Mundane pictures of the North

[cyberfairy]

The 'Family Bar' on the pier. Fuck knows what the unfamily one is like.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

even more RAF?

 

[cyberfairy]

Wrote a bit about Blackpool again, It is the only place I have felt a proper yearn to photograph. http://unicycle-emptiness.co.uk/

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I see Gateshead has made it onto the list of Crap Towns 2013 - so I wonder what neonwilderness thinks of this. Oddly nowhere in Greater Manchester features this year, but happily my home town does, and rightly so 'cos its a complete dump.

http://www.craptownsreturns.co.uk/2013/02/18/gateshead/

 

[neonwilderness]

Admittedly the town centre is a bit of a dump, but it has started to improve. It certainly no worse than some other towns

I think it suffers a bit from being so close to Newcastle, they are effectively one town with Gateshead being the less desirable bit

 

[Fez909]

Admittedly the town centre is a bit of a dump, but it has started to improve. It certainly no worse than some other towns

I think it suffers a bit from being so close to Newcastle, they are effectively one town with Gateshead being the less desirable bit

Sounds like Stockport/Manchester.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Admittedly the town centre is a bit of a dump, but it has started to improve. It certainly no worse than some other towns

I think it suffers a bit from being so close to Newcastle, they are effectively one town with Gateshead being the less desirable bit

Same with Manchester/Salford. Salford is definitely the poor relation, without a city centre at all so a bit weird really. Like anywhere, it has some lovely parts, mainly on the outer edges like other cities, and I guess the same is the case with Gateshead.

And I understand it really annoys Salfordians if people refer to it as being in Manchester.

 

[Fez909]

That crap towns thing is bullshit. I don't believe Middlesbrough can go from #2 or whatever it was, to not even in the top 100, despite the fact that the place gets worse all the time. It's obviously just a way of getting more people interested. And having London at #1 is a joke.

I did have to laugh at the blog entry for Burnley though (sorry Burnley residents!). This is it in its entirety:

Burnley is what everyone in the South imagines the whole of the North is like. A vile backwater that makes Deliverance look futuristic.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Sounds like Stockport/Manchester.

Surprisingly, Middlesbrough isn't on the long list of crap towns this year, which clearly must an error on their part as it is far worse than my home town.

 

[Fez909]

Surprisingly, Middlesbrough isn't on the long list of crap towns this year, which clearly must an error on their part as it is far worse than my home town.

Just addressed above ya, ya dirty Durham swine

 

[farmerbarleymow]

That crap towns thing is bullshit. I don't believe Middlesbrough can go from #2 or whatever it was, to not even in the top 100, despite the fact that the place gets worse all the time. It's obviously just a way of getting more people interested. And having London at #1 is a joke.

I did have to laugh at the blog entry for Burnley though (sorry Burnley residents!). This is it in its entirety:

Better not tell Shirl about that description!

 

[Fez909]

Better not tell Shirl about that description!

I think Redeyes is a resident, too?

 

[neonwilderness]

I've just read the list it seems a bit strange, Sunderland doesn't feature but York does

 

[Fez909]

I've just read the list it seems a bit strange, Sunderland doesn't feature but York does

Obviously trying to generate controversy? Include good places to generate discussion, don't bother putting in places which featured last time as then why would anyone buy it again?

It's a load of rubbish (obviously).

 

[farmerbarleymow]

I've just read the list it seems a bit strange, Sunderland doesn't feature but York does

Probably partly due to the tourists in York making it crap. Tourism is, of course, something entirely alien to Sunderland, and isn't even in their dictionary.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

<snip>

It's a load of rubbish (obviously).

But a good excuse to take this piss out of places.

 

[Shirl]

Better not tell Shirl about that description!

Too late, I've seen it
Whenever I go back to the centre of Burnley I agree entirely with that description.
I still maintain though that Burnley at least has the advantage of being surrounded by some beautiful countryside in all directions

 

[Fez909]

Probably partly due to the tourists in York making it crap. Tourism is, of course, something entirely alien to Sunderland, and isn't even in their dictionary.

The write up for York barely criticises it. It's a bizarre entry. Perhaps worse than the inclusion of London.

York

‘You’ve lived here ten years,’ says my wife (or ‘the’ wife as she’s known in these parts). ‘How can you possibly say anything negative about York?’

The daffodils bloom brightly beneath the sweeping city walls and there are enough old buildings to keep a coachful of Americans snapping and flashing like a Hollywood premier, blocking the pavement whilst you try to nip to HMV during your lunch break.

When it’s sunny – which it sometimes is – it’s a glory to behold. But if you want to live in a postcard, choose one of those Donald McGill creations bulging with saucy innuendo or a nice beach scene replete with golden sands and trembling palms.

