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

Reason 1:
Reading is easier to spell than Basingstoke.

But harder for the American's to pronounce.

Well, Americans can't spell anyway.

That's a good point however I think that counts as a positive for Reading. At least the Americans wont find their way down there!! Basingstoke does have a few Yanks. They're OK but they all drink weak lager and listed to Chere! Nuff saif I think!!!

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I posted them before, or didn't you read them?

Under what heading do they list chere?

Actually, from the tone of the post, I'm not convinced yuou read the article either, since the thrust of the article is to point out the absurdity of charging a quarter of a million pounds for a house in this dump of a town.

I meant listen to chere. OK I have a retarded typing gland

Thinks: according to retail analysts, the existence of a large number of charity shops is a sure sign of a town centre in decline (charities get low rent for short leases on shop premises which nobody else wants)

I thought that the existence of empty shops was the sign of a town-centre in decline. It can't be declining that much if they spent who knows how much on the Oracle - although it isn't strictly in the centre...

Monkey Boy swings in on a vine shouts at the top of his voice "READING NEEDS TO CHILL OUT" and then passes bluebottle a reefer!.. Nice!!!!

Interesting entry you have here. Can I ask why you believe the workers of SAP and Peoplesoft should be "up against the wall...."?

I think the original entry on Reading is great and as a resident and worker (yes, one of those Peoplesoft employees!!) in the area I have to concur with much of what the author said.

By the way SAP (spit..spit) are not based in Reading - they have a home at Heathrow.

If you would like to come meet some PeoplePeople (yes we are an American firm hence the 'cute' use of the name - but please don't hold that against us) I would be more than happy to give you a tour.

For what it's worth, I'm going to be in Reading this weekend.

Bluebottle

I am lucky enough to escape this week-end to sunny Madrid. I will be back in this glorious (see gloomy but too nice to say so) town in about 3 weeks.

Call by,

LIC

Hi MB. Did you say reefer? Cool. I tried to reach you on the Hi Ali Babe forum. Can't find you anywhere. I wish we could talk for a while.

Hi Babe, Got to go now but I will contact you soon. I'll be around to morrow It's just that I dont get the chance to check things very often as I'm busy busy busy all the time. I'll work out some way of getting in touch with you off the net sooner or later OK??

Hey how about a swim. I'm off to the beer pool for a quick dip before I go home.

See ya there

MB

i have meny good resons y reding is better than basing stoke
and if your the person i think you r monley boy dont u come from Oxford?
1) reading has the festival
2) reding used to have allycats where placeebo used to play a lot befor thay were big
3) if you ever want to get tid of a car or eneything in less than 5 mins u can leve it unatedned on the oxford road
4)one of the few places you can bye good band tee-shits is in redaing.
5) its speld the same way as Reding so you can confuse peopel who dont come from reading.
and a few things that were left of the history thing
thay bloke that made the lion in the falbry hung himsef becos it is walking wrong (he had never see a lion befor) also it has the only copy of the bio tapstry in its museam. Nirvana played there last UK gig at reading festival.
also someone menshoned the orical it is very good if you want to by candles ro womans cloths or overpiced CDs.
also reading has one of the biggest amout of "grungers" living neer it and gathering in it that ive ever seen.
not that i like living in reading well near. but it isnt as bad as that
just very near.

Um, i feel i should hereby be defending Reading, hope you don't mind too much if I pass! I was born in Reading, and spent all my little life here, but I'm not too fond of it. Reading has, as mentioned before, a big obsession with roundabouts. They have a few spare pounds, they build a roundabout! It's a council failing!

Also, u try and find anybody who lives in Reading who's family has been here for 3 or more generations, it's practically impossible! I would love to hear from anyone who has!

And *don't* mention the football team!

Is there a Reading Railroad?

Railroad? What do you mean by that?

By the way, I'm at least a 5th generation Readingite! And I have to say that I really do like the place. And If you count my 6thGreat grandad, who used to own a huge chunk of the area south of Junctions 11 & 12 M4 and was well rich(unfortunately he lost it all when his daughter inherited it and used the Manor as a Cat Sanctuary(Which is now The Police training College). And that My dad's Cousin is Mary West, who owns Horncastle Ford. I mean in all reallity who of us can say we live in a "Really Fantastic Town" with no crime, no pollution, where the people are friendly and you never have to worry about anything. AND for the place to be bigger than a remote village!

The point being that for all it's bad points, Reading also has a lot going for it:

You can buy almost anything under the sun in this town, if you know where to look.
There aren't as many roundabouts as either Baisingstoke, Bracknell or Milton Keynes. And the ones we do have are quite nice ones.
We don't have a really stupid ring road that traps everyone into a fume filled circle.
You don't have to go too far from Reading to see some real countryside, If you go 5 miles south of the M4 there's loads of open fields and woodland. And the Downs aren't too far away...
We've got the Thames running through it. (although after it's been through Oxford, it's not that nice to swim in
We've got a mass of Hitech buisness that's based in Reading.
Cemetry junction has almost the Highest Pollution rate in the Country! Admittedly not a good thing but nevermind.
We have the 3rd best stadium in England. Shame about the team though... (It's all Bradfords fault!)
If you need to get to London it's very easy... And if you need to get to somewhere quieter, that's equally as easy.
For a big Town/City we have quite low crime problems... (excluding Whitley Wood and Oxford Road...).
Despite peoples lack of sticking around in this town, we do have an awefull lot of History... If you've ever been to Reading museum you'd realise...
Also thanks to the Local Government the Town Center is looking alot better... But I doubt it'll last long...
There are plans to put a "Lid" on the IDR... (Inner distribution Road)A very ugly thing that they almost put straight through Forbury Gardens!).
We don't have too many High rise buildings, so you actually get some light down on the street...
When the "new" Reading Station was opened (by the Queen) it was a marvel of high techyness and all that... (unfortunately it's gone abit down hill with the amount of traffic we recieve) So! The Council and Rail Track have agreed to pull it all down and build a huge new 2 level Station that's going to be ultra high-moderny-techy(and all that).
We have the Festival.... (what more needs be said?)