Keen followers (all onbe of you) will be aware that I moved to Australia recently. And I’m incredibly glad we did.
Alice Springs is a podunk town. Maybe 28,000 total population. Two large grocery stores. One swimming pool…the CBS is about a 6 block square. Ther nearest decent sized town is at least a day and a half’s drive away, and 2 hours by plane. But that’s Darwin, and no-one goes to the Top End, so civilization is three hours by plane. Summers are a regular 40 degree minimum heat. The crime rate is really bad, and the poverty among our Aboriginal population is just horrendous.
I love it here. Properly love it. I think it might be the best place I’ve lived. When I go out the front door, I look into the sheer face of Mt Johns, about 100 yards away. It’s an incredible mix of green, when it rains, and hard orange. Everywhere around here is harsh. The minute you get outside the town, it’s desert and scrub outback. I take water even for a 40 minute walk because if you don’t bad things can happen; but God it’s beautiful. Miles and miles and miles of Outback. When I’m walking the dog on the return leg, I have Mt Johns and Ilparpa, the start of the McDonnells to my left and the dawn light starting to break on them. Cliched, but I stop every morning and just marvel at the harsh beauty.
The folks around here are small town friendly,. I was welcomed into the rugby community immediately, in a town that takes its sport really seriously. So many conversations here begin “Mate, “, and you get the sense that they mean it. If mateship ever makes it into the Constitution over here, the spiritual home will be here.
It could be that the Australian cultural landscape appeals to me. A blend of Australian, US and UK tv, and as much sport as you can shake a stick at.
The Aboriginal problem is a tough one; I’m lucky that I’m working for An Aboriginal Corporation that is all about improving the life and opportunities of its members. The poverty is unimaginable, and the cultural challenges defy description. But tyhere are good people trying to solve intractable problems.
So, I’m glad we’re in Alice. I like so much of it, but the countryside just fills my heart every time I g out the front door.
What do you love about where you live?
We moved to Worthing in 2002 from Godalming. I don’t love the town and the people are pretty much the same as anywhere else. I do, however, love being so close to the sea. I’m off out now for a bike ride, which I do most days. If I have the time, I’ll go West to Ferring and cycle round the village, then back close to the coast (within sight mostly) until I pick up the prom which is a shared pedestrian/cyclist space, turning around just past the fishing boats East of the Dome Cinema. It’s never the same two days running: different sights, colours, calm, high waves. I’d miss it if we ever had to move inland.
You forgot the breakfasts at the Sea Lanes Cafe on the beach in Goring. Best keep it quiet, we don’t want that place any busier than it is already.
The Bluebird cafe at Ferring is nicer IMHO
Yes, that’s also good. Harder to find though.
I spent the first seven years of my life living in Goring by sea. I lived in Chelwood Avenue which is a stone’s throw away from the Sea Lanes cafe. This was back in the early 60s. I used to go for a paddle in the sea on a Sunday morning with my Dad and get a choc ice from the cafe afterwards.
I went back there a couple of years ago. I knocked on the door of my old home and gave them a picture of their house in the 60s. They were lovely and showed me around. Brought back a load of happy memories.
What a lovely story. I was out on my motorbike and realised I was near an old cottage I stayed in with some mates in 1976 so I stopped for a look and they invited me in for a cuppa. The current owners still had the old visitors’ book with our signatures in it. I told them we were convinced it was haunted and they said they’d seen a ghostly child on the stairs too….
Birmingham is a big place, but it’s a series of villages outside the city centre (Bearwood, Kings Heath, Cotteridge, Harborne, Bourneville, Stirchley etc.). We’ve lived in Kings Heath and Moseley (yer Clapham and Battersea) for twenty years and there’s lots to love. The pubs (Prince of Wales, Pat Kav etc.) and venues are the equal of anywhere in the country – walking to the Hare and Hounds has made us take a punt on any number of acts that if we had to get a Tube for we’d think twice. Lots of good independent shops though we have definitely reached Peak Coffee. We can walk to the test match at Edgbaston. Over the last year of course we’ve been grateful for the great green spaces and parks, cycle routes and canal paths that thread through the city.
A man could lose himself in Birmingham… Lose himself.
As Samuel Johnson memorably opined the man who is tired of life should move to Birmingham
I love Birmingham and particularly Moseley/Kings Heath. I love the diversity and the tolerance that you no longer find everywhere else these days. I love Brummie humour and Brummie fortitude.
I live in Lichfield now but work in Brum and frequent Birmingham venues on a regular basis.
Moved to Co. Kildare last year after 20 years in the U.S. The States were very good to me, mostly due to my wonderful little family who are here with me. We just got back from a walk on The Curragh. On Saturday we had a short drive to Donadea Forest Park which was lovely. We’ve been on walks along the Barrow Way following the river and canals. We live in an area that I would describe as ‘out in the country’ although that’s purely subjective on my part. We’re about 8km from Kilcullen and only 40 minutes or so from Dublin but it feels remote and peaceful. We’re about 40 minutes from the Wicklow Mountains and only an hour from the gorgeous eastern coastline.
I think what’s really special about Ireland (aside from the people) is there is everything here you could wish for and it’s all so accessible and not terribly crowded. I’m very lucky that a work opportunity brought us here. We already feel like it’s where we’ve always wanted to be.
I live on the edge of a little village just outside Windsor. It’s also the best place I’ve ever lived. Great neighbours, good shops and restaurants within easy reach and all that – but mainly it’s all about the fact that I can be in London in 40 mins one side, and thousands of acres of Berkshire and Surrey countryside in about 2 mins on the other.
I spent a lot of time outdoors: I run and walk every day of my life and the ability to do that in, say, Windsor Great Park, is a great gift. (Windsor Great Park, if you don’t know it, is the absolute greatest: vast, part wild, part landscaped, with the odd mini castle to surprise you every once in while.) My standard 10k running route takes me through town and past the (proper) castle every morning, and I never ever get tired of that view (but on a cloudless spring morning like this one, it’s incredibly special). Vivid blue, over lush green, with regular bits of ancient stone in the middle: what’s not to love? Who wouldn’t want the endorphin rush of using your body close to its limits while in that perfect state of thoughtless flow, under that sky, in a cool morning breeze, out in that level of natural and human beauty? The senses beat absolutely everything.
