As residents of this lovely rock surrounded by azure waters, etc., etc., etc. we get asked one question an awful lot - "how wonderful is it to live here?"
The short answer is, "it doesn't suck" or some variant of that.
The question we don't often get asked is, "why did you decide to move here?"
Fair enough, the answer seems obvious what with the azure water, etc...
For us it was daring to act on a dream we'd been fostering for years, and a number of things paving the way for us to take a chance and actually give it a go!
The one that we used to ask, and the one that may just separate the visitors from the potential future residents is this one - "what's it like to live (as opposed to vacationing) here?"
There are a lot of components to that answer, at least if you ask that question of me (you've been forewarned!):
Other than the natural beauty, what do you like best?
For me, it's got to be the sense of community. Yes, it's a smaller place, population wise, than where we moved from, but you do get a sense of being in something together, especially when you're supporting one of the causes for which folks here rally.
What do you miss the most about where you lived before?
Not even close - my friends and family. You don't live in a community as long as we did without establishing some long and meaningful relationships. Fortunately, they still exist, and in today's world we can, and do stay in touch. But it's different than doing so in person.
Secondary to that, it's a matter of personal preference and highly dependent on what you like to do with your "spare" time and energy. Leslie and Shane might say that easy access to a multiplex where all of the first run movies is something they miss. Although I like the people that work in the ones here, I miss my old local supermarket. And not just the (relatively) lower prices. Selection, space, easy parking... Variety in restaurants is another one. If you're coming here for a week there's no way that you can hit all of them. If you're here for many, many weeks it's amazing how few you feel that there are - especially if some of them are priced "for special occasions only", you eliminate some for any number of personal reasons, and you consider that even the reasonably priced ones can take a big bite out of your budget if you're not careful.
Services - I suppose that I took curbside garbage removal and personal mail delivery for granted. And the fact that practically anyone could/would ship their merchandise to you. Some companies have pretty weird and seemingly arbitrary policies about what they will and won't send down here. You can't subscribe to some music and video streaming services (no ESPN3 for example).
What do you not like about living here?
This one if usually posed in the context of a visitor remarking "if I lived here, "X" would drive me crazy"
I typically don't answer this one as asked, but instead try and couch it in terms of the "what do you miss" questions. Every place that is populated with humans has some warts. There are always going to be people that are either having a bad day, or choose to always have a bad day, so you devise your strategies for dealing (or not dealing) with those folks.
If you could, what would you change about the island?
Here's where new residents need to, in my opinion, tread carefully. Quite often this goes back to the "they do this so much better/cleaner/more efficiently where I come from" attitude. And while some of that may be true, one should be careful what they ask for. Make a place too much like "home" and you may as well stay home.
Families that have lived here for generations, as well as long time residents, don't necessarily embrace all of the change they have seen here, even if some of it has improved/simplified some aspects of their lives. Of course some change will always be inevitable, as is the longing for the "good old days". That being said, I believe that trying to have a positive impact on your environment is a worthwhile aspiration.
I think having a more robust/comprehensive recycling program on island would be great. Not only from a "green" perspective, but to help eliminate some of the litter that is all too ubiquitous here.
Personally I would like to see better treatment of animals. There are some great organizations on island (the Animal Care Center for one!) that are doing a lot to take in, care for, and place abused and abandoned animals, provide spay/neuter/feed programs for feral cats and much more, but there are a lot of animals left outside to either wander into harm's way, or are left chained up all of the time. Some of that is due to cultural differences (the governor has gone on record as standing up for the "right" of allowing cockfighting) but I'd like to see a program of education implemented that might change, even slowly, some of the pattern of animal neglect and abuse.
Are you happy that you moved here?
I would hope that the answer to this is always "yes". If not, then do yourself a favor and move somewhere else! Really, I tell people that this is indeed Paradise, but it's not Utopia. You still have to run errands, do chores, deal with people that don't make it easy all of the time, etc.
But... when you are driving to the store, or the dumpster, or on any of those other errands and you catch a glimpse of those down island views...ahhhh!!!!
When you wander into town to pick up the mail at the post office and seeing a kid that's obviously a visiting cruise ship passenger sitting at a roadside food stand enjoying a drink, and he's wearing a fully inflated snorkel vest even though he's hundreds of yards from the water, you try not to laugh and you silently debate whether or not you can discreetly get a picture of this on your phone for the "you're not gonna believe this" file...
When you're snorkeling, and the coral, creature, and fish just take your breath away and you don't have to think "I only have X more days of this before I have to leave"...
When that West Indies clerk that appeared to have a sullen attitude finally cracks a smile at your silly jokes, and warmly wishes you a good afternoon as you're leaving....
Yeah, we're happy to be on St. John!
