There is a debate about which is better to live in – country or city. I grew up in the country, yet have lived more years in the city.

The advantages of the country are the quiet vistas of forest and fields, ponds and lakes and streams. A beaver dam. Treehouses. A variety of wildlife, including deer, raccoons, porcupines, bears and seagulls to name a few.

Cleaning the land by burning hayfields and blueberry barrens and trash at the dump. Indians used to make fields for gardens by setting the woods afire. Gardens of corn for raiding at night by girls and boys. Apple trees. Picnics. Mowing the lawn. Working in the great outdoors.

Now, we must be fair concerning cities. Parks for play and pets. Fountains in city squares. The city skyscape. Neighborhoods. The convenience of post offices and libraries and Mom and Pop stores and schools. Fire stations and police stations. Hospitals. Apartments. Lawns. Playing stickball in the streets.

So quiet, so cold

Street sweepers and neighborhood crime watch. Jobs for youth such as papergirls and boys, at drugstores, and as interns in office buildings. And let’s not forget being a lifeguard down at the local YMCA.

However, there is a downside to country and city living. I’ve experienced a few snags in each one, and came away the wiser. Oh, have I!

The country is too quiet, yet the noises in the woods at night while hitchhiking home will cause gray hairs. Beaver dams block streams. Deer eat up spring gardens, raccoons and bears raid garbage cans. Ever hear the expression “as fast as green corn through the new maid?” Ever get a stomachache from green apples? Smell a burning dump? Cutting wood at zero degrees and that wind! Working at the local paper mill. Ever-increasing shopping centers. Abandoned cars on cement blocks. Cabin fever. Man, I grew up on two TV stations.

Those Friday night fights

Now the city. Doggy-doo on every conceivable surface. Police and fire and ambulance sirens. Paved parking lots. Postage-stamp lawns. Working in a high rise. Not knowing the guy across the hall in an apartment building, but hearing the Friday night fights at the Kramdens upstairs (To the moon, Alice!). The closing of Mom and Pop stores. Crime. Playgrounds are the streets. Pigeons and seagulls at fast-food restaurants. Abandoned cars on cement blocks. Can’t drink the water. Smog. Strikes by the garbage union. Wildlife, as in feral monkeys and escaping gorillas at the zoo, barking dogs, the nightly cat fights (To the moon, Fluffy!).

Space travel is an adventure, you know. How much is a ticket to Mars?

Edward M. Turner is a freelance writer living in Biddeford who has published stories, essays and poems. His novel, “Rogues Together,” won the 2002 Eppies Award for best in action/adventure.