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i moved to london over 20yrs ago and, imo, it IS wonderful.

the diversity of the people (my neighbours are brazilian, bangladeshi, russian, japanese, northern!), the array of cultural amenities, the open mindedness of people to 'otherness', the energy of the place... i wouldn't live anywhere else - not because i look down on the rest of the country but because i love it here so much!

a lot of 'outside' commentary about 'lunnun tahn' seems overly defensive. surely, what we need as a society are citizens who feel rightly proud of their own roots/locality: a positive acclamation of their own achievments rather than a negative downgrading of others.

people who peer down their noses from london at the rest of the country, deserve to be flamed but i don't think that justifies implying london is some sort of hell hole, when it's nothing of the kind.

awright mate?

Well said Woodgnome,

I lived on London for some years myself. I always intended to return (I'm in Ireland currently) but then I got a job and settled down etc. But I do visit 3 or 4 times a year just to see what I'm missing. London is a great place, but most other UK cities are similar except on a smaller scale. Each to their own, I say. This is after all the B.G.A.F.D. - geography within the UK shouldn't come into it, nor should your method of purchasing quality smut as long as it's legit.

But they do think your wonderful JJ,

All the Grannies that is(LOL)

cheers
B...Oz

My understanding is that Evil Angel was set up first. Stagliano employed Collins in various capaceties both on the performer side as Roscoe Bowltree, and on the business side. After a few years having seen how Stagliano managed to build an empire by hanging on to the distribution as well as the production side of things, Collins left and formed Elegant Angel using much the same blueprint.

If I could just spend one day in London without wanting to kill several of the following:
Homicidally-incompetent motorists whose medication has worn off;
Bad-mannered, tunnel-visioned pedestrians;
Braying, megaphonic mobile phone-users with nothing useful, or indeed coherent, to say;
Inadequately-deodorised commuters, and those who assume their carriage is the dining-car and also a mobile litter-bin;
Inarticulate, arrogant morons in retail premises with badges
saying 'I'm Shanelle, how may I help you?', when that is their last intention.......
then it might just be worth all the extra wonga.
5 years, then I'm outta here. And no regrets.
Sure, the cultural diversity is great: why, I've been insulted/
mugged by a dozen different ethnic groups over the last twelvemonth and it's great only having to queue for 28 hours to get into any art gallery/cinema...........

......and don't even get me STARTED on the rapaciously insane property prices which mean that anyone who actually does the work that makes the place run has to commute in from Alpha Centauri.......in 50 years' time the only place not a suburb of London will be Berwick-on-Tweed.

in which case we'll nearly all be londoners. what a lovely thought!

!!!!!

Speaking of which, how cool was it that the Scottish Tourist Board recently offered to buy Berwick back off England, and the local Mayor's only response was to name a sum (as the famous quote goes, "we've already established you're a prostitute, now we're just haggling about the price"). Cool. Frankly, I go by the law of football - Berwick play in the Scottish league, therefore the town is Scottish. [Similarly, Swansea, Cardiff and Wrexham are English.] *ducks inevitable Welsh flaming*

Agree with you JJ but it comes down to your personality and outlook.London is like Sydney huge diverse population and something happening all the time which is great if you want a hectic interesting stressed lifestyle.

I was in London 12 years ago and after 7 days I'd seen enough.
Went into the Virgin megastore bought half their stock went to the checkout said hello to the guy and he said nothing even though he was looking straight at me,could have been a robot probably was.

Pretty sad but thats what mind numbing work in a big city reduces people too,the daily grind,survive the eight hour day then go out and get shit faced.

Give me the countryside anyday(Unless your a farmer)-a place to take the mask off and be human and relate on a personal level with everybody not just your friends all day long.

cheers
B..oz