A couple of oddities in that list. Odd for different reasons.
1. Leamington Spa: about as far from being a crap town as I can imagine.
2. Calais
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St Austell (known as St Awful) in Cornwall is pretty crappy, AND ugly.
Just saying :-)
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Rhyl
Full of shabby tourists, tat and obese Welsh.
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Let's have a city......................Salford, derelict apart from the Quays...which Manchester financed.
Expect incoming from Ratto, who was at Uni there !
Ted
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I always do try to defend Salford. Some parts of Salford such as Pendleton are a real dive. There are some very very horrible parts of Salford. However I have a lot of friends from Salford and they all have good jobs and are highly educated, to be fair they are from the Worsley area which is the posh part of Salford.
Rhyl is a dive simply because it has no tourists. Like Blackpool it attracts low life to the £15 a night B&Bs, so all they need to do is beg enough money for their booze and rent and the have shelter.
I would vote for Ahston as a crap town, one of the few places in the Greater Manchester area you can still buy a house for £50k.
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Stats suggest it is UK South coast in general and East Jaywick in Essex the most derived town in UK.
Last edited by: Meldrew on Thu 15 Aug 13 at 15:16
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East Jaywick is a shanty town. Its has more similarities to a South African Township than an english town.
Corby gets my vote. And worse because its slowly consuming all the nice bits around it.
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Cumbernauld, Glasgow and all towns and cities in Scotland: full of obese Scots living on benefits paid by English taxpayers and whingeing.
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Mansfield was pretty dire, perhaps it has improved? I drove through mid-day 30 years ago and "Certain Ladies" were outside the pubs looking for trade.
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And did you marry one of them Meldrew? :p.
Another crap town I have thought of is Gainsborough.
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Stoke. Derby. Liverpool. Gillingham.
That's all that needs saying.
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>> Stoke. Derby. Liverpool. Gillingham. Reading, Slough.
>>
>> That's all that needs saying.
>>
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Ah how little ye know. About Reading anyway. Good job, keeps the wannabes out.
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Liverpool city centre is actually quite amazing these days, is as good as any other major city I have been to and I say that as a Manc!
Stoke on Trent is a complete dump, I did a part time course there for a a month and it really was a run down town. Is the only place I have ever been where they didn't have any bus times on the bus stops.
Never been to Reading or even through it so I cannot comment. I was supposed to go to a meeting there at Microsoft HQ but it started at 9:00am and it was just too expensive to get down for that time.
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Yes, Roger. Of course. All of it.
;-)
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A bit out of order Rattle, even with what appears to be not quite a smiley!
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>> Cumbernauld,
Wasn't that shown on a programme about badly designed towns, a concrete monstrosity that depressed everyone that lived there?
Harlow, Luton.
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The level of traffic has ruined many towns. I went to Skipton a few years ago, and it was noisy and crowded with cars and lorries. I went there as a nipper on holiday and it seemed pleasant enough, but maybe I'm wearing rose tinted glasses.
Hadleigh in Essex used to be full of happy people chatting outside local shops until they put a one way system right through the middle of it. Utterly miserable place now.
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>> Hadleigh in Essex used to be full of happy people chatting outside local shops until
>> they put a one way system right through the middle of it. Utterly miserable place
>> now.
>>
Thats my (main) issue with Reading.
Once your in, its hellish to get out.. and if you want to go from one side to the other - its through the centre or use the M4.
And as for the IDR.... what a joke!
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The IDR was the beginning of the end.
Reading used to be a lovely town and the centre was great; Police Station in The Butts, loads of different small shops in Broad Street & Friar Street, Smelly Alley, Market Square and then lots of slightly out of the way stuff.
And I used to work at Gascoignes and the entire area behind that was a fascinating collection of small industry, engineering and other stuff.
Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
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Towns are like cars. No such thing as a perfect one, but most have something to be said for them if you can see it.
I can't bear Brighton myself. It isn't ugly but it always seems crappy to me.
And there's a town in mid-Sussex on the A24 whose name I can't remember and which I can never find when I look for it. When I have been there it's taken me for ever to find my way out.
I think helicopter lives there, but he has an unfair advantage in just being able to drop in so to speak.
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Brighton is nice because it is very well kept, the buildings all look tidy and it is more gentle than say Blackpool or what I imagine Southend to be like.
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Southend is Blackpool without the class.
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That cannot possibly exist, I cannot believe any where exists in the UK that is less classy than Blackpool! Although to be fair Blackpool and the area does have some exclusive areas.
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>> it is more gentle than say Blackpool or what I imagine Southend to be like.
