SMALL TOWN LIFE

For the moment I am living in a small town, I actually grew up and was raised in the country on a farm about three miles from this town. After living in cities for so many years, small town life is tough. Perhaps it is because I am gay or perhaps it is just because of who I am. Let me describe the town.
It was once a rural centre, where farmers would come to do their marketing. The town was founded on the basis of the railway so it became a stop where crops could be shipped via the trains. The town has all the basic necessities today, but if people want luxuries most drive the 20 miles to the city. This small town has no public transport, no cinema and two trains a day on the Windsor-Quebec corridor offer the only escape except for the automobiles everyone has. Small towns make a car a necessity. Living in a city with out a car you forget that in small towns everyone has a car. All the families I know have at least two cars most more. The town is not planned so you can easily walk to a shop or grocery store. Even kids get bussed to school if they live more than a mile from the school. Public transport is not feasible in a town so small and it makes the automobile king.

The town had its roots as an agriculture centre, but now is more of a suburb for the city near by and somewhat of a centre for automotive parts production for the big assembly plants easily accessible from Detroit/Windsor to Oakville via the highways. Ironic that a town so dependent on the car helps manufacture them.

Most people would say the town is a great place to raise a family. At first glance that seems like a good idea, in a small town you are more likely to know your neighbours, the community is still largely based on churches and the smaller schools seem like better places than the larger city schools for kids to be educated. But a small town also lacks the museums, galleries and complete sport facilities (Apart from the ice rink present in every small town in Canada!) of a larger urban centre. But a small town also lacks exposing people to different cultures. And the churches can also make people somewhat narrow minded and provincial.

The town was first settled by the British but after the Second World War came the Dutch and the Portuguese. Both communities are very strong in the town. While the majority of people are still of British roots, the newer immigrants have more traditions and cultural reasons for staying cohesive. I went to school with the first of the Canadian-born children of the Dutch and Portuguese. The town now has several Dutch Delis and several Portuguese Bakeries. But gradually through inter-marriage these groups are losing their uni-cultural identity and becoming a part of multi-cultural Canada.

For a gay man, small towns don’t offer much. Everyone stays in the closet for fear of rumours. While there certainly are gays in this town, they all go to the city where it is easier to be themselves. I want out!