Ten on Tuesday

The Ten on Tuesday topic for 7/13 is 10 Things You Like About Where You Live
So here goes.

I don't like living here, never have liked Leeds and never will - so trying to find 10 positives is a good thing for me to do. I could find 100 negatives probably ...

1) transport - being able to get around the city pretty easily by bus (yes they are expensive, sometimes grubby, often late but they do make travel without a car very easy), being able to get pretty much anywhere by train (Leeds has a big mainline station)

2) following on from the above, being able to get out and about - which is something I haven't done in age and really want to do - I am in dire need of a day out and some fresh air and new scenery. So a trip to the bus station soon methinks

3) food. I personally think Leeds is a bit iffy for meals out - there's plenty of choice, but if all you want is a good pub lunch then it's hard to find. I don't like many Leeds pubs, they are dirty (maybe I am just getting too old for that now, I don't know) and haven't found many I want to eat in. BUT the market, and supermarkets - but particularly the market - is excellent for food. A handful of fresh chilli, garlic and some mushrooms cost me 96p last week. Huge choice because of the cultural diversity of this huge city, all very affordable.
More and more of the inside market is shutting down - wake up people of Leeds, make the time to use your market before it vanishes.

4) my gym - not because I am some mad sporty type, far far from it - but because it has a lovely pool, and swimming is my very favourite thing.
Where I used to loive, a small country market town, the only pool is the public one and although fairly new, it's not very nice - definitely not private. The one I use here is lovely, plus it has a sauna, spa pool, steam room etc. Yes, definitely one of the things I love about living here.

(yes that is the actual pool).

5) oh it's so shallow - but SHOPPING! If Leeds doesn't have it, then do without. Unless you are looking for crafts, a wide range of material, or good wool - none of those in the city centre. There;s Hobbycraft a bus ride away, and a couple of wool shops outside the city, but very lim ited otherwise.

But for clothes, shoes, bags, perfume, makeup, coats, menswear, all that sort of thing - spoilt for choice! From Harvey Nichols (go on, treat yourself to at least a wander round - snigger at the prices of the clothes, spoil yourself in the small food hall, and the makeup counters are excellent - MAC, my favourite) to the smaller shops tucked in side streets, there's pretty much every high street name (no John Lewis as yet).

This is the Victoria Quarter, home of many designer shops (Viv Westwood for example) and home of my very favourite shop of all, Rose&Co.

6) ok, this is getting tough now! I don't have any interest in the night life, or in many of the out of town places. Nor is there enough open land to interest me. The canal - I like the canal, and the part that runs near me (very near me) is pretty, but it isn't really the safest of places for a woman to walk alone. So a bit of a quandry - there are green spaces in and around Leeds, but Roundhay Park leaves me cold, and many others just don't feel safe.

7) cinemas - not exactly thrilling, but again this is something that I didn't have access to where I used to live. Museums too - I don't go very often to any of them, but they are around and are pretty damned good. Aha! The art gallery, I love that - we have an excellent gallery (I am biased - the first time I walked in I came face to face with an enormous John Waterhouse painting, bliss). I love the sculpture gallery the most, haven't been in a while but there used to be several gorgeous Barbara Hepworth exhibits.

Under the gallery is the craft centre, where most things are for sale, jewellery etc by independent artists, well worth a look.

8) OK, I am really struggling now. I think I might have to come back to this, as I am stuck.

If nothing else writing this has underlined just how little I go out, which is a mixture of work and health issues, and how little I have got out of this big city.

Give me the countryside, or ideally the coast anyday!