“Stimulating,” like “challenging,” is a word I do not greatly care for, since it implies a greater degree of effort and commitment than I am usually prepared to give.
“The real country, as you call it, has many disadvantages,” I said with feeling. “Unreliable septic tanks, floods in winter and dried-up wells in summer, not to mention an electricity supply so delicate that a brief flurry of the lightest snow can cast one into darkness for days!”
(…) After all,” she added with solemnity that sat oddly upon a teenage girl, “we all know that drink can be just as destructive as drugs, but people never seem to face up to the fact.