Local Pride

[el Chi]

I was trying to research what political leanings Reading (my uni) had, to decide whether or not to cast my vote there. Anyway, I found this rather unhelpful site with interesting nuggets of local information. Suffice to say, I'm glad I hail from London, but these two struck me:

Reading is also noted in the arts for its associations with...[blah blah blah blah]... and especially its least willing inhabitant Oscar Wilde...
Oscar Wilde was imprisoned in Reading jail for homosexuality. After he left, he was disgraced, wrote very little and died not many years later.
To call him Reading's (note that they speak of the town, not the jail) "least willing inhabitant" is putting it lightly.
I guess it's ok to say he was present in the vacinity, but not to say that the vacinity helped destroy a great literary figure.

The town's traditional industries have been beer, biscuits and bulbs...
Beer!? Biscuits!? Bulbs? Erm... Bulbs? :| I'm not sure if that's lightbulbs or plant bulbs, but I'm pretty sure I don't care.
But beer AND biscuits!
...beer is still brewed in the town, which has the second largest brewery in Europe.
If you've ever seen the Adam and Jo Show, they try and organise a piss-up in a brewery. Essentially by getting a bunch of people to trespass, with a stereo, pringles and party poppers and steal beer.
I figure, roll on summer, we'll be able to try that in Europe's second largest brewery. Oh. Yes.


The moral of the story is that Berkshire sucks, unless you're a student.
But what useless bits of info do you have about your own areas?

I'll find out stats on gun-crime in Hackney, and then post those, for my home home.

 

[baxter]

Gretna Rail Disaster
1915
Britain's worst train disaster took place at Quintinshill near Gretna Green, south of Dumfries. 227 people were killed and a further 246 injured when a troop-train collides with another train and is then hit by an express passenger train. Fire ripped through the wreckage contributing significantly to the carnage. The troops were members of the Royal Scots, who were on their way to take part in the Gallipoli campaign. Many had come from Edinburgh and Leith and are buried at Rosebank Cemetery (Edinburgh) where a monument was erected to their memory

I live 5 meters from this railway line, close to the exact spot where it happened

 

[el Chi]

Hey, my grand-dad lives near Dumfries! That's a really good one, baxter.
I went to secondary school in Potters Bar - remember this?

I used to sit where that train was lodged when I was waiting for my train home.

 

[oldagerocker]

My own area of Gravesend haha.
- Pocahontas died here
- Gravesend and Northfleet has a population of 70,900
- It's a shithole.
- errrm.... bout it really lol.

Got to this site for some pics but, you'll notice that all the photo's are pointed up towards the sky... quite obvious why, really. the place is a dump.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/kent/places/towns/gravesend/gallery/index.shtml

Some better more honest photo's here;

http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lordofchaos/gravesend/gravesend.html

Not allot to say about the place really, but its where i'm from

 

[Feath]

Middlesbrough is rather famous for a bridge:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesbrough_Transporter_Bridge

Also, Parmos. You can't get Parmos anywhere in the world except within 4 miles of Teesside. A Parmo is a piece of Breadcrumbed chicken which is covered in a cheese sauce and then with cheddar cheese on top. It's then grilled.

They are lovely, but you can only get them in Middlesbrough. I really miss then when I'm in Edinburgh.

 

[el Chi]

Also, Parmos. You can't get Parmos anywhere in the world except within 4 miles of Teesside. A Parmo is a piece of Breadcrumbed chicken which is covered in a cheese sauce and then with cheddar cheese on top. It's then grilled.

They are lovely, but you can only get them in Middlesbrough. I really miss then when I'm in Edinburgh.

Mmmmmm... That sounds great! In a kind of dying-20-years-before-your-time kind of a way.

 

[ship]

Montreal has a very rich history that I will not go into right now.
However, the suburb I live in is named after Adam Dollard-des-Ormeaux who, in short, got his ass handed to him by a bunch of Native Americans.

Loser.