(I realise running people are the worst people if you’re not one of them, but I don’t care. I get to run in this landscape and it makes me amazingly happy.)
“the edge of a little village just outside Windsor” .
Estate agent-ese for Slough.
Ha, fortunately not. Other side. Berks not Bucks.
I still manage to annoy my wife, who grew up in Iver, by reminding her it has a Slough postcode.
But Iver really *is* basically Slough. Or rather, it’s nearly Langley, and Langley’s definitely Slough.
*ducks*
I live the other side of Windsor. Out the front I can see the castle. Out the back the M4 and Slough sewage works. Very much in SL territory. It’s still a lovely place to be when the cows are on the common, the swans are nesting, the Herons are fishing and the parakeets are flying home along the stream to nest at dusk. Bins and council tax are definitely Slough though…
Slough has a bad rep (and tbh deservedly so in places *cough* CHALVEY *cough*), but as you say there’s a lot of really lovely nature. Upton Court Park, across the Myrke and along the Jubilee, around Eton, out towards Datchet etc – a big favourite walking area for me.
My Dad grew up in Chalvey, before moving out to Reading (where I still am). My Grandparents were still there for a few more years. They then moved to the posh(er) Cippenham (posher cos it’s closer to Maidenhead). When they retired, they moved back to Chalvey.
Chalvey is also home to retro man, late of this parish
Shit.
Sorry Chalvey.
You’d think I’d learn never to make jokes about places being shit after that awkward time I made a joke about Lichfield and discovered two people on here were from there 😬
No, you’re right. Chalvey is shit. Deserves the derision.
Langley has a couple of good bits … the road out and the train station going east or west
Lichfield has a particular place in Quaker history.
@hedgepig the good thing about Lichfield is that two blokes from here live there and you don’t !!
I’ll tell her you said that. She won’t be happy….
Ascot has a Slough post code as well.
As does Maidenhead.
It’s not all that posh either. It’s alright. A standard definition of A Town. At the moment the centre is in pieces with various building works going on. All cranes, lorries and hard hatted individuals, so it’s charm factor is low.
The surrounding area is nice. Marlow, Henley and Windsor are always worth the short drive in for a bimble about.
Oh wow. I’m Royal Borough Of, too.
By way of Northumberland, Limehouse, Tooting and Lewisham.
That was some bus ride.
Running people are okay. It’s Cyclists we hate! ( close second though)
Somebody was just opining the other day about making the blog, sorry, forum, better run technical like. This post proves it. Accky dakky licchh!
As I may have mentioned, I live in two places, Folkestone and Brisbane.
My daughter persuaded us to move to Folkestone because Cornwall was too far (and there was no longer any reason to live there), and because Jessica Hynes (with whom the daughter was having a brief literary flirtation at the time) said it was a cool place to live. As indeed it is. It may be UKIP central, but it also has a thriving arts scene, lots of funky shops in the Old Town, and views to die for. Our flat is 2 minutes from the Leas, from where you can see France on a good day. I often think how weird and scary it must have been living in Folkestone and Dover during the war, when the Germans regularly lobbed shells over from the French coast, and vice versa if you lived in Calais.
Folkestone’s population is about 50,000; Brisbane’s is 2.5m. Not huge by global standards, but a pretty buzzy city nevertheless. (Australia’s total population, c.25m, is only 4m more than that of Mexico City.) Lots to do, great music, galleries, coffee, food…our suburb has wide streets and loads of trees, and it’s right next door to an old eucalyptus forest (which gives me the occasional twinge during dry periods). It’s a big sprawling city, about 75km top to bottom, but it’s easy to get out of. Tamborine Mountain, the gateway to the beautiful, lush Scenic Rim – all mountains, national parks and dormant volcanoes – is less than an hour away.
If my life ever gets back to the old normal – commuting back and forth halfway across the world – I’ve no idea where I’ll end up when the music stops. Either way I’ll be happy, though.
@Sitheref2409
SO YOU MADE IT!
Mrs Wells was just their visiting her daughter Charlotte (Lotte) and Cairns – they do bike programmes in remote communities. Mrs Wells would have us move there , but we are heading south in Vitoria, close to the southern most tip of the mainland, pretty close to Tassie.
Darwin and surrounds has its charms so don’t be put off by local badmouthing.
There was an aboriginal painter who did landscapes in watercolour from his area- Hermannsburg. The paintings were mocked at the time til people went to central Australia and realised those incredible colours were accurate.
I am hoping to make the trip later this year so a mini-mingle will be on the cards.
Yeah, some of the art around here is rather good.
Let me know when you think you’ll be in town and beer can be had!
Re: Sitheref’s original heading “a love note to Mparntwe”
I would never have guessed the pronunciation* of Mparntwe if I hadn’t looked it up on Google.
“mm-BARN-doo-uh” or “mm-ban-tua”, apparently.
Not Mbbb barn tway?
Pronounced Mbbb. Hmmm. Sure it’s not Mmmbop, ba duba dop?
Stuffed that up.
In Africa ,which has similarities with Indigenous Australian languages, ,sometimes, words starting with an N or M usually require it to be a soft sound
Mmmmm or Nnnnnn
So what I meant to type was
Mmmmmmm barnt way
So my sounds should have been
Anybody mentions Hanson, I’m off.
@duco01
That’s easy for you to say
I live in Melbourne, 15 minutes walk from a bay beach. It’s a very BIG bay, Hobson’s Bay. The sand is fine and white and there is not a croc or irakinji jellyfish for a few thousand miles. Sharks are rare, particularly white pointers, thankfully. Being a bay there is no surf.The sun sets over the sea and being quite south the sunsets are long.
Because I live near the sea the traffic is relatively low ( no amphibious traffic and it is quite flat so easy to walk and cycle around (if I get off my arse). There is a creek which opens up into a berthing area for small fishing boats of all colours and sizes. Mostly a bit run down and weathered. They remind me of my visit to Cornwall which is part of the appeal.
