A rundown of the country.
Discussion
Just wondering what is the nicest part of england, and the worst. Good and bad points of different parts. Before I start, can we plaese not turn this into some immigrent argument.
Leeds- Good night life, Work opertunities, some really nice areas.
Bad points- Crime rate, could go on about transport, but compared to some places its ok. Some parts are expensive to live in.
[sorry for a boring thread]
alan
Leeds- Good night life, Work opertunities, some really nice areas.
Bad points- Crime rate, could go on about transport, but compared to some places its ok. Some parts are expensive to live in.
[sorry for a boring thread]
alan
Alan:
The vast majority of the British public have never seen more than a fraction of the country in which they live. Hence you get people who live in some industrial town who reckon thet Great Yarmouth, Blackpool, Skegness or Grange-over-Sands are 'nice places'. These same people get on a plane and fly thousands of miles to sit on a beach or in a bar, in the sun, with loads of other Brits. I'm thinking Lanzarote. Ibiza. Tenerife, Gran Canaria... you see a theme here?
The nicest parts of Britain to live in are the parts of Britain where nobody lives. Alas unless you're a lotto winner and are happy with your own company, you wouldn't want to spend all your time there.
I travel all over the UK and I see bits that I'd like to visit for longer, but I couldn't live there, cos I'd starve to death! Take Cumbria (please! Only kidding...): if you like canoeing, hiking and rock-climbing (oh, and lock-ins in the pub :-) it's Nirvana. But work?? You'll be lucky.
So.... towns. British towns are all the same, just that some are flat (like Teesside, Ipswich), some are hilly (Sheffield, Leeds, Lincoln) and some are absolute s**t-holes that nobody in their right mind would want to spend any time at all in (London, Manchester, Hartlepool. Er, Lincoln ;-). They vary in the quantity of immigrants on the streets (Leicester: Asian capital of Europe), the number of drug dealers (bit thin on the ground in Lancaster, I'd have thought, unlike Darlington), the expansiveness of slums/ older housing (Bradford, Liverpool?) and how annoying the local dialect is (Wolverhampton, South Shields, Torquay) and the numbers of teenage mothers (Middlesbrough, Birmingham).
BUT.... but.... we all come from somewhere, and most of us spend our lives going 'back home' at some point, even if only to gloat at how we've 'come on' in the world.
Hmmm... I seem to be waffling. Bear with me...
I live in Teesside. We have all mod cons here now, in the frozen northern wastes. Most of that nasty industry has gone, leaving us with new office blocks full of IT people, and retail parks. We have the Yorkshire Moors, the Pennines and the North Sea on our doorstep. I can be in a pub in the Lake District in less than 1.5 hours. The Scottish border is 80 miles away. If I was into shopping, I could pop up to the Metro Centre in Gateshead (45 mins.). Leeds is an hour away. I can choose from 3 airports to fly to Gran Canaria from. Not that I would.
My girlfriend loves it here - we can go walking on the hills and shopping at Next in the same afternoon. She lives in Leicester. It's bloody miles from anywhere; the National Forest idea is still a shambles: apart from Rutland Water and Bradgate Park, what is there? It's two hours to Skeggy (wow. Skeggy. Think of the fun you could have...zzzz). You can't move for the traffic. If it wasn't for watching Leicester City, wondering whether they're going to sink or swim, dodging Asian taxis and waiting for the next scandal to erupt in a local hospital (watch this space!) you would have to do drugs just to get through the day.
London (I'm on a roll now...). Elsewhere on here there's a guy going on about how he can't get a pie at lunchtime, and how the place is full of coffee shops and sushi bars. Oh, and IT people all crapping themselves over who's next for the chop. A broom cupboard is called a flat and commands a 250 grand price. You would give your dog a bigger kennel.
I know a guy from this area who needs ongoing psychiatric help after spending the best part of the '80's and '90's in London, running his own business, being stabbed in the back at every turn, losing the lot in the end, including his wife and a mate who killed himself due to the 'pressure'. Where did he go to get over it? Back home.
It's not where you are, it's who you are and who you're with that make it.
Sorry for the sermon!
Ian
The vast majority of the British public have never seen more than a fraction of the country in which they live. Hence you get people who live in some industrial town who reckon thet Great Yarmouth, Blackpool, Skegness or Grange-over-Sands are 'nice places'. These same people get on a plane and fly thousands of miles to sit on a beach or in a bar, in the sun, with loads of other Brits. I'm thinking Lanzarote. Ibiza. Tenerife, Gran Canaria... you see a theme here?
