Following on from watching quite an amusing "discussion" between two players on iSketch tonight, I thought it might be interesting to have a similar discussion of our own =)

The “discussion” was essentially about where we live and what makes it better than somewhere else.

One of the aforementioned players was from London, and the other from New York.

You don’t necessarily have to state where you live but being more specific than simply stating the country in which you live might be nice.

You can then mention things which you like about your town/city/county/state and feel free to mention things which you don’t like and/or would change if you could.....

Is your town/city/etc famous for something? Someone famous from nearby?

I would start, but, it’s getting late and I know if I start going on about where I live, I probably won’t stop! :|

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oooh yes nice thread Fy, I'm happy to kick it off.

I live in Tasmania, Australia. Tassie is the small island state at the bottom of Australia which is quite often forgotten about, and we are the butt of 'mainlander' jokes, usually based on the incredibly hilarous assumption that because we are a small island we are all inbred, and therefore have 2 heads and 6 fingers on each hand.

I love Tasmania - it can be bitterly cold, but it is also a State where a mere number does not explain what the weather is like - I have sat outside in short-sleeves in glorious sunshine when the temperature is 13, and also had thick woolly jumpers to keep warm on 22 degree days. We really need a 'player comfort level' to describe our weather rather than a mere number. :)

I love the proximity to everything here - I am 10 minutes drive from the CBD of Hobart, 20 minutes drive from the top of Mt Wellington (absolutely fantastic in winter) and 2 minutes drive from the beach. Coming from Brisbane where I would drive 15 minutes to the train station and then sit on the train for 45 minutes to get to work in the morning, here everything is so much more relaxed and close by, and it leaves more time for spending time with important people in your life.

I don't like the parochialism that exists between the North and the South, and also within Hobart between the Eastern Shore, Northern suburbs and those of us in the South/Channel area. It divides the state in so many ways and interferes a lot with the State's progress, and people get so heated up about it.

Tassie is famous for a few things, some of which I mention here:
--> It was listed as one of the 10 most desirable places to holiday last year in some international tourism magazine.
--> Cadbury's chocolate factory.
--> Crown Princess Mary grew up here.
--> Unfortunately it is also known for the world's largest mass killing at Port Arthur when Martin Bryant opened fire in the cafe there.
--> Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
--> The stunning scenery and glorious wilderness.

and.....
the mere mention of a Map of Tasmania brings a smile to Australian men's faces.

Saff
xx

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Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. we're at the east of British Columbia. British Columbia touches the Pacific Ocean.

Edmonton is the capital of Alberta. we're sort of known as the 'City of Champions' and 'The Festival City.'

we technically have the largest indoor mall in the world. some people are disputing that though because there's this new series of strip malls that are interconnected by these plastic tunnels or something.. ? that's bigger than West Edmonton Mall. it's not actually a consolidated building, though. hmmph.
we're also home to the largest historic park. 'The Assassination of Jesse James' (starring Brad Pitt, hah, they were seen plenty of times at WEM) was filmed there. (actually, a lot of movies have been filmed at WEM too. they're filming some kind of Christmas movie at WEM right now, and there's decorations everywhere. they actually don't even decorate this thoroughly when it's actually Christmas. psh. i have a bunch of classmates who are extras in the movie. that's pretty cool.)

Edmonton has one of the lowest population densities in North America. i think the entire city covers a larger amount of land than Chicago, Toronto, Montreal... except we're slowly becoming like those huge cities. with the huge highways and the horrible traffic. i've actually noticed that drivers are getting more and more aggressive, lol. everyone is coming to Alberta for the jobs in the oil industry. we're becoming an awfully expensive place to live in; people who have perfectly good jobs and degrees can't afford houses. there are people living in tents because they can't afford a house. rather sad.

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Quick - somebody hold her down and check her neck for the big scar, and count her fingers while you're at it.



What?

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OI!!! BM
Where did you get my photo from???

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What?

I have NEVER been to Tasmania. But I have seen PLENTY of maps of the area.

Ok so seriously. I live in Sydney. You may have heard a bit about it in 2000, when they had a bit of a sports carnival over here and some weird old Spanish geezer said it was the best ever. beats me, he couldn't even pronounce it properly - called it Syd-en-ee.

I am in the Western Suburbs about 50 km out of the centre of the city of Sydney, which is located on the East Coast of Australia - thats up above Victoria, waaaay up above South Australia and down below Queensland. Western Australia is just on the other side of the island

I drive everywhere, because that's just the way it is. I was talking to my cousin in England who reckons he flies everywhere over there because it's easier. But because everything is concentrated on the coast here (there's a ♥♥♥♥ing big desert in the middle of the island) and the airports are bloody miles away - it's easier to drive 3 or 4 hrs to go up or down the coast.

