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Post by Moose on Oct 14, 2015 21:01:05 GMT
In your own words or someone else's.
A year or two ago I accidentally read a description of Whitehaven which said (my paraphrase but not far from the original I think): 'it's a town where you might easily get beaten up at a rest stop by people who looked like they were all related to one another.'. Whilst that is slightly unkind I cannot entirely decry the sentiment cos .. well, yeah.We've also got some jolly nice Georgian architecture here and a nice harbour which once upon a time was actually quite important and now doesn't even pretend that it is. Working class ex mining town that is slowly but surely dying, unloved and unsung. Which is a shame, cos I've lived in some right ugly dumps down South - Crawley for instance - which are booming. This town could be so much more than it is.
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Post by Moose on Oct 15, 2015 13:41:15 GMT
Do you regularly feel the need to buy tractors?
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Post by tangent on Oct 15, 2015 14:08:33 GMT
"What did you do today?"
"I went into town and met a young lady who was trying to get me to buy something from her range of farming implements."
"A tractor?"
"I think I must have done."
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Post by Miisa on Oct 15, 2015 15:11:23 GMT
We, bizarrely, also have a tractor/harvester dealership in my village (Virkkala). But we also have three grocery shops, two kebab/pizzerias, a florist, two hairdressers, a kiosk (newsagent?), an optician, and the one remaining bank. Oh, and a pet shop and a pharmacy. And a bar of some description.
So services galore.
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Post by tangent on Oct 15, 2015 18:07:15 GMT
Only one bar?
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Post by Miisa on Oct 15, 2015 19:27:43 GMT
Yes. Directly across the street from my bedroom. Hmph. Finns only drink on the weekends unless they are alcoholics. So instead they drink a lot when they do.
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Post by tangent on Oct 15, 2015 22:36:03 GMT
You need to emigrate. Unless, of course, you don't drink alcohol.
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Post by Miisa on Oct 16, 2015 9:23:39 GMT
Meh, I don't drink much. I have a cabinet with bottles, if needed. What I could do with is people to drink with.
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Post by JoeP on Oct 16, 2015 10:49:35 GMT
:shifty:
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Post by ceptimus on Oct 16, 2015 16:50:23 GMT
Studley is a large village on the western edge of Warwickshire near to the border with Worcestershire. It's on the Roman road of Ryknild street. For about four hundred years, Studley was famous throughout Europe for being the centre of the needle making industry though now it's mainly just a place where people live and commute elsewhere to work.
For its size, it has a ridiculously large number of pubs and restaurants - there are twelve pubs and at least another dozen places where you can either eat in or buy take-away food. There are a couple of supermarkets and about thirty other shops.
More indicative of its size is that it has neither a police station, a fire station, nor a library. The police station building still stands but has not been used for its intended purpose since before I moved here; the fire station and library were both closed in the last couple of years.
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Post by JoeP on Oct 16, 2015 19:51:36 GMT
12 pubs and no police station? Sounds really good ... or really bad ...
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Post by ProdigalAlan on Oct 16, 2015 22:53:51 GMT
It's a small dormitory town half way between Nottingham and Derby. It has a collective IQ of seven and the main source of entertainment is watching dog urine evaporate. The local library was built by Andrew Carnegie ( God bless his soul ! ) and stocks Catherine Cookson and Dan Brown. The civic coat of arms is two pools of dog vomit adorned by Carlsberg Special Brew on a field of fecal matter. It is in line to have the next sexually transmitted infection named after it. Jeremy Kyle is the patron saint and the town motto is 'In Botox We Trust'.
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Post by JoeP on Oct 19, 2015 10:50:17 GMT
London is a heaving metropolis of angry commuters in the morning, clueless tourists during the day, and rampant drinking in the evenings.
But I actually live in a small part of it called Muswell Hill. Pleasant enough to be regarded as posh ... and called "Muesli Hill" by many. It doesn't have an underground station (which may be part of the posh factor, although generally you'd think transport restrictions make an area deprived). It does have brilliant views of London.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 19, 2015 12:36:30 GMT
Bremen is a big city by German standards, but not as big as Hamburg, Berlin or Munich. It only has about half a million nhabitants and is often described as a village with a tram. We live in a part called "Alte Neustadt" which is quite close to the city centre (only about a 10 minute walk, maybe less). Neustadt didn't use to be a popular part of the city, the popular part was the "Viertel" on the other side of the river. But it is getting so expensive that people are reluctantly beginning to move accross the river. There is a big club where we live and some popular bars. Bremen is also Germany's smallest and poorest state.
