If you're Northern how ignorant are you about the South?

[CuriousMama]

I'm terrible sometimes. Today was talking to dh about a local football team who are playing Swindon. I actually thought that was near London. Always have. I seem to have a block about southern geography. I know where London is obviously 😂 I've been a few times. Hate it though. I only went for events etc.

Born in Kent but now West Londoner. Now hopeless at Geography. Only been to the North a few times. I don't think I could point out Swindon on a map.

In a recent post, it was pointed out to me that Croydon (now greater London) was no longer in Surrey after about 1965! I lived there are few years from 1970 and was still convinced it was in Surrey!!

That's funny @ClassicLib - strange how we get these odd preconceptions

That's a rather sweeping generalisation of the the North ,it's rather a large place 🙄

Yes that was my point…

No it's not. It's true of the people I have met up here...my friends, colleagues and husband. All of them Northern. I've not said anything negative, just that I find it hilarious. Talk about having a chip on your shoulder!

That's also a rather sweeping generalisation of the North ,,you will get some friendly Northerners just like you get friendly southerners ,and vice versa people are people all.over the uk🙄

I'd be surprised if many could accurately pinpoint their own town on a map!

@CuriousMama what would you think they needed to know to not be classes ignorant?

I'm northern and live up north. I'm pretty knowledgable about the country as a whole, but then I am well travelled due being heavily into a sport, with lots of competitions around the country. I also lived abroad for 10 years and spent about 4m in the midlands.

I work in London several times a month and Londoners are lovely people, I'm married to one. He lives up here and loves it.

Gogglebox a couple of weeks ago. 2 middle aged friends watching; new Attenborough UK programme comes up and begins with a map of British Isles.
Friend 1 "Oh look, that looks just like the weather map."
Friend 2 'well, yes, of course it does, it's where we live'
F1 "eh? What do you mean?"
Puzzled look from F2.
F2 'Its map of Britain where we live isn't it. That's why it's on the weather report'
F1 "what? Is that what the country looks like? I thought they just made that up to illustrate the weather on the programme'
I love Gogglebox and thank heavens for SatNav.

Surely it depends on the person, rather than where they've lived.

Dh has only lived down south but mention an obscure town in the North and he'll say "oh yes, that's about 20 miles north east of Skipton" or something.
Me, I've lived both north and south and look blank if you ask me where the next road along is from the house I've lived in for the last 10 years.

He's hopeless at navigating though because it's so obvious to him. He'll say "just go along the A234 and then turn south east to Trumpton" then go to sleep. He'll not have mentioned the bit on the A53 and the M24 and B4242 between the A234 and the south east turning.

Yep, then they moan about it!
Don't come here if you hate it then 🤷🏻‍♀️

I wasn’t saying that northern people weren’t friendly. It was overly friendly and helpful but it came at a cost

Mind you growing up in an extended immigrant family it was only when I came to London that I felt safe and anonymous and could walk down the street with no consequences when I got home.
There were no “friendly Northern neighbours” telling my family I had been seen up to all sorts walking home from school.

What does northern mean? Does that just mean Yorkshire or does that mean actually north I.e Scotland? So many English people think ‘oop norff’ means Yorkshire, forgetting that you have an entire other country part of the UK that is further north than you. Makes me laugh.

Born in Cumbria live in Leeds but friends in London and the south I visit. I went to Uni in Kingston so I think my knowledge is pretty good.

Have you ever been to Swindon? I have it's a totally unremarkable uninspiring town so not knowing where it is is totally understandable 😀.

@ClassicLib , when we lived and worked in the Middle East, a fellow expat friend from Leeds insisted more than once that everyone from ‘the south’ was a horrible snob.
Dh is a born and bred Londoner, I’m just ‘southern’ - I asked whether she thought dh and I were snobs.
‘No!’
‘Well, then.’
But she still insisted that all southerners were snobs.

I’m from Scotland. I think I’d do well geographically in the south particularly as you head into Dorset / Cornwall. Rubbish at north/ middle England geography. My start point is Tebay services and figure it out from there.

