Am I under the radar on C and H

[George and Dragon]

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Middle of England is Birmingham, obviously. 

In my civil service days, we were told that The Computer ( housed in its own building in those days) advised the centre for transportation in UK was Shap. We laughed like drains, as the A5 

was frequently impossible due to snow. We're not laughing now, that area in Cumbria is massive logistic hub 

 

Point of order: Shap is on the A6, which used to be impassible rather than impossible. I suspect phat phingers in the first instance and Autokorrekt in the second.

[MrsM]

For me north of Oxford up as far as Leeds is the Midlands (incl. Manchester). North of Oxford = North. South of Oxford = South.

[Stroudwater1]

12 hours ago, dmr said:

 

The canal system does not really go up North proper, so I reckon the North of the canal system logically starts a bit lower down than the proper geographic North.

Likewise the K&A at Bath/Bristol is very much the canal West, but its not really the West Country 😀

 

Canal are really a midlands thing with a few outposts.

Hmm according to The NHS regional division (https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/team/) really Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are in the South West, Bristol and Bath are  definitely in the South West. Regional ITV also seems to consider Gloucestershire  the South West.  The former EU constituency of the South West did have Gloucestershire and Wiltshire within it, though tbf it also had Gibraltar too 🤣
 

So the K and A is in the S West for a good amount of its way from around the Bedwyns , the Severn is from around Tewkesbury and the Warwickshire Avon  just shades into the South West near to Tewkesbury .

The Thames also comes  into the South West just down from Lechlade, and rises in the S West (wherever it does rise 🤣) .

Other S West canals linked to the network  would include all the Stroudwater, T&S the Somerset Coal canal and Coombe Hill canal , as well as much of the Wilts and Berks and the start of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire canal too . 

Im not sure how BW used to separate their regions but it wasn’t along TV NHS or EU regions as the Severn wasn’t divided at Tewkesbury😊

[gatekrash]

Anywhere north of Taunton is 'north' to me.

 

The South West consists of the proper part of the country, Devon and Cornwall, with an allowance for letting a bit of Somerset in. 

 

Anywhere else is just foreign.

[dmr]

3 minutes ago, Stroudwater1 said:

Hmm according to The NHS regional division (https://www.england.nhs.uk/south/team/) really Gloucestershire and Wiltshire are in the South West, Bristol and Bath are  definitely in the South West. Regional ITV also seems to consider Gloucestershire  the South West.  The former EU constituency of the South West did have Gloucestershire and Wiltshire within it, though tbf it also had Gibraltar too 🤣
 

So the K and A is in the S West for a good amount of its way from around the Bedwyns , the Severn is from around Tewkesbury and the Warwickshire Avon  just shades into the South West near to Tewkesbury .

The Thames also comes  into the South West just down from Lechlade, and rises in the S West (wherever it does rise 🤣) .

Other S West canals linked to the network  would include all the Stroudwater, T&S the Somerset Coal canal and Coombe Hill canal , as well as much of the Wilts and Berks and the start of the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire canal too . 

Im not sure how BW used to separate their regions but it wasn’t along TV NHS or EU regions as the Severn wasn’t divided at Tewkesbury😊

 

Its all a very complex subject. Some have claimed that Southampton is the far extreme of the West, whilst Portsmouth is an outer suburb of London 😀

 

Wiltshire is a big county. Bedwyn does have a "West" feel to it (I know it well) but its on the end of the commuter line to London. Newbury (not in Wiltshire but not far away) is very much part of London. Hungerford is a London commuter town but its not uncommon to spot a local man with "Wiltshire Whiskers" which I see as a West think.  Devizes is an outpost of Cornwall.

 

I believe that regions are defined by the attitude of the population rather than a government imposed boundary.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

20 minutes ago, gatekrash said:

Anywhere north of Taunton is 'north' to me.

 

The South West consists of the proper part of the country, Devon and Cornwall, with an allowance for letting a bit of Somerset in. 

 

Anywhere else is just foreign.

Yes, I’m with you on that, I describe the South West the same. 
 

I’ve lived most of my life in Cornwall where everywhere else is up Country. 

Edited August 29, 2022 by Goliath

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

3 hours ago, LadyG said:

Middle of England is Birmingham, obviously. 

