Rough Guide to England

BillieTheBot · April 2006

Clicky

Thank God someone is on the same wavelength as me.

Former Member · April 2006

England is a nation of "overweight, alcopop-swilling, sex-and-celebrity obsessed television addicts", according to a travel guide.

:eek2:

But it praises the nation of "animal loving, tea-drinking charity donors who thrive on irony and Radio 4".

Oh, I really must go out and buy this book full of such factual information :yeees:

Former Member · April 2006

Yeah, but away from London, this is quite an accurate book:

the country's most exciting social and architectural developments are in thriving cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Newcastle.

Where I work is right in the middle of the Quayside which is a huge new social and cultural development, and its absolutely wonderful.

Former Member · April 2006

Kermit wrote:

cultural

Hmmmm. The quayside's great, but it simply does not beat London for culture. London is a fantastic city.

Skive · April 2006

Kentish wrote:

Hmmmm. The quayside's great, but it simply does not beat London for culture. London is a fantastic city.

Your are right, but it doesn't ake long for London to piss you off - especially for bumpkins liek me. Rurual life beats Urban life hands down everytime.

Former Member · April 2006

Liars! America is that fat country. Don't try and steal that away from us :crying:

Whats an alchypop by the way?

Edit: alcohol and pop I should assume... i'm full of dumb obvious questions tonight!

Former Member · April 2006

Kentish wrote:

Hmmmm. The quayside's great, but it simply does not beat London for culture. London is a fantastic city.

Pheh.

I'd take Baltic over Tate Modern any day of the week.

Former Member · April 2006

I've been to the Baltic twice. Twice it's been shit. In fact the best bit of the Baltic is the viewing gallery, from where you can spot a decent pub to spend the rest of the day in.

The Sage, I'll give you. Even the Theatre Royal, but there's bugger all else in terms of "culture" to be found in Geordieland.

Former Member · April 2006

You're just not looking hard enough then, I love it around here.

Baltic is great, so is the photography gallery on Side, so is the Laing, so is the Discovery Museum, so is the Hancock, Life, Beamish, Alnwick Garden, the Northumberland coast...

I like London to tourist, but it IS smelly and unfriendly. And I hate paying so much for a pint. London has more things, but then it is the capital city of the country, it should have more things. London doesn't have any character though. Newcastle and Manchester do.

Maybe I'm just provincial, but I don't care. I'd rather work on the Quayside than in Docklands, that's for sure.

Former Member · April 2006

Relatively cheap, much more friendly, and closer to some wonderful parts of the countryside - Newcastle is a fantastic city. But if you want art, and if you want culture there's no point claiming it even comes close to London. Maybe you've visited the wrong parts of London cos the bits I know aren't smelly and are full of character. Horses for courses I guess.

Former Member · April 2006

Kentish wrote:

Relatively cheap, much more friendly, and closer to some wonderful parts of the countryside - Newcastle is a fantastic city. But if you want art, and if you want culture there's no point claiming it even comes close to London. Maybe you've visited the wrong parts of London cos the bits I know aren't smelly and are full of character. Horses for courses I guess.

It depends what you look for really.

London does have more artworks and more galleries, but it should, its nearly 50 times bigger than Newcastle.

But for all the size of London, its weird how all the music seems to come out of places like Sheffield, Liverpool and Manchester.

Former Member · April 2006

That's a cliche and I'm not sure it's true.

Skive · April 2006

Kentish wrote:

Relatively cheap, much more friendly, and closer to some wonderful parts of the countryside - Newcastle is a fantastic city. But if you want art, and if you want culture there's no point claiming it even comes close to London. Maybe you've visited the wrong parts of London cos the bits I know aren't smelly and are full of character. Horses for courses I guess.

:yes:

Former Member · April 2006

my_name wrote:

Liars! America is that fat country. Don't try and steal that away from us :crying:

Whats an alchypop by the way?

Edit: alcohol and pop I should assume... i'm full of dumb obvious questions tonight!

Alcopop is an 'alcoholic soft drink' like Bacardi Breezer or WKD

Former Member · April 2006

my_name wrote:

Liars! America is that fat country. Don't try and steal that away from us :crying:

Whats an alchypop by the way?

Edit: alcohol and pop I should assume... i'm full of dumb obvious questions tonight!

We had to try and explain these to my boyfriends American cousin when he came over recently....

http://www.lahoublonniere.be/administrer/images/cocktails/brpeach.jpg

Those. And they're nice

Former Member · April 2006

ButtonMoon wrote:

Oh, I really must go out and buy this book full of such factual information :yeees:

I dunno. I've read a lot of guide books over the years and Rough Guides tend to be the best. They don't preach this all-out tourism-cum-terrorism that Lonely Planet does where people don't visit countries, they do countries. Footprint guides are ok but I find the colour scheme horrible. Plus Rough Guides were started by some students from my Uni so I guess I feel a certain draw.

Personally, I think, despite not living there, that London pisses over any other city in the world in terms of culture, nightlife, sights and just about anyone else. I was talking to some extremely wealthy Muscovites (people from Moscow) who have all the money in the world to live anywhere in the world and they all said that, at the drop of a hat, they would choose London. The Russians love the English. For them, England is the zenith of cool, sophistication and a good time. Double-edged sword I guess.

Former Member · April 2006

They got the point about fat alcoholics right.

And they are totally right about radio 4.

Former Member · May 2006

London's transport system is brilliant, Manchester's isn't too bad...

I agree about us being overweight and celebrity obsessed... Ohh and alcopops.

Former Member · May 2006

Thunderstruck wrote:

I dunno. I've read a lot of guide books over the years and Rough Guides tend to be the best. They don't preach this all-out tourism-cum-terrorism that Lonely Planet does where people don't visit countries, they do countries. Footprint guides are ok but I find the colour scheme horrible. Plus Rough Guides were started by some students from my Uni so I guess I feel a certain draw.

Personally, I think, despite not living there, that London pisses over any other city in the world in terms of culture, nightlife, sights and just about anyone else. I was talking to some extremely wealthy Muscovites (people from Moscow) who have all the money in the world to live anywhere in the world and they all said that, at the drop of a hat, they would choose London. The Russians love the English. For them, England is the zenith of cool, sophistication and a good time. Double-edged sword I guess.

I'm going off Lonely Planet and totally agree with you about how they make people think they "do" a country. Plus the fact that they make out that their readers are somehow better than the average and intergrate themselves into the society of the country they are visiting when in reality the large majority just do the same thing as other tourists and spend most of their time with fellow travellers than the "natives".

Rough Guide to England

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