Southend is like London's east end on the coast, the people are a bit brash but straightforward - what you might call 'diamond geezers' :)
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>> Brighton is nice because it is very well kept, the buildings all look tidy and
>> it is more gentle than say Blackpool or what I imagine Southend to be like.
>>
Um, have you been lately? Due to a prolonged spat between the city council and the refuse contractor parts of the centre resembled those pictures of Piccadilly Circus circa 1978 when the binmen were on strike...
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Bit of help for you AC
tinyurl.com/o2m7x89
I must admit that it is quite a confusing place if you are not a local ......but if you found your way in and then could not get out I suspect the short term memory must be going -
In fact there are several roundabouts on the A24 and A264 which draw you into the town centre ....all of which is now pedestrianised or about to be ......
....however .... it is not ugly or crappy
tinyurl.com/onxu9uk
www.visithorsham.co.uk/
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Thanks helicopter. The short term memory started to go 50 years ago (as I remember well).
I wouldn't dream of listing Horsham as ugly or crappy.
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>> Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
>>
I would say the same about London, I have seen it go downhill over a 60 year period, with an acceleration of the decline in the last 20 or so.
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I used to enjoy my visits to London but it is just far too busy now. London is just a place I need to use to make connections now.
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>> I used to enjoy my visits to London but it is just far too busy
>> now. London is just a place I need to use to make connections now.
Its no busier, in fact traffic flows much better than it used to.
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>> >> Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
>> >>
>>
>> I would say the same about London, I have seen it go downhill over a
>> 60 year period, with an acceleration of the decline in the last 20 or so.
I reckon London is better now than its ever been in the 56 years I have experienced it. Especially int he last 20 years.
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I find it just a bit too busy, a bit hectic, and as much as I do like tall buildings there are s many of them going up it will end up being like New York soon.
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>> I reckon London is better now than its ever been in the 56 years I
>> have experienced it. Especially int he last 20 years.
>>
But you live there and don't know what a decent quality of life is.
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I dont live there, I live in leafy surrey, so I do.
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>> I dont live there, I live in leafy surrey, so I do.
>>
That's a really, really, long way from London, almost worth travelling by air. :-)
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>> Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
>>
Not my scowly btw. No idea how anyone can be offended by your opinion, which many share. I don't share it, but I'm happy that many people seem to think my adopted town's a dump, keeps it from turning in to another wannabe, designer hellhole like Henley or Windsor. Meanwhile, I get to enjoy reasonable property prices for the region and benefit from using all the hidden gems the town has to offer without too many hoorays and yahoos in my grille.
Last edited by: Alanović on Fri 16 Aug 13 at 15:18
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>> and benefit from using all the hidden gems the town has to offer
Hope they are in walking distance.......
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Indeed they are. The unhidden slagheaps are a fair distance away, deliberately so.
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>>
>> >> Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
>> >>
>>
>> Not my scowly btw.
As another Reading resident, I feel I should add that it's not mine either. Quite happy living here, but no great love for it.
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The other attraction for me here is the Grammar Schools. Same goes for Slough, and that other maligned place High Wycombe.
Although I accept we'll be darned lucky if our children get in to them, we will do everything we can to facilitate it, and well, if you don't have one in your area then the chances of hitting such a jackpot are zero.
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Al & Focusless - I've given up on worrying about the scowly faces, not that either of you are the type anyway.
I quite like Caversham, Tilehurst, Woodley and the other immediate areas. I do like heading out through Caversham, Mapledurham, Emmer Green or Binfield. Loads of lovely places out that way. Even the A4 and the A33 take you to nice places.
Its the town centre itself which I think is so awful. From the Forbury to Chatham Street and from the Station to what was Queens Road.
In fairness I haven't been there for about 5 years. Given that it was a town I;d liked and lived in for years, I was not pleasantly surprised by the changes.
BTW, I was at college in Henley and the only thing it ever had going for it was the number of pubs. Windsor has never had anything going for it (although the nightlife on the outskirts was quite good back in the day.
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NoF, evidently a voice of experience and reason on the issue. I can see why people would dislike the town centre, and yes, the IDR was a massive mistake. But that can't be undone now, and I can forgive the town some of its more unattractive sides for the benefits it offers.
If only we could get that third Thames Crossing TVP - Henley Road.
Actually, what they need to do with the IDR is cover it up, turn it in to a tunnel. Rejoin the town centre with the Oxford Road.
Windsor? Well someone was stabbed to death in the street there a few weeks back. Some of the estates I'd be wary about walking through at night. Not so different from Reading, really.
