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The town I grew up in for the first 9 years of my life was engaged in a bit of a kerfuffle with local emergency services, who said they wouldn't be able to travel out to the furthest reaches of the new housing developments but the town still wanted us to pay local taxes.

In protest, we ceceded and formed a new town that was just the five occupied houses on my street at the time. So for a while, my hometown was the town of Nowhere, pop. 22, in Vermont.

We rejoined the town after a while, essex junction vt. A perfectly fine little suburb, not a ton there.

I was born in Sydney, Australia. State capital and largest city in the country.

I currently live in Newcastle. 100 or so miles nor-nor-east of Sydney. Largest regional city, and 7th largest city overall. Slower pace than Sydney, but suffers from the same percentage of ignorant rednecks and crackheads.

Used to be known as one of the two big steel producing cities in the country. But they shut the mill down. It is still home to a very large coal port, but they are attempting to transition away from industrial town to a more tourist friendly, "hospitality" focussed city (as it's easier to send tourists to the vineyard country from here than from Sydney).
Then Covid-19 hit, and the hospitality industry died-in-the-A**e.

I spent a lot of my childhood moving from place to place (had an actor as a father, which is a fairly itinerant trade). Spent more of my life in London than anywhere else though; albeit the more suburban south western end of it. The Staines/Hampton/Sunbury/Twickenham/Kingston end of things.

It's relatively nice out there. Very white suburbia. The estate sections are sometimes a bit rough and ready, but there's too many people with money around commuting into London for it to be particularly run-down. Fun fact: nobody can build anything too high-rise in Twickenham or on the river there because an act of Parliament passed in 1902 protects the view from Richmond Hill!

Yeah, even the nastiest roughest parts (edges of Feltham/Hounslow) are pretty mild compared to inner-city London. Lots of different bits claims different people of fame; Staines gets Ali G, Kingston Jacqueline Wilson, Feltham even lays claim to Freddie Mercury of all people!

It's expensive, but a good area to raise a family. Lots of nice restaurants, cinemas, theatres, and green spaces accessible. Perfect for the middle classes!

 Ketara wrote:
I spent a lot of my childhood moving from place to place (had an actor as a father, which is a fairly itinerant trade). Spent more of my life in London than anywhere else though; albeit the more suburban south western end of it. The Staines/Hampton/Sunbury/Twickenham/Kingston end of things.

It's relatively nice out there. Very white suburbia. The estate sections are sometimes a bit rough and ready, but there's too many people with money around commuting into London for it to be particularly run-down. Fun fact: nobody can build anything too high-rise in Twickenham or on the river there because an act of Parliament passed in 1902 protects the view from Richmond Hill!

Yeah, even the nastiest roughest parts (edges of Feltham/Hounslow) are pretty mild compared to inner-city London. Lots of different bits claims different people of fame; Staines gets Ali G, Kingston Jacqueline Wilson, Feltham even lays claim to Freddie Mercury of all people!

It's expensive, but a good area to raise a family. Lots of nice restaurants, cinemas, theatres, and green spaces accessible. Perfect for the middle classes!

I went to school in Hampton

Crispy78 wrote:

I went to school in Hampton

What year? Because in my time, it's always been a haunt for bored middle class women with wealthy husbands to run eclectic clothing, tut, and cheese & wine shops. I figure it can't always have been like that though.

 Ketara wrote:

Crispy78 wrote:

I went to school in Hampton

What year? Because in my time, it's always been a haunt for bored middle class women with wealthy husbands to run eclectic clothing, tut, and cheese & wine shops. I figure it can't always have been like that though.

I was at Hampton School from 91-96. Never really spent any time around the high street!

Ah memories of my first cave. Me, Nog and Grog, and Bob the Grizzly.

It was all fun and games until those stupid Homo Sapiens Sapiens showed, and bam, cave values plummeted.

A common ex-burb from a large city in the midwest.

