Creative Cafe is International: So tell us about where you live?

[Jill]

According to the Google analytics so far Creative Cafe has had visitors from 22 countries.
In order of frequency these are United Kingdom; United States, France, Canada, Australia, Italy, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Pakistan, Kuwait, Greece, Mexico, Phillippines, Switzerland, Columbia, New Zealand, Cuba, Spain, Germany, Belguim and Russia.

So I thought it would be nice in this discussion if members would write a bit about where they are on the planet and about the place where they live.

To start things off I am mainly in Brighton which is on the South coast of England by the sea. Brighton is a about 50 miles from London and is sometimes called 'London by the sea' because it is rather trendy, with a lot of nightclubs and fashionable shops in 'the lanes'. There are a lot of students, a big gay population in the Kemp Town district and a lot of arty creative things going on including the Brighton festival every May.
Outside the centre there are some large troubled housing estates and a general housing shortage keeps rents and house prices high. Brighton is very hilly outside of the centre as well and is joined up with Hove which is considered to be a quieter and posher.
This is just a basic outline of Brighton and I hope others from this area have more to write about where we live. And I will be interested to hear about other members hometowns in this discussion..

[desik]

I live in Lewisham , South London , a 20 minute train ride from central London.

Lewisham is a poor inner city borough which has been mismanaged for years by a corrupt Left wing Council that has wasted hundreds of millions of pounds on divisive political correctness, its mayor is the highest paid in London , unfortunately his salary doesnt reflect his or his party's abysmal performance .Because its a poor borough people vote Labour almost instinctively which is a shame as Labour take their votes for granted and dont have to make an effort at all. Its a vicious cycle.

My local shopping area is called Catford, its pretty run down and basically has a lot of charity and £1 discount stores. The most arty and pozzy thing about Catford is the huge cat that clambers up the wall above the alley that leads to Tesco's supermarket.

I think the Catford Cat is the 8th wonder of the world





You can see more of catford here

[Jill]

It's great to see some photos up here. Especially the 8th wonder of the world in Catford South London!

Photos can be put up using the site

http://www.allyoucanupload.com


which will give you the code to copy and paste.

[Margaret Hamilton of Slackstitches]

I live in the boundary between North East Scotland and the Highlands in a coastal village called Portknockie in the Constituency of Moray. This is a very poular area for tourists, one of the attractions being the Moray Firth dolphins who pass back and forth regularly. The other attraction ofcourse is the 49 ( at last count ) whisky distilleries. You can see more of this beautifull area by visiting http://www.portknockiewebsite.co.uk/ It is also a low wage area but more than makes up for it by being a lovely, if windy, place to stay

[Azzami Bell]

Portknockie and it's dolphins, altho' I'm not specifically sure which ones, were featured in the BBC-OU program "Coast"! Way, way back we meandered, allto all too briefly thro' your area with 7 in a transit, -you might have seen us pushing! Such a pretty, scenic place! -Shame that your website, along with the rest of UK, shows you're having to deal with the problems of vandalism. I know one of the answers here in Brighton is to for all of us to keep kids within our community. Of course they want to rebel, but it's far cheaper having facilities than picking up broken lives, homes and environments.

We're all 'low waged here in Brighton. We staff the shops, resturants and hotels. We take in 'Language-students' to 'study/work'. We also cater for the folk who moor their £230m yachts in the supavulger marina so unceremoniously forced upon it's poor by crooks. We're all up to our gunn'ls in debt. We live in run-down estates with all their problems...
Chorus: Rule Britainnia...

[Margaret Hamilton of Slackstitches]

I am reading a detective novel based in Brighton and Hove at the moment by Peter James. He describes it quite fondly, mind you drugs and dealing are playing a part in the story, but then again they are in every community.
I know what you mean about the marinas. Increasingly our harbours are being turned into "reacreational harbours." We don't so much cater for them though as they can often afford a second home here ( big sore point ) as well and bring the cheaper food from down south with them in their very large vehicles Portknockie is, however, hanging onto tradition as there are a slowly increasing no. of small coastal fising boats which the fishermen are turning to due to the drastic cut in the deep seafishing days allowed.
If you ever make it this far north again look me up, everyone knows where the Hamiltons stay.

[Leslie Wilson-Rutterford]