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I've no idea who started the IDR, but it was in the late 60s. In destroyed an awful lot of interesting stuff and really made little difference to the traffic - including my Grandmother's house who moved to Reading to be near some of her children.
Are they still going on about the 3rd crossing? That was what the A329(M) was supposed to lead to. It was supposed to continue heading in a pretty much straight line in the direction of the old BBC monitoring centre in Caversham across the river between Caversham and Sonning.
When I lived there the intended A329(M) flyover across the A4 just ended in some cones & barriers. And I'm guessing, but wasn't that about 1975?
I used to go near the Forbury for work and in the mornings the traffic was solid back from there to the Old Peppard Road in Emmer Green. And there were no advantages for buses so it was miserable either way. I used to walk pretty often because it was quicker - especially coming home at night.
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>> I used to go near the Forbury for work and in the mornings the traffic
>> was solid back from there to the Old Peppard Road in Emmer Green.
Doesn't get that bad these days unless there's a particular incident holding things up. To be frank, in the 20 years I've been here, driving most working days, I can honestly say I've only ever had 3 times when I've been stuck in traffic really, really badly. I reckon the A34 has helped take some north/south traffic actually.
But yes, extending what is now the A3290 over the river would be a boon, although there would also have to be new roads on the other side if it were to go anywhere beyond Reading, and that would be part of the point of the exercise, attract through traffic away from the centre. The chances of South Oxfordshire Council allowing it are zero.
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>>
>> >> Its absolutely awful now. Can't stand the place anymore.
>> >>
>>
>> Not my scowly btw. No idea how anyone can be offended by your opinion, which
>> many share. I don't share it, but I'm happy that many people seem to think
>> my adopted town's a dump, keeps it from turning in to another wannabe, designer hellhole
>> like Henley or Windsor. Meanwhile, I get to enjoy reasonable property prices for the region
>> and benefit from using all the hidden gems the town has to offer without too
>> many hoorays and yahoos in my grille.
How the hell can any sane person rubbish Windsor and praise Reading to the heavens.
wannabe designer hellhole? Your a ruddy eejit.
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Z, I was born near and grew up in Windsor and have friends and relatives there still. I visit regularly.
I wouldn't trade my large house in Reading in a peaceful, attractive area, steps from the river and various open spaces, and indeed the south Oxford countryside and a fast train to London, oh and the entertainment and leisure facilities of Reading for a ropey terraced house in Windsor under the flight path, served by overpriced tourist and hooray Henry traps. 4 bed detached with good garden and double garage in best street in Reading = 2/3 bed terrace with tiny garden and no parking in Windsor, price wise. No grammar schools in Windsor, in fact no choice at all in the state sector.
The whole town is grossly over priced and over rated. Yes, of course, the castle and all that is pretty, but when it's been under your nose your entire childhood and adult life its appeal palls. There is nothing that Windsor can offer me that can't be bettered by Reading.
Reading is the horse for my course, Windsor isn't. I think I know what I want and need at my age, but thanks for the advice.
I suspect you've never lived in Windsor. Nice to visit, crap to live in, unless your budget stretches to approaching a million for a house.
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Ah right its crap because you cant afford it.
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Half right, Zero. Even if I could afford the house I'd be happy with there, I still couldn't put up with the aircraft noise or the educational choices for my children. If it were so wonderful a place, I'd consider downsizing my home to something I could afford. But it's really not that attractive.
But fire away with the usual, predictable, tired and nearly always inaccurate jealousy jibe.
I'm not saying it's a crap town. It's quite dear to me, it's home. But it would be a crap choice for me to make to move back there.
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>> But fire away with the usual, predictable, tired and nearly always inaccurate jealousy jibe.
But you just said its at least 50% accurate.
>> Half right, Zero.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 16 Aug 13 at 16:18
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That still does not indicate jealousy on my part. I can't afford to live in central Tokyo either but that's not because I'm jealous of it.
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>
>> Reading is the horse for my course, Windsor isn't. I think I know what I
>> want and need at my age, but thanks for the advice.
Wasn't advice BTW. It was criticism of your sanity.
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Well if you still question it after hearing my reasoning, then one can only conclude WUM.
:-)
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Mrs Beest likes Reading, goes there quite often. I just get lost on the IDR.
Still, can't sit around here gassing - time to get back to my designer hellhole. (Which could, I concede, do with an M&S and a proper greengrocer instead of a few of the shops selling clothes I wouldn't want even if they did fit me. Leamington Spa is better in that respect, but I have better access to the countryside from the hellhole.)
};---)
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>> shops selling clothes I wouldn't want even if they did fit me.
Ah ha! The definition of designer!
Vindicated!