The nicest parts of Britain to live in are the parts of Britain where nobody lives. Alas unless you're a lotto winner and are happy with your own company, you wouldn't want to spend all your time there.
I travel all over the UK and I see bits that I'd like to visit for longer, but I couldn't live there, cos I'd starve to death! Take Cumbria (please! Only kidding...): if you like canoeing, hiking and rock-climbing (oh, and lock-ins in the pub :-) it's Nirvana. But work?? You'll be lucky.
So.... towns. British towns are all the same, just that some are flat (like Teesside, Ipswich), some are hilly (Sheffield, Leeds, Lincoln) and some are absolute s**t-holes that nobody in their right mind would want to spend any time at all in (London, Manchester, Hartlepool. Er, Lincoln ;-). They vary in the quantity of immigrants on the streets (Leicester: Asian capital of Europe), the number of drug dealers (bit thin on the ground in Lancaster, I'd have thought, unlike Darlington), the expansiveness of slums/ older housing (Bradford, Liverpool?) and how annoying the local dialect is (Wolverhampton, South Shields, Torquay) and the numbers of teenage mothers (Middlesbrough, Birmingham).
BUT.... but.... we all come from somewhere, and most of us spend our lives going 'back home' at some point, even if only to gloat at how we've 'come on' in the world.
Hmmm... I seem to be waffling. Bear with me...
I live in Teesside. We have all mod cons here now, in the frozen northern wastes. Most of that nasty industry has gone, leaving us with new office blocks full of IT people, and retail parks. We have the Yorkshire Moors, the Pennines and the North Sea on our doorstep. I can be in a pub in the Lake District in less than 1.5 hours. The Scottish border is 80 miles away. If I was into shopping, I could pop up to the Metro Centre in Gateshead (45 mins.). Leeds is an hour away. I can choose from 3 airports to fly to Gran Canaria from. Not that I would.
My girlfriend loves it here - we can go walking on the hills and shopping at Next in the same afternoon. She lives in Leicester. It's bloody miles from anywhere; the National Forest idea is still a shambles: apart from Rutland Water and Bradgate Park, what is there? It's two hours to Skeggy (wow. Skeggy. Think of the fun you could have...zzzz). You can't move for the traffic. If it wasn't for watching Leicester City, wondering whether they're going to sink or swim, dodging Asian taxis and waiting for the next scandal to erupt in a local hospital (watch this space!) you would have to do drugs just to get through the day.
London (I'm on a roll now...). Elsewhere on here there's a guy going on about how he can't get a pie at lunchtime, and how the place is full of coffee shops and sushi bars. Oh, and IT people all crapping themselves over who's next for the chop. A broom cupboard is called a flat and commands a 250 grand price. You would give your dog a bigger kennel.
I know a guy from this area who needs ongoing psychiatric help after spending the best part of the '80's and '90's in London, running his own business, being stabbed in the back at every turn, losing the lot in the end, including his wife and a mate who killed himself due to the 'pressure'. Where did he go to get over it? Back home.
It's not where you are, it's who you are and who you're with that make it.
Sorry for the sermon!
Ian
wedg1e has it sussed really - he's an observant poster whose 'sermons' I greaty enjoy. Would oncur with most he says as well. I've lived all aover the south and south east, portsmouth to Basildon, all places have their own good and bad posints, positives and negatives.
OK, so all the money and whatever growth there still is seems to be concentrated in the south (isn't it always), but is it a good quality of life?
Nah, I'd rather live up north if I could be bothered to move again - the people on the whole are friendlier, it's cheaper to live and the scenery is better, when you're in your 40s, nightlife and being in the capital shouldn't be important, it's people that are important.
Mind you, I hate the scots.
OK, so all the money and whatever growth there still is seems to be concentrated in the south (isn't it always), but is it a good quality of life?
Nah, I'd rather live up north if I could be bothered to move again - the people on the whole are friendlier, it's cheaper to live and the scenery is better, when you're in your 40s, nightlife and being in the capital shouldn't be important, it's people that are important.
Mind you, I hate the scots.
mannginger said: Having just been out for a couple I thought I would add my comments:
Newcastle:
Good: Lasses go out in little more than a bra and knickers.
Bad: er...hmm...erm...some of them are too young?
