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Towns and cities are rapidly losing any kind of unique or individual identity. The population is out of control. Immigrates taking over the country. Educational standards are the lowest they ever have been and education is becoming more or less "incorporated" like nearly everything else. 10-12 year old yobs and chavs to be seen dominating the suburbs of major cities smoking, attacking people and vandalizing property or doing drugs and binge drinking. We are the only country to still be in the depths of a recession with a massive rate of youth unemployment and a tactless, clueless government who couldn't seem to care less, and the weather's still crap.
There's nothing more depressing than about modern England than the soul eroding identikit town centres littered with could be anywhere chain stores. Communities in City areas are very anonymous now also, to the point where even striking up a conversation wth your neighbour can be frowned upon these days. If you even speak to them or know who they are at all that is. Community seems to have been replaced by a look over your shoulder paranoia and urge to hurry home, bolt the doors and crack open another bottle of wine to drown reality. Most now resist the urge to go to the last dreary, overpriced empty pub left that hasn't been turned into rip off studio flats. A glutton of buy to rent landlords during the boom has left us with part time communities forever on a stepping stone to 'somewhere else' wherever that might be.
Living central to London and close to the wide range of amenities on offer however is the way to go for those wanting an active social life with plenty to do. Not affordable to most it must be said but when I've moved away from London the night life and vast range of events on offer are the main things I miss. Every night in London a world class performer, band, musical or theatre production made for your tastes is on somewhere. Restaurants and certain other events like foot-ball matches are overpriced no doubt but I've never been to a place with such a wide range of live music choice on offer. At a reasonable price too even if it is going up as we speak. Can't speak for other cities as accurately but if you can't afford to live within a reasonable range of the heart of the City then London can be rather drab unless you've got friends and know where to go. I live on the outskirts myself and detest the night bus journeys back from Central London after 1230a.m when the tube stops running.
Country life is an enviable way to live but many towns in the country are also suffering from the upsurge in house prices caused by the wee-kend exodus from City dwellers looking to escape the rat race that has overpriced the market in places like Cornwall, leaving some places virtual ghost towns during the week(disastrous for local business of course) to the ire of locals whose sons and daughters can't afford to buy or raise their own families in the towns they've lived all their life and are increasingly pushed out.
Where this recession will leave things who knows. Demand is such in desirable areas that I can't see too much of a fluctuation in the housing markets where demand will always be great but that's England for you. Overpriced and so cramped it can afford to be. if you've got the money though, and you choose carefuly there is still a great life to be had. Just not for me unfortunately.
You say that country life is an enviable way to live and in many ways it is, if you have enough to support yourself and don't rely on public transport.
Too many people believe that living in the country is like those reality 'escape' programmes which dominate our airwaves.
There are many problems in the countryside but much of it is hidden. The so called government we have seem to think that the countryside is no more than an area for recreational use by city dwellers.
Closure of rural schools, post offices, shops and pubs lead to sterile communities that isolate many.
Many of the issues that blight towns and cities also affect the countryside, drugs being one of them.
I get frustrated with people, and I'm not citing the poster above, who seem to think that all the ills of the world stop once outside the M25.
Yes, life viewed through the prism of the estate agent's window. I can't think of a more horrifying prospect than living in an isolated ghost town all week only to be inturrupted at week-ends by the vacuous excess of the type of people displayed on those awful property shows who seem as Oscar Wilde might say to know the price of everything and the value of nothing.
I did state in my previous post the problems places such as Plymouth have with teenage gangs and drugs but perhaps a little dismissively. I stated also that the countryside has changed the least and that was factually incorrect also but I did try to redress the balance by addressing some of the problems in areas such as Cornwall in my second post.
I used to holiday in Devon as a child and an enduring image was that of large groups of bored, unsupervised youths roaming the streets with weapons spoiling for a fight. Gangs in these areas can be in many ways more intimadating because in City areas much of what we see in these types of gangs melts into the fabric of the town and it's general anonymity can make avoiding these type of nuisances a little easier. I lived in a seaside town in Dorset, Poole for six months once and drink and drug abuse is certainly rife in these places and heroin especially seems to be a major problem in seaside towns.
I still maintain that demographicallly the biggest shifts and changes in population have occured in the Cities but our focus on a society based on the financial success of a small percentage of bankers in the City Of London has left the countryside with perhaps the bigger changes in lifestyle as jobs disappear, businesses close and families are forced to re-locate. As for country life being enviable, well that depends on what you want and where you are in life workwise, financially, whether you've settled down with a family, single or retired etc... It wouldn't necessarily be for me I might add. I'm so used to living next to a main road that I always found the eerie wail of the country at night a little overwhelming in my time spent there.