The local footy ground is close by so in summer you hear the knock of leather on willow and appeals for wickets. In winter it is the local footy with accompanying crowd roar, sirens for each quarter and sounds of disappointment and jubilation.
I am about 40 minutes train ride from the city and a bit further for most of the music venues- we are south, they are north. But I prefer it down here it is less hectic and the climate more temperate.
If you are in Mordialloc look me up.
Why do I not find the sentence “Sharks are rare, particularly white pointers” reassuring?
I saw this in updates and thought it was something to do with Mrs Fripp.
🤣
I expect to be in Melbourne this year – either passing through on the way to Tassie, and/or for the Boxing Day Test
What do I love about Ottawa? Canadian people generally are welcoming and friendly. The winters are terrible, but the summers are great.
As a city I prefer Toronto or Montreal I think but what Ottawa has going for it as a small(ish) city (1 million), is you can get pretty much anywhere in the city in about 20 mins by car. It sprawls over a large area and there are numerous hiking trails etc and you can be in the countryside in minutes. Across the river in Quebec is the enormous Gatineau Park for hiking, skiing, sightseeing etc. Except, as of today we are not allowed to go there without good reason like work or energencies.
I’ve lived in Singapore since 1993 and still enjoy being here. Its very much city living and a do miss having a “countryside’ but overall the positives outweigh the negatives…..
– its hot all year round and I can wear shorts and a t-shirt every single day of the year. Yes it can be too hot, but fans and sometimes air conditioning take care of that.
– the food is great and it can be cheap to eat out (it can also be hideously expensive!)
– its safe – I have never worried about my wife or kids coming back om there own at night.
– my kids have had a very high standard of education and its nice being in a country that takes education seriously and funds it properly (although there is an argument there is too much pressure on eduction here, but my kids did okay).
Singapore is bloody wonderful. I’ve been once and it instantly rocketed into my top three destinations ever. I’d settle there just for the hawker centres, and the fact that nighttime at Gardens By The Bay, looking back towards the Marina Bay Sands, you feel like you’re in a sort of utopian version of The Empire Strikes Back.
Envy.
Just don’t leave chewing gum on the streets or be seen drunk in public. Slightly authoritarian government?
I’m all in favour of the death penalty for chewing gum and littering in any case. 😉
I’ve been slightly drunk in public in Singapore. It was fine. Tbh I’d happily slap a £500 fine and six months in chokey on your average pissed-up Brit in the town centre on a Saturday night.
(I’m mostly joking. I know the Singaporean govt is a bit terrifying, but Christ they don’t half keep a well-run, spotless, beautiful, friendly country.)
I’m with them on the chewing gum… fucking stuff is everywhere. What is wrong with people?
So an authoritarian government where any civil disobedience is frowned upon is fine in a small state with great food and weather, but would be horrific in, say, the UK?
I have visited Singapore a couple of times (on business), enjoyed the visits very much, I did wonder about how much racial discrimination and poverty is involved in order to give the well healed such a lovely standard of living?
And what is it $75000 to own a car or something? Actually that could be a good thing.
The number of cars in Singapore is effectively limited as drivers need to have a certificate to own a car, and these are capped at a specific number, and expensive. This is offset by a very good public transport system (buses and metro) and relatively cheap taxis.
Works very well. I don’t have a car, and don’t really feel I need one. The traffic is usually manageable, especially when compared to neighbouring cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Jakarta.
Yeah, personally I prefer not to own a car if possible, and went many years without one, unfortunately I need one right now.
To be well healed you just need a good healthcare system.
I’ve seen lots of drunks in Singapore, and jay walkers, street sex workers, and art pamphlets. I think it’s “don’t be found on a slow Policing day, or make it too obvious”. Suits me; I find people who can’t hold their bevvy and make berks of themselves on it very annoying. Another thumbs up for the hawker centre food courts (amazing), and the few national parks within it, zoo, and botanical gardens, which are spectacular whilst being safe.
Yes it is a slightly authoritarian government, but it has liberalised massively in the 28 years I have been here. The thing is though a lot of these ‘harsh rules’ and draconian measures are for stuff that 99.9% of law abiding normal folks wouldn’t do anyway. I remember a friend asking me how I could live in society where you were caned for vandalising cars (there was a famous case of an American kid that did) – it’s not something that I would ever do, so the penalties are irrelevant to me !
Whilst I may not agree with the government on many things, this pandemic has showed the benefit of having a competent leadership.
There is definitely inequality, but from what I have seen, there are sufficient safety nets that no one would go hungry, be deprived of healthcare, etc etc
That’s very insightful.
The safety is a great thing. It can seem mundane but it is a big deal.
I think COVID 19 has shown what I like most about Singapore, namely the willingness for people to play their part to stop the virus spreading. Everyone wears a mask here and takes the virus seriously, probably because they’ve seen things like SARS in the past.
Quick ref back to the OP – the Alice Springs Post Office used to be legendary. 30 years ago, a friend got a job on a station 400km north east of Alice. The mail plane would fly in every Friday morning, and anything she addressed to me would be in my Adelaide letter box first thing Monday morning. Likewise, if I posted anything by Tuesday lunchtime, she’d get it Friday. These days you couldn’t even get Express Post that goes that fast just across town.
They were also the kind of place where you could sent a letter or parcel to someone care of the ASPO, and they could claim it over the counter with a minimum of hassle.
Another old mate lived in Darwin – said it was the kind of place people didn’t go to, it’s where they ended up. Working in law, he was never short of work.
A couple of mates travelled over West. Back then your dole cheque would be forwarded onto you, in their case the prime surf locations.
They asked for some weed so I sent a lunch box full. Taped up but not even a padded bag back then. Just brown paper. I think it got forwarded by 2 post offices before reaching them in Ceduna.
My introduction to Darwin…
I just got off a plane from Singapore at 3 in the morning.
I was standing having a smoke waiting for a cab when one came to me at great speed and came to a screeching halt at my feet. The unseen driver yelled at me, “Get in” He popped the boot, I chucked my bag in there, tossed my smoke and opened the back door. The still unseen driver yelled, “Get in the front” So I did what he said. While I was still looking for my seatbelt, I told him where I was going and he took off at great speed, 0 to 120 in a few seconds.
