[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by benjamini

Have to agree with you. Lived in Edinburgh for 5 years and it was always windy.
In defence of Invenesians, they do have a lovely accent.

Evolutionary necessity, sheep are powerless to the dulcet tones of an Invernessian man with 12 toes.

[benjamini]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

Evolutionary necessity, sheep are powerless to the dulcet tones of an Invernessian man with 12 toes.

My sister was born there,

[HillmanImp]

seriously: if young married couples living in England want to move the best place in the UK to start a family is Edinburgh.

1) Employment prospects are good (everything from Standard Life to RBS and Scottish Widows) relative to more or less anywhere in England.

2) Your kids will get into university free.

3) House prices are OK-ish compared to London - and you get a seaside locations and mountain walks in the week-ends.

If I was starting a family now I would definitely move to Scotland and Edinburgh area in particular. Its a no brainer. (ps its a myth that the weather is significantly worse - its wet in Edinburgh now and its also wet in Slough - there is no significant difference)

[jra]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

Evolutionary necessity, sheep are powerless to the dulcet tones of an Invernessian man with 12 toes.

Whoever you are Mr.Beaks, you've brightened up my day.

[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by benjamini

My sister was born there,

Pass on my condolences.

Originally Posted by jra

Whoever you are Mr.Beaks, you've brightened up my day.

Haha no problem, sometimes it gets to the point where if you can't laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of it all, you'll cry yourself into an early grave. I gave up worrying about it when I realised I didn't have the passion to change it, and now spend as much of my time out of the country as possible.

[bugloss]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

I very much doubt it, we're under no illusions as to our dour nature. You have to remember that Aberdeen is essentially a fishing village saturated with north sea oil money, it's an interesting combination. I live in the west end which is where the urban sprawl crept when people started to want more expensive, larger housing in the 70s, paid for with said oil money. The east end is now smaller, generally council housing for lower income workers and, without sounding patronising, immigrant workers. The city centre itself is tiny, basically just one one mile long street(Union Street) which at the weekend sees both sides of the city collide in pretty failtastic, often times destructive fashion. The prevailing attitude is as a result one of either arrogance or envy, which makes for a pretty shitty atmosphere most of the time. I'm not surprised this guy wants to leave, but I do take offense at the claim that Inverness is anything other than Aberdeen in microcosm.

Back to the matter at hand, if I remember correctly it says Welcome to the Kingdom of Aberdeen, on your way in up the A90, although I may be wrong.

"dour" eh? A friend used an ahem similar word and she was from Stonehaven, otherwise i wouldn'r have mentioned it

I was much more partial to George Street than Union street, with the fleapit Gaumont Cinema, and the second hand shops selling mucky books (though the short cut to there from RGC was spectacularly dangerous in school uniform)

[jra]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

and now spend as much of my time out of the country as possible.

Where, just out of interest.

[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by jra

Where, just out of interest.

Wherever my employer chooses to send me. Lately, well 3 months in Guinea, West Africa, spanning the festive period and just back from Tel Aviv, Israel. Off there again in a few weeks, to brave airport security. It's quite interesting how they can make you feel like you have a bomb in your case even when it's just a pile of dirty clothes and toiletries. And these are just airport security, I'd admire in a somewhat perverse way watching a mossad agent interrogate an unsuspecting tourist to the point of pissing themselves. I'm 100% certain they could do it too, and with relative ease!

Beautiful country though, I'd highly recommend a visit. I expected something highly militarised, but it was a tourist resort! Lovely food, lovely weather(35degs ever yday) and great people, if a little dry in the humour stakes.

[Mr.Beaks]

Ohh forgot about Thailand, which is scandalous in itself. Beautiful place and my holiday destination of choice, 5th time in the country and it gets better every time.

[Mr.Beaks]

Hahah I'm so glad this topic kind of digressed, I always have a good laugh at that computer system story. I mean FOUR YEARS. Who spends four years trying to figure out anything, let alone a computer program with no instructions that does the same job a man with a measuring tape could do in a couple of weeks.

[Rorschach]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

(ps its a myth that the weather is significantly worse - its wet in Edinburgh now and its also wet in Slough - there is no significant difference)

Because the weather outside your window today is the only fact that counts of course.

Whether it is "significantly worse" depends on your view of what counts as "significant", but data collected over hundreds of years clearly show that the weather in Edinburgh is most certainly "worse" than that of Slough.

The average daily temperature is lower, the average minimum temperature is lower and the average maximum temperature is lower. Edinbuirgh will receive more rainfall per year than Slough, more days of precipitation a year then Slough and less hours of sunshine.

These facts may not sway your view on the comparative merits of starting a family in Edinburgh or Slough, but you can't just claim they doesn't exist.

[jra]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

Hahah I'm so glad this topic kind of digressed, I always have a good laugh at that computer system story. I mean FOUR YEARS. Who spends four years trying to figure out anything, let alone a computer program with no instructions that does the same job a man with a measuring tape could do in a couple of weeks.

So am I, tbh.

A mate of mine has been to Thailand. I'll have to interrogate him more.

[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by Rorschach

Because the weather outside your window today is the only fact that counts of course.

Whether it is "significantly worse" depends on your view of what counts as "significant", but data collected over hundreds of years clearly show that the weather in Edinburgh is most certainly "worse" than that of Slough.

The average daily temperature is lower, the average minimum temperature is lower and the average maximum temperature is lower. Edinbuirgh will receive more rainfall per year than Slough, more days of precipitation a year then Slough and less hours of sunshine.

