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

This of course I consider a rather tough entry. The main reason being that I try to avoid shopping malls at almost all costs. Growing up in a town in which they tear down as many forests as possible just so that they might but up yet another shopping mall that has yet another movie theater, (though there is one across the street) Yet another supermarket, ( though there are two across the street) Yet another bagillion pointless stores though there are thousands just across the street. In fact, I actually watched them at one point tear down an old forest, that had been by my house since I can remember so that they could but up a furniture store. The greatest part about this is that outside the furniture store they seemed to think it would be a good idea to put up a couple of fake palm trees. Where is this place of horror you might ask? Where is this monstosity to the eye in which the general population is over the age of 60, with an income over 10 zeros, and in which the people are just too lazy to go the extra 100 feet aross the street to find what they need, you might ask? Boca Raton, Florida. Otherwise known as my own personal Hell. Luckily I finally got out of there and thank my stars everyday that I did. I am now living in what I consider a much better land, otherwise known as Santa Cruz, California. Which, as it turns out, is a great place to go shopping. I must say I've never quite seen anything like Down town before. The shops consist mostly of wonderfully tasty restraunts. Ranging from Chinese, Mexican, Japanese, Mexican, Vegetarian cafes and of course Mexican. I say Mexican again because I don't think I've ever seen so many places to get a REALLY good burrito in my life. Besides the restraunts, one is able to find wonderful shops with beautiful cooking supplies, crystal shops, spirtual book stores, thrift stores, used book stores, garden shops, cofee places that aren't Starbucks, though sadly, there is of course a Starbucks there, along with a Gap. But these places are hardly frequented. And never by me. And of course there is always a wonderful Healthfood store. These re just a few that I have named. But it's not even the stores that make this shopping area great. It's the people. Never have I been anywhere ever that I can walk for a period of five minutes and find one person playing the fiddle, one human statue who seems to constantly move, one person playing the harp, a few people playing the guitar, one person playing the Djembe, or other hand drums. One person playing the Didgereedoo, some people reading tarot, some people selling jewelry, Thousands of people asking for money, and cigarettes, and a grand piano player. Yes it's a wonderful town and I suggest to anyone who hasn't to come and check it out immediately. . .

Santa Cruz sounds great - if I ever get to the States I can see I'll need to check it out. It's not going to happen any time soon, though.

It does sound wonderfully cosmopolitan. Manchester (England), my local city, isn't bad and is much improved since large parts had to be rebuilt after a terrorist bomb was set off. There's a thriving Chinatown, plenty of Italian restaurants, a couple of Thai ones and a couple of Japanese, but I can only think of one Mexican off-hand. There are a few Indian ones, but if Indian food is your thing you need to travel down to the 'Curry Mile', a short bus trip out of town.

Sadly, the worst part of the town centre is the mall in the heart of town. There are some interesting on street shopping areas (with buskers!), as well as loads of bars and clubs, but right slap-bang in the middle is this enormous mall.

One of the things I particularly dislike about it is that it closes fairly early (about 6.00 pm) most nights, so there is a huge chunk of real estate right in the middle of town that is basically locked out of public use in the evenings.

As far as the forests are concerned, I am sad to report that this country which was once covered in deciduous woodland from end to end has been undergoing a process of deforestation for centuries. There's not a lot left now.

A friend of mine tells a highly entertaining story of eating at a wonderful chinese in manchester, all the while wondering what the starnge tension in the air was.
About ten minutes after they left, the whole place erupted into anarchy as two rival triad gangs went at each other hammer and tongs...

I remember reading about an incident like that in the Manchester Evening News - there was something of a turf war in Chinatown, apparently. It was all rather exciting - at a distance! I think things have calmed down now - I'm a regular scoffer in Chinatown and all appears calm.