My home Town

Peppermint

There was a time when I understood where I came from. Most people from my hometown would have similar goals and aspirations. It has always been diverse and welcoming to outsiders, but now I feel like the outsider and not particularly welcome myself. It is a sad thing to feel a stranger in the place of your birth. anyone else feel like that?

My town, famous for straw hats and Eric Morecambe. Gone forever!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JaszBJ-RIOg&NR=1

mouthy

I couldnt get your you tube thingy... I am a stranger where ever I go.But I spread my tent pegs & make the best of it. Until I get that mansion that is promised me

Peppermint

Good advise Mouthy.

As for making my links active It would appear to be impossible using Firefox. I have to rely on the good people of this board cut and pasting the link into their browser.

Sad emo

Peppermints made clickable: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=JaszBJ-RIOg&NR=1

No, not gone forever - just how you remember it is gone maybe - but again, is that kind of event a regular occurence? It looks like an annual celebration to me, nothing wrong with that in itself. I think I'd prefer that to this:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Bjrgsc1RQ&feature=related

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=abvuh13qPoo&feature=related

Here's some nicer images for you too

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IAgqTHAvRtQ&NR=1

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=EwcDPdn4u5M

Peppermint

Thanks Sad Emo for your comments and for making my link clickable.

I understand the point you are making, and I agree that just because people are like you and you understand them does not mean that there is not an ugly side to them.

I am not thinking in racist terms when I think back to the town I grew up in and compare it to the town it is today. I like diversity, it brings many positives to a community. What I don't like is when a way of life and a society has been radically changed in just a few years. A slow absorption of cultures is something that has worked and has benefited everyone . What I see now is something completely differnt.

Sad emo

I agree Peppermint - too much change far too quickly now. And it is frightening at times

I think in our town even the well-established Asian community (among the first to arrive in the UK) is feeling intimidated by the sudden large influx of different cultures. I can't say that there has yet been as big an effect as on your home town yet - our biggest cultural shift has been caused by the large numbers of southerners moving up here lol!

are there any hispanic communities in the UK??

Hi MOG, not many really: http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/news/ART40460.html

There are probably somewhere between 700,000 to 1,000,000 Latin Americans in the UK. The Brazilians make up the largest group of around 200,000, then there are about 130 - 160,000 Colombians, 70 - 90,000 Ecuadorians and 10 - 15,000 Peruvians. It is hard to quantify the number of Chileans in the UK - many have gone back to Chile, or move fluidly between several places.

These numbers are guesstimates from embassies, community centres and refugee groups, but there has never been a precise census of Latin Americans in the UK. Still, an article in the Guardian in September 2005 argues that Latin Americans are one of the fastest growing communities in the UK. They have gained confidence, creating Sunday schools, taking jobs, and being responsible for many of the 800,000 salsa classes that take place across the UK every night.

Possibly more go to Spain and Portugal if they want to live in Europe?