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 20, 2015 0:16:13 GMT
The city in which I live is the center of an even larger metropolitan area which spans some seven counties and extends across the Columbia River in to another state. The metropolitan area is over two million inhabitants and growing. The city, Portland, is a smidge under half a million residents. It is situated at the lowest end of the Willamette valley, at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers. Since the Willamette River runs through the city, we have lots of bridges; one of the nicknames is 'Bridgetown'. We are in the midst of a vast temperate forest and the beginnings of the city included clearing trees such that the town became known as 'Stumptown'. The Pacific Ocean is 75 miles one direction and the snow-covered Cascade Mountains are 75 miles the other direction. There is an active volcano 50 miles to the north and dormant volcanoes 50 miles to the east and smack in the middle of the city. It is a former transshipment point for lumber and agricultural goods and is now noted for athletic shoes (Niketown) and computer chips ('Silicon Forest'). It calls itself the Rose City and celebrates that with a civic festival of roses each June. Nowadays, it is known for excessive housing prices, a vast number of brew pubs ('Beervana'), and as a destination point for all too many hipsters who seem to be intent on 'keeping the city weird'. It is overcast a lot and rains fairly steadily from October through May.
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Post by Moose on Oct 20, 2015 17:51:25 GMT
an active volcano fifty miles to the North? I don't think I'd fancy that. When did it last do anything noteworthy?
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Post by whollygoats on Oct 20, 2015 21:28:18 GMT
an active volcano fifty miles to the North? I don't think I'd fancy that. When did it last do anything noteworthy? Well, in 1980, it erupted and blew the top of the mountain off and all over the eastern part of the state of Washington and points east from there. When the wind shifted, we had a couple of ashfalls that left about a half inch of ash everywhere in the Portland area. It was much worse in Spokane, to the east. Before. During. After. It still sends up plumes of steam and smoke, but has quieted down considerably. Yes, it is Mt. St. Helens. It used to be a gorgeous snow-capped peak much in the vein of Mt. Fuji, in Japan. Now, it is lower and craggier. And still smoldering.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Oct 25, 2015 10:24:29 GMT
My suburb Hampton used to be the vegetable garden of Melbourne. Now it's full of homes and a long shopping street with lots of cafes and boutique shops. We have quite a decent beach. Of course, it's part of Melbourne which itself is a city of around 5 million I think these days. Obsessed with food - and at the moment doughnut everything. They're doing nutella dougnut milk shakes, and doughnut lobster rolls. There are about 500 events going on every weekend now that it's spring so always too much to do. We're the most progressive city in Australia. We have trams. We have an upside down river. The city is beautiful and always smells of great food. It has a great village feel to it. It has the most European feel, but a great Asian vibe to it too which I really only noticed having come back after living away from it so long. The weather extremes seem fairly unique - goes from 40C to 20C in the space of 20 minutes when the winds change. It hdas been voted the worlds most livable city quite a few times - this is not 100% true but if you can afford to live within the inner city suburbs than yes, it probably is.
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Post by yooperguy on Dec 12, 2015 21:47:12 GMT
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Post by tangent on Dec 13, 2015 23:30:06 GMT
It has been voted the worlds most livable city quite a few times... You can't realistically grow an English lawn though
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 8, 2016 18:19:36 GMT
A relatively recent image with the snowcapped peaks between Puddle City and Skedaddle. In the foreground is Wy'East, or Mt. Hood. It is directly east of Puddle City. The view is obviously aerial and to the north. In the distance is Tahoma, aka Mt. Rainier, which is south and east of Skedaddle. In between is Klickitat, aka Mt. Adams. Not shown in the photo is the stump of Loowit, the eruptive Mt. St. Helens, which is out of the frame to the left (west).