;-)
Doesn't the town square farmers' market provide you with sufficient organic green grocery, probably the product of an expensive private school education? ;-)
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You're not saying that unrestricted use of the motor car in towns is not a good thing are you?
Bit of a radical viewpoint around here. :-)
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>> Rhyl
>>
>> Full of shabby tourists, tat and obese Welsh.
>>
Slight correction. In common with a lot of former seaside resorts it's now overflowing with DHSS dossers, current and former druggies and other detritus of society.
It's also untidy and run-down.
My vote for a crap town goes to Kidderminster. Its only redeeming feature is the Severn Valley Railway.
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Mentioned that above, I actually know somebody who lives in Rhyl, moved there because it was cheap and she is mentally as messed up as they come. She is a nice girl but being done for child neglect and being hospitalised for alcohol addiction was a bit more than I could handle!.
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BBC North West this evening reported that 1 in 57 Salfordians have been seen by a hospital due to drink problems !
I'm not surprised !
Ted
Last edited by: Ted on Thu 15 Aug 13 at 22:57
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>> BBC North West this evening reported that 1 in 57 Salfordians have been seen by
>> a hospital due to drink problems !
>>
>> I'm not surprised !
>>
>> Ted
the other 56 are still on the waiting list.
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Kingston Upon Hull got a reputation due to the big council estates.Not enough decent payed jobs about and low expectations.
Getting in and out of Hull is a bit of a problem at peak time by car Castle Street is the problem.Update due 2015 and is is going to take four years to be completed.I spoke to a engineer who is involved with the building of the road.4 years can't believe it.
Son used to live in Salford very depression town.
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Slough. Not a single redeeming feature.
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>> Slough. Not a single redeeming feature.
The road out of town is quite uplifting.
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>> Slough. Not a single redeeming feature.
>>
Proximity to London and Reading, especially by train. Proximity to the Bucks countryside and villages. There a few few hidden corners with nice, large properties in decent and quiet surroundings, which are relatively inexpensive for the Thames Valley. Many job opportunities and decent retail offerings. Not all bad in the slightest - I'd consider living there if my circumstances were ever reduced.
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... 1 in 57 Salfordians have been seen by a hospital due to drink problems
Less than 2% - doesn't seem very high to me. What is the equivalent rate in England as a whole?
Remember the furore last year concerning suicides at Foxconn's factory in China? Turned out the rate among Foxconn employees was lower than the rate in the population at large.
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Alcohol, smoking & drugs
Scotland is has the highest death rates from alcohol-related liver cirrhosis in Western Europe.
Alcohol misuse is costing the NHS in Scotland more than £400 million a year, including more than £150million a year on hospital admissions and another £32.3 million on A&E services.
In Greater Glasgow and Clyde almost 70 out of every 100,000 adult males die from cirrhosis of the liver every year.
Across Greater Glasgow and Clyde cases of liver cirrhosis have almost doubled over the past 10 years. In 1995 there were 150 deaths attributed to the disease, by 2005 that figure was 291.
Greater Glasgow and Clyde cirrhosis death rates are double that of Scotland.
It is estimated there are 13,650 problem alcohol users in Glasgow City area alone - 20% of which are women and 80% men.
65,000 Scottish children are estimated to live with a parent whose drinking is problematic. In Glasgow alone, 10,000 children have a father with problem alcohol use and around 3,600 have a mother with alcohol problems.
In Glasgow City, one in five deaths, casualties or rescues as a result of a house fire had "being drunk" as a main contributory circumstance.
43% of all drink or drug-related fires also involved an unattended chip pan, while one in ten involved someone falling asleep or being unconscious.
16 to 24 year olds drink most heavily compared with other adults.
72% of men and 58% of women in Scotland drink regularly, with 63% of men and 57% of women exceeding the recommended maximum daily amount at some point in the week and 27% of men and 14% of women exceeding the maximum weekly recommended total consumption.
www.nhsggc.org.uk/content/default.asp?page=s1202_6
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Milton Keynes.
(Mods - you'll never find a more miserable, backwards, poorly-designed, unfriendly, confusing, ugly, depression-inducing town than MK. Therefore this thread is complete and needs locking.) :-)
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>> Milton Keynes.
>>
>>
>> (Mods - you'll never find a more miserable, backwards, poorly-designed, unfriendly, confusing, ugly, depression-inducing town
>> than MK. Therefore this thread is complete and needs locking.) :-)
MK's fine. At least it's easy to get around/through. Fast trains to London too. I've considered moving there in the past.
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Alcohol, smoking & drugs
Scotland is has the highest death rates from alcohol-related liver cirrhosis in Western Europe.
