My Town

[Beliall]

yeah, i guessed thats what caused the confusion, so i changed it

[potter3]

Coalville, so uh...

 

 

Nah it's not as bad as everyone makes out, everyone's pretty friendly, and the surrounding countryside is nice. Leicester, Derby and Nottingham are all easy to get to if you need a city as well.

[AndWhat?]

Ruthin, North Wales.

 

Small town about 25 minutes from Wrexham and 35 from Chester.

 

Public transport is shit and a lot of the Welshy Welsh people never want to leave which means a lot of the locals can be a bit weird. Like look at you for a bit too long weird if you know what I mean.

Has the best sandwich shop in the world, which is probably one of the reasons why I haven't kicked up a fuss with the Mrs about moving yet. 

[Finnegan]

I'm sorry but Keswick has the best sandwich shop in the world.

Also the best cow pies.

[ScouseFox]

Liverpool. Comfortably the best city in the world in every way. The best people, too.

[lgfualol]

It was crazy. I lived there just for a year right after the end of the civil war. At the time it was the largest UN presence. There was no power or running water in the country. For the first 3 months, I had to use a borehole to get water, and a generator for power. Then I moved on to a compound that had its own power and water supply, and it meant I lived right on the beach. Because of all the UN, there were tons of parties to go to, but everything was ridiculously expensive. The Lebanese ran the businesses, and were making a killing. I had to restructure the organisation I was managing, so I had to let a lot of staff go. That meant death threats etc. but I survived. I would have to drive laundry bags full of money up country, which was ridiculous. One time I got stopped in a roadblock by some rebels. I was bricking it, but fortunately the WFP brought a truck of rice for them, and they let us all go. Crazy!!

 

That really is crazy, I wasn't expecting (though I heard Liberia is mental) an answer like that haha. Write a book, make a film £££

[Ric Flair]

Formerly BaltimoreBlue!!

 

Originally from Oadby, moved to London, moved to Mbeya, Tanzania, moved back to London, moved to Monrovia, Liberia, moved back to London, moved to Baltimore, USA moved to Maseru, Lesotho, in the process of moving to Lusaka, Zambia.

 

Now, I just go with MergingCultures so I don't have to keep changing my name.

 

I'm interested in how you've come about moving to and from all of these places? Work?

[Merging Cultures]

I'm interested in how you've come about moving to and from all of these places? Work?

 

Work took me to Tanzania, Liberia and to-and-from London, and then I decided to get married to my Jamaican wife who I met in Nairobi, which took me to the US, where fortunately I had a job... then my wife got a job in Lesotho... and now has a new one in Zambia. My current job lets me work from anywhere as long as I am in Africa.

 

That really is crazy, I wasn't expecting (though I heard Liberia is mental) an answer like that haha. Write a book, make a film £££

 

I wish I was that interesting.

[Detroit Blues]

Detroit, Michigan (USA)

 

Just to get this out of the way first: I was born in raised in Metro Detroit (the area surrounding the city of Detroit). Most people from Metro Detroit say they are "from Detroit," but they don't necessarily mean that they grew up in the city. I do work in the city of Detroit, and my wife grew up in a rough neighborhood within the city so I do feel qualified to talk about it.

 

 

History:

Detroit as most of you already know was born out of the automotive industry. We are home to "The big 3" automakers: Chrysler, General Motors (where I work), and Ford Motor Company. It's easy to say that almost everyone growing up in Detroit either: works for one of these 3 companies, works for a supplier of these 3 companies, or depends on the success of these 3 companies in some way. We put all of our eggs into the automotive basket and in the last decade or so it has kind of blown up in our face.

 

Detroit through the 40's and 50's was a booming city as many people (including a large population of African Americans) moved to the city to work in the automotive industry and support the war effort (the automotive factories during WW2 made tanks, bombs, supplies, etc.). At that time the population was around 1.8 million people and the population of blacks and whites were mostly segregated within different neighborhoods in the city. During the 50's and 60's racial tensions grew during the civil rights era leading to riots between the white and black folks. Many of the middle class white people who worked in tthe city moved into the Metro Detroit suburbs and began using the newly constructed highways to commute to work. This left the city that was designed to support 2 million people without it's largest tax base.

 

Ever since then, the city of Detroit has been crumbling (literally and figuratively). The only people left in the city are the people who have no other choice. The population that was once 1.8 million in the city has now dwindled to about 700,000. This has put a strain on the city services (police, fire department, schools, etc) as many neighborhoods are mostly vacant with only a few residents living there.