York has museums galore, places of interest and many impractically narrow snickleways. Jorvick celebrates the blood-curdling brutality of the Vikings but never shows them with horns on their hats, slapping the faces of schoolboys across the globe and, particularly, the aforementioned American tourists who have, after all, come a long way and have no interest in historical accuracy. Other museums also dance on the knife edge of credibility: a Quilt Museum which makes no attempt to explain the meaning of the word ‘tog’ and a Museum of Early Music which makes no attempt to explain the meaning of Chris Moyles.

And then, if you have time, it’s off to the tourist attraction where Guy Fawkes was probably born; the tourist attraction where W H Auden may have written some poems; and the tourist attraction where Judy Dench may have eaten a sandwich.
In short, the whole region has succumbed to a cheesiness that puts the wen in Wensleydale. But, when asked if it isn’t all a bit touristy, the average Yorkie will doubtless answer: ‘Nowt!’

This inability to give a coherent response is quaint but they are a hardy breed defined by their razor-sharp bluntness and a pathological determination to call a spade a spade. An invaluable skill, perhaps, when your ancestors spent their working life underground foraging for lumps of coal, but less of an evolutionary advantage when it comes to maintaining the social interaction required to keep the lights on and the fluoridated water flowing.
And it’s not very polite.

They are friendly, of course, (to each other) and – like the rest of their northern kin, doing all the work so that we southerners don’t have to.

But the main appeal of York – well, to this southerner – was the property prices. After all, you can buy half the Shambles for the price of a modest two-up-two-down in the south. But beware! Once you’re here all the treasures in York Minster aren’t enough to buy an empty box of Swan Vestas in Godalming.

And then what can you do to go home?

Nowt!

 

[neonwilderness]

Probably partly due to the tourists in York making it crap. Tourism is, of course, something entirely alien to Sunderland, and isn't even in their dictionary.

There's the glass museum and winter gardens and that's about it

 

[Fez909]

There's the glass museum and winter gardens and that's about it

The only time I've been to Sunderland was when we went to the illuminations and that park on the front. We got our car nicked

 

[farmerbarleymow]

There's the glass museum and winter gardens and that's about it

I've been to the glass museum - when I was a kid many years back. But apart from that, never been for any touristy reason. Geology field trips and work stuff - that's it I think.

 

[neonwilderness]

The only time I've been to Sunderland was when we went to the illuminations and that park on the front. We got our car nicked

Roker Park My great grandma used to live near there, so I went a few times when I was younger. Looks like it's still going:
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/...-return-of-sunderland-illuminations-1-4974998

I think they are trying to compete with Durham Lumiere
http://www.lumiere-festival.com/durham/

 

[Shirl]

There's the glass museum and winter gardens and that's about it

I met and spent a bit of time with Country Joe and the Fish in Sunderland. I'd need to check to be sure but I think it was the day after the moon landing

 

[farmerbarleymow]

One thing I did notice the last time I was in Sunderland for work, was just how clean the town centre was. Absolutely spotless, and plenty of hanging baskets everywhere. Makes a change from Manchester...

 

[Fez909]

Roker Park My great grandma used to live near there, so I went a few times when I was younger. Looks like it's still going:
http://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/...-return-of-sunderland-illuminations-1-4974998

I think they are trying to compete with Durham Lumiere
http://www.lumiere-festival.com/durham/

Seem to be all over the North these days. The weekend just gone was Light Night Leeds and there's Huddersfield Festival of Light in December.

So much for dark and grim North. It's a veritable light-fest oop 'ere

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Seem to be all over the North these days. The weekend just gone was Light Night Leeds and there's Huddersfield Festival of Light in December.

So much for dark and grim North. It's a veritable light-fest oop 'ere

Why isn't there anything like that in Manchester?

* stamps feet *

 

[neonwilderness]

There's one near me too, but it's tickets only and sells out fairly quick
http://www.newcastlegateshead.com/winter-festival-2012/enchanted-parks/

Looks quite nice when you drive past though

 

[Fez909]

Why isn't there anything like that in Manchester?

* stamps feet *

Not quite the same, but there's the Diwali Mela this Saturday!

 

[Casually Red]

Surprisingly, Middlesbrough isn't on the long list of crap towns this year, which clearly must an error on their part as it is far worse than my home town.

its completely unfixable...even if you levelled it and started again itd still be a poisoned earth place where chubby brown comes from . My one overriding memory of the place..first thing thats in my head when the words mentioned is a broken white plastic vibrator lying in the street, that i saw one day when hungover . And kids on little bikes laughing at it. They were about 8 and knew what it was .

 

[Fez909]

its completely unfixable...even if you levelled it and started again itd still be a poisoned earth place where chubby brown comes from . My one overriding memory of the place..first thing thats in my head when the words mentioned is a broken white plastic vibrator lying in the street, that i saw one day when hungover . And kids on little bikes laughing at it. They were about 8 and knew what it was .

Liked for truth; not desirability.