Towns & Cities that are F----d.

[Lovebitesandeveryfing]

As someone that has never been to Africa, I'm intrigued to know your reasoning and I mean that in a genuine sense

Lordy, as I say, mate, I'm not sure I can explain it.
Let me give a short, inadequate answer: when I was 20 to 21, I spent the winter working in Regent's Park, as a gardener. Mainly sweeping leaves. Loved it. Travelled up from Euston to Maine Rd most weekends on the football special to see the lads.
I saved £250, I think it was, and left for Africa in the spring. I spent the best part of a year travelling in Africa. West Africa. Twelve or thirteen countries, thousands of miles. Sometimes in flop houses, sometimes camping, sometimes sleeping out in the open, often depending on the kindness of strangers, both black and white. The final experience, at a point where I felt physically and emotionally drained, because I'd been on the road too long — crossing the Sahara desert in a Landrover. That woke me up again, big time. Hundreds of miles across the most astounding landscapes I've seen anywhere on earth. Sleeping out at night on the sand in just my sleeping bag, and just the huge dome of stars over me, and no sound except the breeze of the Harmattan in my ears. I'm not a religious person, by temperament. But that was a religious experience. If the word “God” means anything, it means everything there.
When I came back, I was changed. For ever. That can happen to you at that age. If you're lucky.
Much more recently, thirteen years ago, went on safari in the Serengeti (Dar Es Salaam is dumpish, by the way; Stone Town's interesting, though, and full of character). Other side of the continent, eastern Africa, very different, but still — unmistakably — Africa. The Serengeti was, quite simply, magical. It's not like seeing animals in zoos. That's a sad experience. Animals free, doing their thing, not even paying any attention to you. You don't count.

Perhaps it's the red earth of Africa. Perhaps it's the baobabs in the west. Perhaps it's the flat top acacia trees in the savannah in the east. Perhaps its the people and the markets. Women walking in the streets of Dakar as if they were queens, although I'm sure they were poor. Perhaps it's the wildlife. Sometimes, it's the food (not wild about everything, I admit, kenkey takes some getting used to).

 

[Ashton Moss Messi]

Part of the problem is that we are going through a period of immense change with inadequate resources to ameliorate the problems caused.

For example, most people agree that the 'High Street' is in a bad way. However, in my view, the 'High Street' has had its day, and propping it up is rather like subsidising stagecoaches. People have voted with their feet and clearly prefer the internet and/or out-of-town shopping centres like the ghastly Trafford Centre.

The effect is to rip the heart out of most small towns and make them look like tips. All that is left is cafes and charity shops, nothing really useful to day-to-day life. No one has yet invented the butterfly that will, one day, emerge from this chrysalis. Meanwhile, we are left with a shit tip.

The High Street is designed to support a 1930s or 1950s model of society.
Woman looking after the kids, getting them to school then nipping to the shops before going home to cook tea before Dad gets home. Shops still open typically 9-5 but many people don't go shopping during the day because their lifestyles don't follow that model. People go shopping physically on Sunday or virtually on line, shops open Sunday and virtually all the time.
The high street would do better to open late morning and close 8 or 9 o'clock.

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Lordy, as I say, mate, I'm not sure I can explain it.
Let me give a short, inadequate answer: when I was 20 to 21, I spent the winter working in Regent's Park, as a gardener. Mainly sweeping leaves. Loved it. Travelled up from Euston to Maine Rd most weekends on the football special to see the lads.
I saved £250, I think it was, and left for Africa in the spring. I spent the best part of a year travelling in Africa. West Africa. Twelve or thirteen countries, thousands of miles. Sometimes in flop houses, sometimes camping, sometimes sleeping out in the open, often depending on the kindness of strangers, both black and white. The final experience, at a point where I felt physically and emotionally drained, because I'd been on the road too long — crossing the Sahara desert in a Landrover. That woke me up again, big time. Hundreds of miles across the most astounding landscapes I've seen anywhere on earth. Sleeping out at night on the sand in just my sleeping bag, and just the huge dome of stars over me, and no sound except the breeze of the Harmattan. I'm not a religious person, by temperament. But that was a religious experience. If the word “God” means anything, it means everything there.
When I came back, I was changed. For ever. That can happen to you at that age. If you're lucky.
Much more recently, thirteen years ago, went on safari in the Serengeti (Dar Es Salaam is dumpish, by the way; Stone Town's interesting, though, and full of character). Other side of the continent, eastern Africa, very different, but still — unmistakably — Africa. The Serengeti was, quite simply, magical. It's not like seeing animals in zoos. That's a sad experience. Animals free, doing their thing, not even paying any attention to you. You don't count.

Perhaps it's the red earth of Africa. Perhaps it's the baobabs in the west. Perhaps it's the flat top acacia trees in the savannah in the east. Perhaps its the people and the markets. Women walking in the streets of Dakar as if they were queens, although I'm sure they were poor. Perhaps it's the wildlife. Sometimes, it's the food (not wild about everything, I admit, kenkey takes some getting used to).

Thats a fascinating insight, thanks for that

 

[johnnytapia]

Luton

 

[Stephen Ireland's pants]

I do wonder how some of the places mentioned compare to say similar sized towns and cities in Japan or South Korea. Is it purely an issue with western societies or does it percist in places like Japan which are culturally very different but still have capitalist values.

