Adobe; The Great Divide and Manners Please.

Thanks Adobe for the third update this year already. It's only February the 12th and my computer is not only old, but slow and slightly senile. All this change is not good for him. Have a heart. I don't know how long The Beast will last.

Getting slightly annoyed with all the anti London speak at the moment on social media. People saying it's a shit hole and everyone is horrible and people use leery chat up lines. Well hello, people use leery chat up lines all over the world, not just in bars in London. In fact, once when I was walking to Piccadilly Station in Manchester, a guy came up to me put his arm around me and tried to kiss me. He didn't even try a chat up line. And I was on my way to meet my boyfriend, who incidentally many years later, is still my boyfriend, and even though I removed his arm and pushed him away, he followed me down the road. In the end I had to tell him to fuck off, scream at him and kick him away. I can safely say this has never happened to me in London.

Now I am not in any way trying to turn this back on the North because I'm a proud Wiganer and I lived there for 20 years before moving to Manchester for 5 years and then moving to London. I also went to Uni in Salford and in my own words 'Never wanted to live in London.' I think there is a very negative stance from both sides of the great divide. And having lived on both sides I can see both arguments. But there is so much beauty and creativity and wonder in our small Island country and I just don't see why there has to be this down right hatred, especially from many people who have never moved around, have always stayed in the same place - which of course is fine, my parents have done it and lots of my friends - and therefore don't know what it's like to live in London.

I just feel that there doesn't need to be a divide, except for of course, house prices, which are ridiculous! But you already know that in advance, so if you decide to move here, you take that into consideration. You may never be able to afford to buy a house and you may have to move back up North or outside of the capital, but maybe you came for the experience, or the chance to change pace and see how a capital city works. Maybe you moved for a job, an opportunity, to be closer to family or for love and friendship.  It doesn't matter, everyone has their reasons, just as people have reasons to move up North, or stay up North.

Now as for the matter of beer. Everyone whinges about that, but the amount of happy hours and offers there are and vouchers and whatnot, most Londoners don't leave home without a voucher or an app on their phone that gives them options. You barely pay full price for anything. And there are weatherspoons out there which are not much more expensive than Wigan or Manchester because trust me, I've been to them. In fact, I went for a meal the other week with my parents in Standish, just outside of Wigan, where I lived my first 20 years. And the main courses were £14-20. I nearly fell over. I don't pay that much in London. I would run away. And if we went to a place that expensive, it would only be because there was a toptable offer or it was half price with the tastecard. I mean £15 a meal in a village in Wigan and £5 a glass of wine. We're talking same prices if not slightly more expensive than London.

As for the friendliness of people. Yes I know London is renowned for its autonomy but my post man knows me. He waves across the street to me. And the staff in Iceland are lovely. The people in our building always talk in the lift and when you see them outside of the building, will smile and wave. And yes mostly the tube carriages are quiet but that is often quite nice of a morning. You can have a read, listen to some music and wake up before work. Sometimes there will be loads of conversation on the tube, groups of friends, tourists, kids. It is not always silence. And who cares if it is. It's not like everyone knows each other and every one's business like in some places both North and South. Believe me it's nice not having everyone know your business or your family. And some people might not have brilliant English so keep to themselves a bit and some people just like to be feckin' quiet. Yes it was strange at first, coming from a place where tramps sit next to you on the bus and shit themselves; (True Story. Happened to me in Manchester, thus my fear of buses for a very long time.) people try to chat you up on the bus and probably 9 times out of 10 you are going to know someone on the bus/train, but it's mainly when you travel alone that it's quiet. If you're with someone you talk. you don't just blank them. It's not a cardinal sin to speak and eye contact is unavoidable so it does happen. *sticks tongue out in most mature way possible*

As for being a shit heap. Erm. Whoever said that, clearly hasn't been to London. It is made up of some slightly scummy areas - true of any county, city, borough, town, village, hamlet -  but some really beautiful places. There are loads of green spaces and huge parks. There are loads of smaller community events that bring people together. And mostly you exist within your little segment of London, venturing out to other segments to visit friends, soak up the differences, take in a market or show and just explore. The traffic network is incredible and despite some ridiculous people complaining about the tube strike, most Londoners just find another route. Unless you live three hours away, there will be another route or three.

I just found it really annoying me. As a northerner, I still feel strongly about the North and how wonderful it is. And I would hate someone to be slagging it off from the South as they would probably just be holding their usual stereotypes. But then I also have to defend London to a lot of people up North, especially those that still refer to it as the big smog. I see both sides of the divide and I love both sides. I think this country is great but could be greater still if people just stopped slagging everyone else off and realised that there are pros and cons of every area. There are pros and cons of every city. Everyone has problems and issues and just because they are not yours doesn't make them any less relevant.

Please stop the hatred both sides. I love my Country and all the places I have lived and I return to my childhood home about once a month to see friends and family. I take the super fast train that wonderfully connects me to my old home and takes me back to my new one.

Okay, I should stop, I was just getting really riled up. Hope I've explained myself well enough to not cause a riot. Anyhoo, would like to say to the three suits who took up the entire pavement yesterday when I was struggling to carry a massive bag plus a keyboard, to my music class, 'Thanks for not moving out of the way and making me walk in the road.' Manners are something you learn early on. It doesn't matter where you live, if you weren't brought up with manners, you'll never know them.

Rants