I was bouncing in the front seat trying to strap myself in when he said, “Gis a smoke” I gave him one, lit it for him. Then he said, “You have one” I said, “Oh that’s okay I just put one out” and he yelled, “You have one!” So I did what he said. He asked me where I came from, I told him. He said, “Melbourne! What sort of shithead comes from a shithole like that?” I’d only been in the cab for about 90 seconds and I was already starting to think, “This fucker’s crazy”
He insisted on talking to me and everything I said no matter how innocuous made him angry. For example he didn’t like the fact I was in town to catch the train to Adelaide. I must be some sort of idiot for doing that. It was while he was staring at me that I realised he wasn’t just crazy he was drunk out of his mind.
Of course I wanted to get out but once we were away from the airport we were in the middle of nowhere and I had no idea where we could have been. There were no other cars, no nothing, just blackness and this multi lane freeway. We zigged from one side of it to the other, then just as we were about to crash, we righted ourselves and zagged to the other side of the freeway and so on.
It was genuinely nightmarish, the whole ride took no more than ten minutes but I was so relieved to be alive I tipped the guy about $20.00.
It occured to me later that could have been (and probably was at some stage) someone’s introduction to Australia.
The odd thing is now Darwin is now my favourite place in Australia. I’ve been there a couple of times since and hope to go again. Despite the fact it’s fairly old there’s scarcely a building older than the 1970’s. You can certainly say that it’s an odd place I’ve only been there in the dry. A workmate who used to live there said to me, “It’s a great place but don’t ever go there in the wet.”
That is such an amazing story, it deserves a thread all of its own. Big applause from me.
It’s absolutely true. I told it once to a mate who had worked in a pub in Broome and he just chuckled. I then told him how I was walking down one of the main streets of Darwin fascinated by this trail of blood I was following. It was so thick and so long! Then I saw ANOTHER trail of blood heading in another direction that actually intersected with the first trail! They each went their separate ways.
My mates chuckling demeanour disappeared and he said very seriously, “The violence up north can be appalling.”
Edge of a Languedoc village (1000 people or so) surrounded by an ocean of vineyards. Ten minute stroll takes you up into the garrigue and another world of rocks, boulders, mountain herbs, mountain goats and the odd wild boar. Twenty minute drive to the seaside for amazing beaches and views down to Spain (admittedly not the place to be during July & August when half of Paris and all of Holland holiday here).
Lovely friendly locals although to be honest most of our close friends are expats, mostly UK but a fair smattering of Yanks, Canadians and Scandinavians.
Sixteen years of happiness here hasn’t stopped us every now and then pondering a return to the UK with Scotland a distinct possibility. Until then, and any move is very, very much theoretical (“Wouldn’t it be nice to see the grandson more or pop down the pub or…?”), we ain’t going nowhere.
My last holiday in France (around 1986) was down there somewhere. Canet Plage maybe? It was camping.
How’s your Dutch these days?
Provence is on my list of places to which I would consider retiring.
Why on earth would you consider moving back to Scotland? Are you mad!??
I like living somewhere where I don’t understand anything the locals are saying we
Did that little ‘we’ just slip out?
I guess that’s what comes from living ‘in continent’
Most amusing. Now that I have changed my pants, let me elucidate further
I’ll put some newspapers down.
Sounds lovely Lodes. Retiring to France is one of my options to consider though as we have fucked up our right to be there is not quite as simple as it was.
Right On…Vote Lib Dem in the local elections!
It’d be nice to see the Tories lose control of Hertfordshire County Council.
Watford’s one redeeming feature is that there’s not a single Tory on the Borough Council. All Lib-Dems (26) and Labour (10). Now if we could just get rid of our porky little smug, pink-faced git of a Brexiteer MP…
I wish you hadn’t asked. I’ve been thinking about this for the past few hours and there’s nothing much that I love about where I live, except for the house itself (and the contents and people there in). I’ve been back in Northampton for about 15 years (I can’t remember which forum member it was who wrote about it, but he had a nasty experience in Northampton and had to escape- fair enough).
The town has lost a lot of it’s appeal over the last few years. When I moved back here I had a lot of friends (some I don’t see very often, most I am not fussed about seeing at all), we had gigs and a nice arty sort of scene. Having a little one we don’t get to go out too much (pre-covid) and I can’t really see that changing too much. Also when I moved back here there were four department stores in town and a few nice independent shops- There are none now (aside from a few of those vintage places that have sprouted up everywhere).
The street we live on is OK, although the neighbours we had at the start of lockdown weren’t the best (loud, terrible music, lockdown busting hot tub parties, growing weed in the loft), so we have decided to move, which is a shame as I do really like my house. It took a few years but now I really do see it as a home, y’know we’ve stamped our mark on the place. We have talked before about moving away (the Tarragona region in Catalonia or south west England, nearer the sea) but there’s always something that gets in the way.
Move! Move now! Don’t wait or extrapolate! It’ll do your head in at an increasing rate!
I love living close to the Thames, at the point where it begins to widen and there’s a mix of the old warehouses and new apartments and office blocks. It creates a great sense of space in the middle of the city, which has been a big thing in making the lockdown more bearable.
We could do with a bit more in terms of eateries, but not far from Tower Bridge in one direction and Greenwich in the other.
Not saying we’ll stay here forever, but for now it does us nicely.
An old friend lives in Waterloo and he can see the London Eye from his flat and I had a girlfriend who had a flat share behind the Young Vic in the mid 90s, which was good fun, being able to walk into the West End or along the river in the summer. Living in central London, rather than the suburbs, where I grew up, is way better
You must be very rich.
Sale, burbs of Manchester.
Next!
Lol, I lived in Sale in the late 90s. Even then, the town centre appeared to be dying on its arse. After that, I moved down the road to Altrincham; went back to visit a few years ago and it had morphed into a really attractive Cheshire town, all cleaned up and with the tatty bits gradually being replaced. In the 80s, it was mainly scrub parking lots and now it’s an extension of Hale!
Most of Alti is ok now, the market area especially but some of the shopping areas are still a bit tatty.
