Sometimes life in the city can feel like a trap. There comes a time, after a variable number of circumstances occur, that one no longer feels safe — no longer feels comfortable in going about on basic business. This is how I often feel in San Francisco. In order, for example, to get from uni to the financial district, where my bank is located, requires a tube trip through two of the worst neighbourhoods in the city — the Mission and Tenderloin. Taking bus from the financial district obliges me to travel through the Tenderloin — the worst neighbourhood by far. Walking through the city at times makes me feel trapped — people milling about everywhere, in some places getting so congested that basic movement becomes highly restricted by a distinct lack of space. At other times, seeing the crumbling splendour of by-gone eras and increasingly destructive graffiti, now carved into glass rather than just drawn on, makes me wish to conclude that perhaps these circumstances, these self-feeding spirals are feeding a growing number of people with mental instabilities or simply rude.
Boadicea's Chariot 
I sympathise with your feelings, Christopher. I could not live in a city, I’d hate it.
I used to feel differently when I was younger, I loved the atmosphere and the vibrancy, and I have many happy memories of San Francisco. I was a visitor though, and I have to say, I have never wanted to live in the USA.
San Francisco is a cesspit of vice and needs nuking!
Araminta: right now I am in the country again, sitting down drinking a cappuccino watching the sun set. There is something genteel, welcoming about rural life. San Francisco in the past few years has really started to run steep.
CO: You’re not too far off. One of my mates is a victim of this. He’s quite young, and very straight, but dirty old men have been known to make moves on him — it’s enough to make him sick and me somewhat irked.
I used to think I was a country boy but, after 15 years living in Hong Kong, I discovered I was mistaken. Give me the hustle and bustle of city life any time.
Bravo: it is not so much the hustle and bustle that bothers me, it is the sleaze, decay, and irksome sense of self-importance which San Francisco exudes that bothers me most. The difference between Hong Kong and San Francisco is that Hong Kong sells itself for what it is, San Francisco for what it was.
Roger that, Christopher.
I went to San Fran on honeymoon in ’94. I saw no squalor and found it the friendliest place in the US (I also went to Seattle, LA, LV and San Diego)
Alcatraz was simply amazing. We found some very friendly bars and taught the locals how to play proper pool and how to hold a cue! I never once got approached in that way, but I was too young to notice anyway!
We wondered around manily on foot as we had run out of cash by the time we went there and I have to say I enjoyed the place. It really must have deteriorated since. Clearly due to the fact that they heard I wasn’t going to come back!
I’m now a village/small towny – as long as a city is nearby! I want to walk from my house into countryside but be able to pop into a busy city when I get the urge!
In my present state of decrepitude, it is unlikely that any young person of any persuasion or dirty old man would move on me. I did notice, while in San Francisco, that there are parts of the city which did look really sleazy, but many parts that did not. In any case, I much prefer it to LA, where it is not even possible to identify where the heart of the city is!
As for city/country argument, the people who really annoy me are the ones who move to the country to “get away from it all”, then moan when it is not all there! I would not want to live in the country for a protracted length of time. I live in a large town that is within easy reach of both the country and London!
I’m a ‘towny’… the country is wonderful to look at, amazing atmosphere, wonderful scenery – for a limited time.
My dream would be to live in a huge apartment on top of or next to a fantastic Library with shops and restaurants in easy walking distance…
Cuprum: When I first went to San Francisco it was a neat, well-ordered city with a flawed, but largely reliable, public transportation system. There were the dull, fun, eccentrics, and insane — but all for the best and life simply went on. The biggest problem facing San Francisco, in my opinion, is poor planning and idiotic governance. Near my flat is an old art deco theatre, all original, and with some of the best details in the city — Egyptian Revival is the theme. For years it has been empty. An Asian company purchased it and submitted plans to restore and revitalise it. The city was happy, but the company also wanted to built additional flats on the property for rent. The plan was inoffensive and well in keeping with the original structure. The city has refused it time and time again, always throwing more and more obstacles in their way.
FEEG: true, that type has always irked me. Most of my life I have lived in the country and small towns and have seen a number of people like that. Usually they eventually head back to the city or suburbs.
Boadicea: my ideal town would have around 100,000 people. Enough for there to be things to see and do, but but enough to be utterly overwhelmed.
Been to New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. All fascinating in their own way, but give me a Cave on top of a hill any time.
OZ
Chris you had better move to Bellingham. Lot of high tech, only 80,000. Too bloody liberal for me but good shopping and music festivals, crap restaurants in my book, but better than the big cities of the West Coast.