I got to see the town be too far away and not even on the weather map, to eventually be a staple suburb. The changes it went through were interesting as it suburbanized.

As a kid, my only neighbors were cows and corn. The closest other kids were a couple miles away by dirt road. I was so far out in the country that I couldn't even get cable. My school bus ride was an hour. Now the new Municipal Campus is about a block away. Things change.

I don't live there anymore, and haven;t for a long time.

I live in Watford. It is turning into a gakhole.

Pffffrt.

Tonbridge is worse. Was picked on because Mum and Dad weren’t related before marriage, and I had a mere five digits on each hand and foot, with nary a hint of webbing.

Flora, Indiana.

Never heard of it? Not surprised, it was a town of just over 2,000 people when I moved out, and I think the population is even lower nowadays. Small rural town, no real hang outs. You were about 20-30 minutes from every larger town of interests, so I described it as in the middle of nowhere but in the middle of everywhere.

Nowadays I'd actually prefer to live there. I currently live in West Lafayette, right next door to Purdue University, and I gotta tell you that the conveniences of the larger markets/superstores/gaming places/whatever are almost not worth it compared to the fact that I wouldn't really bat an eye if my 7 year old decided to go 10 blocks down the road by herself to visit a friend. It was one of THOSE kinds of towns growing up, despite having a few high profile incidents. A nice laid back area like that would probably do a world of good, but my wife thinks, for some ODD reason, that the town we live in is the ONLY place that will have the resources for our son with Down Syndrome and that she thinks of Flora as little more than a lawless western town in a Sergio Leone movie.

San Diego, California.

Born and raised. I live in Arizona now though. I left California for reasons that can't be discussed on here. I was about 15 min from 3 beaches. Grew up surfing, playing vollyball, and doing Muy Thia. I've been to several countries (planning on taking the wife to Japan in the next few years).

Don't know what else I can say that isn't already widely known. I do very much like living in a small town now though.

I live in Tynemouth, North East England. I used to have a job selling ice cream next to the Collingwood monument. I've always loved history, mostly Imperial Rome (honestly I think I could get a doctorate in this subject), but I never knew who Collingwood was until I did a google search on a slow day selling ice cream. He was one of Nelson's trusted Admirals, he steered the victory home after Nelson took his fatal injury at Trafalgar. Collingwood's monument apparently looks out to Spain. Anyway, that's just one thing, there's a lot more to say about Tynemouth. Here's a little vid of the monument by what seems to be a local drone enthusiast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M24V30p6wkQ
/Edit - you can see some of the ruins Tynemouth Priory in the video, a Benedictine Priory.

yellowfever wrote:
San Diego, California.

Born and raised. I live in Arizona now though. I left California for reasons that can't be discussed on here. I was about 15 min from 3 beaches. Grew up surfing, playing vollyball, and doing Muy Thia. I've been to several countries (planning on taking the wife to Japan in the next few years).

Don't know what else I can say that isn't already widely known. I do very much like living in a small town now though.

I enjoyed SD! I visited a couple of times when I was at NAF El centro. We visited the midway, and spent a night in the Gaslamp District. I went to see the padres play the diamondbacks, then when I went to phoenix a week later I watched them both play again. Arizona was cool too, spent the night in Scottsdale, where one of my workmates got fined $300 for urinating in public.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
I'm from York in the UK. Founded by the Romans as eboracum. it served as the trade and legislative capital during their period.

Severus and Constantius both died there. Britannica hosted a surprisingly large number of all-time greatest Romans, considering it was a far-flung (albeit important) province. I think they both would have been proud that their greatest Empire ever, Rome, birthed another very influential global Empire founded in no small part on their own unarguable magnificence.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

yellowfever wrote:
San Diego, California.

Born and raised. I live in Arizona now though. I left California for reasons that can't be discussed on here. I was about 15 min from 3 beaches. Grew up surfing, playing vollyball, and doing Muy Thia. I've been to several countries (planning on taking the wife to Japan in the next few years).