Sale town centre is slowly slowly bring gentrified. There are big plans to remove the concrete shopping centre for something a bit more pleasing on the eye. There have already been as few welcome additions, a bar, deli type place and a 50 year old man DJ and beer shop so things are looking up. Still Sweet Suburbia though.
Good to hear. It was never much to look at (especially that precinct), but where I lived (Dane Road, off the Washway junction) was fairly quiet and handy for the tram.
Yep, still fairly quiet there and still handy for the tram. And Majestic wine shop.
Ever see Ian Brown at the rugby?
Leading the singing? (tee-hee)
My daughter was in the same Altrincham primary school class as Ian Brown’s son. It was thus that I found myself sat behind the wild man of rock, each proudly watching our offspring in the school nativity play. Thankfully, he didn’t sing along to any of the music.
I got awfully drunk once in Alice.
Me and a mate had flown up from Perth, having spent 10 days going (from Perth) east, south (at Kalgoorlie), west then north back to Perth on a couple of BMWs, it was an incredible few days.
We were meeting a mate, staying at the backpackers, and there was this pool table, which I got on and couldn’t seem to get off, then there was free flowing beer, then it all got hazy.
We had to wake up the bloke who owned the backpackers at about 2am as he’d locked us out. he didn’t look overly chuffed, as I recall.
The Desert park was fantastic though, and as you say, the setting for Alice is incredible.
Nottingham has music venues (and pubs) a plenty, cricket, ice hockey, is near the lovely Peak District and its only drawback for me is a lack of watchable cetaceans. But that’s what holidays are for.
Bonn, a small city on a big river, with a legacy of history and good public transport that comes with being a former capital. I live in the Altstadt, that right now has cherry blossom bursting out along its cobbled streets:
https://www.kirschbluete-bonn.de/
We usually go for a daily walk/skate/scoot/cycle along or around* the Rhine. It never fails to provide a wonderful variety of seasonal views, this year flooding and then freezing the floodplains so we could go skating on them.
It’s been described as the second most smug city in Germany (after Münster), but having lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere else (17 years), I’m quite content to be here – we’re quite embedded in our way into the local community and have known most of the people working in the local shops and stalls for more than a decade.
For a long time, it just like being in another part of northern Europe, until some twots fucked everything up in 2016. Now I’m not sure where my identity lies, but there are much worse places to live.
*crossing 2 of the three bridges that are part of Bonn.
I went there once to visit Beethoven’s house.
Bastard wasn’t in!
Probably moved to Vienna by then. Bonn is very proud of him, which is another rain to live the city. Pre-Corona, every September was the annual festival with concertos, symphonies and solo pieces played in the squares and on street corners, particularly on the opening weekend. Sitting in the Munsterplatz on a sunny autumn evening as the first trilling notes soar into an azure sky with a pair of lost helium balloons and was utterly transcendent.
Of course, the big 250 year anniversary festival had to be cancelled last year, but I’m sure they’ll roll it over to another year…
…first trilling notes of the Emperor piano concerto, i should have said – majestic!
Couldn’t hear you.
Gone to Vienna… deaf…. dead for 200 years… It’s just one excuse after another!
Beethoven was only deaf in the ears, not in his head.
Right, man.
Oh sounds good. Spent a fair chunk of my childhood in Königswinter across the river (never been sure if it is/was a suburb or separate). We lived in a house (no longer there I gather) overlooking the Rhine across to Bad Godesberg and Bonn. Not been back for 30+ years but have very happy memories of the place. Walks in the Siebengebierge, the Dollendorf/Königswinter ferry walk, cycle rides along the Rhine, jumpers for goalposts etc. Genuinely idyllic memories.
One day I must read A Small town in Germany. Is it worth it?
Königswinter is a lot nicer now than when I first moved to the area. Bonn is really a patchwork of separate villages, and KW (too lazy to type it in full) is on the edge of that really. It used to be like Eastbourne. Now, it’s not exactly Brighton, but probably somewhere in between. Hastings? (Yes, I know that doesn’t work geographically). It has a great coffee shop with bookshop attached, on the way to the rack and pinion railway up to the Drachenfels.
The Siebengebirge are my new discovery – 7 hills that are fantastic for cycling up and down in a chain parallel to the Rhine. Beautiful woods and views all the way to Cologne.
Don’t bought with A Small Town In Germany, unless you enjoy petty embassy squabbles and can remember what Bonn looked like way before I arrived here and before the government and most international politicians moved to Berlin. It’s just DHL, Deutsche Telecom, the UN and the university here now – which is probably enough, I suppose.
Interesting to hear an update on the place. I was basically too small to have much understanding. It was probably really dull in reality! But I didn’t reach my teens there and we had a great garden and loads of walks in the hills. There was a derelict hotel on top of one of them and that was really cool.
House prices are really high and there’s not much in the market. I would love a house with a garden in Königswinter. I wonder which was the derelict hotel. Not much chance of that now. Everything is night up and refurbished.
Quick google reminds me the derelict was the Petersburg. Definitely not derelict anymore. I’ve clearly been gone a long time…
Petersberg? I did wonder, as that’s the biggest, fuck off, I’m dominating this whole section of the Rhine, hilltop edifice there is – the seat of many international political summits and conferences – it surprises me that it was ever derelict, but wiki says that what is now dubbed the “German Camp David” was empty for the 70s and 80s. I’ve walked around it, as it could have been the site for a climate finance meeting, and it definitely had the air of having been there a long time. Think The Shining hotel, but without such long corridors or seas of blood.
Reading … what do I love about it?
Erm …
– it’s got an HMV, and an independent Record Shop.
– It’s half an hour from work – a morning commute that I can handle.
– It’s got a Ring Road which goes right through the centre of the Town (so not really a Ring Road then?)
– London is 30 minutes by train
– It’s got a B&Q AND a Wickes
– It really is quite dull (despite having about 7 branches of Greggs within a 3 mile radius)
We lived in Reading for many years in the 80s and 90s and came to really like it as a place to live. Like most places that on the surface are rather anonymous, there is plenty there to love when you get to know it. The Thames meadows; a good Waterstones; Smelly Alley to buy fresh fish and veg; not being in London but close enough to visit for gigs, theatre, etc; lovely countryside and some decent rural pubs nearby; at the time (don’t know if still true) a streadily improving restaurant and pub scene in the city centre. We were sorry to leave.
