I've just spent a very pleasant long weekend in London. We did the usual things like a show, St Paul's and the Tate Modern. It was really odd because just about the only English person we met was a cheery Cockney taxi driver. Nearly everybody else was foreign, from the French who ran the Accor hotel we stayed in to the Poles who served dinner in the Tate Modern's rather good restaurant. All the announcements on the underground and at Liverpool Street Station were useless, they sounded like they were made by Nelson Mandela on speed. The visit was interesting but I'm very glad I don't have to live there.

No' much different here!

Aye - multiculturalism makes cities that much more dynamic and interesting.

I was in a chip shop in Edinburgh about ten years ago - it was after the pubs had closed (of course) - and got talking to a young English kid (early twenties). For some reason (we weren't talking politics) he started pleading with me not to let Scotland become independent (as if I had the power?) because Scotland was the only British part of Britain left.

His home town wasn't his home town anymore - it was somebody else's. No doubt he was part of the white flight lot who've been coming north to escape the "dynamism".

That conversation stuck with me all these years. It scared the hell out of me really. How must it feel to be a stranger in your own town - in your own country?

scunnert wrote:
Aye - multiculturalism makes cities that much more dynamic and interesting.

I was in a chip shop in Edinburgh about ten years ago - it was after the pubs had closed (of course) - and got talking to a young English kid (early twenties). For some reason (we weren't talking politics) he started pleading with me not to let Scotland become independent (as if I had the power?) because Scotland was the only British part of Britain left.

His home town wasn't his home town anymore - it was somebody else's. No doubt he was part of the white flight lot who've been coming north to escape the "dynamism".

That conversation stuck with me all these years. It scared the hell out of me really. How must it feel to be a stranger in your own town - in your own country?

Pretty uncomfortable, actually. It's how I feel the rare times I return to my childhood and adolescent stomping grounds on the central California coast. Caucasians are a distinct minority in Salinas and Monterey, these days, overshadowed by Mexicans, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, Koreans, etc.

I agree ! I have some friends (oh yes I do) who live in Salcoats and we go over to Arran on a regular basis for the odd weekend. Just the usual stuff really 1 guitar 1 banjo 1 fiddle 200 bottles of beer and it always irks me that every hotel, every pub, and every shop is owned by somebody with an English accent! Now it`s not that I do`nt like English people but where did all the locals go , , , Manchester on some sort of cultural swap thingy and forgot to come back ? Hmmmmm.

Lilybean wrote:
scunnert wrote:
Aye - multiculturalism makes cities that much more dynamic and interesting.

I was in a chip shop in Edinburgh about ten years ago - it was after the pubs had closed (of course) - and got talking to a young English kid (early twenties). For some reason (we weren't talking politics) he started pleading with me not to let Scotland become independent (as if I had the power?) because Scotland was the only British part of Britain left.

His home town wasn't his home town anymore - it was somebody else's. No doubt he was part of the white flight lot who've been coming north to escape the "dynamism".

That conversation stuck with me all these years. It scared the hell out of me really. How must it feel to be a stranger in your own town - in your own country?

Pretty uncomfortable, actually. It's how I feel the rare times I return to my childhood and adolescent stomping grounds on the central California coast. Caucasians are a distinct minority in Salinas and Monterey, these days, overshadowed by Mexicans, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, Koreans, etc.

But Lily, didn't it used to be Mexican in the first place?

Don't forget these guys.


tinyurl.com/2ttckb

When I worked in London I can't say that I was anymore uncomfortable than in any other cosmpolitan city. So no, I wouldn't say London is any more strange than Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds or Glasgow.

It's just a city. Loads of folk live there. End of.

slapdash wrote:....it always irks me that every hotel, every pub, and every shop is owned by somebody with an English accent!

I'm pleased that English people come to live in Scotland. Often they've invested in a business in a rural area and that's a good thing. Some of the ones I know came here from places like London and Leicester because their towns were swamped with immigrants and they didn't like that.

Lev, yep. And look at the number of Scots who go to live in England.

Clare wrote:
Lev, yep. And look at the number of Scots who go to live in England.

Yes of course, and that's fine too. Well nearly, because a lot of the English don't like the Westminster government having so many Scots in it. That will change after independence because Brown, Darling et al won't have a Scottish Westminster seat and the balance of power will shift to the Tories in England. But that's fine as well because labour have relied on "their" tame voters in Scotland to carry them to power in England and it's time the English had the government they vote for too.

I've noticed that the whole Royal thing they've got going on down south, the state opening of parliament, Westminster, the trooping of the colour and all that seems very Ruritanian/kitsch/foreign/nothing to do with me these days. I think there's been a big change in how we see ourselves up here. The last few times I've been in England I've definitely felt different - it seems more foreign. Like dws says not good not bad. But to me it felt just different.

Farrah wrote:
Lilybean wrote:
scunnert wrote:
Aye - multiculturalism makes cities that much more dynamic and interesting.

I was in a chip shop in Edinburgh about ten years ago - it was after the pubs had closed (of course) - and got talking to a young English kid (early twenties). For some reason (we weren't talking politics) he started pleading with me not to let Scotland become independent (as if I had the power?) because Scotland was the only British part of Britain left.

His home town wasn't his home town anymore - it was somebody else's. No doubt he was part of the white flight lot who've been coming north to escape the "dynamism".

That conversation stuck with me all these years. It scared the hell out of me really. How must it feel to be a stranger in your own town - in your own country?

Pretty uncomfortable, actually. It's how I feel the rare times I return to my childhood and adolescent stomping grounds on the central California coast. Caucasians are a distinct minority in Salinas and Monterey, these days, overshadowed by Mexicans, Latin Americans, Vietnamese, Koreans, etc.

But Lily, didn't it used to be Mexican in the first place?

Farrah, in the very first place, it was Native American (various tribes of red indians), then it was Spanish for awhile, and then the Caucasians showed up, thanks to Sir Francis Drake finding San Francisco Bay.