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Mind the Gap: London v the Rest
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oldish chris



Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 4:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I am a Londoner, as is my wife. In 1981 we moved to Liverpool (living in a dormitory town called Formby).

I'm convinced that I could have earned twice as much had I worked in London, but to have the same lifestyle, I'd have needed three times as much.

Then Evan Davis goes banging on about "new industries" and high productivity. He means variations on the banking theme and working 10 to 12 hours a day in an office, don't forget the hour long journey to and from work.

I can remember sitting in my Formby garden with relatives from London - my teenage niece suddenly blurted out "Isn't it quiet here!".

In London, dogs chase their tails twice as fast and twice as enthusiastically as northern dogs.

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Yeah, I've been twice, once for a day, once for three, that was enough.

oldish chris



Joined: 14 Jun 2006
Posts: 4148
Location: Comfortably Wet Southport
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

One job I had, working for a Government supply organisation, which bought in bulk, stored it regionally to be distributed to individual establishments.

One of the things that really stood out was the variation of the quality of the staff, the IQ of the clerks was proportional to the distance from London. The most remote part of the country that I visited was Topcliffe in Yorkshire, that visit confirmed my theory.

madcat



Joined: 24 May 2008
Posts: 1265
Location: worcester
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 7:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Off topic but we used to live in Formby, I found it dull. I'm a city cat at heart.

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 8:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

oldish chris wrote:
One of the things that really stood out was the variation of the quality of the staff, the IQ of the clerks was proportional to the distance from London. The most remote part of the country that I visited was Topcliffe in Yorkshire, that visit confirmed my theory.


Interestingly, exactly the same distance away from London as Formby.

Ty Gwyn



Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4562
Location: Lampeter
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 8:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I`d have to question the IQ of some of them in that Westminster office,although they are very good with the old bull i must say.

Cathryn



Joined: 16 Jul 2005
Posts: 19856
Location: Ceredigion
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 8:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I can only manage the first minute or so of this (iplayer doesn't like it here). It says that London is dominating my world. I hadn't noticed but I suppose we have a Cardiff focus. It also had Boris making a rude hand gesture and something about shops delivering wine for Southern supermarkets. It's okay, some has reached here. Does it improve or does the conversation stay full of sweeping statements? There is a concentration of money in the capital, there is in Cardiff. It's irritating at times but it's what capitals are about.


I love going to London, wonders to see and enjoy and the investment in Cardiff has vastly improved it as well.

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator


Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35056
Location: Devon
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It's the capital. It does what it says in its name. I loved living in London. Now I love Devon. I paid my extra taxes up there. Now I benefit from them. But I will encourage BW to go to uni up in the Smoke.

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 10:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

It's a fairly special capital, though, not all are quite the same. I've never been to Cardiff, or even heard of anything that would interest me going on there and as far as I know I've never earned anything from the place. London & Edinburgh, on the other hand...

Of course, they're not a patch on York...

earthyvirgo



Joined: 24 Aug 2007
Posts: 7972
Location: creating prints in the loft, Gerlan
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Rob R wrote:
It's a fairly special capital, though, not all are quite the same. I've never been to Cardiff, or even heard of anything that would interest me going on there and as far as I know I've never earned anything from the place. London & Edinburgh, on the other hand...

Of course, they're not a patch on York...


Cardiff is great - feels more like a large town than a city. The Assembly building is pretty impressive and Cardiff bay is quite 'cool' these days.

Depends what you want I guess.

EV

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

earthyvirgo wrote:
Rob R wrote:
It's a fairly special capital, though, not all are quite the same. I've never been to Cardiff, or even heard of anything that would interest me going on there and as far as I know I've never earned anything from the place. London & Edinburgh, on the other hand...

Of course, they're not a patch on York...


Cardiff is great - feels more like a large town than a city. The Assembly building is pretty impressive and Cardiff bay is quite 'cool' these days.

Depends what you want I guess.

EV


Customers, preferably.

Rob R



Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 31902
Location: York
PostPosted: Wed Mar 05, 14 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This guy doesn't hold out much hope for London, mind.

Quote:

Agriculture is now going to be a terribly exciting place to work," Mr Rogers said. "The City of London will be in decline. Wall Street will be in decline for a long time."


I assume he means these...

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 14 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

the 1958 is rather smart.perfect for shopping in chelsea.

tis hard to predict furure trends but there are plenty of historical examples of cities becoming redundant/depopulated to a few villages etc and plenty of a village becoming mega cities

this one

and
the rise

and fall

demonstrate the trends over time although they are very different places

london has gone from swamp to villages to city to villages to megacity over 2000 yrs so it may well become villages again

Ty Gwyn



Joined: 22 Sep 2010
Posts: 4562
Location: Lampeter
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 14 12:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Cardiff was once a village,built on the back of coal from the Rhondda,
At that time the like`s of Maesteg and Merthyr were metropolises in comparisson to the village of Cardiff.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45377
Location: yes
PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 14 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

in the 1940's evan tredagar was reaping £25million a yr from the estate build on coal by his forebears for instance .it was not london and allowed the industrial super rich to act as though feudal lords out of sight of old power and the press in london.

a couple of cardiff history quotes re the way it was at it's richest and those who made it that way ,
"the city of the dark knights" bryans
"lloyd george knew my father,father knew lloyd george" trad

the taffia are still in control in many ways

london is too fast and too dirty but i stayed 14 yrs,liverpool was desperate but funny for a couple of years , new york was extreme in many ways and i didnt stay long .

most towns are bonkers but so is rural life

dormitory towns and suburbs are weird and ex industrial villages odd

as cities go and i have lived in a few i rather like york.

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