[Spenny_b]

Originally Posted by jjeffries

I'm from Westbury-on-Trym, a sweet liitle village northwest (no, actually Northeast) of Bristol that postwar became a suburb. It was like growing up in Camberwick Green or Penny Lane.... There was a greengrocer, butcher, fish-monger, etc. Lovely place to be a kid and likely still is. We moved from there to Munich in the mid 70's, then back to Bristol for a year before coming to the US. That one year we lived in Clifton**, which is now VERY shi-shi, has always been beautiful with much sandstone Georgian architecture and, of course, Brunel's fanstastic bridge, the Zoo, the posh school.
** We were on the Cotham side of Clifton, more moderate, less toffy. Lots of lovely girls there, some with "that" accent. ("Oi dun knah, Mister 'olmes" said the scullery maid to the great detective. OR, Vicky Pollard! Likely that's the image your GF wants to escape.)
So only 11 of my years were spent there; the Greater Bristol area must contain some grittier parts but I'm pretty clueless as to where. I am STAGGERED at the prices of homes there, but that seems to be true of England in general. Must be so daunting to young people. John

Haha, Rachel did raise an eyebrow at the part about Clifton - she'd already come out with "ooh, posh" before she read your "** Cotham" caveat, lol. And yes, absolutely, Vicky Pollard is one of the things she's keen to distance herself from! Her accent is nowhere near as strong; spent a little bit of time living in Essex and then latterly Kent, so perhaps has softened by virtue of that.