>> It's not too bad at all up here.
I've sometimes wondered whether people who live in the north really think of themselves as "up", or whether perhaps their mental map is the other way round?
I remember a touring holiday in Scotland in 1972, and when standing at John O Groats I pictured Great Britain as a long triangle standing on its point, with London somewhere "up" near the top left-hand corner.
Do Scots indeed centre their reference point on the south of England, and if so, why?
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>> I've sometimes wondered whether people who live in the north really think of themselves as
>> "up"
Although I've lived in Midlands for 25yrs and London for 10 before that I'm still a northerner at heart. My mental map has always been north up ; one goes down to London.
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>>Although I've lived in Midlands for 25yrs and London for 10 before that I'm still a northerner at heart.
Shirley you're a little middle Englander. The North refers to the North East, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
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>> Shirley you're a little middle Englander. The North refers to the North East, North West
>> and Yorkshire and the Humber.
I was born in Leeds, raised in its outer suburbs and retain a Yorkshire accent.
Much as I'd like to move back there it's not practical for immediate future due Mrs B's professional stuff.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 13:20
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>> >> I've sometimes wondered whether people who live in the north really think of themselves
>> as
>> >> "up"
All railway lines that terminate in a London terminus are officially "UP"
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>>My mental map has always been north up ; one goes down to London.
>>
My view of the world is north up. It helps that maps and charts are always used north up, or should be.
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>> My view of the world is north up. It helps that maps and charts are
>> always used north up, or should be.
>>
If you were standing on the edge of Antarctica, looking inland, and contemplating sledging to the South Pole, wouldn't you picture yourself as climbing up to the centre of a large plate?
Or would you really see it as shuffling backwards, with your map pointing the wrong way?
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Which way up does the world hang in space? Which way would be up when approaching in a spacecraft? Why couldn't the south pole be at the top? Or the equator?
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>> Which way up does the world hang in space? Which way would be up when
>> approaching in a spacecraft? Why couldn't the south pole be at the top? Or the
>> equator?
>>
Good question.
What I was really getting at was not so much the mapping convention, but how someone viewed their position in relation to other features at varying distances.
Surely an American looking out on the world views America as the centre, with other countries, friend or foe, being on the periphery? They surely don't picture London and the Greenwich Meridien as the centre, and themselves as far off on the left hand side?
Or a Russian looking around at their strategic position - America would be a relatively short distance away just across the Arctic ?
So why does a Scot think of his homeland as somewhere stuck on the "top" of England, rather being at the centre with a rather troublesome neighbour further up the island he is forced to share?
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>> If you were standing on the edge of Antarctica, looking inland, and contemplating sledging to
>> the South Pole,
Whether North is up or down is least of your problems when navigating at high latitudes.
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It (ie. Edinburgh) has shot up from 98th 2 years ago - can you feel the difference ON (serious question)?
EDIT: I mean when you visit the area, if you do
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 12:55
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Not really, there is a lot of infrastructure work in progress. The M8 missing link, FRB replacement, the Borders rail link is up and running, and a tram extension is planned. Life has not changed much for us over the last few years.
Edit
I don't have to visit it if you mean Edinburgh, I live just to the north of the FRB so it is only doorstep.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 13:01
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Personally I find in Manchester too cold, hence spending long summer days in Spain and just some how get through the winter. If I had to move any where in the UK it would be some where on the south coast.
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The temperatures in Edinburgh average about one or two °C below the London temperatures. They are sometimes higher, also being on the east coast we are sheltered from the worst of the wind and rain. Being near sea level means it rarely snows either.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 13:36
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Although when the wind and rain does come from the north or east in Edinburgh.........
*shudders at the memory*.
I'll stay down south, thanks.
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Weather is not nice from the north or east anywhere in the UK. :-)
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"The temperatures in Edinburgh average about one or two °C below the London temperatures. "
It's more than that.
It's wetter too. And darker for longer on winter nights.
www.weather-guide.com/Weather-Comparison/London-Edinburgh-Weather-Compare.html
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>> It's wetter too. And darker for longer on winter nights.
