Mark lives in one of England's few nice bits Hey! England has plenty of nice bits.

Thanks for the reality check though. As you well know we only get the bad stuff through the news rather than the good. NI needs an image makeover.

> England has plenty of nice bits.

Yes, and they're all in Devon, Cornwall, or Somerset.

Oh, OK: Suffolk and Norfolk, too, but only in Summer.

It's probably only fair to mention that, aside from Mark's blog, my primary knowledge of Bognor comes from a jury stint concerning a nasty case of multiple stabbing.

Obviously, it was a one-off incident, but once you've heard the story repeated over and over and over again from multiple angles over a six-day period, you can't help but get the impression that knife-wielding maniacs lurk around every corner.

Still, we found him guilty, so Mark can walk the streets of Bognor in perfect safety - at least until they let him out in seven years or thereabouts...

Pretty picture. Where is that?

Just outside the Jamaica Inn in Bangor. Good pub; nice food.

It used to have a better atmosphere though.

Still, you're 100% right about the food.

Regarding beautiful bits of the world: I think the Gorse Fox may have been overdosing on the Downs,

GF and James had discussed this earlier. We concluded (in the best tradition of Intelligent Design) that God had finished experimenting by the time he got to Sussex. On the seventh day he rested, and when he did he rested in the folds of the Sussex Downs with a big grin on his face thinking "Yeah!".

The Sussex bloody Downs? Feh.

I once had a girlfriend whose family lived on the shores of Loch Long — literally: the front door was about twenty or thirty metres from the water. Popping out to the shops involved driving through some of the most beautiful landscape in the world, passing a castle or two. When she was staying with me and my dad dine sithe, my dad kept showing her what he thought were Kent's stunning views, and couldn't understand why she was so completely underwhelmed. "Mm, yes," she'd say politely, with a slightly glazed look, "very pretty. Mmm."

After spending many years in Scotland, I now feel much the same.

FEh! Indeed.

You really need to come and visit Scotland.

;-)

Visit Scotland? I'm touring Scotland at the end of his month, playing fine music with my band. Come to a gig and say hello.

Squander Two...
For pure ruggedness and unrefined beauty, I will give you the Antrim coast and Donegal (my mother hails from Stroke City, so I've been back a few times myself).

But, being said James of above quote, I just have to say, there is nothing like the sensation of being on top of the world on the Downs...And the landscape is all man- (and livestock-)made, too. I like the remote sensation one gets without actually being remote. Plus, the Downs and the beach (not as nice as Bannone or what have you, I admit) are only five minutes away from each other in commutable (read employable) distance from London. So that's why we're here. :-)

It's a sad day for civilisation when proximity to London is considered a plus.