These facts may not sway your view on the comparative merits of starting a family in Edinburgh or Slough, but you can't just claim they doesn't exist.

As soon as there is mention of the name Slough, all other redeeming features should become null and void and the opposing city awarded victory by default. That's what I heard about Slough.

The city of Slough should really have sued Ricky Gervais before The Office became a hit.

[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by jra

So am I, tbh.

A mate of mine has been to Thailand. I'll have to interrogate him more.

Ohh for sure. Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Panghan, Krabbi, Koh Samet, all little slices of paradise. Bangkok is okay, in very small doses, however I tend to get Bangkok fever after a couple of days and need to escape to the tranquility of any of the above to detox and gather my thoughts.

Just google image any of the above places and you'll see what I mean.

[HillmanImp]

Originally Posted by Rorschach

Because the weather outside your window today is the only fact that counts of course.

Whether it is "significantly worse" depends on your view of what counts as "significant", but data collected over hundreds of years clearly show that the weather in Edinburgh is most certainly "worse" than that of Slough.

The average daily temperature is lower, the average minimum temperature is lower and the average maximum temperature is lower. Edinbuirgh will receive more rainfall per year than Slough, more days of precipitation a year then Slough and less hours of sunshine.

These facts may not sway your view on the comparative merits of starting a family in Edinburgh or Slough, but you can't just claim they doesn't exist.

having lived in both places I mean i noticed no significant difference on "average" days.... However when Southern England gets especially hot summers (which is not as often as we like to think) Edinburgh does not . So you miss those - that is true...Yes, so for a week and a half in August you might notice a difference in some years.

[HillmanImp]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

As soon as there is mention of the name Slough, all other redeeming features should become null and void and the opposing city awarded victory by default. That's what I heard about Slough.

The city of Slough should really have sued Ricky Gervais before The Office became a hit.

It goes back to john betjeman and his poem "Come friendly bombs fall on slough..."...

[Rorschach]

I live about as far south as you can live without needing to learn French and we do get a fair bit of sunshine.

Whilst sat in a cafe on holiday in Yorkshire one year we overheard a couple of old dears on another table talking about "down south" in a generally derogatory manner and they concluded with "the only thing it's got going for it is the weather".

I instantly thought; "Maybe so, but that's a bloody big thing"

But then I suppose I've grown up used to it, what you've never had you never miss.

[jra]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

Ohh for sure. Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Panghan, Krabbi, Koh Samet, all little slices of paradise. Bangkok is okay, in very small doses, however I tend to get Bangkok fever after a couple of days and need to escape to the tranquility of any of the above to detox and gather my thoughts.

Just google image any of the above places and you'll see what I mean.

Ok. Will do. And thank you.

[Mr.Beaks]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

It goes back to john betjeman and his poem "Come friendly bombs fall on slough..."...

Ahh that could in fact be it! I remember that poem from school for some reason.

[TYCO]

Edinburgh is the most beautiful city in the UK. Even on my last day of living there, it still amazed me. I would say I enjoyed living there but I just didn't like living in the UK, not for any reason that is exclusive to Edinburgh.

If I found myself in the position that I had to live here again, I think it could be the only city I would choose to live in. Maybe I'd like to try somewhere on the south coast (so that there's a chance of having a summer), like Brighton, but that's just conjecture, I've never been there.

[benjamini]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

Ohh for sure. Koh Samui, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Panghan, Krabbi, Koh Samet, all little slices of paradise. Bangkok is okay, in very small doses, however I tend to get Bangkok fever after a couple of days and need to escape to the tranquility of any of the above to detox and gather my thoughts.

Just google image any of the above places and you'll see what I mean.

My daughter spent a month in Koh Samui as a holiday after doing the " year out " in India New Zealand and Oz. She loved it. She lives and works in one of the Inner Hebrides now. Travels the world, sometimes with work, also for pleasure. She is not a huge sun worshipper, wouldnt need to be either so loves her home.

[bugloss]

Originally Posted by HillmanImp

It goes back to john betjeman and his poem "Come friendly bombs fall on slough..."...

you could go back to John Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress

'This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.'


must have been there on a Friday night

[HillmanImp]

Originally Posted by bugloss

you could go back to John Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress

'This miry Slough is such a place as cannot be mended; it is the descent whither the scum and filth that attends conviction for sin doth continually run, and therefore is it called the Slough of Despond: for still as the sinner is awakened about his lost condition, there ariseth in his soul many fears, and doubts, and discouraging apprehensions, which all of them get together, and settle in this place; and this is the reason of the badness of this ground.'


must have been there on a Friday night

ah it explains a lot. Its where our prime minister went to school (Eton is basically a suburb of Slough)

[Charles II]

..Love visiting Edinburgh when I can, beautiful and much quieter than I thought but you just know one day the powers that be will try to make sure it becomes ethnically ''enriched'' and thus destroying that harmony.

[fhs man 2]

Originally Posted by Mr.Beaks

I would question why you want to move from the deen in the first place. I mean, I'm looking out my window right now and it's a complimentary shade of grey, augmenting the shimmering granite buildings across the street. The sea breeze gently drifting in, followed by the purring of a slightly plump gentleman with high vis vest and pneumatic drill in hand. It's only a matter of time before the seagulls arrive at the party, and in truth what is a party without an aggressive demeanour and shite on the floor.

I could go on but I'm sure you get the point.

Edinburgh is great, fantastic, lived there for a while 6 years ago. What do you want to know?

Do you live right next to me