I have never known anyone in the North East go out for a couple!. Usually a couple of gallons down the Bigg Market in the Toon. Nice War and Peace Wedgie!!
I have worked abroad, I love travelling, but the thought of Britain and all the things I love about it will always keep me here, or at least come running back to the sense of humour, the green countryside (yes there'll always be enough to appreciate), even the bad weather. There's the ale, the country pub or good town local, hills and mountians, lakes and rivers etc. There's London, yes full of the problems mentioned already, but jam packed with reminders of a rich history and an atmosphere unmatched in any other city i've been in. Some aspects of the good Britain are evolving and the people are changing, but there will always be good things here and that is always at the forefront of my mind - perhaps that's why we moan so vigorously - because we know what we've got and don't want to see it vanish or even change.
...Jamesons tonight - be different tomorrow after a few pints of Brakspears at the Stoop...
...Jamesons tonight - be different tomorrow after a few pints of Brakspears at the Stoop...
pubman said:
mannginger said: Having just been out for a couple I thought I would add my comments:
Newcastle:
Good: Lasses go out in little more than a bra and knickers.
Bad: er...hmm...erm...some of them are too young?
I have never known anyone in the North East go out for a couple!. Usually a couple of gallons down the Bigg Market in the Toon. Nice War and Peace Wedgie!!
Oh alright then, maybe more than a couple - although we did the posh end up in Jesmond, same clothes, more money!
As a born and bred southerner I have to say that I wouldn't live in the south east again, having lived in North Yorkshire for the past 6 years. The pace of life up here is totally different. Having commuted into London for ten years when the journey could take anything from 1 to 3 hours, the contrast to here where the biggest motoring problem is being stuck behind a tractor for 5 minutes is considerable. The people are friendlier in the North (I know it's a cliche but it's true) and the beer's better (Black Sheep, Theakstons). As for the scenery;
There are also some truly fantastic and spectacular driving roads up here but don't tell everyone. If you've never been to the Dales you owe it to yourself to come and see it.
I'd better stop now before I turn into a Tyke. The ferrets need feeding anyway.
Oh I like Devon and Cornwall too.
There are also some truly fantastic and spectacular driving roads up here but don't tell everyone. If you've never been to the Dales you owe it to yourself to come and see it.
I'd better stop now before I turn into a Tyke. The ferrets need feeding anyway.
Oh I like Devon and Cornwall too.
Manchester
Good - City centre good, shops good, lots of bars/clubs
Bad - Full of thieving scum, rains all the time, cold, no good b-roads near, too many GATSO's
Nottingham
Good - Bars, OK weather, bars, nice people, low(ish) crime rate, bars, Ratio of women to men 5:1 (or so legend says, they never are around when I am though!)
Bad - Full of beggers and tramps, city centre is small
Good - City centre good, shops good, lots of bars/clubs
Bad - Full of thieving scum, rains all the time, cold, no good b-roads near, too many GATSO's
Nottingham
Good - Bars, OK weather, bars, nice people, low(ish) crime rate, bars, Ratio of women to men 5:1 (or so legend says, they never are around when I am though!)
Bad - Full of beggers and tramps, city centre is small
So true. (Photo reminds me of a place called Ingleton Falls - don't suppose it is, is it?)
I was pootling through the Trough of Bowland with the clan yesterday when I stopped the Hummer and thought: I was slap bang in the middle of a Nordschleife-esque ribbon of ultra smooth, undulating flick-flack B road; it must have been half a mile long and was perfect.
Bone dry, no hedges...oh for a Manu-modified F355 RIGHT there, right then (or your Tuscan Paul, obviously).
These roads do exist but you have to be prepared to venture out a little...now who said 'Ecosse?'
I was pootling through the Trough of Bowland with the clan yesterday when I stopped the Hummer and thought: I was slap bang in the middle of a Nordschleife-esque ribbon of ultra smooth, undulating flick-flack B road; it must have been half a mile long and was perfect.
Bone dry, no hedges...oh for a Manu-modified F355 RIGHT there, right then (or your Tuscan Paul, obviously).
These roads do exist but you have to be prepared to venture out a little...now who said 'Ecosse?'
Central London!
I've lived here all my life and I think it's GREAT!
Imagine it as a series of villages all bumped up close together and you get a picture of what life is really like for real Londoners. Going out on the weekend, I usually bump into someone that I've known for years or a relative, and often have a good natter and go for a drink or a coffee. The possibilities are endless, there's never a time when you're stuck for something to do. You can always get whatever you want - practically whenever you want it. If you're looking for variety, excitement, interest, culture or just a bit of a veg out in a bar, you'll find it here.
