#105 (of 365) "Depreston" Courtney Barnett

I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, on the New Jersey side, in a town out famous for its mall. I went college in what could be called a city, but lived most of my time on a campus in the suburbs of central Jersey. When I graduated, I worked for a company in the suburbs. I rented apartments in the suburbs, and then bought a house in the suburbs of central Jersey (not far from where I went to college). I used to go to the Target and the Stop 'N Shop and even got my haircut pretty regularly at the Supercuts next to the Dunkin' Donuts in the Target complex on Route 1. Basically I sucked. And I wasn't particularly happy, in retrospect,

In 2013, I moved to Hoboken, a city. A 10-minute train ride from NYC, the biggest city in this country. I spent 8 years there, then over to Jersey City for a couple and now live in the next city over in Hudson County, one that is now a 10 minute DRIVE to the parking lot at Zeppelin Hall in Jersey City, where I can walk another 10 minutes to a train that's 5-10 minutes from NYC, which is fine enough, although I absolutely 100% miss being able to WALK out my front door and find people on the sidewalks walking and talking and moving and heading out to bars or shops or parks or the City across the Hudson River. I am in Jersey City and Hoboken all the time, but it's still a drive. And if I had my choice I would move back, and I would spend the rest of my life in a city. I hate the suburbs. It's soul-crushing and boring and you feel trapped by the inertia of having to drive everywhere to do anything, in traffic, and I would never go back. But I now live with another human being (and a dog) who absolutely prefer the suburbs over city living and this place (a hybrid between the two) is a temporary compromise that is working for now. I don't know how long it will hold. I do know that the odds of moving back to JC (or god forbid Hoboken) seems a major long shot because of his hatred of city living (which I really don't understand but have accepted) so for now, I just go there all the time and pretend I live there. But as we discuss possibly buying a house and moving further out, back to something approaching suburbs (ugh ugh ugh) I am always reminded of this song. I feel like every day since I moved to Hudson County has been my entire body and soul agreeing with the narrator's obvious disdain for the choices made by the couple in this song. I feel it more than anything. And I still hold out hope that my partner will come to appreciate Jersey City enough to give it another shot. Maybe.

You said we should look out further
I guess it wouldn't hurt us
We don't have to be around all these coffee shops
Now we've got that percolator
Never made a latte greater
I'm savin' 23 dollars a week
​
We drive to a house in Preston
We see police arresting
A man with his hand in a bag
How's that for first impressions
This place seems depressing
It's a California bungalow in a cul-de-sac
It's got a lovely garden
And a garage for two cars to park in
Or a lot of room for storage if you've just got one
And it's going pretty cheap, you say
Well, it's a deceased's estate
Aren't the pressed Metal ceilings great!

Then I see the hand rail in the shower
A collection of those canisters for coffee tea and flower
And a photo of a young man in a van in Vietnam
And I can't think of floor boards anymore
Whether the front room faces south or north
And I wonder what she bought it for
​
If you've got a spare half a million
You could knock it down and start rebuilding
If you've got a spare half a million
You could knock it down and start rebuilding
If you've got a spare half a million
You could knock it down and start rebuilding
If you've got a spare half a million
You could knock it down and start rebuilding

"Depreston" - Courtney Barnett // Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit (2015)