I`ve provided a rough map of Portsmouth: the red areas are crawling with chavs - best to be avoided are Buckland, Fratton, Somers Town, Portsea and Stamshaw. I`ll try and give an in-depth view of these first before moving onto the outlying `hot spots` (Leigh Park and Paulsgrove).
Southsea and Eastney - displayed in green are very safe; Copnor and its environs do not have much of a chav problem as far as I know.
Unmarked (white ) areas are generally chav-free, but aren`t very nice to live in anyway. Also included are military sites (off limits to the public).
Sunday 24 June 2007
Saturday 23 June 2007
Portsmouth in closer detail
Following Graham`s comments I felt that I wasn`t really making the whole Portsmouth scene clear. As Brighton and Hove are more or less physically connected, the same can be said of Portsmouth and Southsea - have a look at the map on the side. The really nasty bits (Paulsgrove and Leigh Park) have been marked up in red (which generally denotes the danger of going there!); the nice bits (Southsea and Eastney) are in rather indistinct green text - sorry! Out of the two grottiest areas, Paulsgrove is probably the worst: when it was discovered a paedophile was living in their `community`, lots of Paulsgrovers went out rioting; unfortunately, they couldn`t distinguish between a paedophile or a paediatrician and attacked the wrong house (it should be noted that while this is probably an urban myth, it is undoubtedly based on fact!)
Tomorrow I`ll start with the south of the city and work my way through the different areas from time to time. If I`m feeling particularly stupid, I`ll take some shots of Leigh Park and Paulsgrove!
Tomorrow I`ll start with the south of the city and work my way through the different areas from time to time. If I`m feeling particularly stupid, I`ll take some shots of Leigh Park and Paulsgrove!
Graham`s feedback
Thanks for the feedback Graham - here`s your email you sent to me:
`Have you been to any other cities in the UK? I think you will find that they all have racists, chavs, thugs, council estates etc. If you don't like Portsmouth, why don't you move? Maybe you secretly enjoy the beatiful seafront, breakfast in one of Marmion Road's cafes, lunch at Gunwharf and dinner in Truffles or some other quality independent restaurant. Perhaps you haven't been to our small Edwardian theatre and seen the beautiful architecture inside. Perhaps the fine real ales served in Albert Road pubs aren't too your taste. There's some quality wines in Vines.Open your eyes. `
My response: I have been to other cities in the UK: all of them have chav problems to varying degrees; if the government didn`t dish out benefits like confetti then fewer chavs would blight the land, I`m sure.
I must also concede that you are 100% correct about the beautiful seafront (it has improved a great deal since they got rid of the nightclubs and moved them to Portsmouth city centre). It would be meaningful to make a distinction here: Southsea is in Portsmouth, but is much closer to Brighton in terms of facilities, the `feel` of the place and so on. Southsea is an oasis in an urban desert - it`s a shame that it couldn`t be moved along the coast towards Brighton, leaving the rest of Portsmouth to stew in its own cauldron. I`m going to put up a map here to mark up the Portsmouth`hot spots` to be avoided!
`Have you been to any other cities in the UK? I think you will find that they all have racists, chavs, thugs, council estates etc. If you don't like Portsmouth, why don't you move? Maybe you secretly enjoy the beatiful seafront, breakfast in one of Marmion Road's cafes, lunch at Gunwharf and dinner in Truffles or some other quality independent restaurant. Perhaps you haven't been to our small Edwardian theatre and seen the beautiful architecture inside. Perhaps the fine real ales served in Albert Road pubs aren't too your taste. There's some quality wines in Vines.Open your eyes. `
My response: I have been to other cities in the UK: all of them have chav problems to varying degrees; if the government didn`t dish out benefits like confetti then fewer chavs would blight the land, I`m sure.
I must also concede that you are 100% correct about the beautiful seafront (it has improved a great deal since they got rid of the nightclubs and moved them to Portsmouth city centre). It would be meaningful to make a distinction here: Southsea is in Portsmouth, but is much closer to Brighton in terms of facilities, the `feel` of the place and so on. Southsea is an oasis in an urban desert - it`s a shame that it couldn`t be moved along the coast towards Brighton, leaving the rest of Portsmouth to stew in its own cauldron. I`m going to put up a map here to mark up the Portsmouth`hot spots` to be avoided!
Friday 22 June 2007
P*ssing down in Portsmouth
Not much to add today - it`s raining in Portsmouth (should clean all the dog mess off the streets at least!)
Going to take some more pictures tomorrow. If you`re bored and want the truth about the housing `boom` have a quick look at www.housepricecrash.co.uk or http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/
Going to take some more pictures tomorrow. If you`re bored and want the truth about the housing `boom` have a quick look at www.housepricecrash.co.uk or http://www.propertysnake.co.uk/
Thursday 21 June 2007
Boris, Towers and Chavs
Well, quite an interesting one today. Sent a present to Boris Johnson in recognition of his cogent comments regarding the state of Portsmouth - could not agree more really: the place is a tip.
Speaking of rubbish, I`ve included a picture of the Spinnaker Tower in Gunwharf Quays. What a complete and total waste of money. Yes, it may look quite impressive from the outside, but - if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction or is the `wrong type of wind`, then the external lifts cannot be used (for health and safety reasons). Shame the lift can`t go up like the budget projections when they were building the damn thing!!