And, if you live just north or west of the centre, getting out into the countryside for a bit of a blast on nice roads doesn't take very long at all (OK, I'm a North Londoner - and there's still that interesting North/South divide!)
I believe that the main problem with the image of London is caused by...
a: People who weren't born here are scared of it and see it as a lonely, cold place where it's difficult to make friends. They move here to work because they have to. They live in ghettos like Fulham which is basically a holding tank for countryside alliance members between moving out of mummy and daddy's or uni and finding a naice place in the suburbs to breed and brood. In the few years that they're here they expect everyone to be horrid to them and act like it, and they get what they expect.
b: National journalists make it out to be a dreadful place (even though most of them live here). It really, really isn't that bad, but it is where the news gets made, so you hear more about it.
c: Londoners very rarely stand up to people who say "Oooh, that London! Horrid place - wouldn't want to live there!" despite the fact that they've probably never lived here or even visited for more than a day! I've started to question these people about why they don't like it and 9 times out of ten their beliefs are groundless, just based on propaganda
Yes, there is crime, yes there is danger, but frankly, there's proportionately less per capita than practically anywhere else in the country and I think it's worth the price.
If any of you know any Londoners - real Londoners who were born and raised here - you ask them what they feel about the place. You might be pleasantly surprised.
:havinglitbluetouchpaperstandswellback:
I've lived here all my life and I think it's GREAT!
Imagine it as a series of villages all bumped up close together and you get a picture of what life is really like for real Londoners. Going out on the weekend, I usually bump into someone that I've known for years or a relative, and often have a good natter and go for a drink or a coffee. The possibilities are endless, there's never a time when you're stuck for something to do. You can always get whatever you want - practically whenever you want it. If you're looking for variety, excitement, interest, culture or just a bit of a veg out in a bar, you'll find it here.
And, if you live just north or west of the centre, getting out into the countryside for a bit of a blast on nice roads doesn't take very long at all (OK, I'm a North Londoner - and there's still that interesting North/South divide!)
I believe that the main problem with the image of London is caused by...
a: People who weren't born here are scared of it and see it as a lonely, cold place where it's difficult to make friends. They move here to work because they have to. They live in ghettos like Fulham which is basically a holding tank for countryside alliance members between moving out of mummy and daddy's or uni and finding a naice place in the suburbs to breed and brood. In the few years that they're here they expect everyone to be horrid to them and act like it, and they get what they expect.
b: National journalists make it out to be a dreadful place (even though most of them live here). It really, really isn't that bad, but it is where the news gets made, so you hear more about it.
c: Londoners very rarely stand up to people who say "Oooh, that London! Horrid place - wouldn't want to live there!" despite the fact that they've probably never lived here or even visited for more than a day! I've started to question these people about why they don't like it and 9 times out of ten their beliefs are groundless, just based on propaganda
Yes, there is crime, yes there is danger, but frankly, there's proportionately less per capita than practically anywhere else in the country and I think it's worth the price.
If any of you know any Londoners - real Londoners who were born and raised here - you ask them what they feel about the place. You might be pleasantly surprised.
:havinglitbluetouchpaperstandswellback:
bruce fielding said: Central London!
I've lived here all my life and I think it's GREAT!
If any of you know any Londoners - real Londoners who were born and raised here - you ask them what they feel about the place. You might be pleasantly surprised.
:havinglitbluetouchpaperstandswellback:
I was born in London and lived there until I was 10 and again as an adult. There's a lot to be said for it, everythings on your doorstep, museums, theatre, shops, fantastic restaurants, great parks, sporting events, everything. There's all the shit that goes with any big city but if you like living in the metropolis you can put up with that.
Compared to somewhere like Basingstoke where I spent my teenage years London has a hell of a lot going for it. That had the worst of all worlds, concrete jungle, urban ghettos etc... and none of the redeeming features of London.
I'd still rather live in the Yorkshire Dales though.
Nottingham
Good - Bars, OK weather, bars, nice people, low(ish) crime rate, bars, Ratio of women to men 5:1 (or so legend says, they never are around when I am though!)
You too, some git must have a lot of women around. Is it you mungo?
I've always been partial to the scottish highlands, Beautiful scenery, lovely drives, but bl**dy cold.
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