Been away

maltrab

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Had a few days visiting friends in Hertfordshire where I lived and worked between 1963 and 1989, would not like to live there these days, overpopulated with little infrastructure added to compensate for the population growth, everybody needs to be somewhere 10 minutes ago, many of the local shops gone and turned into housing, British Aerospace site has hundreds of homes and many large business buildings, all having to enter or exit the site onto the road above the busy A1 tunnel, so if you live on this site at the wrong time of day to reach the town centre less than 2 miles away it can take you 45 minutes by car.
The nearest A&E used to be a 3 mile drive on busy roads, now the nearest is 12 miles away via a 2 lane motorway which is often standing traffic during the rush hours, this is after you have fought your way on congested roads to reach the motorway and in a ambulance.
 
Wow very poignant example of life that lots of people face now , roads can no longer handle the sheer volume of traffic and as you say people just don't have time, they all need to be somewhere and always in double quick time although in reality that never works out . Facilities such as A & E have been devolved from their previous locations so even though you are living in an urban environment it mimics being located in a remote place when you factor the time it takes to travel to these facilities . Our green and pleasant land is now becoming somewhat less than congenial to reside in and is bursting at the seems without any sewing kit available to repair it . :(
 
Wow very poignant example of life that lots of people face now , roads can no longer handle the sheer volume of traffic and as you say people just don't have time, they all need to be somewhere and always in double quick time although in reality that never works out . Facilities such as A & E have been devolved from their previous locations so even though you are living in an urban environment it mimics being located in a remote place when you factor the time it takes to travel to these facilities . Our green and pleasant land is now becoming somewhat less than congenial to reside in and is bursting at the seems without any sewing kit available to repair it . :(

I suppose it depends where you live in the UK, except at peak times I can be in our nearest hospital for appointments in 20 minutes, we have a minor injuries hospital in the opposite direction which takes about the same time, this hospital is also used for general appointments, the main benefit here is a large free car park.
Also I live on a retirement park, so no screaming children, also no pets are allowed on this park, so no neighbours dogs barking to spoil the peace, in fact the biggest noise pollution is from the park owners on weekdays doing routine maintenance work, which is these modern times is done with noisy petrol powered machinery
 
Very interesting thread!!!!

I think it's where you live in the UK, I have worked in London so can relate to many of your points, I have lived in Shropshire for the past 15 years which is the most sparsely populated county in England and I love it. I think the reason people perhaps loved LOTSW so much was perhaps it portrayed a very different pace of life with abundance of open spaces!
 
Very interesting thread!!!!

I think it's where you live in the UK, I have worked in London so can relate to many of your points, I have lived in Shropshire for the past 15 years which is the most sparsely populated county in England and I love it. I think the reason people perhaps loved LOTSW so much was perhaps it portrayed a very different pace of life with abundance of open spaces!

I am saddened to see that the lovely town of Holmfirth is being plagued with crime, I hope they get on top of this as it will ruin the town for tourist besides the damage it is doing to local business and the community
 
I am saddened to see that the lovely town of Holmfirth is being plagued with crime

I can't say I've read any reports of this not that I have been looking where did you learn this rather disturbing information Terry and what is the nature of the criminal activity.
 
I can't say I've read any reports of this not that I have been looking where did you learn this rather disturbing information Terry and what is the nature of the criminal activity.

A Holmfirth Facebook page, ranges from vehicle damage, theft plus home and business burglary
 
A very sad reflection of Society at present not something on face value you would expect to be occurring in that area but it is stark reality of life in the UK at present. :(
 
I've many friends who're police officers, and it's invariably linked to drugs, and places like Holmfirth will be caught up with the county line gangs.
 
A Holmfirth Facebook page, ranges from vehicle damage, theft plus home and business burglary
Which Facebook page? I follow the Holmfirth History, TurnAgain Theatre, Choral Society and Made in Holmfirth (Andy Leader's photo site) pages. Haven't seen anything except minor vandalism and graffiti reports from the Holmepride clean-up and spruce-up group. There are five additional pages listed in a Facebook search for "Holmfirth", but none seem to report crime. I think I'm missing something major!
 
Which Facebook page? I follow the Holmfirth History, TurnAgain Theatre, Choral Society and Made in Holmfirth (Andy Leader's photo site) pages. Haven't seen anything except minor vandalism and graffiti reports from the Holmepride clean-up and spruce-up group. There are five additional pages listed in a Facebook search for "Holmfirth", but none seem to report crime. I think I'm missing something major!

I have looked through the Holmfirth Community group this morning and it looks like many of the posts have been removed, maybe they are worried about negative post putting off tourist, this one was posted yesterday and much further down in the post is the local mp in the house asking the home secretary about extra police
hc.jpg
 
I have looked through the Holmfirth Community group this morning and it looks like many of the posts have been removed, maybe they are worried about negative post putting off tourist, this one was posted yesterday and much further down in the post is the local mp in the house asking the home secretary about extra policeView attachment 3197
Thanks. I hadn't been following that one because only members can see the posts and I didn't think they'd accept my membership request because I don't live within a 5-mile radius of Holmfirth. Since they've accepted you, they might accept me, so as of a few minutes ago, my membership is pending.

I also searched Holmfirth on the web and found a description at https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/holmfirth.html that is completely contrary to my experience while lodging there for at least a week at a time, usually late in autumn. Granted, I'm not out in the evening because I can't stay awake that long! One of the statements, "If you manage to find a bus however, you might find yourself quite ill at ease with your fellow travellers" makes me wonder where the writer wanted to go, and why he or she felt ill at ease with elderly people and, on the Huddersfield and Wakefield buses, a high level of diversity. There are very frequent buses from Holme to Huddersfield, stopping at the Holmfirth bus station from 5:53 to 23:55. There's an hourly bus to/from Wakefield, which I take in order to spend several hours with friends there. I have often felt out of place among the very elderly-looking passengers on Stott's busses, even though I'm in their age group, but otherwise, I haven't felt at all uncomfortable.

As for the trash and graffiti, I wonder when the description was written. The Holmepride group has been hard at work for several years making improvements such as the decorative community garden overlooking the entrance to the Whippet and Pickle on Daisy Lane, painting over graffiti, and cleaning up after litterers as the litter occurs. They make trash bags and both adult- and child-sized litter pickers available for loan during each of the festivals so that anyone can borrow one and pick up litter as soon as it's dropped. They've rescued a trash bin from the river, repaired the dents, repainted it and put it back in place, as well as hauling one of the stones capping the posts along the area in front of the Old Bridge out of the river and mortaring it firmly back in place. When they see a problem that falls within Council or Pollice responsibilities, they notify and nag until it's solved.
 
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