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What cities do you Barbelonians live in?

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05:39 / 23.04.03

So what parts of the world are represented on Barbelith? I'm from Virginia Beach, Virginia. But there are 6 other cities around us and people talk about the combined cities as a whole, calling it Hampton Roads. Or the 7 Cities if you're young and hip. For comparison's sake, the 7 Cities are about as big as Seattle, and the largest metropolitan area without a major sports team. Each city is easily stereotyped. Virginia Beach has the rich white folks, Norfolk is either the arty district or the ghetto district depending on who you ask. Portsmouth is super-ghetto, Chesapeake is hillbilly. Broad generalisations, one and all.

Having visited other places in Virginia, Virginia Beach is very different. The large Navy base that's been here forever has made this area a lot more diversified than other parts of Virginia. There is no virginia accent. People from South Carolina or Georgia will say it's "not the real south". Famous people from here include Missy Elliot, The Neptunes, Allen Iverson, and whoever the artist from Warren Ellis' Orbit comic is.

Pharrel Williams usually gives a pretty good account of the 7 city fashion style. Trucker caps and skateboard shirts are pretty common. So what about you and yours?

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

05:47 / 23.04.03

Well, i live in albuquerque, new mexico.
As the name would suggest, this is a strange place. albuquerque is not the state capitol, thats sante fe, however albuquerque is larger and sante fe is the only state capitol without a major airport.

albuquerque is famous for being the place where Bugs Bunny should have made a left turn.
As near as i can tell the primary function of albuquerque is as a rite of passage, if you are able to leave, perhaps you deserve to live in a cooler place.
The bars here close at 2am, and the onlything to do after 8pm is go to bars.

I can not honestly think of any example of albuquerque in the mass media to tell you if it is authentic.

our sister cities are kind of cool though

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:21 / 23.04.03

Ole Mother London's my bitch. (prison style, obviously.)

Whisky Priestess

10:25 / 23.04.03

Mine too. I'd be interested to hear from any Barbelites who live in Lincoln, though, as that's where I'm going to be for the next 2 days (today and Thursday). I sorely need to know where to go and who to do.

10:35 / 23.04.03

But what about the hot dog and the jumping frog, Elijah? Not to mention the young New Mexican puppeteer.

I live in the glorious city of South London, off the Albert Embankment, next to the Archbishop of Canterbury's gaff (Lambef Palace). Walking along there late at night always reminds me off those glorious old b&w movies where the fog swirled and murders were committed by Moriarty or Mr Hyde on steps leading down to the muddy brown river.

The people of South London are of many races and types (but mostly of Portuguese or Brazilian extraction so far as I can see) and superior in every way to the people who are obliged to live to the North of Old Father Thames. Where I live there is a burgeoning little gay village. By that I mean there are about four major gay venues within a hundred yards but not yet any of the shops selling too tight tops and picture guides to glory holery. There is a big perv leather gear supplier though. And an abundance of men on motorbikes, which may be entirely coincidental.

Many legendary Barbelites cluster here and the Royal and Ancient Borough of Lambeth has the most liberal attitude to "soft" drug use in the whole country. The local police are regularly seen queueing at the all night garage for giant packets of Pringles, giggling uproariously, when they're not blagging free entry to Uniform Night at Crash.

As Dr Johnson memorably said, "When a man is tired of South London, it's time to try another pub."

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:39 / 23.04.03

Hate to say it, Xoc, but when I cross the river I come out in hives.
As Dr Johnson also said "When a man is tired of Hackney, he's probably too tired to actually go anywhere else".

10:41 / 23.04.03

I'm staying in Bethnal Green, East London. Which I'm really starting to grow very fond of. It's the 24 hour bagel place on Brick Lane that does it... hrrrmmm... salty beefy goodness.

10:45 / 23.04.03

superior in every way to the people who are obliged to live to the North of Old Father Thames

Thin ice there Xoc. Very thin!

10:47 / 23.04.03

I've lived in Stockwell for a while... and I think the air south of the river really does do something just plain nasty to those south Londoners. It can't be denied.

11:05 / 23.04.03

Toronto, Ontario... or as the news reports call it, 'Toronto, Canada'. A fun city sort of. Not as exciting as London, but better than the steel town where I grew up.

There's the CN 'largest freestanding structure' Tower looming over the city, visible from my apartment window, a 2 hours walk away. I sometimes feel like the city doesn't have that much of a character, but I've just been here too long. We have big red streetcars, a nice lake.

Lots of bands stop here on their tours, which is great. (never live in Vancouver!) There are lots of trees, a fun nightlife, 24-hour buses, and very few nasty areas where walking isn't recommended at night. Summer is the best time, winter the worst. Summer has patios, backpackers, and as the it's not a very big city, the opportunity for long walks through the neighborhoods.

