Northerners & Southerners Different Taste in Home Furnishings

cwcw

breadlinebetty wrote: »

Although culture, age and environmenr does dictate decor to a large degree, I think the weather does have an influence too. You only have to look at countries around the world to see how they lean towards a particular style and use colours appropriate to the light and weather.

That 'couple of degrees' colder up north compared to the south actually makes a vast difference, not forgetting all the extra rain the north gets......so it stands to reason that decor will be different according to the different light. Also, when skies are grey and depressing people possibly want to over-compensate by decorating in louder colours and having lots of frills and flounce

I'm not sure why some northerners are under the impression that London is polluted? Some even refer to London as the Big Smoke still!:rotfl: The smogs died out about 50 years ago or more! lol And with all the strict controls on cars, fuel and emisiions etc, London is certainly not some fume-filled pullted city! lol The government is very strict on keeping London clean

Neither do most Londoners work 60 hours per week.......the average is just under 40 :money: And neither do Londoners spend 20 hours a week commuting to work! :rotfl: It does not take a whopping TWO hours each way to get to work if you live in London.....the average commute for a person living in London and travelling to the centre is about 30 minutes.

At least they have jobs to commute to in London.................

Comparing countries from around the world is not the same as comparing places within a hundred miles or so in the same country! Seriously, the temperature averages are about 1.5C different between London and Manchester. If you think that has any impact on decor, I want what you're smoking.

"Northerners" are under the impression that London is so polluted because it is. It is the most polluted place in the UK, and one of the most heavily polluted in Europe. Someone has already posted the stats for that. It also has the highest crime rate in the UK and the highest population density.

The 60 hour working week and 20 hour a week commute comment was an exaggeration, I thought that was obvious but you seem to have taken it literally. The point still stands. People in London spend longer at work and commuting on dirty public transport than people in the rest of the UK. The jobs may pay around 10% more than the national average, but the housing costs wipe that out 10-fold.

Put it altogether and I think the superiority complex held by some people in London and parts of the south is somewhat misplaced. The quality of life (crime, pollution, congestion, commuting, housing costs) really isn't that great. Up north, we may have to put with outdated stereotypes and average temperatures being 1.5C cooler, but everything else wins hands down. To an outsider without the preconceptions of north Vs south, it would be a no-brainer.

Your last comment, mocking unemployment, probably says more about you and the reason for this thread than anything else ever can. You obviously have some preconceptions that have been reinforced by seeing a few examples on the Have A Look At This Thread (probably whilst ignoring all the "frilly" ones in the south) and decided to make a pointless thread about it with the poll question essentially equivalent to "do you have bad taste or good taste".

breadlinebetty

meer53 wrote: »

Utter !!!!!!!!. What are you on ?

I'm from the North and you're a snob.

Nonsense!

So what you're saying is northerners can't be snobs??? Really?? Why ever not??

breadlinebetty

ash28 wrote: »

Well can you explain why when I had to work in London, I didn't live there btw, when I got home in the evening if I was wearing a long sleeved blouse under my jacket the cuffs would be filthy - and if I was wearing court style shoes and no socks with my trousers the tops of my feet would be black - I was really shocked at how dirty I was.

I used to travel from Reading to the Gherkin.

That was 2 years ago and I can't see that it would have changed much.

London has the worst air quality of any capital city in Europe - and is among the top end of all cities in Europe for poor air quality - about 4th I think.






The photo was from April last year.

Air QUALITY has nothing to do with dirt. Fact.

As for that photo you've posted - that could have been taken any time - could even be photoshopped.;)

I've never seen London with a thick smog like that - certainly not from the street where that picture was clearly taken! The pea-soup fogs ended back in the 50s or 60s. So that picture is misleading.

HapPea

breadlinebetty wrote: »

Nonsense!

So what you're saying is northerners can't be snobs??? Really?? Why ever not??

The post doesn't say northerners can't be snobs, nor does it say all southerners are snobs.

breadlinebetty

Saturnalia wrote: »

Just to add - I find London winters extremely cold! But it is a dry cold, we don't tend to get the rain here. In Cumbria it rains all winter long (and most of the summer). What do you think makes all those lakes, after all?

But London summers are humid with no breeze blowing and it feels much hotter than it really is.

You don't know what you're talking about!

Yes, winters in London can indeed be cold (it can snow, too!) but far better a dry cold than a damp wet cold that seeps right through to your bones and plays havoc with your old Arthritis!

Er....and it can get breezy in London, too!

You clearly haven't visited London that often.:money:

Tiglath

breadlinebetty wrote: »

I've never seen London with a thick smog like that - certainly not from the street where that picture was clearly taken!

I live in a suburb of London and work in the City, and have done for 20 years. It does look like that from time to time, although that's probably fog, not smog. And yes you can get filthy commuting in London - travelling on the tube means black snot (I only notice because I don't often get the tube). I just think it's sad that this thread has turned into a nasty 'them vs. us' scenario and on something so trivial as furnishing tastes.

breadlinebetty

HapPea wrote: »

The post doesn't say northerners can't be snobs, nor does it say all southerners are snobs.

Meer63 wrote:

"I'm from the North and you're a snob."

Interpret that as you like, but what they're implying is that only southerners have the credentials to be a snob, whilst northerners do not.

I disagree with them........but they obviously think no-one up north can be a snob.:cheesy:

Anyhow, there's a difference between snobbery and taste........:)

geoffky

Tiglath wrote: »

. I just think it's sad that this thread has turned into a nasty 'them vs. us' scenario and on something so trivial as furnishing tastes.

That was the intention...

Saturnalia

breadlinebetty wrote: »

You don't know what you're talking about!

Yes, winters in London can indeed be cold (it can snow, too!) but far better a dry cold than a damp wet cold that seeps right through to your bones and plays havoc with your old Arthritis!

Er....and it can get breezy in London, too!

You clearly haven't visited London that often.:money:

Eh??? You say I don't know what I'm talking about but then you repeat exactly what I said?

The south-east has a far drier climate than the north-west does. That is why the se has droughts and the nw has lakes. And floods. :wall:

The dry cold is far nicer IMO than the damp cold. I lived in a valley city in Yorkshire that was damp all winter and we suffered from colds all winter long, so again you are arguing with something I NEVER ACTUALLY SAID. :wall:

You are correct that I don't visit London very often. I have no need to, I have lived in Zones 2-3 FOR SIX YEARS NOW. As I clearly said in my post. :wall:

Man alive, why am I even wasting my time on this?

ash28

breadlinebetty wrote: »

Air QUALITY has nothing to do with dirt. Fact.

As for that photo you've posted - that could have been taken any time - could even be photoshopped.;)

I've never seen London with a thick smog like that - certainly not from the street where that picture was clearly taken! The pea-soup fogs ended back in the 50s or 60s. So that picture is misleading.

You would be surprised how much crap traffic churns out. Particle Matter from cars includes tiny specks of oil and part combusted material - plenty of "dirt".

There have been 5 smog episodes this year in London.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-smog-scare-7575337.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/urban-exercise-beat-the-smog-7966146.html

You don't see smog from the ground - unless it is so bad it is like fog - but if you ever go to the Pyramids and look down over Cairo you see the smog over the city but in the city itself it seems to be smog free.

If you have a slightly hazy day in London when there is no wind and the weather is warm - the haze will likely be smog - there is no wind to disperse the crap in the air.