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Strange questions that sometimes need answering (or not asking in the first place really).

Bradford is a proper old industrial town. The issue is, the industries have disappeared and the fine people of Bradford moved away to the jump start that is Leeds. Huddersfield and Wakefield suffered similar fates. All these cuties are stunning. There are areas that show just how much money was around at some point but alas, with the pits and factories closing, they went to rack and ruin.

All along the M62 from east to west, it's littered with former powerhouses that no longer exist.

It could be argued that without Liverpool, Everton, Manchester's united and city and Leeds united. These cities would have declined further than they would have.
 
Matt.GC said:
You seem to like your ONS defined regions Matt. To me, your neck of the woods pretty much is in the West Midlands! But it's an interesting question none the less and one I've often wondered as well.

I quite like Manchester and Liverpool actually. I've always enjoyed them when I've visited. No offence to anyone living across the Pennines in Bradford though, but that city has no redeeming features for me. It seems like the North shares these similarities with South Wales down our way. Cardiff and Newport are fine, and it's where all the money and jobs are. But travel further afield and it doesn't take long to find the hard reality of life in these post industrial areas in the valleys, and you really feel it when you get to Swansea. Decent and honest salt of the earth people, cast aside in the 80's and neglected by successive governments ever since.

There was an attempt to do the whole "Greater Bristol" thing decades ago. That term is still used sometimes today. It became the Country of Avon. It didn't last long and we've been stuck with the weird system we have now ever since. They've known how to draw the boundaries of that city.
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My rule of thumb telling me that I live in the South West rather than the Midlands is that the local accent sounds more West Country/Bristolian than West Midlands! The Forest of Dean accent is very West Country, with maybe a touch of Welsh thrown in there for good measure… I’ll give you, however, that when I went to university in Cheltenham, I did start to hear a bit more of a West Midlands accent creeping in…

I’ve never actually been to Manchester or Liverpool, as in the city centres. I’ve been to Manchester Airport, but that’s not exactly the centre of Manchester…

How big was the county of Avon? Did it encompass bits of what are now considered “North Somerset” and “South Gloucestershire”, as the suburbia of Bristol itself doesn’t feel very big compared to the likes of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool etc? Having travelled to Bristol Airport this morning, which is technically in “North Somerset”, it feels like it’s miles out of what I would call Bristol… my dad jokingly calls it “Bedminster International”, and I think that’s quite apt seeing as it took us an hour to get here and it’s a good 15 miles from Bristol itself…
 
A lot of these special names have been generated over the years through local/national government reorganisation and such.
Accrington area became Hyndburn locally, a river I had never heard of.
Accrington Stanley though, I know him.
My bessie mate lives across the road.
 
Matt N said:
How big was the county of Avon? Did it encompass bits of what are now considered “North Somerset” and “South Gloucestershire”, as the suburbia of Bristol itself doesn’t feel very big compared to the likes of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool etc? Having travelled to Bristol Airport this morning, which is technically in “North Somerset”, it feels like it’s miles out of what I would call Bristol… my dad jokingly calls it “Bedminster International”, and I think that’s quite apt seeing as it took us an hour to get here and it’s a good 15 miles from Bristol itself…
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Tell your dad I think his name for Bristol Airport is awesome! Although technically the closest part of Bristol to the airport is Bishopsworth (yuck) though. Around here, some of the older folk still call it Lulsgate Airport, as that's what it was known as for most of its existence before it was rebuilt and expanded.

You're mostly right about Avon, yes. Was still known as that into the 90's, was a massive council area but didn't really work. The city has the Servern Estuary to the north west, and Green Belt bordering it everywhere else, so the urban sprawl has happened quite a bit outside the city (with mostly **** public transport links). Now the bridge toll has gone, this even extends into Wales as far as Newport, as there's been loads of building in South East Wales to serve the city for people who commute in.

It included most of modern day Bristol City (obviously), South Gloucestershire (as far as Yate), North Somerset (as far as Weston), and Bath and North East Somerset Councils today. And yes, it even included Bath itself. Problem is, the city was too small for the size of super councils at the time without chucking the likes of Bath in with it, but is too big for average size of councils that are customary now. So you now have a weird situation where like of Portbury dock and Portishead are in North Somerset, Kingswood, Downend and Filton are in South Glos, and Keynsham is in BANES (love that name, just conjures up visions of Tom Hardy wearing a mask). You leave the city limits without even realising it.

