Grew up in a sizeable metropolitan area, in a residential enclave surrounded by commercial areas. The “inner” streets in our area are a bit too narrow for car traffic, but was often used as a shortcut by pedestrians.

We mostly played games on the residential streets, pausing to the occasional pedestrian, or the rare car to pass by. If we do play hide and seek, we can play it through the narrow alleyways of our area or even the nearby commercial buildings (we always agree on the bounds beforehand though). Sometimes, we hang out in the nearby arcade. Rarely, we go to the nearby seaside (as the city is next to the coast) just to hang out, but crossing the really wide eight-lane roads cutting off the seaside makes it kinda rare.

I’ve often found myself in places I shouldn’t be, like off-limits areas in the nearby commercial buildings, even managed to sneak inside one of the rooms of the nearby motel that one time. There’s a lot of things to get lost in around our area and I took it for granted that most things are just a short walk away.

The place I hung out the most, however, is a bookstore that was just across the road from the end of our street. And since this bookstore is also near the arcade, I’d choose one or the other depending on my mood, and remaining allowance.