Leaving the city behind was my best decision ever

WHO needs the perfect macchiato made by the ultimate hipster when you have the peace and quiet of the Northern Rivers?

MOOOVE ALONG: These are the type of traffic jams we have to contend with on the Northern Rivers. Picture: Susanna Freymark

A LIGHTNING trip to the city to fetch a neighbour recovering from open-heart surgery was all I needed last week to convince me (again) I made the right decision some 16 years ago to get out of the Big Smoke permanently.

I was born and bred in Sydney and spent the majority of my life there until 2003, when I sold up and moved to the Northern Rivers.

I've never looked back; for those who make a sea- or tree-change and think they've made a mistake, I say leave behind your expectations and desire for city living, along with the pollution and overcrowding.

So what if you can't find the perfect macchiato like Tristan the Hipster Barista made for you in Newtown.

And for heaven's sake, when you get stuck on a country road waiting for the cows to cross to the dairy to be milked, don't get shirty and shout at the farmer that you're running late for a coffee date; where do you think the milk for that coffee comes from?

I find the longer I stay away from cities the harder it is to go back, even for a short time.

It costs a fortune to own a car in a city; parking and tolls eat into wages quicker than you can say motorway.

Traffic jams last for hours, accidents happen frequently, and courtesy is non-existent.

If there was a law to the effect that the cause of death had to be displayed on headstones, there would be far too many that said, "I Had Right of Way".

Just because you have it doesn't mean you will get it, and what's wrong with pausing and waving a person out of a parking space just to brighten their day?

Too many people in cities are in a permanent rush; time is money.

The other problem I find now in the city is navigation.

Long gone are the days where you found your way with a book of maps (and the destination was so often in the bit that disappeared between pages).

Now I have GPS on my phone and, without too many exceptions, it gets me where I need to go.

Occasionally there are problems; it has a habit of telling me to exit a motorway about three seconds too late, and it chose a route home last week that would have taken me two hours out of my way and no amount of remonstrating would convince it otherwise.

I'd also like to see a little adjustment made in my GPS.

The irritatingly calm electronic voice (male, by choice - the female sounds smug) never, ever praises me when I pull off an intricate manoeuvre.

Would it hurt to have it say, "Oh well done, that three-point turn was perfect"?