Alcohol misuse is costing the NHS in Scotland more than £400 million a year, including more than £150million a year on hospital admissions and another £32.3 million on A&E services.
Roll on devolution - or will we end up sending more money as humanitarian aid to Scotland than we currently spend on subsidising them?
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>> Roll on devolution - or will we end up sending more money as humanitarian aid
>> to Scotland than we currently spend on subsidising them?
No we will just keep sending them cheap booze, they will all die out, and we can turn the place into a giant fuel cell. Hydro, oil, fracking, nuclear, wind.
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Where will old Navy live? I think people are being a bit harsh on Glasgow, but then I remember the 2008 Glasgow Rangers riots in Manchester, I have never in my life seen so much disgusting behaviour. People drinking early in the morning and by the afternoon they were chanting all sorts of obscene things.
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>> No we will just keep sending them cheap booze, they will all die out, and
>> we can turn the place into a giant fuel cell. Hydro, oil, fracking, nuclear, wind.
Suits me. One of the appeals of Scotland is the lack of people.
However, is the geology inland right for oil and fracking?
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pmh, fair to say that you are not a huge fan of Scotland or its people then?
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Scotland is a lovely place.
Unfortunately all intelligent Scots emigrated years ago.
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>> Unfortunately all intelligent Scots emigrated years ago.
Yet they keep harping on how wonderful the place is. Well most of the scots I know do anyway (both intelligent and otherwise). If it was that good, why did they leave?
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How many English people move to Scotland ? Old peoples care is free and Universities fee also.Can't be that bad to live there can it.We used to sail to Paisley up the Clyde river exciting place.>)
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and house prices are far cheaper in Scotland too.
Only problem is the economy. If I lose my job tomorrow, it is much easier to find another one easily around London than in Scotland.
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Son and girlfriend live in London both have reasonable paid jobs.To get on the housing ladder is not a option,out of their reach.
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>> How many English people move to Scotland ? Old peoples care is free
They've died before they claim the care :)
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That is why it's free corax the Scots aren't daft.>;)
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Hi,
Born and bred in Stoke on Trent,have had a static caravan in Blackpool for many years,so I could get upset by some of the previous comments...You know who you are!!
But I will not....
Love Blackpool area,the Fylde,Cleveleys,St Annes etc.Town centre can be a bit dodgy on a Saturday but so are a lot of busy town centres.Also love Lancashire people.
Stoke-on-Trent...well,very sorry to say it but I am very glad to hit the M6 these days and would like to move to blackers permanently.
I think the place I have visited and most disliked in recent years is Torquay,you think Blackpool is rowdy...wow!
Cheers...Phil
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I didn't mean to cause any offence but of course anybody who lives in any where listed on this thread will be. By Blackpool I meant the town centre itself not the nicer areas next to it.
What I saw there on Saturday was far worse than what I would see in Manchester on a Saturday night, but then Manchester is a much bigger place and I know I can simply avoid areas where idiots hang out.
Never been to Torquay at the weekend as I am far as aware so it is hard to compare, think I have been there on a Friday and was lively rather than rowdy.
Phil what do you like about Blackpool that is what I just don't see. I love places in North Wales where you have Snowdonia on your door step but never quite got the attraction of Blackpool.
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>>Unfortunately all intelligent Scots emigrated years ago.
Many a true word spoken in jest ;)
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They all move to Cornwall pestering you Dog.
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They can't Dutchie, I've only got one neighb ... and a loada sheep :)
Camborne in Cornwall could do with a daisy cutter (or 3) though.
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Ah, the problem with England though is it is pretty much full of English people ! :)
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>> Ah, the problem with England though is it is pretty much full of English people
>> ! :)
And every one of them could beat your lot in a game of footy....
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>> And every one of them could beat your lot in a game of footy....
>>
I see that the Tartan Army had to put detergent in the Trafalgar Square fountains in an attempt to clean the place up.
And yes they are crap at football too. :-)
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>> >> And every one of them could beat your lot in a game of footy....
>> >>
>>
>> I see that the Tartan Army had to put detergent in the Trafalgar Square fountains
And peed in them, with bubbles its Jock Champagne.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 16 Aug 13 at 17:15
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And every one of them could beat your lot in a game of footy....
That cos they have had good Scottish managers???
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The dirtiest town centre I have seen was Castleford. Litter everywhere.
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Litter is caused by people who don't give a toss about their environment they just don't care.
Punish them by sweeping the streets and picking up litter for a month.Nevers happens does it.
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My old headteacher hated litter - it was a real pet hate.
