(no subject)

[usuallyhats]

Helloooo lovely new lifeonmartha friends! Welcome! I hope I say some things that you find interesting/amusing sometimes.

Here is a meme wot I got from darthcorrie - five facts about where I'm from (Cheltenham, where I grew up, rather than Bristol, where I am):

1. Cheltenham was founded by PIGEONS. Sort of. It was a tiny wee hamlet until some bloke noticed some pigeons pecking away at something which turned out to be Spa waters. Cheltenham was dead fashionable for a while in the eighteenth century. This is why we have pigeons on our crest. I have never tried the spa waters but I hear they ming.
2. Look at this mad statue we have in the centre of town! I am v. used to it now and had forgotten how strange it actually is until someone on Snarkfest linked to a list of Weird Statues of the World and this one was on it. I FELT SO PROUD.
3. The cover of this edition of Middlemarch is a view of Cheltenham from the top of the hill that I live at the foot of. However inside the book Rosamund Vincy proclaims that she could "bear to live anywhere but Cheltenham." Fie upon you, Rosamund, says I.
4. Our school symbol at primary school was the Devil's Chimney. We had it embroidered on our cardigans and everything. I think we may have got to vote? And one of the other choices was a leek because Leckhampton (the part of Cheltenham where I lived) means "settlement by a hill where leeks are grown."
5. My local church has a crooked spire because the architect got his sums wrong. I think. And the rectory has most of its windows bricked up because it was trying to avoid window tax. That bit is definitely true.

Comments

[rainshaded]

Heh, we got some kind of tourist leaflet about Orpington, where is where I live and have done for the past almost-fourteen years, through the door once. (We moved in the day before my third birthday.)

It contained immortal phrases such as "Stone-Age Roman villa." And photos of what the Walnuts (the same name is used for both the shopping arcade and the leisure centre, so not quite sure what it referred to) looked like in 1834- complete with three cars and a truck.

Worryingly, when my mother took into work, no-one could spot anything wrong with it.

[rainshaded]

Oh, and on an entirely different note, Only Human by Gareth Roberts rocks because it is set in Bromley, which is only a short bus ride away and is sort of the big town we go to, so yay!
I totally know the park, but sadly there is no nail bar as described.

Also, it mentioned Orpington.

My home town in a Doctor Who book, YAY!

The only other book ever to do that is Whispering to Witches by Anna Dale.

[usuallyhats]

One of the EDAs is set in Bristol. And I will admit to squeeing a bit every time Cheltenham got mentioned on Spooks.

Only Human is the only new series book I've read! It was very fun, yes.

[usuallyhats]

Hee! That is rather worrying. And hey, you live in Orpington? One of my university friends is from there!

[rainshaded]

I like living in Orpington. We have quite a decent High Street, we're close enough to London to be included in the Oyster card scheme, so going to Bromley is free. (Either I use my Oyster card or my friend insists on using the train and I tell her that she's paying my fare, because otherwise I'll catch the bus.)
Bad points: Getting a stupid massive Tesco to replace the apparent eyesore of a car park. I fail to see how the Tesco will be any less of an eyesore, being bigger and not set back from the road and shielded by trees.

[rainshaded]

Must stop adding bits.

Btw, what primary/secondary school did your friend go to?

[usuallyhats]

I think he went to St Olave's Grammar School, unless he's lying on his facebook page! Orpington sounds nice, shame about the Tesco but I suppose an eyesore where you can buy milk is marginally better than just an eyesore :-)

[rainshaded]

A couple of boys from my primary school class went there. And now one of my friends has gone there for the sixth form.

an eyesore where you can buy milk
Some people were saying OMG, boycott it.
How pointless. We might not want it there, but once it's there, you might as well make use of it.