@blue-boy
Yup, I get what you say, and there are worst places to be. It really isn’t as bad as I make out above, just been here so long one tends to think “it’s all a bit sh*t”.
Whilst the Oracle has a certain indentikit nature about it, the waterfront restaurants do add variety and choice to the place – even if more of them are closing down as we speak.
I’m up in Tilehurst – near enough to the town to be a suburb, yet also 5 minutes from the Thames path to Pangbourne (and beyond) and on the edge of much woodland (which I didn’t really appreciate until this last year of lockdown)
Market Harborough is obviously quiet just now. I think it was better when it had an indie record shop and a couple of indie bookshops. It also had someone connected to the music business who would have heavy friends play in either Wilbarston Village Hall, or the market Harborough Leisure centre (where Robert Plant did a surprise Christmas concert, and i also saw John Mayall, and Aussie Floyd). A fair number of chazzas. The restaurants in Harborough are functional, but posh gastropubs in the villages are better. Harborough has a craft brewery which is OK, but again, village pubs are better. But people are mostly OK, it’s definitely a Home Counties type market town, the train is an hour to London, and the last one back is 11.10pm. OK for theatre, a bit more iffy if a gig in Hammersmith goes beyond 10.30pm.
I really like Harborough. We’re walking there next month (from Northampton) and shall possibly take in one of the nice pubs there.
I live is semi-rural Oxfordshire. Three miles from Abingdon.
I can get a bus once an hour into Oxford if I needed to – 35 minutes journey and available in peak hours. And the bus stop is a 20 second walk from my front door.
Oxford is a great city and I have hardly explored parts of it since I moved here in 1998 but I have no doubt there is more to see and discover.
I went to Oxford Poly and loved every second of it and feel an enormous affection for the city and environs. Lucky lad.
Former resident of Radley and Shippon here. Left Banbury after 10+ years in January of this year. I didn’t visit Oxford that often – lots to enjoy there, a nightmare to park in. Musical highlights – The Hamsters playing a pub in Abingdon, seeing Focus at the Zodiac in Oxford, and Iron Maiden, Deep Purple and Dweezil Zappa at the New Theatre.
I was at that Deep Purple gig as well. Late 1990s.
Ian Gillan in a white kaftan as I recall
We moved to Hitchin in 2007 after 20 years in St. Albans in search of a bigger kid accommodating house. It’s a nice place to live – 20 odd minutes from London on the fastest train, nice proper town centre with a cobbled square n’all, decent pubs and restaurants…but as thoughts turn to downsizing and the third age whether we stay here remains moot. I have no real roots here, mind you I don’t really anywhere else either. It’s nice and it does me for now which might last quite a while yet.
Moved to Winchcombe in Gloucestershire about 7 years ago and have loved living here. Good walks, great pubs but not much live music so have to travel for that. Bristol, oxford and Birmingham only an hour away.
I fancy moving out west. Away from the magnetic pull of London and all the crap it brings with it.
I moved to a little town just outside Taunton back in January. Lockdown has limited getting to know the area but so far it’s proving a good choice.
I lived in Taunton for about 18 months. I found it a bit … rural. I moved on the day of of the 97 election when the local Tory was unseated by a Lib Dem called Jackie Ballard, or, as she was always referred to in the local press, regardless of the story, ‘anti hunting MP Jackie Ballard’.
I worked for Waterstone’s (the branch in the former County Hotel building) and there were and more Lords and Ladies among the customers I than I met elsewhere. They were generally charming, but there was a larger County Set who aspired to to the gentry and seemed to believe that performative obnoxiousness was a vital element of the required skill set.
Performative Obnoxiousness – the other, unreleased, Sham 69 concept album.
I thought that was called ‘Oh, Shit, I have shat myself again’.
Lich is fine enough but my feets are itching. It’s been a great home for 15 years, but me and the Mrs are hankering for a change. In a couple of years the house will be paid for and I can retire. Again. A downsize and the sea, or a river of consequence beckon. Somewhere near enough a town with a decent live venue matters. Allowing for the lack of sea, Shropshire looks good to me, and is near for the midlands based kids. Any ideas?
Church Stretton is very nice. Some fine pubs, an indian restaurant. Mainline train station and (Welsh) hills to walk in nearby.
A river of consequence? Woah, heavy. Is that one up from a stream of consciousness?
Just down from the beck of beyond.
not too far from Shit Creek
Turn left at the Slough of Despond.
Head for Wyre Piddle.
Double back on the river of no return.
🎵Merrily down the stream🎵
Obvious answer but Ludlow is a beautiful place to live and retire.
Not sure about the live music scene though.
Bridgnorth. Still a proper market town. Most of the retail properties are too small to have appealed to the chains, so it retains individuality. The same goes for the pubs; there is a ‘spoons there, but the overall impression (from my 50th birthday weekend, which took its surveying responsibilities seriously) is of lots of small pubs of character. Lovely countryside, yet still close enough to the smoke of Birmingham for gigs.
On the shortlist.
Born in Stockholm, never moved anywhere else (because why would you? 😉 ) Have lived in different areas in and around the city, but most of my life I’ve lived on the street in Vasastan (=area in the inner city) where I live now, but in two different flats. Have no plans to move again, this is probably where I’ll live until I don’t anymore.
What I love about Stockholm as a whole is how beautiful it is, surrounded by water and with every island having it’s own flavour. Great city for walking, and nature is never far away.
My street is surrounded by several nature parks, within a ten minute walk from my door. Vasastan in general and my surrounding streets in particular also have a ton of small, quirky shops selling anything you can imagine or need. It’s also full of small but brilliant restaurants (hopefully still there post covid…)
I never leave the city on my holidays, other than an occasional day trip by boat into the archipelago, but most days I’ll just pack a cooler with food and drink, bring a book and some music, and walk out to my favourite “secret” spot on the island of Djurgården to spend the day there on a bench by the water. That’s my paradise. On my birthday I try to finish the day spent at Djurgården by going to the Gröna Lund funfair in the evening to watch an outdoor gig on their main stage (if there’s a gig that day, and one not too awful…)
In fact, I love Stockholm so much that I even love the ugly parts of the city. 😀
I visited Stockholm and loved it. Discussed moving there with Mrs Wells#1. She nixed it. Couldn’t cope with all those months of no sunshine.
