Head south if you want a better life

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Jefferson T

I used to live in Staindrop - then Saltburn By The Sea

Two nice examples of places best hidden from the soft southerners. I remember going to the Saltburn Folk Festival and having a grand time.

Originally Posted by iglu

Not keen in estates either....

<my bad> the estate in the burbs consists of approx 40 buildings, a mix of detached houses and 4 buildings (which look like detached houses) each of which has 4x2 bed flats. We are 20 mins by bus/car from Leeds City Centre (including the main rail station), 15 minutes from Leeds Bradford Airport, and 5 minutes from the countryside (10 mins from Otley Chevin, which is beautiful for walking the dog). Within 1/2 a mile is a 12th Century Norman Church (where we worship) - it's grim up north, tha knows.

Originally Posted by iglu

I want to have lots of choices for lunch, even more choices for dinner, plenty of jazz clubs to go to etc etc. Central London has plethora of all of that!

I am impressed with your vocabulary, I had to look up "salubrious".

erm, Leeds City Centre has quite a few restaurants, too; Sugarvine lists nearly 200 in the city centre alone (these are all probably within a 15-20 minute walk from the railway station).

But that's all about the material things - I just like the quality of life up here.

[alferret]

I am originally from Essex a stones throw from lakeside and the QE2 bridge.
Living there was almost impossible due to the many senseless idiots that roamed the streets, shopped at lakeside or just those generally that continued to breathe.
Driving anywhere was a pain, doing anything was a pain so I headed north in 1998 (only got as far as Nottingham) and parked my butt there, the people are more friendly, the cost of living is cheaper and everything and everyone has a more relaxed attitude.
Ended up in Mansfield 2005 where I'm happy and I would never move back south, anywhere south. Long live the Midlands
Still learning the lingo though and after 10 years I still got my lovable Essex accent

[Cobbydaler]

Can tell you're an Essex boy from your sig...

[ginge51]

Originally Posted by Zee

A lot of this is quite true, i've been up north many times and its depressing and boring.

http://money.uk.msn.com/mortgages/mo...mentid=7506833

Where are you from?
I bet you're a cockney arn't you??

Don't venture up North much, I always have the impression of a a much more quieter place and nice scenery, I also think of the deserted community's that were destroyed during the 80's in places such as Liverpool and Manchester. Not sure how true to life that is

[WHISTLED]

destroyed during the 80's in places such as Liverpool and Manchester

The 80's made Manchester, not reall sure what your talking about.

Originally Posted by Damien

Don't venture up North much, I always have the impression of a a much more quieter place and nice scenery, I also think of the deserted community's that were destroyed during the 80's in places such as Liverpool and Manchester. Not sure how true to life that is

It's about as true to life as Ashes to Ashes is a valid representation of London life in the early 80's

[Cobbydaler]

He's talking about the great Jam Butty wars in Liverpool when in a final surge of tattifilariousness Doddy & The Diddy Men annihilated popular culture as we know it...

I thought the North was best represented by section of Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" film called "The Miracle of Birth: Part 2: The Third World"


Or as they so succintly put it in one of their sketches
"FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: Aye, very passable, that, very passable bit of risotto.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: Nothing like a good glass of Château de Chasselas, eh, Josiah?
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: You're right there, Obadiah.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Who'd have thought thirty year ago we'd all be sittin' here drinking Château de Chasselas, eh?
FIRST YORKSHIREMAN: In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea.
SECOND YORKSHIREMAN: A cup o' cold tea.
FOURTH YORKSHIREMAN: Without milk or sugar.
THIRD YORKSHIREMAN: Or tea. "

Must go - the whippet's escaped, and is in next door's black pudding patch.

Where's my bluddy flat cap?

edit:
Thought you might like this picture from my work at a Northern Uni - we just upgraded the Server Room.

[BBKing]

The 80's made Manchester, not reall sure what your talking about.

The 1780s?

[scrotnig]

I live in the North, was born in the North, and much of it, particularly the big cities, is a complete s***tehole.

Particularly Manchester, where I live. If I could get out of this utter Godforsaken, filthy crime ridden hole I would do so tomorrow.

[Vlad_Dracul]

It depends what you mean by a better life.

Better life, to many people,seems to mean better shops,better restaurants etc. Whats so good about that?

The problem with many people today is that they have lost focus,are caught up in materialism and do not really appreciate what quality of life is.

To me quality of life is;

Good health

Some space in which to breathe and to appreciate the beauty of our planet

Good company i.e good conversation with like minded people and some kind of community spirit

Low crime rate

Clean environment




Now then, getting back to the debate, whilst there are many parts of the UK which have the above qualities in varying amounts, one often has to be rather wealthy to have it all and live in a really nice part of the UK.

For the majority of ordinary people in the UK,they are corralled in concrete jungles surrounded by commerce,crime filth and degradation.

In this respect, it matters not whether you are north, south ,east or west.

In the UK the minority prosper, in other parts of the world a greater proportion of the population has access to a better quality of life, and i dont mean Harvey Nicks.

---------- Post added at 05:33 ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 ----------

Originally Posted by alferret

I am originally from Essex a stones throw from lakeside and the QE2 bridge.
Living there was almost impossible due to the many senseless idiots that roamed the streets, shopped at lakeside or just those generally that continued to breathe.
Driving anywhere was a pain, doing anything was a pain so I headed north in 1998 (only got as far as Nottingham) and parked my butt there, the people are more friendly, the cost of living is cheaper and everything and everyone has a more relaxed attitude.
Ended up in Mansfield 2005 where I'm happy and I would never move back south, anywhere south. Long live the Midlands
Still learning the lingo though and after 10 years I still got my lovable Essex accent

Can you get duck n chips in Mansfield?

[Fingy]

Originally Posted by WHISTLED

Oh yeah - Ive been dodging the rain and bulletts all morning

Is that not meant to be me?

[papa smurf]

Originally Posted by scrotnig

I live in the North, was born in the North, and much of it, particularly the big cities, is a complete s***tehole.

Particularly Manchester, where I live. If I could get out of this utter Godforsaken, filthy crime ridden hole I would do so tomorrow.

i'm guessing you dont work for the manchester tourist board