The best part of the city being the million '_____ towns'. Chinatown, Greektown, Little Mexico, Portugal, Ethiopia, Korea, Vietnam, India, Poland, etc. (which is all thanks to the federal government apparently, who switched to a point-based rather than country-based immigration policy in the 60s, not realizing that 'hey! people in India and China have university degrees!' Hee hee.) It's made the city a lot more fun too they say. Before 1970, you couldn't get a decent meal.

12:30 / 23.04.03

Winchester, the historic and ancient capital of England. I'm still undergoing regular culture shock having moved here from Harringey, North London. "What do you mean the shops are closed?" etc. I've gone from a varied and lively, crime and poverty ridden and ethnically diverse megacity to a quiet, rich, white middle/upper class university/commuter dormitory town. Weird. I saw a black guy in the street the other day and wanted to run up and hug him just for being black.

Matthew Fluxington

12:57 / 23.04.03

I'm from the suburbs just outside of New York City. I've lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn, but I'm back in the suburbs again at the moment. I'll be returning to NYC before too long, and if not that, a place like Hoboken or Jersey City just outside of NYC.

I don't think I really need to tell you about New York, right?

13:02 / 23.04.03

Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Love.

Philadelphia: The City That Loves You Back.

Philadelphia: It's Nicer When You Sleep Over.

(yes, these are actual official city slogans. The next ones we're considering are "Philadelphia: Why Don't You Introduce Us to Any of Your Friends?" and "Philadelphia: You're Seeing Your Ex-Girlfriend Again, Aren't You?")

13:09 / 23.04.03

I'm with Xoc - I'm a sahf Londoner, and north London is just weird - people, like, DON'T jaywalk. Whassat about? South London has had a bad rep since waaay back in the day, something to do with the stink off the Thames. But I like it here.

Foust is SO authentic

13:29 / 23.04.03

I also live in London. But not the London in England. No, I live in London, Ontario, Canada.

We have our own Thames River. We also share many street names. See, it's homage. Not rip off.

It's a WASP city with a growing Muslim population. Very conservative, very laid back. Night life is restricted to one main street, with one or two exceptions. We've got one gay club, and by all accounts it's the funnest place in the city. London's a student ridden place, as we have one university and one college.

I like it here. There's museums and parks and excellent used book/CD shops.

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:36 / 23.04.03

My copy of Your Arsenal comes from London, Ontario. And I fell on my arsenal on the ice-staking rink.

I live in Sydney. Make of that what you will. Because I know nobody ever visits.

14:03 / 23.04.03

Yeah, everyone goes to Melbourne. Or is sleeping with Philadelphia behind your back. Damn cities, can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
I'd just like to point out that those who live sarf of the (UK) Thames are posers and wouldn't last a minute up my old way, Brixton is where people from Tottenham go to chill out. Pansies.

Also North Londoners are cleverer and more beautiful, and the furthest sarf it's allowable to go is the South Bank.

Tryphena Absent

14:09 / 23.04.03

Also North Londoners are cleverer and more beautiful, and the furthest sarf it's allowable to go is the South Bank.

Exactly, a step past Waterloo station and any true North Londoner will feel faint. Sarf London is a nasty little place and is liable to house immigrants who are grasping at living in a big city but can't hack it.

14:10 / 23.04.03

The place that I live in now, which is laughably termed a "city", is called King Of Prussia and is a suburb of Philadelphia. From what I can tell, any area of land with more than one mall in it is officially a city in the US, and look, we have two! and one of them is very big indeed!

Before that, London and Edinburgh though not at the same time. I never realised quite how much I miss proper cities. And I grew up in South London, and moved North because I had to commute to Essex every day, and there's just different types of wanker.

14:23 / 23.04.03

Oxford. It's rather like Quantum's description of Winchester, except that it's not quite as white as Winchester (from what I can remember) and is basically nicer. It is also, as Flowers pointed out to me on a visit here, like an outpost of the Outer Church (in parts - that was Merton). The undergraduates are all coming back this week and my peace has been destroyed (though they make less noise leaving the bar than the conference guests). It has a lot of lovely buildings, some very decent pubs, no cheap fooderies, and good parks. Bloody expensive though.

14:57 / 23.04.03

Hang on - Fridge - you live in a place called King of Prussia? It sounds more like a pub than a 'city'. Are you in an alcoholic dream perhaps?