I've had to look up where Swindon is

The difference is public transport, ease of transport, etc.

Distances may be short, but when there isn't a cheap "every 5 minutes" bus or underground train, even short distances become a problem. A few miles by car can take a long time at busy times of the day with nose to tail queuing traffic a daily occurrence. Just going a few miles by public transport can mean studying timetables which is necessary when some trains/buses are only every 2 hours, don't run in the evenings, don't run on Sundays, etc.

That makes people more insular. Add into that recent (last few years) problems with train unreliability, then more recently, public transport strikes and staff shortages, etc., and even relatively small journeys previously fine by public transport are now problematic.

For a job I used to have, just 20 miles from home, I had to drive because public transport would take 2 hours and I'd have to set off at 6am to arrive there at 8am - there was no public transport to get me there closer to our 9am start. Same coming home, for a 5pm finish, the train left at 6pm and got me home for 8pm. Just 20 miles! Driving was fine until the Winter, when roads were awful with flooding, blocked by snow, etc. And, no, I didn't live nor work in small villages - these were significant towns, the closest next to each other, just with poor transport links between them.

I don't think that people living in areas with a comprehensive, plentiful, cheap, public transport network, can even start to comprehend what life is like outside those big cities, when every journey needs to be planned carefully, rather than just hopping on the next train/bus that you know will be along within 10 minutes or so, and that will contact with other routes etc., likewise with just a 10 minute or so wait.

For my son to get to school, just 5 miles away, he had to leave home at 7.30 because it was an hourly bus that went, literally, everywhere (no direct buses), that took forever, and then inevitably got stuck in the grid locked one way system. If he'd got the 8.30 bus, he'd never get there before 9.30! Just 5 miles. Then you wonder why people say "around here" as meaning just a few miles! That's the reality when transport is crap!

My thoughts, having quickly skimmed through this!

1. Prestwich is definitely Manchester- postcode starts with M. Bury is very different vibe/accent and postcode starts BL. It had an excellent market and best cheese and onion pies.
2. Between Glasgow and Edinburgh, central belt is where most people live in Scotland, could be loads of places... Harthill, Shotts, Whitburn, Bathgate?
3. Tebay is the best service station in UK. The sausage rolls are extortionately expensive but worth every penny.
4. I am fairly old now but still cannot get over the shock I felt on discovering that Skegness is not in Scotland. It really should be!

You say this about the north but it equally applies to south countryside/coast.

I was visiting an aunt near Dymchurch (near Folkestone) last year. I met some friends in Canterbury and stupidly didn’t drive, as I assumed buses/ taxis were similar to my part of South London. I got stuck at Folkestone bus station and had to get a taxi back after missing or no correct buses home. About £5 or more on bus each way too. My Canterbury friends don’t drive and they bemoaned the lack of local buses having moved from London 2 years before. For my aunt, the nearest city or small town is quite small, eg Hythe. Canterbury/Folkestone about 30
mins or more by car/bus. Trains aren’t much better, there’s no train station near Dymchurch though there’s the Romney and Hythe model railway which has been used as a commuter service.

Similar story visiting relatives and friends in SW England. Factor in dodgy wifi in nearby countryside due there being hardly any there or not great coverage in certain areas and that’s fun if you’ve done a park and ride bus and are lost if you’ve not driven to the park and ride stop.

No further north in Shetland

How lovely

The South is massive. It’s further for a London-dweller to go to Cornwall than to Leeds.

And you know many many Londoners were born and brought up all points North, East, West and South?

And travel. London isn’t the only place British people travel to for a weekend or a holiday, Uni or work.

You say this about the north but it equally applies to south countryside/coast

Absolutely, but it applies to the countryside and coast everywhere. You rather expect it in rural areas - it comes with the territory.

But in the North we're talking major cities where transport links are broken, or which never worked in the first place. Leeds to Manchester should be easy; like Brighton to London is. It's a similar distance.

But there's half the number of trains; the journey takes far longer, and one of the lines has been a rail replacement bus for several weeks.