Finally, on a more serious note (but still on the subject of flotsam and jetsam), some news from the local press. Leigh Park is perhaps Europe`s largest council estate (a few miles outside Portsmouth). The place is a concrete jungle with gangs of feral chavs wandering around, looking for some excuse to cause trouble. Unfortunately for Daniel Easterbrook this led to his death following a racist attack by himself and his `colleague`, Paul Mariner. After calling the staff `Pakis`, spitting in their faces, hitting them and then struggling with them while holding a knife, Easterbrook was accidentally killed. His killer, Jose Poulouse, got a sentence for eight years for manslaughter under provocation. As usual tributes poured out. Easterbrook`s sister said he was `outgoing...never had a bad word to say about anyone` (unless you are an Asian of course). The sad thing about all of this is that Mariner (who has a string of previous convictions, including assault and GBH) dragged Easterbrook into the violence; hopefully he will face prosecution for the actions that led to the death of his friend. Why anyone would want to open a business in Leigh Park beggars belief.
Speaking of rubbish, I`ve included a picture of the Spinnaker Tower in Gunwharf Quays. What a complete and total waste of money. Yes, it may look quite impressive from the outside, but - if the wind is blowing in the wrong direction or is the `wrong type of wind`, then the external lifts cannot be used (for health and safety reasons). Shame the lift can`t go up like the budget projections when they were building the damn thing!!
Finally, on a more serious note (but still on the subject of flotsam and jetsam), some news from the local press. Leigh Park is perhaps Europe`s largest council estate (a few miles outside Portsmouth). The place is a concrete jungle with gangs of feral chavs wandering around, looking for some excuse to cause trouble. Unfortunately for Daniel Easterbrook this led to his death following a racist attack by himself and his `colleague`, Paul Mariner. After calling the staff `Pakis`, spitting in their faces, hitting them and then struggling with them while holding a knife, Easterbrook was accidentally killed. His killer, Jose Poulouse, got a sentence for eight years for manslaughter under provocation. As usual tributes poured out. Easterbrook`s sister said he was `outgoing...never had a bad word to say about anyone` (unless you are an Asian of course). The sad thing about all of this is that Mariner (who has a string of previous convictions, including assault and GBH) dragged Easterbrook into the violence; hopefully he will face prosecution for the actions that led to the death of his friend. Why anyone would want to open a business in Leigh Park beggars belief.
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Portsmouth - Quick Overview (Part 1)
Well, I had quite a day out today. I`m going to take pictures of Portsmouth using my mobile phone`s camera - this has two advantages:
1. A mobile phone is easier to carry - and harder to spot - than a camera. The advantage of this is that taking pictures will be a lot easier.
2. Related to point 1: I am less likely to get my head kicked in by outraged locals.
The pictures I`ve put up are of a view of the Guildhall Square. I`m also putting up shots of Mark (who has discovered some wrongdoings in Portsmouth City Council - nothing new there! I`ll take some shots of the Spinnaker Tower in the near future. Apparently, Centros Miller has been dishing out backhanders.)
For all of you who like watching Jeremy Kyle on the box, I`ve put up a picture of chavs in their natural environment: outside the court, awaiting hearings! I really wish I`d taken some photos a few hours earlier, as there was a herd of chavs loitering on the steps - I counted about 7 or 8 who seemed to be `related` to each other. Make of that what you will....
Enjoy. I`ll post again in the next day or so....
1. A mobile phone is easier to carry - and harder to spot - than a camera. The advantage of this is that taking pictures will be a lot easier.
2. Related to point 1: I am less likely to get my head kicked in by outraged locals.
The pictures I`ve put up are of a view of the Guildhall Square. I`m also putting up shots of Mark (who has discovered some wrongdoings in Portsmouth City Council - nothing new there! I`ll take some shots of the Spinnaker Tower in the near future. Apparently, Centros Miller has been dishing out backhanders.)
For all of you who like watching Jeremy Kyle on the box, I`ve put up a picture of chavs in their natural environment: outside the court, awaiting hearings! I really wish I`d taken some photos a few hours earlier, as there was a herd of chavs loitering on the steps - I counted about 7 or 8 who seemed to be `related` to each other. Make of that what you will....
Enjoy. I`ll post again in the next day or so....
Sunday 17 June 2007
Post Number One
Hello
Well, this is my first posting on the new blog. I decided to have nothing to do with the web site any more as it`s a pain in the backside to manage - I am no computer geek, so I thought I`d go the blog route.
What else has been happening? I tried to get into property managment, which went really pear-shaped: I foolishly paid £2500 for a really lame weekend property seminar; after a bit of judicious flyposting, I managed to get the money back from them, though. Whatever you do, don`t go into property as it`s a major minefield; do NOT have anything to do with Inside Track!
As for the Typepad blog - that`s going as it`s costing me £80 per year and I can get most of the stuff I need here for free!
Not much else to add - yet. This is just my first posting to get the ball rolling. I`m going to try and make postings regular!
Well, this is my first posting on the new blog. I decided to have nothing to do with the web site any more as it`s a pain in the backside to manage - I am no computer geek, so I thought I`d go the blog route.
What else has been happening? I tried to get into property managment, which went really pear-shaped: I foolishly paid £2500 for a really lame weekend property seminar; after a bit of judicious flyposting, I managed to get the money back from them, though. Whatever you do, don`t go into property as it`s a major minefield; do NOT have anything to do with Inside Track!
As for the Typepad blog - that`s going as it`s costing me £80 per year and I can get most of the stuff I need here for free!
Not much else to add - yet. This is just my first posting to get the ball rolling. I`m going to try and make postings regular!
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