howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
A round of applause for all at the Town and District councils for their unstinting efforts in making this award possible.
https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/top-10-worst-places-to-live-in-england/10Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,888
The town although not by any means perfect must have the most miserable selfish people living here.
These are the very people who spend their time running the place down but do nothing about what is wrong and probably the main contributors to its run down state.
Brian Dixon, howard mcsweeney1 and Judith Roberts like this
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Judith Roberts- Registered: 15 May 2012
- Posts: 637
Dover has like most places a mix of people but there are some very ignorant inhabitants who enjoy running the place down whilst leaving litter and dog mess everywhere. There are also wonderful caring, friendly people who do lots of voluntary work and look out for their neighbours. I do think Dover is disadvantaged by its hilly geography and lots of historic paths and stairs (which I love) that need maintaining. The town covers a large area but has a small population to pay council tax. The mess left by those travelling through eg lorry drivers doesn't help.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Not a website to be taken too seriously I have seen Chipping Norton, Virginia Water and various idyllic villages in the Peak District, Lake district and North York moors nominated over the years. Getting back to Dover I notice that the most scathing comments usually begin " I've lived here all my life" almost as if they have been held hostage.
Kent is a beautiful county with a few horrible conurbations such as the Medway towns, Thanet and Gravesend for example, I feel sure they would welcome disgruntled Dovorians with open arms.
Guest 1713 likes this
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
If anyone had seen my road this morning they would definitely have voted for Dover. Some slob had put their rubbish out in bags a week early and the contents are spread the length of the street with no waste department back until Tuesday.
Guest 2418- Registered: 14 Dec 2017
- Posts: 37
I would be happy to swap my Dover home for a similar property in Medway but unfortunately prices are higher there.
https://www.ilivehere.co.uk/dover-most-neglected-and-unloved-town-in-the-uk.htmlhoward mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Stands to reason that house prices are higher in Medway with its proximity to London and the wages that go with it. Only someone with a highly paid job in the Capital could afford a daily commute on the high speed train from Dover. I venture to suggest that many in Medway would rather not be there but cannot afford London house prices.
Weird Granny Slater
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,085
howard mcsweeney1 wrote:Only someone with a highly paid job in the Capital could afford a daily commute on the high speed train from Dover.
I paid around £3000 for an annual season ticket when I last did the commute to Waterloo East (not High Speed) some ten years ago. It's now £5468, an increase of around 82%. Had my salary kept pace with with rail ticket inflation I'd still be doing it, and bugger the exhaustion, delays and breakdowns. Or maybe I would have bought that house in Hampstead after all.
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'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Guest 1831- Registered: 1 Sep 2016
- Posts: 395
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Captain Haddock
- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,137
Weird Granny Slater wrote:I paid around £3000 for an annual season ticket when I last did the commute to Waterloo East (not High Speed) some ten years ago. It's now £5468, an increase of around 82%. Had my salary kept pace with with rail ticket inflation I'd still be doing it, and bugger the exhaustion, delays and breakdowns. Or maybe I would have bought that house in Hampstead after all.
Which is why teachers (for example) get a 'London weighting' for London Inner of an extra £5,631 - £8,579 on top of their salary.
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Weird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,085
Captain Haddock wrote:Which is why teachers (for example) get a 'London weighting' for London Inner of an extra £5,631 - £8,579 on top of their salary.
Er, why would 'a teacher (for example)' living in London need to buy a Dover-London season ticket?
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
Captain Haddock- Location: Marlinspike Hall
- Registered: 8 Oct 2012
- Posts: 8,137
My understanding, and experience is that the allowance depends on where one works, not place of residence.
"We are living in very strange times, and they are likely to get a lot stranger before we bottom out"
Dr. Hunter S Thompson
Weird Granny Slater- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,085
You're correct, of course, about London weighting. But your example (teacher) isn't really representative. Most of the London Inner allowances come out at around £3000 to £3500, with a lot less for London Outer and Fringe. And, of course, not all jobs in London carry an allowance anyway.
The fact that an annual season ticket for a mere 35-40 minute journey into London will set you back some £4000 - £4500 (e.g. £4232 from Tonbridge on the slow train, and more if you need to travel on from a major terminal) suggests that for many commuters London weighting won't come anywhere near covering the cost of travel. The value of the weighting hasn't kept up with the cost of living (it never helped much in London in any case), and is less of an inducement to travel now than it's ever been.
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus