mostly it was a smooth, straight path with square corners. Here in Florida where I live, shoulders on roads and sidewalks were an afterthought. A lot of roads don't have either one. When they put sidewalks in they follow the land. So they are curvy with ups and downs and the corners are round. That's only if you're lucky enough to have sidewalks.

[Beth3346]

no mass transit. can't safely walk to any grocery stores, restaurants, or any other retail. There are some sidewalks but the store is miles away and getting there requires crossing a highway where the speed limit is 65mph. i also hate the weather. it's either too hot, too cold, or raining. we get a handful of tolerable days in the spring and fall.

there is construction noise right now because homes are still getting built. i support more home building but lack of affordable housing is an issue. i don't understand why people are against affordable housing. i think they're just mean and cruel. it's getting unaffordable especially with rising interest rates. i don't think i could afford to buy my house if i had to qualify for a loan today. we're already spending more than we really wanted to.

surprisingly i don't hear gunshots or anything like that. since Texas. i do live in a somewhat rural, but rapidly growing into suburban county and i see a lot of pro-gun, "come and take it" stickers on trucks and cars. sometimes flags with far right type messaging. there are also a couple of misguided billboards blaming Biden for gas prices. despite this i do occasionally see people with more inclusive messaging on their cars or lawns. also some of the towns had their first pride celebrations and they had good turnouts.

[Ponybookworm]

My village has no traffic lights, so people just chance crossing the main street. A few years ago a boy was killed crossing at the pharmacy, where the road bends. Why don't we have a crossing yet???

[BlackCurtains]

^ A busy intersection by my parent's house has no lights either. People are constantly getting into accidents there and I don't know how many pedestrians have been killed, a lot. Last year they put up a four way stop and added a turning lane, but it's still dangerous.

Florida is one of the most dangerous states for pedestrians and bicyclers.

[Strawberry Swirl]

Ever since moving ~8 months ago, there's a train that apparently passes by somewhere near each morning and night. And by that, I mean at the hours in which NOBODY (except for me of course because I'm part opossum) is awake by choice. I've wondered how many people it wakes up each day... Probably none, but who knows.

Before that, it was living next to a walking talking ticking time bomb of a man, but that's a whole other story entirely.

I FORGOT THE SEALS.
We have fur and leopard seals that sunbathe and breed in our town. When they come on shore on mass they STINK. Holy cow. Rotten fish smell for the whole day but they are both endangered AND the leopard seals get to be like a tonne.

I would still like to see them! Even though my nose is particularly sensitive, I always adore seeing local wildlife, no matter what it is. Come summertime, deer are sometimes seen out in the fields or woods. Wild rabbits occasionally pop up too, along with ducks, geese and pelicans in the lakes. Wild turkeys also exist around here. But I've also spotted hawks more than once, and bald eagles on three different occasions. My favourite rare encounters though are the times a red fox trotted across the road right in front of my mom and I while we were driving home (she was on the phone talking to somebody and stopped mid sentence to tell the other person a fox just walked past lol), and the flock of turkey vultures picking at what I think was a deer carcass driving with my dad into another town.
Oh, and pheasants! Don't forget the pheasants.

Oh, the animal nerd that is myself could talk for hours about the creatures I've seen. Those ones were just around my area and slightly beyond; I haven't even mentioned the gigantic snapping turtle sitting on the road when my mom and I vacationed in the state below us.

[Loa]

Ever since moving ~8 months ago, there's a train that apparently passes by somewhere near each morning and night. And by that, I mean at the hours in which NOBODY (except for me of course because I'm part opossum) is awake by choice. I've wondered how many people it wakes up each day... Probably none, but who knows.

Before that, it was living next to a walking talking ticking time bomb of a man, but that's a whole other story entirely.

I FORGOT THE SEALS.
We have fur and leopard seals that sunbathe and breed in our town. When they come on shore on mass they STINK. Holy cow. Rotten fish smell for the whole day but they are both endangered AND the leopard seals get to be like a tonne.

