>It is just gosh-awful here in Vermont. I know the conventional view is of
>beautiful, lush green country with mountains and lakes all around, but
>that is just tourist BS. The population is exploding and we have terrible
>growth pains. The population of the state is somewhere near a half
>million, and Burlington, the largest city in the state, must be over
>50,000 people by now. I live about 3 miles from the university, as the
>crow flies, in a modest subdivision. When the farmer out back manures his
>fields, the smell would knock you over. Our rush hour often lasts as much
>as 45 minutes, and it frequently takes me more than 15 minutes to get to
>work, if you count how long it takes to park.
>Land costs are horrible; my daughter had to pay $38000 for a cabin and 10
>acres of land at the foot of a mountain, even though there is a stream
>running right through the middle of the land that makes it hard to drive
>right up to the cabin. In the next month or so, the *second* Wal-Mart
>will open in Vermont. Half the mailboxes have black cow spots painted on
>them. Except for the interstate, the roads are all twisty and hilly,
>there are mountains all over the place, and you need a sports car to make
>decent time. And hey, the weather is just terrible. Your CA-acclimated
>body would freeze here. It is -30F just all the time, and the wind is
>terrible, and we suffer endlessly. It is just horrible. Californians
>would hate it here.
>
>WRG
>
> Ray Gibbons Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
> Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
> gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu (802) 656-8910
I have some good friends that must agree with you. They could only take it
for six months, having moved to Vermont from New Mexico this past fall they
will be moving to Phoenix in February. According to them, Vermont has
three seasons: Winter, mud season, and bug season (known to others as
summer). They lived in a similar cabin at the foot of a mountain, and the
woman literally nearly slit her wrists from cabin fever this past winter.
She suffered also from Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) a common
affliction for those living in areas where the sun doesn't break through
the overcast skies for weeks on end during the winter when the days are
short anyway (I'm very familiar with it because my wife suffered from it in
Chicago, which is one of the reasons we moved back south where palm trees
grow). The lush foliage and tall trees, although beautiful in themselves,
increased the claustrophobia and exacerbated the situation. Apparently the
lack of cultural distractions in the Burlington metropolitan area and the
less than warm reception from the natives didn't help the situation.
Interesting how one man's heaven is another's hell and how one man's folly
is another's fantasy. I say if *you* like the MGA Coupe, then *buy* the
MGA Coupe (note clever addition of LBC content).
David Littlefield
Houston, TX
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