Community: Real Life

Sad in the city


Peter Golding

Peter, 21, is in his final year at Swansea University studying English and Spanish. Hes a sub-editor and contributor to student newspaper, The Waterfront. He loves rugby and is an avid Gloucester fan. He plays the piano and guitar and loves traveling.

If the only thing you can appreciate about a city is its shops, then you're seriously missing out, rants Peter.

I'm sick to death of people taking cities for granted. Living in the countryside means you really appreciate what the city has to offer, possibly even more so than the people who live there. When I was an adolescent, I spent my weekends on buses, visiting the 'big city' with my buddies. Gloucester and Cheltenham were big for us, so imagine the shock when we finally made it to Bristol and Birmingham, let alone London.

So what did the city have to offer? The chance to go to the cinema, watch live sports and since pubs and clubs were forbidden zones, we were inevitably drawn to the shops finding an endless choice of food, clothes, gifts, music and more.

But that's where the attraction ends for some. I know several people who often make shopping pilgrimages to big cities in pursuit of bargains and boutiques. I've heard people say: "I love <insert city name here>, it has amazing shops!"  At this point I tend to stop listening, or seize up with contempt.  Fair enough, people enjoy shopping. But cities being judged on their retail opportunities alone really annoys me. I've heard people naming their city of choice and then proceeding to list their favourite shops and the brands that can be found in said city - H&M, Topshop and TK Maxx to name a few. And these are shops you can find on just about any high street up and down the country.

"Each city has indefinable qualities: are they psychological? Or is there really is something in the air?"

Even my mum is guilty of this obsession with a city's shops (sorry Mum). Recently she said to me: "I love Cardiff, it has such good shops!" She then listed the customary list of retailers and brands and made a remark on how big the Primark is, possibly because their head office is there. This is all fine. Perhaps it's a good thing Cardiff has a nice Peacocks. Yet basing your opinion of a city on what you can buy there undermines the rich culture and history you find if you delve a little deeper and deviate from the high street.

I'm not, and never have been, a Cardiff resident, but off the top of my head I can name a handful of attractions, having only been there only a handful of times. You can visit Cardiff Castle, an architectural anachronism in the modern city infrastructure. See the impressive Millennium Stadium next to the serene River Taff, and sample the local Brains bitter (as well as some of the local atmosphere and chit chat) in one of the many pubs and restaurants. You might even be lucky enough to get tickets for the Six Nations. If not, try the Queen's Vaults adjacent to the stadium for the best atmosphere bar none. Even the players go there sometimes. If that's not your scene, take a trip down to the bay, where you will find more impressive architecture and a vast range of eating options in pleasant waterside surroundings.

While you may not end up with a material object you can hold in your hand, the experiences are worth far more. You have the chance to gain a flavour of the location, its uniqueness and its atmosphere. Each city has indefinable qualities: are they psychological? Or is there really is something in the air? Or perhaps are returning to your hometown and you don't just see it - you feel it. This is the quality that you can take and share and talk about and you won't find it in your Cribbs Causeways, your Trafford Centres, your Bullrings or any other city shopping mall.

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Updated: 17/02/2010


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