Don't know what else I can say that isn't already widely known. I do very much like living in a small town now though.

I enjoyed SD! I visited a couple of times when I was at NAF El centro. We visited the midway, and spent a night in the Gaslamp District. I went to see the padres play the diamondbacks, then when I went to phoenix a week later I watched them both play again. Arizona was cool too, spent the night in Scottsdale, where one of my workmates got fined $300 for urinating in public.

My one and only baseball game was the Padres vs the Pirates(Padres lost 3 to 1). I used to run down by the Miday, always a nice run in that area. I'm glad you liked your visit.

yellowfever wrote:

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:

yellowfever wrote:
San Diego, California.

Born and raised. I live in Arizona now though. I left California for reasons that can't be discussed on here. I was about 15 min from 3 beaches. Grew up surfing, playing vollyball, and doing Muy Thia. I've been to several countries (planning on taking the wife to Japan in the next few years).

Don't know what else I can say that isn't already widely known. I do very much like living in a small town now though.

I enjoyed SD! I visited a couple of times when I was at NAF El centro. We visited the midway, and spent a night in the Gaslamp District. I went to see the padres play the diamondbacks, then when I went to phoenix a week later I watched them both play again. Arizona was cool too, spent the night in Scottsdale, where one of my workmates got fined $300 for urinating in public.

My one and only baseball game was the Padres vs the Pirates(Padres lost 3 to 1). I used to run down by the Miday, always a nice run in that area. I'm glad you liked your visit.

It was nicer than los angeles for sure (although I do like LA)

I'd happily live around there.

Grew up in Kalamazoo, Mi.

From the start:
Was originally called Bronson after it's founder Titus Bronson. As people started to move to the area they found out how eccentric, and argumentative, Titus was and so they chased him out of town. He was upset about this and later returned to steal a cherry tree...
They eventually changed the name of the town, and county, to Kalamazoo.

In 1959 we built the first pedestrian mall in the United States and designed by the same guy who designed the first enclosed shopping mall.

We are also the original home of Gibson Guitars and there is a book that talks about that called, Kalamazoo Gals. Gibson had continued production of guitars during WWII but didn't want it known women had made them. So they claimed they had a surplus of guitars from before WWII and were selling those.

Checker Motor Company also had it's start here.

Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Bros. died here.

In 2016 we became known for the Uber Shooter. A guy was an Uber driver who would shoot people between rides. So he would pick up a ride, drop them off, go shoot people/s, and then pick up another ride. He did this from 5:42pm to 10:24pm. Finally was caught and tried to blame it on a demon in his Uber app.

Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, went to law school here at Western Michigan University Cooley Law School.

The Kalamazoo Public Library, 2002, was named library of the year.

We get featured in quite a few songs because of our unique name. Sometimes used as an metonym for a remote place.

The generic term for railroad motor car in Australia was "Kalamazoo".

We started the Kalamazoo Promise. The Kalamazoo Promise is a pledge by a group of anonymous donors to pay up to 100 percent of tuition at any of Michigan's state colleges or universities for graduates of the public high schools of Kalamazoo, Michigan. To receive the minimum 65% benefit, students must have lived within the Kalamazoo School District, attended public high school there for four years, and graduated. To receive a full scholarship, students must have attended Kalamazoo public schools since kindergarten.

I work at a library, this is part of my job.

Edit: What it is now.
It's still a city.
The city has a love/hate relationship with what it is, a college town. The city wants the college kid's money, not them.
We have a decent art scene with a small community of people who are more than just, hobbyists.
We have some good breweries and music venues.

Other things about Tunbridge Wells

Subbeto, the Football precursor to war games was made in the town. There’s a wall plaque and tree to mark the old factory on what is now a seemingly posh hotel.

The town was founded when some posh nob ‘discovered’ what became known as the Chalybeate Spring. With the fashion for Spas, the town soon came into being.