THE CONCRETE ROUNDABOUT (TCR)

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I am an MK convert, every place has good and bad areas and aspects. Coming to MK with a young family was a real win. Range of housing, facilities, jobs, entertainment. Range of villages, towns to visit with a variety of microcultures make MK. Many people who say their town had a soul my memory of those places as dirty, crowded, traffic problems and the same mis of good and bad aspects. Give me MK every time.

Take a stroll along the Tattenhoe Park Valley along by the brook. You'll begin to feel part of the soul of MK, and do your own soul a power of good.

It is part of the walk from the Bottledump Roundabout all the way to the Teardrop Lakes. A distance of some 4 miles.

That is just one of the dozens of walks around the lakes and parks of MK. There is no other place in the UK to touch it for suburban walks.

Before I chip in, let me endorse Dan's caveat - I'm not a sociologist and so what I say is probably meaningless drivel....

My experience suggests "community" is a product of being raised, schooled and then working within a relatively small area. The friends you have as an adult are those you had, by and large, at school and your house is close to where you lived as a child. Your circle of work colleagues, acquaintances and friends all live within the immediate vicinity.

Those factors aren't applicable for people who migrate to MK. But neither are they for people who are upwardly socially mobile. I was raised in a council house but, due to a degree of career success, found myself pulled into a middle-class bubble (I remain emotionally "working class" - and so does my dog-shit accent - but I enjoy a middle class lifestyle as do most of my friends). I didn't go to school with anyone within my various circles of friends. None of my friends from work live near me. Community is therefore a by-product of financial and class factors.

As for MK, it may not have "soul" or a community (although I'd argue most grid squares do have a degree of it) but, regardless, it's a great place to live.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

This, in bucketloads.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

I'm an immigrant having been here over 30 years - the largest chunk of my life - and I would definitely say I'm proud to call MK my home

With most of my earlier years in big cities we moved here for the opportunities that that MK offered - it was less about what the place didn't have, and far more what it did. Fully agreeing and echoing the comments about the green spaces (just look out at the leafy canopy across the city from the roof of the Intu car park), it's the inclusive, can-do spirit that has seen the town grow that we really like

The MK way is different - happily so - and has brought success in many different ways over the years, and keeps the town and community a place that I'm immensely proud of

Let me reiterate that I am absolutely proud of MK and being here. I wouldn't live anywhere else, my team play here, I have friends, family and history here. And probably a few kids I don't know about so it'll be great not to venture too far when I find the offspring to my one night stand after a night at Revs.

I just find a lack of connection to certain estates. I lived in Westcroft. Pretty much not been back since I left in 2013, because nobody is there. I lived somewhere else (won't mention where) and I occasionally go back because the pub (was) good. But even then I barely know anyone in it.

I'm not unsociable. In fact quite the opposite. But I have friends in pretty much every angle of MK - yet I feel no affiliation to any particular part. I guess I've lived in one end of MK most of my time here but as I said before, I have nobody to meet for a swift pint 5 Mins up the road. I have plenty of people to meet a taxi ride away, but you're looking at 20 odd notes for a catchup.

As the above comment said about Kempston, that's pretty accurate. And I'm sure he knows people in Bedford, Olney, Biddenham etc. Which is comparable a journey away as what some of us have to do for a coffee or a pint here.

Of course this happens in every large town/city - not everyone is next to each other. If you live in London some work or live on the other side of the city to you and make it hard to visit. But even then the Borough's and communities are pretty community filled.

I met someone once in Birmingham when we played Cov who supported Birmingham. Said he wasn't from Birmingham. He was from Handsworth. That's like me meeting a Pompey fan last week and saying "I'm not from MK, I'm from Tattenhoe".. I sense he was proud of his home area and the community it has.

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GEORGE BALDOCK




ONE OF OUR OWN

Have you heard Handsworth Revolution? It's a brilliant album. No wonder he was proud of his area.

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I don't need your ill-informed, half-baked, idiotic opinions. I have plenty of those myself.

No but given my comment in the same post about Revs maybe it's best I avoid it

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GEORGE BALDOCK




ONE OF OUR OWN

Saw SP once many many years ago...dude....somewhere in London.
Very very good.
Absolutely sh*t hot reggae.

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Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment

Interesting you say this- having spent a little time in London (only a couple of months for work) I was shocked how everything was seen as "on their doorstep" despite being ages away. Getting invited for dinner and travelling 45 minutes via Tube and Uber to get there. Also, travelling 20 minutes on the Tube at 7pm at night for dinner seemed absolutely standard. I wouldn't drive 20 minutes for dinner or to the pub each night, yet I was regularly doing this (West Brompton to Hackney)- just TFL route planner'd it, it's 49 minutes and we did this either way 3 times a week.

How you get there also plays a huge part I believe- the moment you drive it puts you in a "limited" mindset- where you can't drink, have to find parking, etc. But if you train it (Oyster cards are amazing by the way), it doesn't seem anywhere near as bad.