What things could you do in your town that you can't anymore?

[Spinneret]

I would say going 10 yards away from my home and playing on the swings

 

[Schneewittchen37]

My house used to be walking-distance to a drive-in movie theater. Of course, we didn't walk, we drove. I saw "E.T" there and "The Toy" with Richard Pryor/Jackie Gleason. That theater has been closed about 35 years.

 

[shh]

Open the windows at night and enjoy relative quiet. Now it's all tuned up engines, illegal motorcycle mufflers, sirens. Neighborhood and surrounding areas are just much louder these days.

 

[mjkacmom]

Walk into a public school.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

When I was younger we had TWO outdoor movie theaters.
As of just a few years ago the one remaining closed.
It was so nostalgic and I'm happy my kids got to experience it.

 

[tvguy]

Park for free downtown.

 

[BethID]

Afford to buy a house

 

[disneychrista]

Going bowling or the roller skating rink. Dip fries in a frosty (at Wendy's).

 

[prairie_girl]

Get drunk for $5 on dollar drink nights.

A kid got drunk after being over served one night and fell in a river and drown so it was ended.

 

[amcnj]

Keeping it seasonal, I will say burning leaves. I still remember that aroma and associate it with the fall season.

 

[mrodgers]

Keeping it seasonal, I will say burning leaves. I still remember that aroma and associate it with the fall season.

I think we can still burn leaves, but only certain times and certain days. No one burns leaves. They bag them up and put them out for the garbage where I grew up. I currently don't have that option and am expected to load the inside of my nice car and haul them to the township building. Ah no, that's not happening. I'd rather compost them in my spare bedroom as my car cost 3 times what my house cost, lol. (and it isn't a relatively expensive car either, just a normal priced regular few year old used car.)

 

[lynxstch]

Safely walk downtown after dark. Too many drug deals going on down there anymore to make it safe

 

[Moliphino]

Go to middle school. Due to declining enrollment, it's all been combined into one K-8 school in what was previously a K-5 building. The middle school is closed.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Visit large (8 stories) department stores downtown - all closed - Eaton's and The Bay. Bay still open just in malls.

 

[Mysterian]

We had malls and movie theaters close too, here and in the adjacent town to the West. To the East, the next city over used to have a great movie theater that was super cheap, since they played movies that had just completed circulation in the normal theaters. The theaters had tables too. That, and all video stores are long gone of course.

 

[TippyThomas]

Safely drive a horse and buggy into town. I don't do that anymore but it seems as if people have become less patient with those who do and I've seen some scary incidents because of that. I guess they still do it but I don't think it can be done safely anymore.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I'm trying to think of something, because there's always been nothing to do in my town. If we need something like groceries or want to go to a movie or whatever, we have to go to one of the neighboring towns.

 

[marthachick]

Buy a new car, go to a movie theater, buy decent clothes. Our very small town is drying up. It makes me sad.

 

[amcnj]

I think we can still burn leaves, but only certain times and certain days. No one burns leaves. They bag them up and put them out for the garbage where I grew up. I currently don't have that option and am expected to load the inside of my nice car and haul them to the township building. Ah no, that's not happening. I'd rather compost them in my spare bedroom as my car cost 3 times what my house cost, lol. (and it isn't a relatively expensive car either, just a normal priced regular few year old used car.)

I believe the ban on leaf burning was a statewide one, and decades old now. Towns I have lived in do fall leaf pickups. You just have to have them curbside.

One town went by the calendar though, not actual weather conditions. So they started on a certain date even if no leaves were down yet. Then might be done with pickups before all had come down. One year mine did not get removed until the snow plows pushed them elsewhere!

 

[mrodgers]

I believe the ban on leaf burning was a statewide one, and decades old now. Towns I have lived in do fall leaf pickups. You just have to have them curbside.

One town went by the calendar though, not actual weather conditions. So they started on a certain date even if no leaves were down yet. Then might be done with pickups before all had come down. One year mine did not get removed until the snow plows pushed them elsewhere!

What state? I moved out to the country. Burned leaves. Burned brush piles. Burned garbage.

One thing I will never understand. All the labor of collecting, packaging, and transporting natural fertilizer and mulch to throw away to turn around in the spring and spend hundreds of dollars for fertilizer and mulch.