If he spotted you committing a misdemeanor of any sort his first route was "litter duty". You had to report to his office in your lunchtime to be issued with a black bag and return when it was full
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Good teacher.my kids aren't perfect far from it but litter goes in a bin.All three of them do this.I used to work on barges as a youngster,skipper use to tell you shoes off when entering the cabin and slippers on.
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>> My old headteacher hated litter - it was a real pet hate.
>>
>> If he spotted you committing a misdemeanor of any sort his first route was "litter
>> duty".
Did you get punished for spelling errors?
;-)
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>> You had to report to his office in your lunchtime to be issued with
>> a black bag and return when it was full
>>
Ha. Just go and fill it up from an already full bin somewhere, and sit on your harris for an hour. Then present full bag to headmaster.
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Till the headmaster catches you out.There is always one smart alec.>:) Is that the Polish way Alanovic.>:)
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Rule number 1: Don't get caught.
>> Polish
Not me, guv. Half Maltese and half Scottish, typical English immigrant stock really. Only an interest in Slavic languages, tovarishch.
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Sorry Alanovic mate of mine was from Malta tug skipper good bloke.>:)
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Where I live, is a housing estate of private houses in Lanarkshire. 3 bed semi will cost you about £90k and with that you will get a driveway, front and back gardens.
Within a mile of my house, I can't actually think of a non food shop - loads of fast food, supermaqrkets, newsagents, bookies, pubs etc but not a shop that sells anything other than this.
There are loads of council houses and there is a fair amount of crime and , as with many areas, drugs is at the root of much of it.
But apart from my immediate next door neighbour, I get on well with all the other neighbours, could tell you the names of everyone that lives in the ten houses either side of me and opposite me. I wouldn't pass any of them in the street without saying hello and I would be comfortable asking any of them for a loan of whatever tool I was looking for and I would have no issue with doing likewise.
A few years ago we had the option of selling up or extending the house and we chose to extend, even though as a financial decsion it was going to cost more that what the increase in house value was going to be. But this building is my home, its not an investment and it is where I have lived for the last 20 years and I genuinely don't see me ever moving away.
Yes to other people, my house and surrounding area may seem a ghetto, my brother lives in Bishops Stortford in his house valued at hundreds of thousands, but he wouldn't be able to tell you his neighbours name!
Each to their own I say, much depends on whether you are superficial and worry about how others perceive you and keeping up with the Joneses, or whether you actually want to call your house a home.
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you can call your house a home even ifs its somewhere else....
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>> Half Maltese and half Scottish,
I have those genes too Alanovic, but in smaller proportions. No wonder we sometimes get up each other's noses, or almost...
'... two beefo Malts smelling of sweat and no deodorant.' (Colin McInnes, Absolute Beginners)
Heh heh...
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Well well. Can't be too many of us about.
My children are even more confused, being half me and half Serbian, that Serb being half Jewish Croat and half Bosnian Serb of Montenegrin descent. (Interesting dinner parties with that lot (translation: whole roast lamb, freshly slaughtered that morning from the family flock, cooked on outdoor spit, salad, tomatoes, homebaked bread, plus huge drunken carousal including fighting if you're lucky).)
I tip my first G&T of the weekend in your direction, AC. More power to your elbow.
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No 1 daughter has current UK, Brazil and Chile passports.
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I am not so fragrantly exotic as AC and Alanovic. Irish by descent but had the fortune/misfortune to be born in Yorkshire. With years abroad, as an Army brat, and Dad posted to most parts of England, am regarded as a southerner, judging by speech, and English when in Ireland! As a result of peripatetic lives, some siblings have triple citizenship possibilities. Mine merely dual. Think I'll split the difference and move to the IoM.
I foresee great difficulties for UKIP. We are such a mixture here.
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A vote for Morecambe.
Three friends travelled there today for the Beer Festival. The Winter Gardens venue I am informed was awful. As was most of what else they saw, excepting the Midland art deco hotel. They were happy to leave, and had the most fun on the journey home. Two dogs vying to be the top dog, passengers wanting to alight at Lancaster when the train did not stop there. How they laughed. And the 'sea' was out.
Quite understandable.
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LL......just looking at a mobile home in the leafy Ribble Valley at Paythorne. Not too far from you, I think ? New ones quite reasonably priced at £15K with no fees for a couple of years. We have stayed there years ago in the tourer....got stuck on a green road across the moors in the Range Rover. Farmer towed us out for £30 !
Ted
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Too close for comfort Ted.
Be afraid.
Very afraid.