We have the beautiful Hunter Valley vineyards just a couple of hours drive up the freeway. Drive the same distance to the west and there are the Blue Mountains - hey you can google it yourself, what am I the ♥♥♥♥ing Tourist Bureau?

As Saff says - you can hop a train into the city from here - but 45 minutes in the close company of strangers is not my idea of fun.

I work at our Region Professional Standards Office (That's IA to the rest of you) in the city of Bankstown - thank God I don't have to do any police work there - it's full of ♥♥♥♥bags - I did my time at the Bankstown Station in 2001.

It's a 40km drive and on a good day I can hit the motorway and driving perilously close to the speed limit, (hey I didn't say from which side ) can be there in 20 -25 minutes, but there's usually some muppet who decides to stop concentrating on driving their car to work and has an accident, which can blow out the trip to an hour or more.

So what's in Sydney? Well there's this nice looking harbour, with a bloody great big bridge that they let people pay to climb over the top of. Ok so it's one of the most beautiful harbours in the world and the view from the very top of the bridge is ♥♥♥♥ing amazing.

I reckon it's Gods own country and if you see me drawing a map of Australia in iSketch then try guessing PARADISE

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Where I live is steeped in history of many kinds!

First off, there's Rochester, which has a castle and a cathedral. The Cathedral was built in 604AD and is England's second oldest. But rochester is known best for Charles Dickens where he spent a chunk of his life and wrote many of his works of art. People in the area are very proud of this and we even have a Dicken's festival which lasts a long weekend. We've just had a theme attraction called Dicken's World open today. Not sure what it's going to be like but I've heard it's like stepping back in time.

I live very close to Chatham Dockyard where, among others, HMS Victory was built. There's three historic ships in the dockyard now, you can go on them and even get married on one of them.

It's really humbling to live in the area that I do. I live in what was the working dockyard, where so much happened. We're still hearing different storys from people who used to work in the Docks and we've been living here for a good few years now. Even an evening stroll to the local shops brings these thoughts to the front of my mind. I know there are alot of people who live here and don't appreciate the priviledge they have.

I do realise that I've just given a kind of boring history lesson on the Medway area but that's what makes it great for me, the history. I've only scratched the surface, this area is so rich with background!

Oh and we also have the capital of Chavs here too

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I was born in Newcastle general hospital... and I was raised in Blaydon, famous for the song 'Blaydon Races', little Geordie lyric excerpt... be like a foreign language to most of you. lol

'Oh! me lads, ye shud a' seen us gannin,
Passin' the folks upon the road just as they were stannin.
Thor wis lots o' lads and lasses there, ahll wi smiling faces
Gannin alang the Scotswood Road to see the Blaydon Races.'

I managed to find a rather good rendition here but these days it's more commonly heard here as anyone who's been to a match where their team has played the toon will know.

Just a little something silly from my background.

It's not just chatham either, the Medway city area is made up of a few towns and about 80% of them are chavs in their own right :P

Mind you, I ain't claiming the title or owt, you can have it

lmao! When we have a family gathering, MrFacey asks for a translator

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Mmwwwwaaaahhaaahaaa The Chavs are taking over the world!



Are there Chavs in Germany Vik? Can't say I've seen any!

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Fairy is a born and bred Mancunian. Lived in Salford all my life and as I can remember, our first family home was just like Coronation Street! Manchester as people probably know is mostly famous for football, and the Madchester music scene of the 90s. I currently live in Eccles, which is famous for Eccles cakes, Holts pub mile and the M60 Barton Bridge. Many famous actors come from Salford too; Christopher Eccleston, Jimi Mistry (Eastenders and East is East), Robert Powell, Krishna Bhanji (Ben Kingsley) and Albert Finney to name a few.

Manchester is also known for 'not so nice' reasons too. Moss Side is an area, known for gangs and shootings. We also had the IRA bomb back in 1996 which devasted most of the city centre, with only a post box surviving. The city centre was rebuilt around this surviving post box, and is now a serving memory to all. Manchester City Centre is a thriving shopping, entertainment and social venue now, with some of the s♥♥♥♥iest eateries and bars. We now have the Beetham Tower. Standing at 171m tall, it is the tallest building in Manchester, and has the UK's highest living space, and is the UK's tallest building outside London. The building includes a five star, 285 bedroom Hilton Hotel from levels 5-23, a 'destination sky bar' on the 24th floor and apartments up to floor 50. The top floors offer views stretching as far as the Welsh Mountains, Liverpool and the Blackpool Tower.

Which brings me nicely to our surrounding areas! Liverpool is a 40min drive away, of course most famous for The Beatles. North Wales is just over an hour away, but I tend to prefer mid Wales (beautiful waterfalls and magical scenery). High Peak District is maybe 45mins away, famous for the Blue John underground mines. Finally Blackpool... say no more.. chavtastic innit. Northern England is beautiful if you know where to go ie: Lake District.

