General Chat

Have been out and about in Cardiff today. I had no idea where I was.

It got me thinking. I have travelled all over the British Isles and my geography is very good. Yet if I was dropped into the middle of cities I would be almost completely lost.

Probably Wolverhampton and Bangor are the only cities I would know anything about at all :-( :-(

How many cities would you be familiar with?

By familiar, do you mean able to drive around without a problem, or walk around without getting lost ? Makes a difference to my answer !!!! :-)

The trouble is every time you return after a while away they have changed the layout.

Used to know my way round Portsmouth and Southampton but I bet I'd get lost now. Sort of know Winchester.

Funny enough, in the centre I'm not too bad in London.

Gloucester of course I am ok, Plymouth not too bad, Exeter not too bad in the centre.

Used to know Cardiff but years now since I went there.

Chelmsford, bet they have changed that too.

Like Ann, I used to know Portsmouth and still have some idea of location of various streets, but not how to get there through one way systems.

Sort of know Winchester and Canterbury centres, but they are fairly linear, so not too difficult.

Lived in Cardiff for 3 years, but I would be lost now that so much has changed.

Gwyn

I would have no problem with London. Am OK in the centres of Portsmouth, Guildford, Exeter, Southampton, Bath, Winchester, Bournemouth and Reading but not sure about finding my way around them by car.

Am probably just at home in some cities abroad as long as I am on foot, Venice, Florence, Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, Saltzberg.

It ' s all the one way systems and where to park that get me, and it seems that everyone else except for me knows where they are going, luckily my husband usually drives and is like a homing pigeon. M

MrD I meant walk around.

Wolverhampton is totally different to my childhood, when there were folds and arcades. Now there is a huge shopping centre and a ring road. But I reckon I could still walk round because I know where the station is - and where the main churches are like St Peters, St Marks, and St Johns :-) :-)

Maryanna, GwyninKent and AnninGlos :-) Very interesting. You know a lot more about cities than me and are much more at home. I suppose I might add the centre of London. I lived for a year in South Kensington and worked in Bank and had to walk there and back each day. So I did learn that very central bit pretty well. But put me in Islington or Battersea and I would be totally lost.

I couldn't find my around my nearest city centre, Birmingham, let alone any other. Birmingham has been changed so many times that I sure that most who had visited a few years or so ago would get lost now. If you were in a car you'd get lost for sure as road layouts have changed and are still being changed.
I must admit that I avoid large cities preferring smaller quieter places.

i used to live in claire street cardiff in the wynford hotel
it was a lovely city :-D

Hi Joy :-D :-D Must have gone quite close to your hotel today. Parked in Wedmore Road and walked into Clare Rd and under railway bridge. Then along Tudor St and over bridge by Millennium. Found Howells (where mil used to shop as a girl in 1930's - she always had to wear a hat and be very smart :-D)

im ok in york :-D

Stray. Have never ever been to York. Or Ripon either. N Yorks must have pased me by. Children went to museums in York on school trips and it looks a lovely city :-D

there used to be a little pub called the westgate nearby
a scruffy little place but the singing on a night was wonderful :-D
i used to think all the pubs where called Brains till i found out that was the local brew lol


i can do york london ( a bit) cardiff canterbury Peterborough Newcastle

im fine in Chester,Cambridge and Cardiff.but terrible in my home city of Liverpool. :-D

Joy. On the river, on Fitzhamon Embankment, there is a very interesting hotel for bagpackers. Quite a big place, painted in dark blue. Lot of use of Welsh - all signs bilingual, "Tafarn" very conspicuous if you ride by on one of these water taxis.

Also went past a pub called "Brains" ;-)

I'm pretty familiar with Norwich and Cambridge, as I visit them frequently. When I went to Newcastle last June, it took quite a while to get used to it again, it had changed so much.
Trouble is, most towns and cities have become clones of eachother, with identical shopping malls with the same chain stores - no individuality. You have to seek out the historical bits.York and Cambridge still have plenty of those, plenty of heritage and interest. Peterborough, for example,has all but lost it's character, it's cathedral is swamped by the commercial centre.

york is an amazng city, and ripon is pretty to visit

Geordie Had forgotten Cambridge and Ely. Know both quite well. Last 2 times I went to Cambridge - first time Shiley Williams went beetling past, walking at a rate of knots. Second time, Clive James near that circular church.

We used to love the Gardenia in Rose Crescent in early 80's, the character if you went into the basement fro your Greek food was wonderful :-D

John - yes, I know Ely well, and go to the farmer's market a few times a year. It has improved a lot over the past few years, as it was looking a bit run down at one time. It's a small city, so is easy to navigate. Marvellous cathedral, but as it now costs about £8 to go in, it's ages since I have. I live only 18 miles way.

Ok, tks Joh, but anyway :o) drive around:

Belfast, Londonderry/Derry, Cardiff, Newport, Sarajevo, Famagusta.

Walk around:

Central London, Berlin, Washington DC, Split, Celle, Kuwait, Riyadh, Naples, central Paris, central Madrid.

John - tidy walk from where you parked to City Centre - hope you didn't go to buy anything heavy !! :-D. The NosDa backpackers hotel is interesting, In Despenser St, junction with Fitzhamon, room costs gen okay, but food prices are :-S. Does have it's own bar though :-D. Benefit - minutes from City Centre (mind the bridge), and next to gods rugby stadium :-D :-D

'Course it's bi-lingual - it's in Wales ! :-| :-)

I don't suppose Cambridge has changed since I last went there, maybe 5 years ago...lived there for the worse 6 years of my life lol


OH is a scouser living down south and his job has him driving to many cities/towns in the south east each day. He probably knows these places better than I do now, I know my home town of Romford has changed from what he tells me and I doubt whether I would recognise the City of London anymore