I was born in Denver, Colorado and raised in California (San Francisco & San Jose). I spent a year in Seattle Washington, before setting off for a year in Europe with a friend. Hit London and a few other towns in England and then traveled around Europe. England and Great Britian wasn't really thought of as part of Europe in 1978. To make a long story short, I returned to London in 1981, and have lived here since. Mainly in North London, I ended up in Kentish Town, and have lived in the same Council terrace flat for 24 years. It's only one floor and quite small. It's colourful and cosy, though, and I remind myself that there are homeless people who would give anything for any flat.
Kentish Town is slowly, but steadily upgrading. It has long-established neighbourhoods, with families living here for generations. I have aquaintances on my street and around who I say hello to, and some I don't even know their names! I'm friendly with Fred, the car mechanic who, until a few months ago, worked in a garage right next door to me. I could look out my bedroom window overlooking his cars and watch people work. I could hear them too! The noise never went on too long, so I never complained. He moved to the corner now, so I still see him and stop for a chat.
We tried to set up a tenants assoc recently, but many pitfalls, not least of which was falling out with a long-time neighbour/friend, as well as the one next door. Some people's egos get in the way of friendship and team spirit. Fortunately I have many more friends than enemies, and it is really their loss.
Kentish Town Road has had many turnovers of shops, but old BLUSTONS is hanging in there, selling cheap and naff ladies clothing from a bygone era. We have excellent supermarkets, delis and healthfood shops, but not any clothes or shoe shops to speak of, except for some lucky finds in the 3 charity shops. The merchants are friendly, and I'm especially fond of a lady in PDSA, and another in Help the Aged. The couple who run the launderette are really nice. The gals in Boots, the Chemist are fantastically friendly and helpful.
It's a grand area, has easy access to other parts of London with quiet streets only a 5 minute walk to the shops and public transport. Hampstead Heath is a 5 minute bus ride, and there are several local parks and playgrounds. My son's school is a 5 minute walk, too. It's great!

[Smilesandsunshine]

I moved to Pendleton, Oregon, USA about a year and a half ago. This is main street.

>

It is a rodeo town.

There is a reservation very close, and Native Americans, or American Indians also participate in the Round-Up.

I teach at one of the elementary schools here in town. Things are old-fashioned around here. You get a feel of the "old west." Sometimes, that means prejudice and discrimination. But more often I feel it is more about being kind to your neighbor and valuing family time spent together.

[Azzami Bell]

Drugs are still a big feature for many Brighton folk. (I should know!) But then we’re not exactly gold-card territory; –in fact we still ain’t even deemed worthy of Channel 5 yet!
Brighton council contains the usual bumbling bunch of unemployable buffoonery. This town resembles most others now. Same moronic paving, posts and railings throughout. And those plastic awnings! –For fecksake! Council’s recent knee-jerk reaction upon hearing of ‘travellers’ landing on their patch is typical. Local paper’s headlines:

One rule for travellers, another for taxpayers
It is not travellers ruining Moulsecoomb Wild Park, it is council neglect.
A century ago, Moulsecoomb Wild Park was famous for its many rare butterflies and moths.
Half a century of neglect, however, has reduced its ancient species-rich grasslands to tiny fragments, which are disappearing under a sea of scrub. The special moths and butterflies of its old pastures are on the brink of extinction.

Private Eye endearingly refer to us as; “Skid Row-on-Sea”. My son Shaun met yet another 17yr old girl who’s sole ambition and dream is to get a family started. –‘To do it better than my mum’ is the usual quote we’re given by way of justification. We know ‘parents’ of 23 & 24 with four kids in care, 250+ driving offences dating back 16 years –yes, 16 years! He’s currently facing one charge of GBH, several of petty theft etc... probably custodial an’ he whizzes about town dealing in anything that gets him cash. To be fashionable, we have whole families of real, live paedophiles. One council estate harbours the killer/s of two school girls of 8 & 9 with pride and arrogance. Families of 5, 6 and one of seven with dole queues full of assorted shades and sizes of dads. We generate more DNA tests than Trisha and have wall-2-wall ASBOs...

But, it’s far from all bad.

I’ve been here since ’78 when I found no problems finding temporary accommodation albeit rudimentary. Within a year we had little upheaval before qualifying for a 2 bedroom council flat on one of the ‘better’ estates, with garden. Even in the early nineties when council housing was being ‘privatised’ into ‘Housing Trusts’ Brighton typically sets up a farcical trust staffed by ultra-naïve grads and a bent plumber. I stumbled upon them and so had no problem getting this flat. Unfortunately housing here, now, as ev’rywhere is a joke.
Since ’92 I’ve been blissfully content with my home, my neighbours and my life and its surroundings.



One blob of grandbrats in our copse. -My 'living wallpaper'! Within this patch & the allotments we generally have at least two FOX families, one bunch of BADGERS, a loving brace of COLLARED DOVES & umpteen GREY SQUIRRELS. Most upsetting is the lack of small birds. Whatever the reasons; we've gone from seeing about 100 a day to the odd one on a good day!



An awkward shaped room means we get bathed in morning SUN from late Feb thro' to Nov!



Taken from a movie...

An' I LOVE it all!