In my civil service days, we were told that The Computer ( housed in its own building in those days) advised the centre for transportation in UK was Shap. We laughed like drains, as the A5 

was frequently impossible due to snow. We're not laughing now, that area in Cumbria is massive logistic hub 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meriden, just down the road from where I was born was always held to be the centre of England. 
There’s been a stone marker there for years. 
 

 With accurate modern gadgetry other places now claim to be the centre. I’m sure Google will have the answers. 
 

But for me I’ll happily stick with Meriden in Warwickshire. 👍

Edited August 29, 2022 by Goliath

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

29 minutes ago, dmr said:

I believe that regions are defined by the attitude of the population rather than a government imposed boundary.

Yea, I tend to agree with that. 

Where I’m from half the town happily call themselves Brummies because they have a Birmingham postcode and you can see Brum in the distance and believe they’re part of it. Others say no it’s in Warwickshire so can’t possibly be part of Birmingham. 

🤷‍♀️
 

[Alan de Enfield]

4 hours ago, LadyG said:

Middle of England is Birmingham, obviously. 

In my civil service days, we were told that The Computer ( housed in its own building in those days) advised the centre for transportation in UK was Shap. We laughed like drains, as the A5 

was frequently impossible due to snow. We're not laughing now, that area in Cumbria is massive logistic hub 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O'dear - here we go again.

Were you laughing at yourselves ? Surely you didn't all miss geography lessons on the same day

 

The A5 doesn't go anywhere near Shap.

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

43 minutes ago, Goliath said:

Meriden, just down the road from where I was born was always held to be the centre of England. 
There’s been a stone marker there for years. 

 

But Meriden is simply on the 'zero' meridian line, not the centre of England (or GB)

Haltwhistle in Northumberland is the centre of GB, whilst the centre of England is a boggy field just off the A5 in Leicestershire (about 1 mile East of Fenny Drayton).

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

7 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

But Meriden is simply on the 'zero' meridian line, not the centre of England (or GB)

Haltwhistle in Northumberland is the centre of GB, whilst the centre of England is a boggy field just off the A5 in Leicestershire (about 1 mile East of Fenny Drayton).

The centre of GB would be somewhere quite different to the centre of England.
It’s the centre of England what we’re on about. 

yes, the ‘New’ centre of England is most likely a muddy field in Leicestershire. 
 

But, being a Luddite I will stick with the post at Meriden, Warwickshire. A lovely little English Village, where we used to go for a day out. 

Its been a marker for centuries, why change a good thing? 😃

[LadyG]

On 27/08/2022 at 11:53, LadyG said:

I'm moored up 48 hours notice), before a long term closure,  which is going to be closed until there is lots of rain.

A casual remark from another boater in the same situation indicated we boaters were all on unrestricted mooring. We can't navigate due to closure, but could shuffle back and forward for the next six weeks, I suppose.

I have the impression that as a cc, one should keep under the radar. I've never had a ticket for overstaying, and I don't want one!

I'm booking my holiday in a month, involves a train, B&B, train, can i assume I will be still be at Sowerby Bridge, advance bookings are essentially half price of spot tickets.

 

Yes the A6, now M6, I used to drive my mini  224JVD up North ie to Scotland, every weekend, and I went through a lot of tyres , but also learned how to drive in adverse conditions, rutted ice, head out window fog, sheet ice, black ice, (!!). Never went off the road, but coming back over the A66 to Scotch Corner the snow banks were about twelve feet high, no global warming then. I used to work on the Moors early doors,  usually following the gritter. I can't see folks doing that nowadays, lol.

[Naughty Cal]

12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Yes the A6, now M6, I used to drive my mini  224JVD up North ie to Scotland, every weekend, and I went through a lot of tyres , but also learned how to drive in adverse conditions, rutted ice, head out window fog, sheet ice, black ice, (!!). Never went off the road, but coming back over the A66 to Scotch Corner the snow banks were about twelve feet high, no global warming then. I used to work on the Moors early doors,  usually following the gritter. I can't see folks doing that nowadays, lol.

Probably because they shut the A66 these days if there is any significant snow fall 🙄

[LadyG]

6 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Probably because they shut the A66 these days if there is any significant snow fall 🙄

I think there is an alternative route across the peninnes, a Motorway, these were rare birds in 1966.