 

Urban decay:

 

 

 

(This is the Detroit Train Station - vacant for decades)

 

 

 

 

If you ever are in Detroit and want to go through some of these areas, it is unreal. In my wife's old neighborhood i'd say 1/5 houses are burnt down. What happens is people move out and leave the home vacant. Criminals will bust in and steal all of the copper piping (to sell for scrap) and set the house on fire. Housing values are dirt cheap. When my wife moved out of her uncle's house, he sold his house (appraised by the city for $45,000) for $10,000. 

 

Imagine living next to this:

 

 

 

Education: Metro Detroit is home to some top of line public and private schools. Most people graduate high school, and out of that group many people goto college/university. Metro Detroit's only notable university is Wayne State University which is located in Mid Town Detroit (just north of the "downtown").

 

Education: Detroit public schools are pretty terrible, which is one of the main reasons why families choose not to live there. A lot of gangs, crime, etc within the schools. Graduation rate is around 64%. Some public charter and private schools exist within the city, but it not accessible to the majority of kids. My wife went to a public charter school. 2 kids of her graduating class (of 30) went to a university after graduating from high school. 

 

Traffic: Most people who work in the city (like I do) live outside the city and commute to work. The roads in Michigan are about the worst of any state in a first world country. The weather conditions lead to cracks in the road and potholes (i'm not sure if that's a word people use in the UK?). Additionally, our government never spends the money to do a quality job repairing the road, so we end up using temporary fixes that quickly disintegrate. The traffic during rush hour can be congested and slow. Almost nobody uses public transportation, as the city is so dependent on automotive sales that there has never been much investment into public transit. Also many people live quite far from their place of employment. I live 30 miles from my job, and during rush hour it could easily be an hour to 90 minute commute each way. 

 

Weather: Finally, getting to one of the good things about my city. Although many people complain about our weather, I actually kind of like it. We have cold snowy winters lasting from December through March. Our autumns are beautiful with a brisk but not unpleasant temperature. There is also changing of leaves within the city:

 

 

Our summers are warm and humid, but we do not get the kind of extreme heat in the southern or western US states. Forgive my lack of knowledge about celsius - Winter temps are usually like 30 to -10 F. Autumn would be between 60-40F and summer would be between 85-70 F.

 

Sports -

The two most followed sports in Detroit are football (american) and baseball.

 

Our football team, the Detroit Lions are one of the worst pro franchises in the history of sports. Think of the worst team in the premier league, and it doesn't even scratch the surface of how bad the Lions are. The lions have existed since the 1920's. After being champions several times during in the 1950's, we have won 1 playoff game since 1960. We are one of the only teams in the NFL to have not been to the super bowl. I will not live long enough to see the Detroit Lions ever be successful.

 

Our baseball team, the Detroit Tigers has actually been very successful, both historically and recently. Although our last championship was in 1984, we have been to the "World" series recently in 2006 and 2012. 

 

Hockey and basketball are also very big here. Our hockey team, the Detroit Red Wings are one of the most successful franchises in all of american sports. The Red Wings were one of the original 6 teams in the NHL, and have made the playoffs in each of the last 24 seasons (the longest active streak in US professional sports). We have won championships 4 times in the last 20 years.  The basketball team, the Detroit Pistons, actually plays in a northern suburb in Metro Detroit. 

 

One of the unique things about Detroit is that although many never attend university, they still become supporters of the football/basketball team of our two largest Michigan Universities: The Michigan Wolverines and the Michigan State Spartans. The University of Michigan is about an hour from Detroit, and it is home to one of the largest capacity football (american) stadiums. I believe the capacity is around 110k people, and they recently hosted Real Madrid vs Man U in the summer. I'd say the majority of Detroiters support Michigan's football team as it has been very successful since 1940. Michigan State is about 2 hours away, in Mid Michigan, and is largest supported only by its alumni. 

 

The closest thing to the atmosphere of a premier league match would be a college football game, and specifically between Michigan and Michigan State. If you ever have an opportunity to goto a major college football game, go.

 

Soccer - We all call it soccer here. I'd say almost everyone has played some amount of soccer in their lifetime, but it is not followed by the majority of people. Soccer to Detroiters is a thing you learn to play as a kid to develop coordination before switching to other sports. That being said the sport has been catching on within the United States. The big issue in Detroit is that we do not have a MLS team, so most people don't care about the league within the city. That being said we do have a local team called Detroit City FC. They are in the 4th division and get about 2,500 fans per game (which is huge for the division they play in). The logo is based on a statue in the city "The Spirit of Detroit" and is pretty cool:

 

 

The team is now sponsored by Chevy (just like man U), and are sporting these cool uniforms:

 

 

Soccer is still in it's infancy here in Detroit, but I can see it being up there with basketball and hockey in 30-40 years. Also, many people who are soccer fans (like myself) follow the premier league. Maybe even more so than the MLS. The reason being it is easier to watch the premier league than any other soccer game. All of the premier league games are broadcast over cable, and I can stream every Leicester City game onto my PC for free. 