The Trafford Centre (indoor shopping mall) can be seen from my rear garden, which lights up nicely at night We have a National Indoor Cycling Arena and Manchester Stadium which is home to Manchester City Football Club, and of course the famous Old Trafford.

I hope you all now have a wider knowledge of my home town!

Well then I suppose I'd better do where I live.

Ashford in Kent is best known for 3 things -

The International Station, where you can catch trains to Paris, Lille and Brussels without the agonising trips into London.

The "blancmange" like Designer Outlet Centre which was built on a marsh just on the edge of the town, and is now sinking into the filth whence it came from. I've worked there before, and you're not missing much really unless you like buying crap.

Being full of the scum of the earth.

There are certain redeeming features about the place, for starters it's on a hill and you know what they say about places on hills, the sh*t always rolls to the bottom, and in this case into the Liquid nightclub situated in what was once a flour mill for Hovis.

Also, Bob Holness the famed host of Blockbusters and one time James Bond actor was educated here, which is a shame really because the town tarnishes even his name nowadays.

Ashford at one time housed a massive railway works, which provided a rich background of hard railway industry to the area, supporting many families an providing for the future. The nearest thing you will find to this now is the local McDonalds, where the talent of the future is taught to say "Would you like fries with that?" and "Buuuuuh."

Anyone who has come to live in and around Ashford has now become used to the daily grind of travel, following the arrival of the M20 motorway, which was finally completed in the late 1980s. Junction 10 has now become a regular traffic blackspot, with certain companies threatening to sue the Highways Agency, should they not actually allow certain drivers to actually get out of their cars and walk to work, as it would be a lot quicker.

Everyone remembers that this year, Kent was hit by an earthquake which measured around 5 on the Richter Scale. Rather disappointingly, the only damage to Ashford was to the pride of the locals, which soon picked up again as soon as alcohol became available in pubs that day.

It is noted that most of the people come to live in Ashford as it is a good spot for access to work in London and abroad as well. When asking why people commute, they reply "It's good to have shot of the place every morning."

The native residents of Ashford are commonly found frequenting large social events such as those in the local car parks and outside pubs and nightclubs. There's a real sense of community strength and spirit, as you will find when walking by as a stranger you're greeted with a friendly "Wot da f*ck are yoo starin' at?" or "F*ck off" or "I ain't doin' nuffin" to passing members of the constabulary, who often become involved in community events like these.

All in all, not a bad place to live in really, as long as you only make the short journey between house door and car door in the mornings. Otherwise try not to look at anyone, you'll only draw attention to yourself.

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Ok let me shoot myself in the foot and talk about my hometown ESSEX
Essex has the reputation that all its women are either an easy lay or a even easier lay lol, not always the case.
Firstly ill point out i was not born in essex i was born in east london( another slum lol ).
Essex has great scenery lovely nature parks to visit ect, i love takeing the children and the dogs to these places just to walk talk ect, very uplifting.
We also have lots of celebrities living here in essex ill name all i can think of ok.
Patsy Palmer x eastenders BIANCA,,,, Rickyyyyyyyyyyyyy lol
Vic reeves and his wife nancy sorell.
Jo omeara x S club 7
Jade goody ffs she really makes essex look great her NOT
Frank bruno x boxer
Martina cole my favorite author ever
I could go on forever, but ill stop there lol
All in all essex is neither better or worse than anywhere else, its somewhere to live.
Im not nostalgic about essex, but like i said its reputation preceeds it everytime

I used to work in the Brunel Observatory, which I believe is just up the road from there. Feels odd there because it's posh looking, yet not far away enough from the Chavs. Nice views there overlooking the Murkway...

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LOL! People on iSketch are always asking if I'm from Essex..........took me a while to realize that's NOT necessarily a good thing.

Anyhow,
Greetings from The Big Apple!
I live in Brooklyn, one of the five boroughs of New York. The two boroughs adjacent to us would be Manhattan and Staten Island (no matter what time of day it is, you will get stuck in the parking lot otherwise known as the Staten Island Expressway).
New York is known for being very diverse and it's true- I don't think there's a single nationality I haven't met or fought with over a parking spot yet. There are rumors going around about what awful drivers we are, but I believe this myth has been perpetuated by California . We just might have a bit louder road ragers......
New York is widely known for lots of famous people and places, so I'll just fill you in on some of it's lesser known attributes.
Every spring, New Yorkers flock to Herald Square for the Annual Macy's Flower Show. The department store is filled every year with literally thousands, if not millions, of different flowers depicting real life objects such as animals or globes. This year featured a pair of amazing giraffes made entirely out of sedum plants standing over the main aisle while a pair of floral zebras stood further down the aisle.
Fourth of July is also a big fuss here with people flocking to points all over the Hudson River just to see the magnificent fireworks lighting up the sky from here to New Jersey.
We also have two great baseball teams here, the Mets and the Yankees, but please don't make me choose sides..............heh...how'd that get there?
Hope to see you soon!

