As the editor of LiveMag, I promise to be straight with you. I will always ‘keep it 100’ and I will start by stating that I grew up in the suburbs. Yes, yes its true. I grew up in a really quiet suburb and truthfully speaking it’s a pretty decent place to raise a family. There are plenty of parks, pre-schools and one high school. You can call me spoiled or an Oreo-whatever floats your boat but hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles….

Welcome to Pinelands, also known to its species as the ”Land of Pine”. It is a big, vast suburb filled with (the obvious) Pine Trees. The area inhabits squirrels, dodo-looking birds and the elderly. Its quiet, extremely quiet. There are two train stations and maybe two buses and a couple of  (illegal) taxi’s that run through it during the day, I say day because according to Pinelands law, all modes of public transport with exception of taxi cabs and trains need to stop passing through the ‘burb at about 19hoo. Shock, Horror, Gasp-its all too much! But the law has loosened up a bit-it used to be 17h00.

How can I forget, the many activities that Pinelands holds. There’s the Bowling Club (for the elderly), there’s the Golf Club (for the elderly), there’s the Public Swimming Pool (I don’t know who that’s for but go for it if you’re keen). The social hub of all social hubs (especially for the elderly), Howard Centre. This is the mini mall in the suburb, we have cake shops, Pick N Pay-P.s this is a Pick N Pay that does NOT sell alcohol, in fact Howard Centre does not have anything liquor related. This is a Christian district. No really-there’s about 7 churches. There is a dvd rental page, there’s even a hearing aid centre (once again for the elderly or hearing impaired).

It may look like I hate my hometown, I don’t because I know I could’ve had it much worse. Therefore, I’m grateful. This article just gives me a moment to reflect and reminds myself to move out!