I would still like to see them!

Next time I'm down there I'll ask them to pose.

[Artemesia's Garden]

Our other (South African) neighbour and his interesting ideas on gardening. (Who uses a pickaxe to remove bamboo?!)

We just had to buy a mattock for this job. It can be pretty hardcore problem to have in the garden! Possibly a handy guy to know... 

@Loa we saw penguins on a telly program once about how they live in a town by the sea... they look very amusing and captivating! I'll take your word for it though. I have a very sensitive sense of smell.

[brightberry]

There are entire neighborhoods in San Antonio where the invasive bamboo has taken over.  Every year my friend and his neighbors have to clear out spaces for their gardens, out of driveways and away from their homes. The fences have long since been hidden by bamboo forests. 

I'm used to my neighbors and their gigantic trucks and the fact that they spend all day/night working on them even though the trucks are in perfect condition.  I guess its their version of brushing pony hair.

[Beth3346]

never thought about it before. but i can imagine penguins and seals would smell. they're cute on TV. i think i prefer TV animals without the smell.

[Carrehz]

The sewers around here have a tendency to stink. Really, really badly. Don't even get me started on how much of a nightmare it was as a kid, trying to concentrate on school when the windows were wide open and the sewers were at their worst. *shudder* I dunno what's up with it. It's not all the time, just sometimes.

i think i prefer TV animals without the smell.

[BlackCurtains]

Oh yeah. Speaking of smelly things. The water.

Florida, at least in smaller cities and places near the ocean and Gulf, has tap water you cannot drink! I mean, you can but it's not advisable. Often it smells like fish or has sand in it. Sometimes it smells strongly of sulfur. At my grandmother's place when I was a kid, I had to take baths and shower with sulfur water. We usually took showers at the beach instead. If that water smelled it was covered by the ocean scents. Most people buy water. When I moved I bought a filter that attaches right to the faucet so you can turn it on and have filtered tap water. I also live downtown, so the water is municipal instead of ground. It tastes good but sometimes it still smells fishy.

[Artemesia's Garden]

blaming Biden for gas prices.

Huh? OK that's a new one on me. Communitites everywhere seem more divided so it's interesting that you see evidence for views on both ends of the spectrum even in such a conservative state. In my local area it looks like chocolate-box villages but people have this fake passive-agressive attitude where they talk up a good storm about doing charity work and like to show how virtuous they are, but they are really not nice people. For example, they drive dangerously and hate poor people.

Post Merge: June 24, 2022, 05:54:09 AM

There are entire neighborhoods in San Antonio where the invasive bamboo has taken over.

Horrors! I knew it! It's started here too, I keep noticing it in ditches and central reservations. It's the reason we got our house cheap  /

[Beth3346]

blaming Biden for gas prices.

Huh? OK that's a new one on me. Communitites everywhere seem more divided so it's interesting that you see evidence for views on both ends of the spectrum even in such a conservative state. In my local area it looks like chocolate-box villages but people have this fake passive-agressive attitude where they talk up a good storm about doing charity work and like to show how virtuous they are, but they are really not nice people. For example, they drive dangerously and hate poor people.

I actually blame most of my problems on Ronald Reagan so we're all pretty irrational down here in Texas.  In all seriousness i think it's a similar mentality to blaming all of a sports team's problems on the coach or the star player. it's easy. people know who the president is. they become the face of whatever is going right or wrong.

IMO Texas politics are not well represented in a lot of media. most of the urban areas and even more suburban areas are pretty liberal. statewide we're ruled by more and more extreme conservative politicians. but statewide elections here are closer than they used to be. i don't think we can vote all of our problems away. Texas politics is ruled by a few people with a lot of money. it's also heavily influenced by oil and gas. so many people work in oil and gas and adjacent industry. and there are a lot of keep taxes low, pro-business types who vote Republican. as if Dems aren't just as influenced by big business. i remain hopeful but Texas keeps disappointing me. i really want to leave but family obligations keep me here for now.

