Old Weird Ward
Unless otherwise noted, that which is posted here is opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution. If you don't like my opinions, go somewhere else. Nobody is forcing you to actually read this drivel.
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That may be a large assumption.
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Sunday, February 01, 2004
- - - - - A Californian Moves to Georgia - - - - -
We've been here in Georgia, as a complete family unit, for about a month and a half.
I'm going to talk a little bit about the differences between big city California, and small city/town Georgia.
St. Marys and Kingsland are in south-east Georgia, right off of US 95, about 20 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida.
On Friday night, while at the local supermarket, OWW and the kids ran into the elder daughter's math teacher. We had a nice chat, found out that she didn't leave her classroom until 6:30PM, even though school dismisses for the day at 2:30PM. She was planning for the up-coming week, and budgeting for the next school year. A very friendly conversation, and most enlightening.
The following day we were at the supermarket again (Superbowl supplies), and saw the younger daughter's kindergarten teacher and her husband. Another very friendly conversation.
Both kids were delighted to see their teachers, and both delivered big hugs to the teachers. That's cool....
The local paper is REALLY local, reporting in detail on local issues. The big issue right now is folding the St Marys Police Department into the Camden County Sheriff's Office. Pro and Con debate is quite vigorous and very civil. In contrast, the San Jose Mercury News is trying to cover a city of 800,000 and a county that contains 2 million-plus, AND the SF Bay Area, which has a population over 10 million. A difficult job that they are trying very hard to do, with some success. But the personal, civil flavor is missing.
Our Real Estate agent in St. Marys knows the entire area like the back of his hand, and seems to be on speaking terms, by first name, with about 1/2 of the people that we've met. And they know him, through some connection or other.
All of the service people we've met, in grocery stores and gas stations and at the lcoal phone company are cheerful and polite. And very competent.
When we drive out of town to the south on I95, we go towards Jacksonville, which is just another big city, so far as we're concerned. But to the north, we wind up in rural areas almost instantly. In San Jose, leaving town takes at least an hour.
These a just a few of the differences. I'll be discussing more of them, in bits and pieces, as I continue on in our new home.
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