Hello, British friends!

[JohnLocke]

Where are all y'll?

[Pert_UK]

1. Hello there.....

I'm darn Sarf, near Watford but nicer!

I used to live in London and spend a lot of time there still. Went to Uni in Nottingham and grew up near Dudley in the Midlands.

How about you? How did you get your philosophical user name?

P.

[T_i_B]

3. Back down South?

Good to see you Pert! :toast:

[T_i_B]

8. I should also be polite I guess...

And add that I'm down in Essex, although I'm Sheffield born & bred.

[Pert_UK]

25. Hiya! Sorry about the delay responding.....

Don't always check back on all my posts....

Yep, I'm back down South and enjoying the delights of a 100 mile round trip to work and back each day, via the M25........

Great!

P.

[Spentastic]

2. Here

Where are you?

[D-Notice]

4. Oop t'North

Burnley, Lancashire A.K.A. Nazi-Ville... :-(

When I'm not here I'm a tax-dodging student in Chester

[...of J.Temperance]

35. I think I'm nearest to you

Sorta. You're from Lancashire but in Cheshire. I'm in Cheshire, a small place called Alderley Edge, which is between Wilmslow and Prestbury. Our last three MPs have been: Neil Hamilton *, Martin Bell and now George Osborne. It's very picturesque our area, but sadly the locals suffer from Little Englander disease.

* Yes THAT Neil Hamilton of the Mohammad al-Fayed and his brown envelopes fame.

I used to live in Glasgow, lived there for nearly six years, ADORE the place and always will.

[RogueTrooper]

5. London

I moved down four years ago after I finished my degree in Edinburgh.

[Teddy_Salad]

6. Hi all!

I'm not a pommie but an Aussie living in New York BUT, I lived in London for five years and LOVED it! Finchley, to be exact.

G'day to ya all! :hi: :P

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. Southern Hampshire

a relative Lib Dem stronghold, thank goodness.

Have you noticed that it takes an American to get us all to introduce ourselves? ;-)

[LibLabUK]

9. London..

South of the Thames... where taxis fear to venture.

[Stockholm]

11. me too Stockholm Sweden n/t

[D-Notice]

14. "Sarf of the river at this time of night"

You must be mad!

[Jack Rabbit]

10. California

With the mainstream American press being so unreliable, I get most of my news from the BBC and the Guardian nowadays. It gives me a British slant on things. Next thing you know, I'll be putting the suffix -ise at the end of some words and spelling others with an -our.

Next time I have a question about British politics I'll know where to come.

[...of J.Temperance]

34. California? That's a suburb of

Norwich, yes? Are you anywhere near East Anglia University at all? ;-)

[Kicked in the Taco]

47. Lovely little town on the Norfolk coast

As a kid I spent a couple of holidays just down the road in Scratby (and obviously returned to junior school telling everybody about how I'd "been to california"...)

[Kicked in the Taco]

48. self-delete

[...of J.Temperance]

50. I LOVE Norwich

It's SUCH a beautiful place and I've got a soft spot for the Canaries too. I've never been to Scratby though.

Welcome, Kicked in the Taco :hi:

[Kicked in the Taco]

53. thanks for the welcome

:hi:

Couldn't agree more about Norwich, terrific place.

[...of J.Temperance]

54. Thats

No problem :)

Yeah, I'll have to venture across to Norwich again I think. Some lovely old book shops there for a start.

[Tashi]

12. Where is Australia?

Just wondering, don't we count?

Hey, that said I can't think of anything worse than an all Aussie forum. I've lived in several countries including the UK.

Australia has been dragged behind George W by a Prime Minister who hopefully will be gone soon, he'll take us to an election before November for sure. He is deadly scared Bush will lose, here's hoping his nightmare comes true.

[Pert_UK]

13. I just got back from a year in Australia....whereabouts are you?

I lived in Bunbury WA for 6 months, then drove around the whole island....it's quite big, I notice.

P.

[Nihil]

15. North Hampshire

Greetings!

Born in South West Lancashire, moved down to Hertfordshire for several
years then down (even further) to Hampshire.

Voted Conservative in my first election as it was the only way to
protest the previous 18 years under an extremely corrupt Labour council.
Since then, mainly tend to be Liberal Democrat rather than "New Labour"
but have also voted Monster Raving Loony, Independent & Respect (in the
last one) depending on the circumstances.

Nihil

[Guy_Montag]

16. County Durham,

Well Durham to be precise.

[non sociopath skin]

17. Hi John.

I live in a town called Ashington up in the North East of England, about 20 miles from the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.