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When I get real bored, I like to drive down town and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask me if i'm leaving.

I'm trying to avoid going into a rant about where I live, lol.
Yup, East London is definitely slum land, lol. Btw, that's where I live. I don't enojoy it. I thought it would be interesting to throw this in, since I don't know where else to spam. :P Londoners Are The Grumpiest In The UK? Pffffft. I'm not grumpy, I just dislike the lot of you :P

Oh relax, I'm kiddin'. But yes, we as Londoners are generally grumpy. Must be all the tight spaces, lack of open green land and cold weather, lol. And apparently we're the least friendliest too. You're all poopoohead monkeys :P (oh, sorry Fender..)

I don't like the area that I live in, though I love my house. I don't know much about the history of where I live, even though I've lived in East London all my life, lol. I guess there's nothing fascinating about it. And I'll leave it at that. :P

That's because it is posh, Chatham Maritime is a private estate you know :P You're right about it not being far anough away from the Chavs. It ruins it when you drive literally 2 mins down the road and you get rough chavs and squaddies.

I might add here that Cherry's area is made more famous by the fact that I used to work in a shop very near her I was the best assistant they ever had! :P

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I'm from Bristol, England.
Famous for the Clifton Suspension Bridge, Carey Grant and The MIGHTY Bristol City!
Also some nasty historical links to the slave trade but we won't dwell on that.
Um... We have an international Balloon Fiesta every year!
Oh and Tony Robinson...
Lotts help me out here!

Well.. might as well add my hometown. I'm from Newcastle upon Tyne, famous for:



The Tyne Bridge and swing bridge... which wobbles when you jump lol

The Angel or the North...or 'Nancy the rusty upside down aeroplane' as I call it...


The one and only....



There's far too much to go into the North-East as a whole... I'd be here all day. As to people from London supposedly being grumpy... I know some very pleasant people who live there... having said that... I'm usually fairly jovial and 10 minutes on the tube makes me want to hit something.... anything. I usually ring Fender and scream 'I hate London!' down the phone lol

I love where I live and I hope I'll always be here... I can take the rain. It's home.

i like pnigh, am from Bristol, and i have to say i love it here and wouldnt change an awful lot.
of course my home town was the inspiration for matt lucas' vicky pollard(but we're not all like that)
we have the fabulous JLC(Justin Lee Collins), and as Pnigh mentioned before the great Bristol City football club.
If any of you happen to end up in bristol, the best place for shopping and cafes is Park st,(the best of alternative) and aston court for relaxing countryside in the middle of the city.
i really think we have everything you could possibly need down here!!!!

I've been living in Chelsea, Maine, USA for my whole life. I'm sure most of you know Maine from the Stephen King books... yes, because he is from Maine! He lives right in Bangor (about 45 minutes from here).Chelsea is also considered the "Dumpster Capital of Maine". It is rather a dump. Chelsea is a small town, and is situated next to Augusta; Maine's capital city. Central Maine is a nice place to live; it's not too crowded or scarce. If you go up North a bit then its rather scarce... save the deer the moose. Southern Maine is more city and more populated.
Maine is the most north-easter state of the U.S. We are the first state to see the sunrise each morning. We are the only state with one syllable. The stat's motto is "Dirigo", Latin for "I lead". Maine is also famous for its lobster and seafood, national parks, and Funtown/Splashtown U.S.A.
My favorite thing about this place is that its not all city. It's the right place for people who like to have a quiet life and maybe go hiking or fishing once in a while. Pemequid Point Beach is a must see; with its famous Light House and beaches. Old Orchard Beach is another great place with concerts, its theme park and nice sandy beach. Us Mainers look out for one another and know how to take care of ourselfs. Woods or city.
We also have nice colleges/universities with the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) being in the top 10 list of best colleges in the country. Orono is also a nice school.
Maine was originally part off Massachusetts, but became it's own state when the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820.
Our State Soda is Moxie, which was originally a medicine in the 1800's. It is maufactured right here. Our State Bird is the Chickadee, and State Tree is the Pine Tree. We also have L.L Bean.
The only thing that sucks is that its rather expensive to live here (thanks to tourism!) but nontheless, its a wonderful and beautiful place to live.

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Is that the one you took me too? I quite liked it.....although we didn't really browse for much! I was too busy thinking about the pizza!

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That's because I made it and it was good.

I've been asked by a lot of people to organise a meet round here. It's doable, but you'd all have a fairly long way to travel, plus I'd have to find ways to entertain you all...

...plus not get lost anywhere.

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lol el! I must have missed your account of Ashford the first time around... made very entertaining reading! I must get my fingers out and do a write up on my little part of Kent sometime

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