>>
>> www.weather-guide.com/Weather-Comparison/London-Edinburgh-Weather-Compare.html
>>
True but it is not a great difference, on a small island like the UK altitude affects the weather as much as distance.
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True but it is not a great difference"
Keep on saying it to yourself - you might convince yourself eventually. ;-)
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>> Keep on saying it to yourself - you might convince yourself eventually. ;-)
>>
I don't need convincing, I will be near the equator for a couple of weeks before Christmas. We haven't decided where to go in the spring but it will be a lot hotter than London.. :-)
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 17:58
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Yep, don't blame you I'd get the hell out of there too as often as I could.
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>> If I had to move any where in the UK it would be some where on the south coast.
Which is why a lot of old grunters retire there - drove me round the bend when I lived in Bexhill-on-Sea, E.Sussex AND Gorran Haven in Cornwall .. Best to live slightly inland of the coast IMO.
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As you say, too many people down there. More on the way too.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Thu 22 Oct 15 at 14:29
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>> Best to live slightly inland of the coast IMO.
Tautology Perro. 'Inland' means 'inland of the coast'.
Sorry, I'm a compulsive pedant. And as tautologies go that one is very inoffensive. Only a compulsive pedant would notice it, and only a professional PITA would mention it.
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Aren't all pedants compulsive?
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Isn't being pedantic the urge to always point out other's grammatical and spelling errors? Seems pretty compulsive to me.
I suppose there might be pedants who quietly note the grocer's apostrophe and the use of "who" instead of "whom" and quietly go on their way but the essence of the pedant seems to me the need to point it out.
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>> I suppose there might be pedants who quietly note the grocer's apostrophe and the use of "who" instead of "whom" and quietly go on their way
There are. I'm (usually) one.
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Isn't being pedantic the urge to always point out other's grammatical and spelling errors?
Erm.
At least there's no one here misguided enough to bite on the split infinitive.
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>> At least there's no one here misguided enough to bite on the split infinitive.
Or the misplaced apostrophe.
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I knew I had left that apostrophe somewhere. I've been looking for it. I need it for my tomato's.
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.
Last edited by: Clk Sec on Sun 25 Oct 15 at 17:24
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>>
>> Tautology Perro. 'Inland' means 'inland of the coast'.
>>
Or inland of a country's frontiers.
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I wouldn't use it in that meaning. 'Inside the country's frontiers' would be correct.
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>>Tautology Perro. 'Inland' means 'inland of the coast'.
:-D .. I larf.
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On a similar geographical track........where is the furthest point you can travel to from here to the 'East ' ?
We know China is in the East but so is California...if you go that way round. Where would the cut off point be ? Hawaii ? If you travelled far enough westwards you'd arrive in Belgium or France eventually.
Silly concept, I know.
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>>
>> On a similar geographical track........where is the furthest point you can travel to from here
>> to the 'East ' ?
>>
>> We know China is in the East but so is California...if you go that way
>> round. Where would the cut off point be ? Hawaii ? If you travelled far
>> enough westwards you'd arrive in Belgium or France eventually.
It's all rigidly defined. Anywhere up to 180 degrees east of the meridian is east, and anywhere up to 180 degrees west of the meridian is west. So the only part of Europe that is western, is anywhere west of Greenwich. The rest if Europe is Eastern. As Roger will tell you
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Try telling that to the Eastern Seaboard.
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I live 3.25 degrees west of the meridian as Edinburgh is due north of Cardiff. The east coast crosses the meridian at about Scarborough, anything east of a line from there to about Newhaven on the South coast is eastern Europe. In theory. :-)
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>> Try telling that to the Eastern Seaboard.
Whats a utility company got to do with it? They are all owned by France anyway, that well known Eastern Europe country.
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Pretty sure Asterix lives West of the Greenwich meridian.
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I'm going to check out Edinburgh ( again) from Sunday Nov 8th for a few days. Friends have booked two nights in a Premier Inn at Leith. Train from Settle to Carlisle, then Virgin X Country. Hope it's better weather than last time when it was a howling gale. I think the UK weather will be a shock to the system as it is only a few days after I fly home to Blighty from warmer climes.
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South of civilisation. - Cliff Pope