[Strawberry Swirl]

I actually blame most of my problems on Ronald Reagan so we're all pretty irrational down here in Texas.  In all seriousness i think it's a similar mentality to blaming all of a sports team's problems on the coach or the star player. it's easy. people know who the president is. they become the face of whatever is going right or wrong.

IMO Texas politics are not well represented in a lot of media. most of the urban areas and even more suburban areas are pretty liberal. statewide we're ruled by more and more extreme conservative politicians. but statewide elections here are closer than they used to be. i don't think we can vote all of our problems away. Texas politics is ruled by a few people with a lot of money. it's also heavily influenced by oil and gas. so many people work in oil and gas and adjacent industry. and there are a lot of keep taxes low, pro-business types who vote Republican. as if Dems aren't just as influenced by big business. i remain hopeful but Texas keeps disappointing me. i really want to leave but family obligations keep me here for now.

TBH this doesn't surprise me because oftentimes, I've found that the typical citizen of a given state or country or other area disagrees with the big wigs in charge, even if only a little bit. But also, the stereotype that the South is full of close minded Bible-thumpers and the North is where all the 'modern' minded people live is alive and well. I'm in the Midwest in a town that is more right-minded, if you get my drift, while I've heard of thriving minority communities on the other end of the USA- including in Texas, your state! (I seem to have a lot of friends in/from Texas, I don't know why...)

Which brings me to my second contribution - I don't know about y'all but some places still have signage or writing cheering on Trump; some have been there since all the way back in 2016. Some folks still have bumper stickers from that time, or from the 2020 election. Now I understand disappointment if your "side" didn't "win" but seriously? Why would you want to keep that stuff around that long? I've never heard or seen this sort of thing outside Trump, it'd be like if I had a sign in my front yard urging my neighbors to vote for Eisenhower. In 2022!  Idungeddit.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I actually blame most of my problems on Ronald Reagan so we're all pretty irrational down here in Texas.  In all seriousness i think it's a similar mentality to blaming all of a sports team's problems on the coach or the star player. it's easy. people know who the president is. they become the face of whatever is going right or wrong.

IMO Texas politics are not well represented in a lot of media. most of the urban areas and even more suburban areas are pretty liberal. statewide we're ruled by more and more extreme conservative politicians. but statewide elections here are closer than they used to be. i don't think we can vote all of our problems away. Texas politics is ruled by a few people with a lot of money. it's also heavily influenced by oil and gas. so many people work in oil and gas and adjacent industry. and there are a lot of keep taxes low, pro-business types who vote Republican. as if Dems aren't just as influenced by big business. i remain hopeful but Texas keeps disappointing me. i really want to leave but family obligations keep me here for now.

TBH this doesn't surprise me because oftentimes, I've found that the typical citizen of a given state or country or other area disagrees with the big wigs in charge, even if only a little bit. But also, the stereotype that the South is full of close minded Bible-thumpers and the North is where all the 'modern' minded people live is alive and well. I'm in the Midwest in a town that is more right-minded, if you get my drift, while I've heard of thriving minority communities on the other end of the USA- including in Texas, your state! (I seem to have a lot of friends in/from Texas, I don't know why...)

Which brings me to my second contribution - I don't know about y'all but some places still have signage or writing cheering on Trump; some have been there since all the way back in 2016. Some folks still have bumper stickers from that time, or from the 2020 election. Now I understand disappointment if your "side" didn't "win" but seriously? Why would you want to keep that stuff around that long? I've never heard or seen this sort of thing outside Trump, it'd be like if I had a sign in my front yard urging my neighbors to vote for Eisenhower. In 2022!  Idungeddit.

Have you seen the episode of Black Mirror titled The Waldo Moment? Look at the date before you watch it. My take: Trump became a 'new media' construct and he still has fans I guess.

Apologies for wandering off topic!