 

The Good / Rebuilding:

 

So up to this point most of the stuff has been about the bad of Detroit, which is 90% of what you've heard. By now you think that Detroit is basically Mogandishu and should be avoided at all costs. The reality is it's not that bad. The worst parts of Detroit are the neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area. The people are tough, blue collar folks, but are very friendly. 

 

 

The flag of Detroit kind says it all: Per Wiki - The two Latin mottos read Speramus Meliora and Resurget Cineribus, meaning "We hope for better things" and "It will rise from the ashes", which was written by Gabriel Richard after the fire of 1805. The seal is a representation of the Detroit fire which occurred on June 11, 1805. The fire caused the entire city to burn with only one building saved from the flames. The figure on the left weeps over the destruction while the figure on the right gestures to the new city that will rise in its place.

 

Things are getting better here. The downtown area is rebuilding with many new jobs created in non-automative related industries. Young college educated people are moving back into the city to try and reclaim it. We have a new mayor who has taken us through bankruptcy and is making good fiscal decisions. The automotive industry has rebounded and is hiring. The city is building a new stadium district (for the hockey arena) which will connect Downtown and Midtown.

 

Though it will take another 50 years for the neighborhoods to ever see an improvement, progress is being made in the downtown area. I'm relatively optimistic for our future.

 

Should you ever be on Holiday, Michigan/Detroit has a lot to offer. Michigan (my state) is home to the Great Lakes, and the finest freshwater beaches in the world. Michigan brewing is on par with the best brewing areas on earth: Founders and Bells are probably our two most popular breweries. But we have a hundred more solid breweries all throughout the state. Michigan is a great place for outdoors men: fishers, hunters, hikers. We have thousands of lakes, rivers, forests and state parks.

 

The City of Detroit has casinos, bars, and night life. Plus you can get the street cred of telling your mates you vacationed in Detroit and made it out alive.

 

Detroit is also right on the river, north of the City of Windsor, Canada. So you can spend some time in Detroit and then go by tunnel or bridge into Canada. It is not uncommon for people to cross the border for a night out, or for work everyday. 

 

Detroit: 

 

 

 

 

Alright, I should probably stop writing now since this is like 10 pages long. Let me know if you have any questions!

[Merging Cultures]

Alright, I should probably stop writing now since this is like 10 pages long. Let me know if you have any questions!

Why did you start supporting Leicester?

[KFS]

Some full on tour guides here, cracking efforts.

Home town: Gillingham- shithole

Uni town: Bournemouth- during the current weather, best place to live in the UK.

[AoWW]

This topic was hidden earlier today because of a malware warning. However I'm not getting one and I can't see anything obvious that would trigger it. If anyone else experiences problems with the thread please let me know. 

[cambridgefox]

This topic was hidden earlier today because of a malware warning. However I'm not getting one and I can't see anything obvious that would trigger it. If anyone else experiences problems with the thread please let me know.

Thanks AoWW.

[SystonFox]

Wait, systonfox is from Rothley?

I feel so conflicted right now...

RothleyFoxFormerlyResidedInSyston just doesn't sit right for me.

SYSTON TILL I DIE. IM SYSTON TILL I DIE

[StanSP]

Bedford

 

About 8 Tesco's in the area, 2 Sainsbury's, 2 Lidl's, a Morrisons, an Aldi, a Waitrose. No Asda.

 

Plenty of car-dealerships - probably every popular car-dealership you can think of and Bedford will most likely have it. 

 

A newly re-developed bus station. A new leisure complex in the making. 3 massive private schools. A town centre which has gone downhill over the past 10 years and only slowly starting to get a better reputation. 

 

Too close to Luton. 

 

Great transport links to London (40min train) and Midlands (45min train) and further up north towards Leeds/Sheffield. Fairly new bypass to Milton Keynes which is good.

 

A great Priory Country Marina/Park (good for walks especially in the summer)

[cambridgefox]

Think that's bad, visit Aberdare / Merthyr.

Skint C4 in Merthyr,I know they try to make it look bad,but you seem to be spot on.its been raining most of the time as well.

[ScouseFox]

RothleyFoxFormerlyResidedInSyston just doesn't sit right for me.

SYSTON TILL I DIE. IM SYSTON TILL I DIE

you're a fraud mate face it

[Benguin]

Syston

 

Born and raised in Syston, moved to Weymouth 5 years ago and last September moved back to return to education.