6 minutes ago, Naughty Cal said:

Probably because they shut the A66 these days if there is any significant snow fall 🙄

I think there is an alternative route across the peninnes, a Motorway, these were rare birds in 1966.

[LadyG]

12 minutes ago, LadyG said:

I think there is an alternative route across the peninnes, a Motorway, these were rare birds in 1966.

I think there is an alternative route across the peninnes, a Motorway, these were rare birds in 1966.

What's going on here?

[rusty69]

2 minutes ago, LadyG said:

What's going on here?

It's obvious. There are two routes.

[davem399]

2 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

But Meriden is simply on the 'zero' meridian line, not the centre of England (or GB)

Haltwhistle in Northumberland is the centre of GB, whilst the centre of England is a boggy field just off the A5 in Leicestershire (about 1 mile East of Fenny Drayton).

If you mean the Greenwich meridian, it doesn’t go anywhere near Meriden.  Another person struggling with geography?

Edited August 29, 2022 by davem399
Spelling

[dmr]

2 hours ago, Goliath said:

Yea, I tend to agree with that. 

Where I’m from half the town happily call themselves Brummies because they have a Birmingham postcode and you can see Brum in the distance and believe they’re part of it. Others say no it’s in Warwickshire so can’t possibly be part of Birmingham.
🤷‍♀️
 

 

When I was young and dragged up in Brum it was part of Warwickshire, the "West Midlands" thing is a recent (ish) political invention.   

  And then there is the Brum vs Black Country thing 😀

 

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

40 minutes ago, dmr said:

 

When I was young and dragged up in Brum it was part of Warwickshire, the "West Midlands" thing is a recent (ish) political invention.   

  And then there is the Brum vs Black Country thing 😀

 

It’s all a bit complex for my head. I can’t really make head nor tail of it. 
If I’ve just read right, West Midlands is a 70’s invention. 
And spreads across the Black Country, Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry. 
But of course intertwined within all that are still the ‘Historic’ counties. 
 

[IanD]

Yorkshire -- all of it -- is definitely Northern... 😉

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North–South_divide_in_England

 

Northern England, also known as the North of England or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former kingdom of Northumbria, simular to the Midlands with Mercia.

The common governmental definition of the North is a grouping of three statistical regions: the North East, the North West, and Yorkshire and the Humber. These had a combined population of 14.9 million at the 2011 census, an area of 37,331 km² (14,414 square miles) and 17 cities.

 

The Midlands are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. They are split into the West Midlands and East Midlands. Birmingham – considered by some to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands,^{[1][failed verification]} – is the second-largest city and metropolitan area in the United Kingdom.

 

Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes Greater London, the South East, the West Country (or the South West), and the East (sometimes referred to as East Anglia).^[1]

The distinction between the south and rest of England and Great Britain is sometimes referred to as the north–south divide. With a population of nearly 28 million; and an area of 62,042 square kilometres (23,955 sq mi), the south accounts for roughly 40% of the population of the United Kingdom and approximately 25% of its area.

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by IanD

[PD1964]

It must be right it’s on Wikipedia.

 

 

Edited August 29, 2022 by PD1964

[IanD]

13 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

It must be right it’s on Wikipedia.

 

 

Which doesn't matter, since it's also the definitions the Government uses... 😉

 

(and people agree with according to polls)

 

Not everything in Wikipedia is automatically wrong, you know 🙂

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

2 hours ago, dmr said:

 

When I was young and dragged up in Brum it was part of Warwickshire, the "West Midlands" thing is a recent (ish) political invention.   

  And then there is the Brum vs Black Country thing 😀

 

Thinking about it,

The Black Country is a relatively new thing,

A 19th century ‘invention’. 
 

[PD1964]

37 minutes ago, IanD said:

 

Which doesn't matter, since it's also the definitions the Government uses... 😉

 

(and people agree with according to polls)

 

Not everything in Wikipedia is automatically wrong, you know 🙂

What makes me laugh is a lot of people I meet in Yorkshire don’t know it used to be the old Kingdom of Northumbria, obviously not taught in school anymore.

[IanD]

12 minutes ago, PD1964 said:

What makes me laugh is a lot of people I meet in Yorkshire don’t know it used to be the old Kingdom of Northumbria, obviously not taught in school anymore.

 

If you go back far enough, before the establishment of Jorvik and the ridings by the Danes in the 9th century... 😉