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>> I tip my first g&t of the evening in your direction
And I now raise my third vodka and orange of the evening to you comrade (I had to drive several people to a party where I could only have a couple of mingy little bottles of Beck's to stay legal having already had a small one at 6). But now things are mellow again.
Prosit, nazhdrovya, saha...
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 00:19
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Dear Lord, my world is crashing in...
I too am drinking vodka & orange, and I too am on my third. Mind you, I am drinking pints at 1:1.
Salud AC.
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>> I am drinking pints at 1:1.
No doubt the bracing Andean air and a good supply of coca leaves - that virtuous herb - chewed with a little lime will enable you to carry on like that for days FMR... or perhaps you are among us? If so, chapeau... (but yeah yeah...)
Salud to you too though.
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No, I'm in a place called Portillo (www.skiportillo.com/?lang=en ) not to be confused with any annoying politicians.
But I have nothing to do until Monday, so I thought a hangover would be as good a way of passing tomorrow morning as any.
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Salud. I'm just off to the fridge for no. 4. That's my lot.
I don't mind Michael Portillo as such people go. Plenty of brains, often right.
But never mind that. Salud!
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I'm taking my fourth vodka to bed to accompany the TV until I pleasantly expire. Night AC.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 01:33
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What time is it where you are FMR? Have you got started a bit early sort of thing?
No offence or anything, but the liver, though resistant, isn't invulnerable.
So far so good in my case thanks to lifelong iron discipline.
Skøl!
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Listening to you two, I don't know if the correct vision is Ernie and Eric in their double bed together, or whether its the Waltons shouting night to each other!!
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I love everyone when I'm p issed!
Its 20:40.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 01:42
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>> the Waltons shouting night to each other!!
Just honest international boozing. FMR has drunk more than a litre of vodka - two pints - and I have had four large ones, a smaller amount by a factor of about five or even six.
What's yours then BobbyG, a pint of heavy or three?
:o}
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Just about a litre.
Surely 4 large ones can't be a 5th or 6th of that?
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Just got home, drank like a Glaswegian, the difference is I managed to drink 9 pints without resorting to swearing or urinating in the street. Sadly about the most attention I got from the ladies was a couple of hugs but at my age I can't complain! :p.
Not quite sure why this has to do with crappy towns, but on way back to the bus stop dressed up in my full punk gear I witnessed a load of fighting over a taxi outside Yates, most black cabs know to avoid it, but what makes me laugh is they were too thick to realise that if could be bothered to walk just 250 yards there would have been loads of taxis driving past.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 03:14
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>> Just got home, drank like a Glaswegian, I managed to drink 9
>> pints
>>.Sadly about the most attention
>> I got from the ladies was a couple of hugs
The two are inextricably linked. Unless of course you are prepared to pull a double bag job salad dodger.
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>>Surely 4 large ones can't be a 5th or 6th of that?
Four large ones is 200ml, using the current legal measure of 25ml single, 50ml double, so 1/5th litre.
I have a 40ml jigger, so being concerned for my health I use that, I just have to drink more of them.
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 09:22
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>>I have a 40ml jigger, so being concerned for my health I use that, I just have to drink more of them.
Cracking comment.
And 25ml? Does that make the whole bottom of the glass wet?
Last edited by: No FM2R on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 16:12
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>> using the current legal measure of 25ml single, 50ml double, so 1/5th litre.
I think they were triples really. Say a fifth to a quarter.
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'Saturday night, all right! (chagachagachang)... '
Didn't touch a drop till 7 this evening. Now on no 2. Round and round and round and round, boring boring. Egypt turning to carp, bummer, and all the rest.
Cheers!
Last edited by: Armel Coussine on Sat 17 Aug 13 at 19:52
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Durham is one of the 10 listed but I detest the cathedral there. The massive pillars viewed down the nave are a visual mugging and the Normans saying, "We rule, O.K.?"
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The Normans saying "We rule, O.K."
Well they did didn't they.
Durham cathedral is surely one of the finest examples of Norman architecture in the country. The "massive pillars" are an essential to support the span of the roof. When it was built it would a building of that size would have seemed truly wondrous and amazing. A huge leap forward in building technology. Imagine if you lived in a thatched one story building and saw Durham cathedral for the first time
Last edited by: CGNorwich on Sun 18 Aug 13 at 10:42
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>> Imagine if you lived in a thatched
>> one story building and saw Durham cathedral for the first time
I like your cathedral CGNorwich, for it's atmosphere. I went there a few winters ago. It helps that it is heated - it must cost a bomb. But I love those long corridors either side of the main area, with the arches extended down them as far as you can see. Some of the choir were flitting between the different areas, it was just a lovely moment to be there.
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It's made of pink stone too.