Never mind sunshine, what about actual daylight!?
Yeah, but it’s much worse in the north of Sweden, the days are shorter but it’s not all that dark and gloomy all the time. Snow helps, and we get less of it these days unfortunately, but this winter was OK. And there’s nothing much better than a really sunny winter’s day with blue skies and glittering snow, and crisp, cold air! Wonderful for long walks or cross country skiing. The rest of the time we light a lot of candles! 🙂
On the other side: in summertime there’s barely any darkness at all, so I’m guessing we get as much sunlight in a year as everyone else, just unevenly distributed… 😀
So – you have had every opportunity to leave Stockholm….but you just can’t do it?
There’s a behavioural syndrome for that. I don’t remember what it’s called.
Ayrshire, Scotland. Born and raised here, and apart from a brief spark of wanderlust which fizzled out in my 20s, I’ve mostly lived here and unlikely to ever move anywhere else now. I love the rolling green and brown countryside, and the proximity to the sea, and feel more and more attached to it all as the years go on.
I’m also close enough to Glasgow to visit whenever we want. And Glasgow has everything I seem to need in a city.
I live in Sunbury, or you can add the “on Thames” suffix if you’re that way inclined. I grew up here and sometimes wonder quite how I ended up back here…it was never really the intention. After graduating I lived in Ashford and then Chertsey, both nearby, but always intended to move further away. When marriage and kids came along it just never quite happened.
Sunbury is OK…it has variety, as the north end is right next to the M3 and therefore quite noisy, but the bit next to the river is much less so. I live almost exactly in the middle. Growing up in the suburbs was a bit of a pain at times. It always irritates that we don’t quite get the benefits of living close to London but still feel the pull of it, and trains from another 20 miles out can get into Waterloo quicker than we can, but generally it was a decent place to grow up and my own kids have enjoyed it, on the whole.
Now however, the kids will both be at uni from this autumn, I can feel the pang of wanting to move away, and the house is nearly paid off. Hmmm…
I’ve lived in Madrid for close to 20 years. There’s not much to complain about to be honest. It’s Madrid after all. People come on holiday here, and I don’t have to. And while my barrio is fairly average, it’s quiet and only a 30 minute walk to get to the centre (or indeed work when we used to work in offices). And proper countryside and mountains are only 30 mins drive away. Sea is quite far off it’s true, but I’m not really a fan.
But the best thing about Spain for me has been the discovery of the Spanish pueblo. My new(ish) partner inherited the house she was born in in a village 40 odd km from Madrid and it’s fair to say the house hasn’t changed much since 1967, or indeed 1900 (though it does at least have heating and wifi now). Any village this close to the capital in the UK would long ago have gentrified and priced anyone local out. Not in Spain. Place is half empty and derelict. It would never win any prizes but is pretty enough, with a lovely medieval church and a semi-decently preserved ‘main’ square but a couple of world famous sites nearby draw any potential visitors away. So I’m definitely the only Brit in the village. And almost literally everyone there is an aunt/uncle/cousin/niece/nephew at some remove, so I’ve been made to feel very welcome.
And there’s different varieties of unspoilt, empty countryside 5 mins walk in every direction. With remote working we’re spending increasing amounts of time there. I’ve never lived in a village, nor ever wanted to. But I could get used to this. It’s bliss, basically.
I’m very jealous. I lived in Spain for two years at the end of the 90s, in Murcia. It’s a wonderful country. And of course, your name was one of the first words I learned of Spanish!
I went to Madrid for the last climate COP. A much nicer city than I expected. For sure it’s got all the spectacular buildings and palaces and galleries, but it didn’t feel as overwhelming as I thought it might. It may have helped that I took my skateboard and was able to navigate my way through the city quite quickly and avoid the crowds.
Seemed really busy the one time I worked there plus the venue was difficult to work in and the production company were cheapskates so I have a dirty lens on it.
Pontypridd: since moving here, we’ve lost M&S, the Co-op and the local council-owned music venue, and gained Sainsbury’s, Costa and a lido (although it was wrecked by flooding last year, just before the pandemic – probably just as well), so swings and roundabouts really. Hoping it might acquire some of the nice stuff from Cardiff now all the people who used to work there are working from home here. It’s OK to raise a family, but several nearby towns of similar size have more character. I’d prefer to be on the coast, but I’d stay in Wales.
@Sitheref2409 you paint a great picture of your new home. I have to ask the question though. Do you have a problem with flies? I was in Uluru a couple of years back and although the scenery was dramatic the flies absolutely drove me nuts. So much so that I would never go back even though I really liked the place.
Ah yeah, the flies.
None right now, as we’re entering Autumn, but when I landed in the summer, it was bad.
$4.99 fly net to go over my hat, and sorted.
What, even when you’re cooking? I can generally be seen waving my arms around and shouting “Fuck off” very loudly. Bit inconvenient when you’re chopping onions.
I always like threads about where people live. I started one last year on where you’d move to if you could live anywhere which was interesting. I periodically think about eventually downsizing, but where to? Nice to imagine the ideal town, with a proper centre, in the countryside, decent pubs, plenty of live music….which is rather like where I am now actually.
Well, downsize where you are?
That’s the logical and possibly likely solution though I fancy some new scenery – just looking at RightMove – Sherringham, Holt etc. Property is expensive here though.
Why do I love North Norfolk.
I was sat with beer in hand yesterday evening and a stunning male Hen Harrier glided over the garden.
That’s one reason…
And the added bonus of being served by North Norfolk Digital …
Who invented the skip?
Moy other half said the other day that she wouldn’t mind retiring to Cromer. We’re in our mid-50s and by no means well off so these are pipe dreams. I suspect even in retirement age Cromer would be on the sleepy side for me. I could compromise on Norwich, which I like very much.