The Skin

[LeftishBrit]

18. Oxford

[ukrespect]

19. West London

Currently living in West London. I'm an ex Labour voter, finally got them into power and hey presto they morphed into the Conservative party faster than you can say "Tony Blair is a terrorist".

What worries me most is that despite repositioning themselves as a party for business, ditching all reference to socialism, privatising anything the tories forgot to do and presiding over an ever widening gap between the rich and the poor, millions of working class people in the UK still belive that the Labour party supports them.

I'm now a fully paid up RESPECT party member, activist and voted for them in the last election. It may be a slow process to win any seats in the near future, but it sure as hell feels a lot more productive being involved in something you belive in rather than playing the vote for the "least worse" party game.

Thinking of coming over to the States in the election week just to see Bush finally kicked out of the White House, or a revolution to start on the streets!

:hi:

[Fish08]

20. 100% Irish

But living in the UK these days. Probably find me down South in the countryside.

[limeyrose]

21. A diffident wave...

... from a former Labour voter/member/councillor in Reading, Berkshire, now a non-affiliated independently-minded lefty.

Hello :)

Rosie

[billyskank]

22. Bedford

hi everyone.

[smedwed]

23. Nottinghamshire

- leicestershire border
But just got back from wales
there was a massive storm

[sweetheart]

24. Caithness/Sutherland

"The North"

[Taxloss]

26. London. nt

[tenshi816]

27. West Yorkshire

Moved to the UK from Atlanta in 1986, which means I've been here virtually my entire adult life and feel as British as I do American. I feel great loyalty to both countries, even when I hate the ill-advised and mean-spirited things their respective governments do.

Lived in London for 4 years, Henley-on-Thames for 7 and have been in Ilkley, West Yorkshire ever since, next to the moor and away from crowds (possibly a bit of a misanthrope - perhaps a legacy of having grown up in Freeperland).

Love, love, love Yorkshire. Love the land, love the people. Plus it's a great place to ride horses.

I'm a Dem through-and-through and have leaned that way since childhood, although God knows where it came from. It was an instinct that the Democrats were just "right" about things, even when I was too young to understand what those things were.

Can't vote here because I'm not a dual national yet, although I'm working on adding a British passport to my American one. Leaning towards the Liberal Democrats to support (and, boy, does the name of that party upset the people in my family back in Georgia - can you imagine, the two hated words together in one party!!!).

[Anarcho-Socialist]

28. County Durham

Bishop Auckland area.

[Guy_Montag]

32. County Durham too

Durham itself.

[...of J.Temperance]

33. Why is Bishop Auckland

Called Bishop Auckland? What was the matter with Cardinal Auckland or Reverend Auckland? Is that area of County Durham deliberately discriminating against other Clergy by choosing the Bishop?

We drove through Bishop Auckland a few years ago, on the way to Middlesborough, seemed a nice place.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

37. Co. Durham is called "The Land of the Prince Bishops"

In the middle ages, the king appointed a member of the clergy to rule the Durham area like a Baron would. The advantage of appointing a "Prince Bishop" as opposed to a Baron meant that the Prince Bishop title was not inherited and the King could appoint who he wanted.

Nowadays, it's the Bishop of Durham that has his residence in Auckland castle.

[...of J.Temperance]

38. I genuinely

Didn't know that. So I've learnt something new today.

[Mr Creosote]

29. Helston in Cornwall

in body. Carrow Road in spirit.

[T_i_B]

30. Kick for our newer arrivals!

:hi:

:kick:

[ben_packard]

31. Bletchley, Bucks

Hi to all

[Oggy]

36. I should add myself to this list of the great and the good

I'm in Croydon, but originally from Shropshire.

[lockdown]

39. Newcastle

City of Culture runner-up (I was so proud)

[...of J.Temperance]

40. I had a bet on

Newcastle winning, I was convinced they'd win and they didn't :(

Oh well, that'll learn me.

[lockdown]

41. Sorry, I think

I forgot to add one of these again: ;)

City of culture my arse. :)

[...of J.Temperance]

42. Newcastle

Gave us 'Get Carter', well Newcastle, Mike Hodges, Michael Caine and Ted Lewis did. But Newcastle played a big part. So, THAT'S one piece of culture I think.

I always thought Newcastle at night looked pretty okay.

What culture has Liverpool got? Zilch...apart from *yawn* The Beatles.

On the other hand, maybe I'm just a dumbo and don't know anything.