15:46 / 23.04.03

i live in chicago, the windy city (originally named for windbag politicians a loooong time ago), & the city of big shoulders (i have no idea what that's about). it's the most segregated city in the country. really.

i mentioned this on the pizza thread but it bears repeating: it does not get better than chicago stuffed pizza. no it doesn't.

i'm originally from just outside detroit. i lived there 19 years, been here for almost 4. i still have much love for d-town.

i like chicago a lot. the people seem more real here than in nyc or l.a., and it's a great town for theatre, good music scene, lots of museums and stuff to do, etc.
if anyone has any preconceived notions about chicago, please share.

16:24 / 23.04.03

Also Winchester (Hiya Quantum

)

I used to live "up north" but decided to move here when I became settled on the idea of never owning my own house!!! It is so expensive here its unreal! But then it has history, character and a significant green belt

and hey, I rent a house with a third of an acre garden in a city I could never buy a 2 bedroom terrace in....its a matter of quality of life (or so I keep telling myself!)

16:31 / 23.04.03

I too am a Philadelphian and pretty comfortable with that fact. It's kind of like making all of NYC working class and draining all of the possibility out of it. We do have quite a bit of pride here as well. We boo Santa and don't wear opposing team jerseys. Our sports teams never win a season outright so the bitterness instills us with quite a bit of personality. And, it does seem to be getting better around here over the years.

King of Prussia, like all points out of the city center, is somewhere between a 1/2 hr to an hour drive. It's probably the biggest travel mess ever since all of the highways intersect into it. It does tout quite a huge mall. It took me almost a half hour to locate my gf who works there, the first time I visited.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:07 / 23.04.03

I live in North London, perilously close to where it starts becoming one of the surrounding counties, but not quite. It's pretty nice really, they cram all the crap in south of the river so that all points north get palatial estates. Off to bag a gazelle for tea. Chin chin!

18:07 / 23.04.03

Election 2000.

Anthrax.

Two pedophile bishops in a row.

Donald Trump.

18:08 / 23.04.03

Oh, and jars of sunshine.

Lovely sunshine.

18:57 / 23.04.03

Hang on - Fridge - you live in a place called King of Prussia? It sounds more like a pub than a 'city'. Are you in an alcoholic dream perhaps?

Well, when I say "mall" I really mean fag machine. Mall. Fag machine. Same diff. I have my own stool and everything, and they let me eat the crisps that people drop.

19:08 / 23.04.03

I could murder a pint right now. And I mean a proper pint. 0.568 litres, not the paltry 0.473 "16 oz" american liquid pint.

(Of beer.)

Linxy Kakenhoff

19:09 / 23.04.03

Middle of Nowhere, Manitoba, Canada. Ah the joys of little culture, -40c winters and +30C summers. Also known as the Slushy capitol of the world! (Y'know, those little drink thingers, with the ice, and the pop and stuff? Yeah, those, we eat those in the middle of winter, the're particularly tasty while shoveling the drive-way).

EE

19:20 / 23.04.03

I currently live in the nice white suburbs that surround Detroit, a city I have gone from despising to having some sort of weird love/hate relationship with. I'm about to be moving to the east side, one of the few spots in the Bastard City that still has a big problem with arson, a place where even cops in uniform get robbed. Should be great.

Fun fact about Detroit: The city with the highest percentage of African Americans in america (Detroit), the largest collection of Arabs anywhere outside the middle east (Dearborn), and the city with the highest concentration of white people in any city in the country over 100,000 (Livonia) are all right next to each other. Despite having a great deal of ethnic diversity, it is still the most segregated city I've ever been to. Remember the really terrible race riots awhile back? Sure you do. Everyone does. The fucking army was called in a couple times. I work with a vietnam vet who, a few months before he was sent over to Vietnam, had to put in some time dealing with the riot. I asked him which was worse. He said 'Nam, of course, but you could tell he had to think about it.

19:24 / 23.04.03

I live in South London.

EE

19:34 / 23.04.03

And to all you chumps from New York: quit coming here and talking shit about how much better New York is than Detroit. Of course New York is better. We are all well aware of what a shithole this city is.

And quit acting so fucking hard because you once had to walk through a part of Harlem to get home. No one here on the edge of Crackville U.S.A is impressed. The only place in the country that has more guns in the hands of people so dangerous and unstable is South Florida, as I'm sure grant can testify.

19:42 / 23.04.03

Several of us here - myself included - live in that charming South London district known as Brighton, where the streets are paved in gold and the fountains run with milk and honey.

20:52 / 23.04.03

City? Eeermmmm.... well kinda.
Jemimaville, in the north of scotland.
We have a post office in the middle of the field opposite, which is a garden shed with a sign, and a lady who sits in there for a couple hours, twice a week. And we have 80 people. And i CANT WAIT TO LEAVE!
Which is about 2 months away. Greece for the summer, then Edinburgh. Hurrah.

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