It’s a Fine City, y’know
A Fine City and the football club has been promoted to be amongst those tyrants.
Cromer is on my list of potential downsize locations.
Cromer is wildly cosmopolitan compared to the tiny village I live in, made famous as “ Little Bazeley by the Sea” in the Avengers episode “The Town of No Return” in 1965.
Wow! You live there. In the place where the first Diana Rigg episode was filmed? I could live out the rest of my life out watching the Diana Rigg black and white series from beginning to end: on repeat.
I think I live in that very place now – Camberwick Green in Cornwall (nice) – Trumpton, slightly bigger is up the road (hmm), and – Chigley, “up-country,” are Alan B’stards.
Best thing… ain’t gonna be liked on this website… absolutely no danger of hearing, seeing, or vaguely even sniffing any popular culture of the last (at least) 40 years. A nightmare in the 50s or 60s, or course, (I’d have been on the first train to London on 1st January 1960), impossibly brilliant now.
Also, women run the roost. Anything worth doing in Cornwall, to my mind, is done by women. I actively avoid men.
My average day: read old newspapers (today 1951), listen to Rock ‘n’ Roll on a loop, look at the sea from rocks which are inhospitable for visitors.
In 5 years, I’ve become far more Cornish than the average Cornishman.
Unless you know a Cornishman who could name, without pausing for breath, the 1908 Rugby County Championship winning team… they now come to me for that stuff.
Sheringham would be better.
Better than Beckham or Rooney, of that there’s no doubt.
Where are you @neil-dyson?
Grew up further down the coast and obviously couldn’t wait to get away as a youngster. Quite unspoiled North Norfolk.
I’m in Wighton @freddy-steady about 3 miles south of Wells-next-the-Sea.
I’m know Wells obvs and its long walk to the pine woods and beach. Wighton I don’t know but it’s a lovely part of the world. Quiet ( in comparison ) and those huge skies. And not much rain.
Lucky you!
Blessings counted daily.
We live in the country of Dalarna in Sweden, which is where a lot of Stockholm dwellers have a summer place. They also come here for skiiing in the winter up in the fjällen which is in the north of the county. Takes about 3 hours to drive here from Stockholm then another 3 hours from here to Sälen which is the winter resort within the county. We’re not even halfway to the top of Sweden.
We usually get snow that stays over most of the winter, winter tyres are obligatory. In midsommar it is light all night, when you go to your stuga and get up at 2 am for a leak it is not dark, you don’t feel at all worried to be out alone. We have a better life than in the UK, better economically, a bigger house than we would have got there. A sparse population means quieter roads, not many people in the supermarket. You have more rights as an employee. Everybody’s more informal here, you can wear what you like to work. There isn’t the same hierarchy, it’s more democratic. You can speak out more easily if there is an issue at work. Lots of meetings, planning days with an overnight at a hotel, meals included. Friskvård where you get time during working hours to do some physical activity, a few hundred pounds to spend on gym membership or something similar. The right to take four weeks in a row holiday over the summer period.
The landscape is reminiscent of Scotland but with not such big hills, at least where we are. As you drive to the fjällen closer to the Norwegian border it gets more bumpy. There are big, wide rivers here, many lakes, endless forests where few live. Bears, elks, wolves. There are social problems of course, mainly in the bigger towns, like anywhere. It feels safe to walk about here though. There is a pleasant vibe as you walk around the streets of an evening, in the summer people are out on their verandas, calling to their neighbours maybe, barbequeing. You don’t have fences around all the gardens, no net curtains, it’s open and no one seems bothered about being overlooked. A nice sense that you are part of a cosy community.
⬆️ Sounds idyllic. Better than the burbs at the very least!
Nothing is better than The Burbs!
Thanks. Well I guess it is. We live better here with the same income we had in the UK and having one sixth of the population in a bigger country does a lot.
I’ve lived in Sweden (Stockholm) for over 32 years, and I’ve never been to Dalarna. Maybe one day I should…
Well it’s not spectacular like Norway (of course) but it’s nice.
Pre-covid you got some pretty good acts at Dalhalla since they got new owners. We saw Neil Young, Nick Cave, Pet Shop Boys among others. A tribute to Bowie’s Low even, with Swedish artists. Borlänge has the Peace and Love festival which was the biggest festival in Sweden until it went bust. The likes of Iggy and the Stooges and the Sex Pistols playing in our little town was quite surreal. Now it’s back but a small affair, mostly Swedish artists. Shame as we did think we’d have that as an attraction here when we moved. Mind you we enjoyed Timbuktu recently. They call it music town. Produced quite a few big names like Mando Diao, Miss Li I think.
I live just outside the small Cheshire market town where I was born. It is so rural that there is a working farmyard outside this window, and I am some distance off a public road. I can’t tell you how much I feel I belong here, like Attenborough would come and make a documentary of me in my natural habitat. There’s three houses here (plus a big fuck-off stately home that might as well be on Pluto) and we are a genuine look-out-for-each-other neighbourhood. The last year has just emphasised all the more how much I love being here.
I have the advantages of rural life, yet I can hop on my bike and have all the convenience of a proper market town in 10 minutes. The station there will take me to Manchester for culture and big shopping and cosmopolitan life ( and a job with decent pay) for the times I want them. Nights out in Liverpool and Chester are entirely practical. I feel I have grown out of this organically, and far from being hemmed in by being in my home town, the life I have made here is mostly of my own making – not at all what my parents planned!
What I love about Stoke Newington, and everywhere else that I lived since the age of 19, can be summed up in one simple way.
It is not Cumberauld.
Many of us are brought up in places which we do not belong, it’s not a unique experience at all. But I truly did not belong in Cumbernauld.
We went to Stoke Newington once. Took the no. 73 bus up from King’s Cross to Stokie.
We rather liked it. Villagey feel. Pleasant cafés. We had a meal at the Rasa Indian vegetarian restaurant. Nice. Isn’t there a famous cemetery there? We didn’t visit it, anyway.
Wasn’t Marc Bolan from Stoke Newington?
What I most like about living near Birkenhead is that it isn’t Workington.
I feel roughly the same about Watford not being Luton.