 

The town has expanded quite a lot over my lifetime, when I was young we had derelict buildings and petrol stations to play on and a Wilkinsons, Kwiksave and videostore to do our shopping. Nowadays we can get a subway and greggs for our lunch, buy a Rabbit and some carpet, choose from Tesco, co-op or Aldi, dine in over 10 restaurants and buy a car from over 5 vendors.

 

Syston is twinned with De Ville les Rouen which I assume means shit town in France.

 

My favourite thing about Syston is with a regular bus service, train station or the fact that the boarders are only a two min drive between; it's very easy to escape.

 

My least favourite thing is when the funfair comes to Town; the noise; the smell; the pikey twelve year olds situated in every nook and cranny.

 

 

[HEGGSY]

My least favourite thing is the pikey twelve year olds situated in every nook and cranny.

Pretty much all I need to say about Thurmaston

[Unabomber]

Coalville.

 

Thriving town centre with countless recognised high street retailers fighting off one another to open up. Great restaurants, with the highlight being Kashmir.

 

The women - oh man the women, never seen anything quite like it.  It is impossible not to get aroused when simply walking down the high street, just gorgeous and plentiful too 

 

Decent landmarks including the clock tower, and the statue of a miner (I make sure to visit this at least twice a year to grab a piccy)

 

Nice park too and you are unlikely to see any chavs or heroin addicts which is always a bonus.

[ozleicester]

Coalville.

 

Thriving town centre with countless recognised high street retailers fighting off one another to open up. Great restaurants, with the highlight being Kashmir.

 

The women - oh man the women, never seen anything quite like it.  It is impossible not to get aroused when simply walking down the high street, just gorgeous and plentiful too 

 

Decent landmarks including the clock tower, and the statue of a miner (I make sure to visit this at least twice a year to grab a piccy)

 

Nice park too and you are unlikely to see any chavs or heroin addicts which is always a bonus.

 

wow, its changed A LOT since i was there in 2011  

 

Actually i didnt mind it... hows the market going, I bought some nice buttons there.

[Fox92]

Currently live in Manchester because of Uni but looking at staying here. (I'm originally from a small mining town just outside Sheffield and there's literally nothing there, nothing to do).

 

Anyway, the countries third biggest City is Manchester. A great City, brilliant history. Lot of great architecture. Home of two big football clubs (especially Manchester United) and many a great band (Joy Division, The Smiths, Oasis etc). Some nice parks, famous statue of Alan Turing in one of them. Second largest cemetery in Europe (as wrote by the Smiths in "Cemetery Gates") and a few famous names are buried there including Matt Busby and LS Lowry. Two of the children murdered in the Moors Murders are buried there too.  A lot of greats were born in Manchester, including Emmeline Pankhurst. Several good museums to see including the Science museum which sits on location of the World's first intercity passenger railway (the front end of the old station is still up as I believe it is a listed building). Manchester Airport is the largest outside of London while I believe Manchester Piccadilly railway station is the third busiest outside of London.

 

(I created a "guide to Manchester for first year students" last year at Uni, that's why I know a lot of pointless facts about the place ).

[Detroit Blues]

Why did you start supporting Leicester?

 

First Premier League game i watched was Leicester vs Everton. I assumed going into the game that because Everton had Tim Howard that I would end up supporting his side. As the game progressed I found myself rooting for Leicester to pull off the upset. After that I saw the 5-3 win vs Man U I was sold. 

 

In the US, most people that watch the Premier League support the big clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, etc. and it has always rubbed me the wrong way. Leicester City plays with so much heart that if they lose it is never for the lack of trying. I'd rather watch them and truly be excited when they win, then to support a team with a £200m payroll composed of mercenaries.

 

I'm really hoping Leicester can stay up so I can keep watching, I'm not sure what my options are to watch championship football in the US.

[Mike Oxlong]

First time I've been up town in a long time. Other nice parts to our city centre but what a shithole Gallowtree Gate has become.

[Merging Cultures]

First Premier League game i watched was Leicester vs Everton. I assumed going into the game that because Everton had Tim Howard that I would end up supporting his side. As the game progressed I found myself rooting for Leicester to pull off the upset. After that I saw the 5-3 win vs Man U I was sold. 

 

In the US, most people that watch the Premier League support the big clubs: Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, etc. and it has always rubbed me the wrong way. Leicester City plays with so much heart that if they lose it is never for the lack of trying. I'd rather watch them and truly be excited when they win, then to support a team with a £200m payroll composed of mercenaries.

 

I'm really hoping Leicester can stay up so I can keep watching, I'm not sure what my options are to watch championship football in the US.

 

I was able to watch the Championship when I was in Baltimore. If it comes to it, I'll dig out the details for you. It was a new Sports Channel from the Emirates if I remember correctly.