Dan Mills on Rural Living

From: Dan Mills
To: infomorning@halifax.cbc.ca
Cc: dan mills
Sent: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 12:49 PM
Subject: Fw: country living




Dear CBC:Information Morning,

I may have misunderstood, but I think the question I heard suggested is that rural living is less expensive than urban living. If that is the case,I don't think any of you at CBC ever tried living in the boonies like I and so many others do by choice.

Depending upon how far we live from all the amenities which can be found not too far from city doors,the costs escalate.I live on Digby Neck, just ten miles from a small town.Many live 15 miles further down on the mainland, while others live on one of two islands that require ferry trips beyond the mainland....

The farther we have to go, the more expensive the trip. If folks come from the farthest Island,it costs them two ferry tolls. When we get to Digby, we have but 2 choices to shop for groceries. You know what that means? No real competition, so prices for the basics are optimum. That's not to say that the flyers do not advise us from time to time of one discount, but you have to consider if the cost to get there in transportation and time is worth the trip to save a few cents on a roll of bread.

Of course, you must know that we have to pay more for gasoline here in the country as compared to metro. In metro, if you drive, you will likely find what you need within a mile or so. Here, we may have to drive forty or more miles just for some basic need.

Take a look at Health Care. In the City there are hospitals and clinics within minutes from most homes. Here,a good part of the time our out-patient service is closed for lack of medical practitioners. Did you know that one of the most normal of things in creation, having a baby, cannot take place in Digby County?

A woman has to travel to Kentvllle in Kings or Yarmouth Regional in Yarmouth County to give birth! Picture the young woman a few years ago (a friend and neighbor) who had a series of false alarms over some weeks,a young husband who had to ply his trade each day from early morn to night, and 2 or 3 A.M. trips from Digby Neck to Kentville at many times to get there and find out "It's not the time!"

I have a neighbor now whose wife five weeks ago suffered a massive stroke.She's been in Yarmouth Hospital ever since. Their children come from the city in their hours off work,and the husband stays by her bedside all the time so she shall not be alone.That's 75 miles away. When family members come,he comes to his place to check their pets and so forth. Eating meals at the cafeteria cost a minimum of $70.00 per week.....And gas to and fro isn't cheap. (In the city, you can grab a bus to do the same.) Weive in a very real world here!Even when we are old!

We have people here who travel 3 days per week to Yarmouth for dialysis. That's a long and tiring and expensive day.(It seems a snub to us here because there is an excellent machine in our local hospital for carrying out that function with people who can do it,but bureaucracy has decided 'no'.)

The last time I went to a movie was to see "Titanic" at the nearest theatre in Yarmouth. That was nearly 15 years ago. It was a great trip there, but the return took place in a blinding snowstorm on highway 101- that 60 mile stretch! At nearly 74, it's not an appealing enterprise to repeat that again! (So I watch re-runs of "Murder She Wrote! on TV most nights!)

I needed a pair of winter boots a year or so ago. We have no shoe or clothing store in our little town. I suppose one could buy "cardboard" footwear at the nearby big box place, but if you want something good that will last a few years and give you comfort, you have to go to Yarmouth or Greenwood at best to find it.

Need I rant on? And my rant is no complaint, let me assure you! I love where I live, and that by choice.So do all the people who here support with their labor the medical and educational system, as all other government workers. They too choose to live here, and they pay the price of seemed inconvenience.

At days end though, they deserve and earn the pay of anyone who works in public service in metro, can't you see?....Or to put it another way, my humble "think" is that the premier and his crowd would like us all to move to metro- in the slums or otherwise according to our personal wealth (or lack thereof) - so the rape of land and sea and forest can drive all of us out of rural Nova Scotia in the name of "The Economy!"

Therein lies the rub! People are the economy of a community,a province, or a country! The work that people do in any part is worthy of equal pay.


Dan Mills
RR 4 , Digby NS
BOV 1AO

902-245-5171