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 8, 2016 18:23:50 GMT
It has been voted the worlds most livable city quite a few times... You can't realistically grow an English lawn though Of course not. Too many sheep.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Feb 10, 2016 9:09:00 GMT
A relatively recent image with the snowcapped peaks between Puddle City and Skedaddle. In the foreground is Wy'East, or Mt. Hood. It is directly east of Puddle City. The view is obviously aerial and to the north. In the distance is Tahoma, aka Mt. Rainier, which is south and east of Skedaddle. In between is Klickitat, aka Mt. Adams. Not shown in the photo is the stump of Loowit, the eruptive Mt. St. Helens, which is out of the frame to the left (west). Purty. Thouh I'd prefer to visit in summer.
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Post by whollygoats on Feb 10, 2016 14:25:18 GMT
Summer? Summer is fine. The mountains are still here in the summer.
The mountain in the front? I know they often have skiing in the summer. The US Olympic ski team practices there. All the mountains tend to have snow year 'round. Yes, they lose a lot and show a great deal more rock in the late summer, and most of the ski runs are closed, but the snow is still there. It depends on how long the annual snow drought lasts. You can drive right up to Timberline and safely visit the monumental Arts & Crafts lodge located there in the summer. In the winter, it requires tyrechains and is still a 'hairy' drive. There is a very strong correlation between heavy rain in the valley where I live and heavy deposition of snow on Wy'East.
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Post by Fr. Gruesome on May 20, 2016 9:03:34 GMT
Barradurbury is properly Modorian and therefore Glorious. The words have not yet been invented to describe the glories of its ancient monuments. serene streets and spacious open ... er ... spaces.
My parish of Quagmire, on the other hand is not quite so stately. It is the eastern end of small urban area of about 40k. inhabitants, Quagmire has about eight thousand of them. The southernmost part of the conically shaped parish is ancient forest, where it is wiser to stick to the two roads - or more accurately one road with a fork in it. As the forest thins, towards the north, there are isolated houses that eventually huddle together for safety in a very prosperous settlement that is one of the 20% least deprived communities in all the realm. There is a small shopping centre, polo and cricket grounds, and housing that will set you back €5 million.
The parish is then intersected east-west by Glorious Southern Railway of Mordor in a transport corridor that includes a major highway and associated super-stores, restuarants and hi-tech industry. The other side of the tracks - and I choose those words with care - is a separate community, which is one of the 30% most deprived. What a contrast.
The parish church is almost by the sea (and, at least once, under it). The strand is an area of Special Scientific Interest and has lots of ornithological tourism. The building is only 150 years old but is the third on the same footprint, with the oldest reaching back to the very days of Blessed Contubatious the Areopagite, who brought the faith to Mordor. There have been three buildings because the churchyard is seamarsh and the parish is not called Quagmire for nothing ... the previous two buildings have both been destablised by ground movements so putting the new church in the same place was the obvious thing to do wasn't it?
This northern part of the parish is where our efforts are concentrated, there are no actual slums but there is a very great social deficit which we seek to address in partnership with other people of goodwill. There are two pubs, a row of shops, a doctor and dentist but, sadly, no undertaker. There is a halt on the railway and effective bus services. I work as part of a team of five priests who serve the urban area as a whole.
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Post by jayme on May 20, 2016 23:38:10 GMT
Small, boring, college town that is too small to have anything fun for college students to do, but we do have a tractor dealership!
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Post by JoeP on May 21, 2016 7:57:18 GMT
Another tractor dealership?
Has anyone ever been into one of these tractor dealerships? I'm beginning to wonder if they are a front for secret government operations. Or Mafia. Or aliens.
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Post by tangent on May 21, 2016 8:31:45 GMT
"I met a young lady at a country fare the other day selling a farming implement."
"A tractor?"
"I think I must have done."
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Post by JoeP on May 21, 2016 9:27:15 GMT
Steve ... you posted that joke on page 1 ...
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Post by jayme on May 21, 2016 13:39:59 GMT
Another tractor dealership? Has anyone ever been into one of these tractor dealerships? I'm beginning to wonder if they are a front for secret government operations. Or Mafia. Or aliens. Now that you mention it, I never have been inside. Maybe that is where the Masonic Order of Rednecks Templar NRA Mafia has their secret meetings.
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