You only have to see the attitude of the Japanese at football tournaments to see a big difference I think . They take bags with them to clean the stadium and say they like to leave places cleaner than when they arrived. We can go on about high streets and investment. But the U.K has far too many people who have no pride and generally live like tramps . The streets of Manchester are full of shite. I walk through a local park and some day's there are kitchen cupboards and mattresses in there as if they have fell from the sky. The council don't help but we are top heavy with selfish pricks in our society.

 

[Bill Walker]

You only have to see the attitude of the Japanese at football tournaments to see a big difference I think . They take bags with them to clean the stadium and say they like to leave places cleaner than when they arrived. We can go on about high streets and investment. But the U.K has far too many people who have no pride and generally live like tramps . The streets of Manchester are full of shite. I walk through a local park and some day's there are kitchen cupboards and mattresses in there as if they have fell from the sky. The council don't help but we are top heavy with selfish pricks in our society.

Very true about the Japanese, I believe the football team at the world cup left the changing room spotless. Pride is very high on their agenda.
Crime in Japan is very low. Tokyo is a massive and amazing city I think 30 odd million live there, yet there is hardly any crime.
Having been there several times I think Japan has many thing right.

 

[ChicagoBlue]

Not far from you mate, you could buy a very cheap house in Gary !

Like the difference between Moss Side of the 70s and Hale/Alderley Edge! ;-)

Gary is a horrible, nasty, died on its knees looking for mercy, city with heavy industry on the lakefront between it and Lake Michigan!

Plus, I just bought a 4BR/2BR lake house getaway 2hrs west of Chicago, so no chance I’d need a third “lake” house in Gary…even with your money!!

 

[ChicagoBlue]

When I looked at the estate agent sites (or realtors), and thought, for a nanosecond, now could I live in the U.S.?, there were photos where you could see the towers of downtown Chicago clearly from Gary. It didn't seem that far away, although I'm sure it's like living on another continent.
There is a classy area of Gary, forget the name, that's leafy, clean and relatively crime free, apparently. It looks over the lake, from the south. Obviously, property prices go up accordingly.

America's a very odd place, in that there were towns that simply sprang up like mushrooms, almost overnight, and depended entirely on one industry, sometimes one company. Obviously, I'm aware that there are mining towns like that in England and Wales that have been left high and dry. Buffalo's house prices have fallen through the floor. Somebody from there explained it to me. Buffalo was the railhead for traffic coming off the huge barges crossing the Great Lakes. That was its purpose, pretty much. The goods would then be taken down to New York and the great seaports of the eastern seaboard, for export to the world. When the Saint Lawrence Seaway was created — a gigantic and hugely impressive engineering job which is a story in itself — the ground was simply cut from Buffalo's feet. People carried on living there, but which not much reason other than the fact that, well, they'd always been there.

Buffalo is like the northeastern anchor of the Rust Belt.

It’s actually not a bad city, and is a huge tourist spot for Asians, as their gateway to Niagara Falls.

However, they have some of the worst winter weather in the States for the size of their population!! Sitting on the eastern tip of Lake Erie, they get winter storms that “train” over them and dump FEET of snow at a time! It’s miserable in the winter!!

https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/26/weather/arctic-winter-storm-new-york-blizzard-monday/index.html

 

[Jesus H Gabz]

Lordy, as I say, mate, I'm not sure I can explain it.
Let me give a short, inadequate answer: when I was 20 to 21, I spent the winter working in Regent's Park, as a gardener. Mainly sweeping leaves. Loved it. Travelled up from Euston to Maine Rd most weekends on the football special to see the lads.
I saved £250, I think it was, and left for Africa in the spring. I spent the best part of a year travelling in Africa. West Africa. Twelve or thirteen countries, thousands of miles. Sometimes in flop houses, sometimes camping, sometimes sleeping out in the open, often depending on the kindness of strangers, both black and white. The final experience, at a point where I felt physically and emotionally drained, because I'd been on the road too long — crossing the Sahara desert in a Landrover. That woke me up again, big time. Hundreds of miles across the most astounding landscapes I've seen anywhere on earth. Sleeping out at night on the sand in just my sleeping bag, and just the huge dome of stars over me, and no sound except the breeze of the Harmattan in my ears. I'm not a religious person, by temperament. But that was a religious experience. If the word “God” means anything, it means everything there.
When I came back, I was changed. For ever. That can happen to you at that age. If you're lucky.
Much more recently, thirteen years ago, went on safari in the Serengeti (Dar Es Salaam is dumpish, by the way; Stone Town's interesting, though, and full of character). Other side of the continent, eastern Africa, very different, but still — unmistakably — Africa. The Serengeti was, quite simply, magical. It's not like seeing animals in zoos. That's a sad experience. Animals free, doing their thing, not even paying any attention to you. You don't count.

Perhaps it's the red earth of Africa. Perhaps it's the baobabs in the west. Perhaps it's the flat top acacia trees in the savannah in the east. Perhaps it’s the people and the markets. Women walking in the streets of Dakar as if they were queens, although I'm sure they were poor. Perhaps it's the wildlife. Sometimes, it's the food (not wild about everything, I admit, kenkey takes some getting used to).

You remind of that Steven guy off only fools

 

[The Salford lad.]

With my old job I was all over the uk , and saw some bad towns or areas,

England would have to be Grays in Essex
Wales Merthyr Tydfil
Scotland Drumchapel ,