Slugjc said:
Bradford is a proper old industrial town. The issue is, the industries have disappeared and the fine people of Bradford moved away to the jump start that is Leeds. Huddersfield and Wakefield suffered similar fates. All these cuties are stunning. There are areas that show just how much money was around at some point but alas, with the pits and factories closing, they went to rack and ruin.
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Yeah I can see that. Something I always enjoy though is the people and culture. There's something quite homely about these places. People will chat to you in a pub, open doors for other people, and I always thought there was more of community spirit. I always like the Rhonda for that as well
 
2 years since one of the lowest points of my life. Seems amazing looking back to the point but I am genuinely happy I opted not to put a permanent full stop on it at that point. Strangely you look back and question how it got so bad, how you let it get so bad but you don't see it until it's on you. It does get better. Slowly. Painfully. Some things that caused the issues cannot be resolved, others have resolved themselves in various ways.


From: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR4DjYczINM
 
Matt N said:
That’s really interesting to hear! For clarification, the three cities of the West Midlands county are Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry, aren’t they?

I think you’re right about the West Midlands name possibly diminishing their significance compared to “Greater Birmingham” or similar. To be honest, when I think of “the West Midlands”, I think of the considerably larger ONS region of the West Midlands, which spans as far South as Worcestershire and Herefordshire (parts of both are an hour or less from me) and as far North as Staffordshire and places like Stoke-on-Trent (at least a good 2 hours from me on a good run… for reference, Alton Towers is 2.5 hours from me on a good run, but I know Towers is getting on for half an hour away from Stoke).

A place like Ross-on-Wye is only 35 minutes away and feels close to me (I regularly drove on a dual carriageway towards Ross in my driving lessons), whereas Stoke-on-Trent always felt pretty Northern to me and quite far away (the local accent around Alton Towers sounds more like a Northern accent to me than a Birmingham accent, anyhow!). Yet both are technically in “the West Midlands”… it’s a big area!
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The West Midlands does include Herefordshire and Staffordshire.

The West Midlands Conurbation is the urban area covering Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Solihull, Walsall etc.
 
Errr, guys. I accidentally left my butter in the microwave too long when softening it up. Pretty much melted the whole thing haha. Rescued an iceberg type blob of actual lighter coloured butter and now this yellowy stuff is left now it's re-hardened.

Can this be used ever again, or do I need a new block of butter? Thanks. 🤔 :tearsofjoy:1000019869.jpg
 
BarryZola said:
Errr, guys. I accidentally left my butter in the microwave too long when softening it up. Pretty much melted the whole thing haha. Rescued an iceberg type blob of actual lighter coloured butter and now this yellowy stuff is left now it's re-hardened.

Can this be used ever again, or do I need a new block of butter? Thanks. 🤔 :tearsofjoy:1000019869.jpg
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It'll solidify again and be fine, though the texture won't be the same. There aren't any immediate safety / bacterial issues with it. It won't get mouldy either, as mould doesn't grow on fat. The summer can sometimes be unkind to the butter in my butter dish (kept on the kitchen side at all times).
 
BarryZola said:
Errr, guys. I accidentally left my butter in the microwave too long when softening it up. Pretty much melted the whole thing haha. Rescued an iceberg type blob of actual lighter coloured butter and now this yellowy stuff is left now it's re-hardened.

Can this be used ever again, or do I need a new block of butter? Thanks. 🤔 :tearsofjoy:1000019869.jpg
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And what did you learn?
 
Not to put the butter dish in the microwave for 40 seconds straight? :tearsofjoy:

Thanks Goose. Will try some on a piece of toast in the next couple of days. Not sure it's real butter anymore but as long as I don't die that'll be cool. Will buy some new butter for when I get fed up of it 👍
 
How come when you go to the dentist, your appointment is always running late? I've found even if you take the first appointment of the day it's still late!
 
DiogoJ42 said:
I'm seriously thinking about caving in and paying for youtube premium.
....Should I just kill myself now on principal?
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Give the trial a whirl and then see how your principles stand. It ought to be noted though, that similar to Spotify, when you sign up to YouTube Premium the creators enrolled in Google's programme will get a cut of your YouTube Premium subscription fee. This compensates them for the lost ad revenue, and actually gives them higher returns.
 
With things like this I always think it just depends on how much use you get out of it. If you use its benefits a lot and feel like you're getting good value then go for it. Like buying a new PC or something. Will probably spend over a grand on a new one soon but it'll last me around 6 years or so. Probably about 50p a day cost over that time but I use it most days for one thing or another.
 
Why was I so amused about sitting in a cablecar gondola at Thorpe, listening to the worlds worst octoberfarce band cover Britney?
Strange combination of company, sun, heat, small beer, stimulation of the senses, conversation and happiness that is rarely experienced in a person of my age...

Would have been better without all the ****** young uns...get em back in school.
 
Two actually.
The other three thoosies, all with health issues of some form or other...one only occasionally so far...aren't even aware of the old drum banging!
That is what made it all the more amusing.
I just really enjoyed the situational comedy in my own head, watching a whole floorshow of contentment in front of me.
Brilliant.
 
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