[Rebecca]

I am a bit of a North-Westerner in the United States. I was born in Oregon but my family moved to North Idaho when I was 3 years old. I grew up in the beautiful Cascade Mountain Range. It is truly a four season lifestyle up there. We skied in the winter and boated/swam in the summer. Lake Pend 'Oreille is the fifth deepest lake in the US and the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. Here is my hometown... http://www.cityofsandpoint.com/

But alas, I needed to strike out and see the world so moved around a bit. Eventually I came back to Oregon (my birth state) and am now living outside the Portland area. I live in a town called Tualatin just 13 miles south of Portland right of of Interstate 5. Portland has grown up during the time I came back to Oregon. It is not just rush hour traffic in the morning and evening anymore - but all day long! Here is the official site of my new city:
http://www.ci.tualatin.or.us/
It is a medium sized town and for me really just a place to hang my hat until I can move back out into the country someday. I don't get involved with city happenings really - for most it is a commuter town to Portland or south to the State capitol of Salem. I am getting involved with a rock hounding group who travels all over the State to find rocks that we make into jewelry.
What I like about the area I live is that I am an hour and a half from the coast (Pacific) or to Mount Hood, in case I want to go hiking or skiing. We have property in Central Oregon right outside of the growing city of Bend. On this land we camp and ride our dirt bikes and Quads. I love the Northwest. I lived briefly in Missouri (commonly called "Misery"- for good reason) and in Central California. Cali is much to hot and hectic for a country girl like me.
Portland is called the Rose City and every June we have what is called the Rose City Parade - as well as a junior parade. Naval ships come in and dock at the ports and people take tours on them for about a week. Carnivals and all kinds of shops set up on the green by the waterfront and it is a wonderful time had by all.
Portland is also home to the largest independent used and new bookstore in the world - http://www.powells.com/
I can get lost in the store for hours - and now they added a little cafe' so one CAN spend all day there. We have the Rose Gardens where people take tours and walk through all different kinds of roses and it smells lovely.
They Willamette Valley (as this section of Oregon is called) is known now as the Silicon Forest. We are home to many electronic plants such as Intel.
But mostly what I like about Oregon is that the true Oregonians are free thinkers, a little rough around the edges (we grow a lot of pot around here), are naturalists at heart, and very laid back people. We believe in recycling and eating good food. This means also micro brews - we love those! check out this link if you don't think we like our brew..... http://www.oregonbeer.org/mapport.html
So that is a bit about where I came from and where I am now.

[Azzami Bell]

Hi!
I read your piece without thinking much about the links to places. The name Oregon always suggests well-scrubbed cowboys and nobody dying in corny olde ‘two-realers’. Barbara Stanwick, Edward G, James Stewart and all too rarely, John Wayne.
One day later, a new computer and the links are all I need! Using google-earth, I can ‘fly’ over Sandpoint from Lake Pend 'Oreille. (I generally crash somewhere close to Bonner…) I can see what you mean about the four seasons lifestyle, lake, mountains and sun, -I’m jealous!
About 25km North-West of Sandpoint, South of Coolin, on the banks of Priest Lake, Where, I assume, there’s not a lot to do, there’s a checkered farm! –What’s that all about then?
I whiz across to Tualatin. What a contrast! You’ve become suburbian! Yeauch!
But wait! Using google-earth & maps I discover Tualatin to hold some delightful treasures. I’ve found a ring-road serving some twenty homes that’s named “Herons Landing on the Tualatin”! Then, somebody’s favorite spot is the Pond behind the Century hotel, a spot labeled ‘Colorful Maples’ that don’t seem to be either, a factory named “Infocus”, surrounded by cars, its like a wagon train besieged by injuns!

The breweries would keep my family happy for years, but by the sounds of it I’d rather spend my time in Bend.

[Rebecca]

Appreciate your reply - even if my reply is a bit late. I just don't know when I am going to find myself coming home as I am leaving my house! Yes, I am in Suburbia - and I don't really like it at all. I miss waking up to the crickets in the summer (and the frogs) or the sound of coyotes howling in the winter. Oh my, the best of all is this: you go to bed one night in the late fall, the air is cool and crisp with a hint of moisture. You know what is coming but nothing can prepare you as many winters as you spend in the great white north. Bright and early you arise and look out the window - and what was full of color last night is totally pristine white and glistening with an eerie sparkle and lack of depth. I can even say I don't miss the frozen car doors and having to warm up the car 10 minutes before you can drive it - scraping your widows and driving in blinding snow.
I don't like hearing my neighbors sneeze or smell the odors of their lifestyles. I miss the room. Want to see where my new haunt is? check out an area just outside of Bend, OR - it is to the east about 20 minutes called Juniper Acres (really a part of Prineville, OR. We have 20 acres of undeveloped land - totally off the grid. We have a 200' cabin and a 6' fire pit that we did ourselves. My SO & I built the cabin in 2006. At night - the stars are so bright and large I feel I can reach out and grab them. We have a game with our kids of who can be the first one to find the first satallite that night.
We hop on our dirt bikes or quads and ride like a bat out of hell all over the riding trails. We cook in a dutch oven or over the fire pit. It is so primitive yet so relaxing. I can spend a weekend there and it feels like I've been gone a week. (I'll put some pics in my photos)
Yes, Tualatin is okay - but not the country!

[Azzami Bell]

Hi,
What you've got and how you take advantage of it is what matters. I don't like cold now I'm old but I can remember the irritations of cars in winter. Horrible little Austin-of-england vans, grossly under-powered, struggling to negociate some of London's lumpier regions!

The Austin A35 -yet another British Automotive joke!