Last edited by Fear&Whiskey; 11-18-2009 at 03:43 AM..
Well we don't have power cuts or bread shortages anymore, and men with shaved heads are the norm rather than a scary subculture. Women are wider than they used to be. Most the places I know now have several takeaways for every fish and chip shop in 1974, and most the corner shops have closed. Young men tend not to try and kill each other at football matches these days (with a couple of exceptions) and have moved onto town centres at weekends even though beer is over £3 a pint, and don't expect a white Christmas. Expect to see a lot more black and brown faces, although not so much in Cornwall. Most towns are now surrounded by ugly-box housing developments miles from the nearest shop or pub, with hordes of bored teenagers. Dad's Army is still being repeated!!!
I was out around the town recently for my leaving do from work and saw lots of signs saying things like "any 3 drinks for £5"-choice of pints, spirit and mixer, or alcopops. Also treble spirits with mixer for £2.
No wonder there's a drink culture, especially with the bright idea of extending pub openening hours to reduce the amount people were drinking
There's nothing more depressing than about modern England than the soul eroding identikit town centres littered with could be anywhere chain stores. Communities in City areas are very anonymous now also, to the point where even striking up a conversation wth your neighbour can be frowned upon these days. If you even speak to them or know who they are at all that is. Community seems to have been replaced by a look over your shoulder paranoia and urge to hurry home, bolt the doors and crack open another bottle of wine to drown reality. Most now resist the urge to go to the last dreary, overpriced empty pub left that hasn't been turned into rip off studio flats. A glutton of buy to rent landlords during the boom has left us with part time communities forever on a stepping stone to 'somewhere else' wherever that might be.
Living central to London and close to the wide range of amenities on offer however is the way to go for those wanting an active social life with plenty to do. Not affordable to most it must be said but when I've moved away from London the night life and vast range of events on offer are the main things I miss. Every night in London a world class performer, band, musical or theatre production made for your tastes is on somewhere. Restaurants and certain other events like foot-ball matches are overpriced no doubt but I've never been to a place with such a wide range of live music choice on offer. At a reasonable price too even if it is going up as we speak. Can't speak for other cities as accurately but if you can't afford to live within a reasonable range of the heart of the City then London can be rather drab unless you've got friends and know where to go. I live on the outskirts myself and detest the night bus journeys back from Central London after 1230a.m when the tube stops running.
Country life is an enviable way to live but many towns in the country are also suffering from the upsurge in house prices caused by the wee-kend exodus from City dwellers looking to escape the rat race that has overpriced the market in places like Cornwall, leaving some places virtual ghost towns during the week(disastrous for local business of course) to the ire of locals whose sons and daughters can't afford to buy or raise their own families in the towns they've lived all their life and are increasingly pushed out.
Where this recession will leave things who knows. Demand is such in desirable areas that I can't see too much of a fluctuation in the housing markets where demand will always be great but that's England for you. Overpriced and so cramped it can afford to be. if you've got the money though, and you choose carefuly there is still a great life to be had. Just not for me unfortunately.
I believe that this is also the case in places like the yorkshire dales and weardale etc. My Fthers family are from Weardale and have a hillfarming background (few sheep, nothing flashy) but their grandchildren are priced out of the housing market up there, due to commuters and those with second homes. Of course the area wants to attract tourists so are keen to offer grants and pass planning permission.
Unfortunately it's a symptom of our suburban life-for a lot of people it's dersirables to live either IN the city (if no kids), or OUT in the country (with kids), but many people are stuck in the suburban no mans land.
Whinging poms actually, but let's not get too bogged down in semantics. It's not all doom and gloom
after all. We neglected to mention the thrill of a warm beer, to raise a glass to Orwell and the warm strolls upon summer lawns to the sound of willow on leather. Is that land of hope and glory I hear bellowing in the background? Time for a sonnet methinks....
"Oh joyous English rose, please do not foresake me, will the last person to leave these blessed shores please retrace that last step and turn on those lights again to re-aquaint us with radiance and bequeath our white cliffs once more with your fragrant beacon of hope."
'For lest we forget, Albion tis really a green and pleasant land of fair queens, noble maidens and round tables, men that are able and outlaws and poets in tights. Gallant St.George slayed a dragon though some say it twas fable, Dick turpin still roams and lurks through the night, the tower
still stands as the home of the raven, while Government still shafts us and our foot-ball team's sh**e(thoughsomewhat improving it must be said).
Not that I care mind, being Irish and all.....Off we go with a cheerio.......
'To the land of St.Patrick, Guiness and clover, where I learned how to drink whiskey and and sing the wild rover......
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