The Great North/South Divide

Absolutely agree with you lpb. I have lived all over the place from Carlisle to Epsom and in Europe and Asia. I went to university in aforementioned Newcastle. DS and family live in North Yorkshire. DS works in Co, Durham. So I go north regularly from my Oxfordshire fastness.

I can see very little cultural difference between people in different parts of the country

I do not know the context in which it was used but “the far North East” would, to me, mean North East England. If Aberdeen was meant I would expect the statement to be “the far North East of Scotland/Britain”. I live in southern England. Isn’t everything relative?

I am almost in Cornwall and get fed up with many Londoners thinking that Bristol is the far west. There is a lot further to go, but perhaps we should be grateful that they regard anything west of the M5 as bandit country - it might keep them away!

Blimey Monica, you lived in Carlisle.....respect.

Yes sorry I'm another southerner who would take the north east to mean, Newcastle and Northumberland, albeit not the FAR north east. However, I see Scotland as being distinct from England and I would expect say Aberdeen and beyond to be described as the far north east of Scotland.

I can't see what all the fuss is about. Oop North or Darn Sarf. Does it matter?

I couldn’t care less to be honest. As a Brummie everyone takes the piss out of us and thankfully it keeps the house prices in our beautiful villages lower than frankly boring clap board Kent and the hidden gems of Worcestershire and Warwickshire country side free from weekend house buyers.

Ignorance is bliss.

Have to add never been more both than Leeds! And the countryside there was very beautiful. Never been to Scotland as hate being that cold.

North not both!

I might have been the person who mentioned the far NE as we live in Gateshead just over the Tyne from Newcastle. I come from further north, up the coast. But not Scotland.
To me Scots are our neighbours, separate, but very close and many similarities. My MGM's family were from Glasgow.
As for the South, I think you Southerners are different, but not ready to argue this until tomorrow evening.
Maybe it's a generation thing.

Lily65, what's wrong with Carlisle? I lived 9 miles from Carlisle for most of my life. Even today it's only 20 miles away! I'm not a traveller, as you can tell. Content with my own little piece of Northumberland. Who would want to live anywhere else.
We have relatives in Scotland and Devon. They are lovely people.
To misquote Dr Zeuss, "a person's a person, no matter where they are".

There’s not only a debate about whether there is a North South Divide, but a debate about where the North actually starts. The last time it was debated on here, it became, as I remember, rather acrimonious .

Grey doesn't the 'north' start at Watford?

I do think people are different in different areas. When I lived in London strangers didn't talk to you. I went to yoga for three weeks and even the teacher didn't speak to me. When I moved to rural Midlands I found people extremely friendly and we joked that there must be a bylaw that obliged people at the bus stop to talk to each other.

In London I had a German colleague who had previously working in Birmingham and she far preferred the Brummies to her London colleagues and Guildford neighbours but our colleagues thought Brum was a dirty industrial city and laughed at her. When I told them Brum had more miles of canal than Venice they didn't believe me. They did have prejudice about 'the north' .

A few years ago we were on holiday and chatted to a couple from Kent. When they heard where we lived they thought it was terrible to live so far away because of the terrible cold weather in the Midlands.

Yes, I think people are different in different places but there are good and bad everywhere. I would go so far as to say there might be cultural difference in different places in the same way as there are different expressions.

North East =Newcastle

North West = Liverpool & Manchester; Lake District is separate

Midlands = Birmingham & Wolverhampton

The South = London & Surrey

West Country = those nice places that are far away

Wales is Wales

Northern Ireland is Northern Ireland

And Scotland is another country

Sorted

Oh River you've just upset all the people who live in the East Midlands and East of England!

Oh, yes and Leicester in the East Midlands and Boston the Far East!

I take people as I find them and much is often said about the French not being very friendly. On the occasions that I've visited parts of France I haven't come across that at all. On the contrary the help at a few of their stations has been second to none particularly at ticket offices. No tutting or sighing when their Metro system seemed out of reach for you, just honest to goodness help and assistance with a map which they marked out directions, and those stations are packed and very busy and for someone to hold up a queue to take the trouble to do what they did deserved my respect and above all heaps of thanks.

I know I digressed but this is still about people's attitudes when you're a " stranger in their town "

Oh no Riverwalk Boston isnt Far East .......Suffolk takes that title by a Merry mile

There’s a great big Yorkshire shaped hole in your map River. Where do we figure?

What about Yorkshire, Riverwalk ?

Oops, crossed posts, greyduster!?

River bet you wished there was a delete button I post in haste too sometimes.

River! Has Sussex vanished!

Not long after we moved to the Midlands a lady told me that she knew all about the south. Apparently everyone lives in oast houses and drives around in limousines!

Strikes me that too many people walk around London scowling at people and wondering why they don’t smile and say hello.

When I walked out of Lewisham station and found the infrastructure totally changed and said (out loud) “where on earth do I catch the bus” half a dozen people came to my rescue.

Sussex but were they locals? Last time we were on a crowded train in London it was foreigners who offered the old dears seats.