h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My only comment on your excellent entry is: Been there, seen it, got the traffic-fumes cough!

Under illustrious companies that have been associated with Reading must be Digital (now owned by Compaq), Microsoft (about to be broken up), SAP and PeopleSoft (whose employees will both be up against the wall on the dayt of the Revolution).

The one thing I do go to Reading for is shopping in the Charity shops. There were 12 major Charity outlets the last time I did the rounds. Many of the goods are end-of-line items from well-known chain stores, sold at a snip. You can be dressed with up market labels at a fraction of the normal retail price! (May be I should have commented "Been there, seen it, got the Guicci T-Shirt!")

An excellent entry

This is a good H2G2 entry (catch the greek alphabet stinker the other day -UGH)
I used to live in reading and this an accurate summary of the place. I had dinner at the Madejski stadium on Saturday night - Very nice indeed.

The only time I've been through Reading has been to change trains there - at least now I know what I'm not going to be missing

I totally agree - I spent 3 years there as a student.

One thing that you forgot to mention is the area of the town centre known as The Butts - only Reading could get away with a name like that!

And who could forget the town centre road (I forget what its real name is) affectionately called "Smelly Alley" by everybody who has ever walked past it...!


AndyF

I thought that the great film star herself was supposed to hail from Reading?

I think smelly alley is actually called
wait for it
smelley alley.

Nice fish shop!!

No, Ms Winslet actually comes form Stoke Row in Oxfordshire - a village which also boasts a well paid for by some Maharajah, and imaginitively named the Maharajah's Well.

I see the sign which says "Maharajah's Well" and I always think "Oh good. And how about Mrs Maharajah, and all the little Maharajahs?"

Reading now has a shopping complex called The Oracle, and I suspect that this results not from Bill's relative parsimony (he has spent a few quid in the town, after all) but from the potential questions raised by having a shopping centre called "The SQL Server."

I thought it was called Union Street? (Though only by the council and the ordnance Survey, obviously).

Reading is the arm pit of the south. The only thing it has going for it is thepurple turtle and the iguana lounge both of which are patronised by hippies, junkies and other such peoples. It also has a festival. Has anyone been to this then????

I come from an equally bad town.. BasingsToke (see my page) If you can come up with 5 reasons why reading is better than basingstoke then I'd be very impressed

1. Reading may be desperate to project character, but no quite so deperate as to put names on the roundabouts

2. Reading is the town where the Custard Cream was invented

3. Reading has the UKs largest Volvo dealer (see http://www.h2g2.com/A222896 ). Also it houses Compaq, formerly Digital; Oracle; Symbol Technologies and Micro$oft. Basingstoke has Frontline, otherwise known as Chocolate Fireguard 2000

4. Reading is the home of the Auto Trader, the only really useful motoring magazine in the UK

5. Every service on the Great Western line stops at Reading, so you can get to London in no time flat.

1. My friend Ben lives in Reading.
2. My friend Derek lives in Reading.
3. There's a nice lion statue in Reading.
4. There's an awfully nice wreck of an abby.
5. I like fish.

Fish? When did Marillion play Reading?

Congratulations. At last a little passion from the punters!!!!. I'm Sorry but Reading still sucks!! It has a very bad football team, A huge Volvo dealership!!! OK. so Reading is full of old muppets driving at 60 in the fast lane!!. It does have a nice abbey I'll give you that and it also has a little river but other than that and a few pubs whad'ya got???..... Nothing!!!
Basingstokes rounderbouts are named for a very specific reason. Someone in the council gets payed about 45k a year to come up with names!

Isn't Miss Kate Winslett supposed to come from Reading?

I hate you all. You're now forcing me to defend Reading. Mutter, mutter, grumble, grumble. Ok, here goes. The lack of history gibe is a little harsh, the town has been the host of both Parliment and the Royal Court at one time or another. It had one of the most important Abbeys in the country, where Henry I was buried. Was the first town besieged in the Civil War. Has a town hall that looks a bit like the Natural History museum 'cos it was built by the same bloke. Oh yeah, and I seem to recall reading that it had the most prolific female mass murderer in British history. So there! Yah, boo sucks!

Of course, now it's just another South East town which seemingly had passed a law stating that a new pub must open in the town centre every week and an unhealthy obsession with Oscar Wilde.

John
Must get round to changing my nickname...

Well if that is how you fell write it in an article about the glories of Reading. By the way may I welcome you to h2g2. If you want people to find you go to my home and there edit page and just leave a short sentance so we can visit you at home rather than in the middle of a forum where you can easily be lost.

If you are lost slip over to the ACEs homepage at

http://www.h2g2.com/A214796

and they'll come and help you out.

Must go now will pop by later to see how you are getting on.

DD

Speaking as a 35-year-old muppet who on occasion drove greatly in excess of 60mph and usually in the left-hand lane, I don't know where that comment comes from. Actually I do - I used to get very annoyed by boy racers who would pull out in fornt of me so that my Volvo estate didn't "hold them up" - sometimes it would take me up to 20 minutes to find a place to overtake them safely, even with the power of the 2.5 litre 20-valve 5-cylinder engine.

You asked for 5 reasons why Reading is better than Basingstoke. I did this. Yes, it's a significant achievement: Basingstoke is actually more boring than Reading.

Reading Council would have you believe this, but she actually comes form Stoke Row which, depsite its postal address being Reading (solely because otherwise letters take weeks to get there via Oxford) is actually in Oxfordshire.

Come on then. Give em up. What are your fantastic five reasons why Reading is better than basingstoke. By the way I drive a tiny little one litre car and also hate boy racers