[lockdown]

43. I think

Newcastle was the favourite and widely expected to win, and the place does have its qualities, you're not wrong. Just the whole City of Culture thing was a bit ridiculous imo. Funnily enough, what seems to have swung it for Liverpool was John Lennon's brother. Big league... guess Ant and Dec and Sting just couldn't compete with that in the end. I suspect a lot of scousers would have been similarly underwhelmed. ;)

The Council organised boy band drinks-free concerts to support the bid, but were so wary of even that they called at least one off at the last minute because it looked like rain or too many people might show up or something. It was like officials in the Deep South trying to deal with Bill Hayley gigs in the '50s. On a cringe scale, from up close the whole thing was John Prescott dancing on '97 election night. This the same Council who knock down all the best pubs and venues and replace them with an antiseptic hanger fit for said boy bands. Culture, pah. There's plenty of it here, but that bid wasn't part of it.

[...of J.Temperance]

44. Oh dear

Ant and Dec and Sting!

Well I KNEW some form of Beatles connection had to have swung it for Liverpool...one day they'll have to wake up into the 21st Century, instead of harping back to the 1960s.

Trust a City Council to do amazingly stupid stuff like that. I'm actually thinking of running for our Council next election, I'll probably lose in a TOTAL landslide though I think...or be run out of town.

Prescott has his entertaining moments, like said dancing and then during the 2001 election him decking that bloke, that was HILARIOUS and FAB :)

So are there no decent bars and stuff in Newcastle now? Have you always lived there, are you a Geordie?

Are people in Carlisle Geordies?

[lockdown]

45. yes no yes no

:P

You better hope there's no scousers round here feeling voxish! Got to admit I'm quite fond of the place myself (washes hands of it). :D

The Beatles nostalgia thing is funny, but Newcastle has its c-list equivalent silliness for the likes of Lindisfarne and Dire Straits. Just they're so c-list people elsewhere don't usually notice. :)

[...of J.Temperance]

46. I hope I've got this right:

1st Yes = there are still some good bars and stuff in Newcastle.

1st No = you haven't always lived there.

2nd Yes = yes you're a Geordie.

2nd No = no people in Carlisle aren't Geordies.

I'd better hope there's no Scousers round here feeling foxy? ;)Gosh! :yoiks:

Oh, VOXISH. Misreading there.

Liverpool gave us The Teardrop Explodes and Echo and The Bunnymen (fab, but anything after the album 'Porcupine' isn't so fab). They also gave us some good thespians in Dame May Whitty and Basil Radford. So, they've got other things bar The Beatles and they should branch out and play those things up too.

Lindisfarne and Dire Straits. Ha! Lets not go there.

Bizarrely, I THINK I've just seen Lemmy from Motorhead in a Walkers crisps commercial...although I COULD be wrong about this.

It's my bedtime now, so I'll bid you Goodnight.

[Kicked in the Taco]

49. Essex

[...of J.Temperance]

51. My best friend in the entire world lives in Essex

A place called Little Wakering. Don't know if you know it at all?

[Kicked in the Taco]

52. I do! I live about 3 miles down the road from there.

Talk about your small world! Nice place too, lovely old church.

[...of J.Temperance]

55. Heck!

The world IS small. The church in Little Wakering, I think it's St. Mary's, but yes it's very lovely. Of course, I've had a NIGHTMARE getting some of my adored Tequila in Little Wakering :cry:

Got some in Southend though, at the Clarence Yard and Il Vicolino.

[Kicked in the Taco]

56. Grrr....Clarence Yard

I haven't been back there since they charged me £4.80 for a pint of Hoegaarden!

[...of J.Temperance]

57. Hoegaarden at £4.80!

I had that once and it made me terribly ill :( Nah, I can't go wrong with a spot of Stella though :) Tequila's my main poison however.

[T_i_B]

59. Hello from Chelmsford!

:hi:

I'm sure you know all about where I am! We've got the V festival this weekend but I think I'll be nipping off to Maldon instead. I can hear what's going on at V from my house anyway! :-)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1552961,00.html

[Kicked in the Taco]

60. Hey!

:hi:

And to think I thought I'd be on the isolated fringes of the DU-sphere down here!

I actually went up to V last year (mainly to see the Pixies); it was great, but I decided to skip this years as the headliners didn't really appeal- I'd certainly much rather spend a weekend in Maldon than have to listen to Oasis!;)

[T_i_B]

61. I last went to V in 2003

To watch Queens of the Stone Age & Killing Joke. Before that I actually worked there in 2000 and 2001, which was a great laugh!

[tjwmason]

58. This seems to have by-passed me before now

South Bucks, close to Beaconsfield. Probably the most Tory county in England, and somewhere near to being the most Tory part of it - o.t.o.h. gorgeous countryside, and if you know how to get on with the local folk they're some of the very best in the world.

[BooScout]

62. We're moving soon.....

From Atlanta to about 18 miles outside of Cardiff. The house is on the market so we are waiting on a buyer to get moving.