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York is nice in the centre plenty of history and paces to eat.Not the nicest town to drive into,coming from Market Weighton.Dreary looking houses on either side of the road entering York.
Beverly is a clean town.Beverly Minster is worth a visit.Trouble with the majority of towns and city's to much traffic and problem parking.
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That list is not the 10 most beautiful, its 7 fine cathedrals, a Shakespeare tourist trap, the writers home university, and a roman place.
On that criteria, Ely should be there as well. As for Beautiful Cities? nah none of them. Take away Lincoln Cathedral and Castle and you have a complete rat hole for example. Probably York is the only city you could genuinely spend a day admiring the place.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 18 Aug 13 at 12:06
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Agree about Lincoln nothing to see and overrated.
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>> That list is not the 10 most beautiful, its 7 fine cathedrals, a Shakespeare tourist
>> trap, the writers home university, and a roman place.
It does make you wonder how many towns rely on their cathedrals to pep them up.
Thank God they built them.
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Manchester Cathedral is a magnificent edifice, probably the only one built from re-cycled materials.....
s479.photobucket.com/user/1400ted/media/thedral.jpg.html
Well worth a visit !
Ted
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What the beedin eck is that Teddy-my-love?
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That, my dear boy, is our new Cathedral ! The old one is visible in the background but they've just sold it to Poundland to become their flagship store in the city !
Actually, I tell a porky. The old one has been having a new floor with underfloor heating put in. They built the new one in the street outside. Not sure if it's still there, it will go when the builders have finished. Make a good garage/workshop, wooden it?
Me and 'er got married in the old one the day before they walked on the moon...I sometimes wish I'd been with them !
Ted
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>>The old one is visible in the background but they've just sold it to Poundland to become their flagship store in the city
Buck House will become a 99p store one-of-these-days I'll wager!
>>Me and 'er got married in the old one the day before they walked on the moon...I sometimes wish I'd been with them !
Fancy coming to Mars with me and a few others??
:o}
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>>I like your cathedral CGNorwich, for it's atmosphere. I went there a few winters ago. It helps that it is heated - it must cost a bomb. But I love those long corridors either side of the main area, with the arches extended down them as far as you can see.
In much better taste. It, too, has an impressive nave, the longest in the country, I believe. I hope it wasn't too cold to see two other firsts or near-firsts in size, the lovely cloisters and the Close.
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Zero is right about Ely Cathedral, small, weathered and held up in one place by a makeshift huge concrete buttress. As a cathedral it's an absolute gem.
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In Wells Cathedral there is a cope chest, that could be anything up to 800 years old, according to date measuring. It's a splendid thing to behold, you can really see the centuries ingrained into its surface. It made me feel like a blip in time.
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>> Fancy coming to Mars with me and a few others??
Yeah, that would be good, how long would it take 'cos I'm 67 now. Might have to take SWM as she's a class 1 cook....even veggie stuff !
How many assorted bottles of real ale will a spaceship carry ?
Ted
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>>Yeah, that would be good, how long would it take 'cos I'm 67 now
We begin training next year for the launch in 2022, the journey takes 210 days.
>>Might have to take SWM as she's a class 1 cook
No need for a cook as we're taking 800 kg of dry food :(
>>How many assorted bottles of real ale will a spaceship carry ?
3000 litres :) ...
of water :((
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Water ??....................I said I was thirsty, not dirty ! Dried food ? ..... yuk.
Count me out...I'm off to Venus on the next shuttle !
Ted
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What happened to the 80 or 100 year journey, with terrific old intellectuals and numerous young women at the peak of fertility to ensure a vigorous, intelligent colony on arrival? By inventing warp drive you are doing a lot of old geezers out of their rights Perro.
That's what Ted was looking forward to. One-way mirrors... mmmmm...
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Durham cathedral is beautiful and in a beautiful setting.
The last time I visited there was with SWMBO for a performance of Bizets Te Deum ......
... for reasons unknown we ended up in the front row of the audience under the tower within touching distance of the soloists ........
The orchestra and choir were magnificent and probably the same size as in this performance
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Isu2epXWQWY
The performance was emotionally electrifying........ a superb event in a superb setting
Last edited by: helicopter on Mon 19 Aug 13 at 11:39
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Whenever I see a magnificent church or cathedral, my first thought always includes camels, eyes of needles, and hypocrisy.
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>> Whenever I see a magnificent church or cathedral, my first thought always includes camels, eyes
>> of needles, and hypocrisy.
>>
I just think of women bishops and gay marriage and think hypocrisy
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What are the ugliest and crappiest towns? - Lygonos
