General Chat

Hi Elsy - sorry - I've only just found your reply! Please don't feel bad about coming over! It's just that they have been encouraging too many people to come here over the past few years by bringing in HUGE ferries and putting hundreds of caravans on sites that only had about a hundred before. - the Island is just too small and the roads are too awful to take the numbers. I know other places are having these problems, but they seem to be worse in such a confined area such as the Isle of Wight. It is a lovely place (mostly!) but feel that encouraging too many people to come here will eventually lead to ''killing the golden egg'' of it's beauty. Allie x

My husband holidayed on the IOW every year when he was little and we have been three times since we married. We usually stay near Shanklin and that side of the island but last time we ended up in Colwell Bay and it was really creepy at night. We were in a chalet and the noises outside, not from anybody you could see, were so scary my son wanted to go to a B & B!! We still like visiting but feel bad now that we are making it uncomfortable for people who live there.

I think you were lucky Gillian!!!! Several neighbours of my friend in Watergate Road (Newport) had their houses robbed while they were out in the garden! Also, friends of ours have been threatened in their own home by some young thugs. Police were called but didn't charge them, instead charged our friends with assault for trying to eject them! They didn't even do anything when these kids threatened ( in front of the cops) to come back later and sort them out ! It's not as idyllic as we would like to think! (Don't have nightmares!) Allie x

Hi OC The thing is - I LOVE the summer and it's a shame to wish it away so we can have a bit of peace. The IW is still busy however in winter now - traffic jams - used to take OH 25 mins max. to get to work - now can take anything up to an hour no matter what time of year it is. Road works on the Island take four times as long as anywhere else, so temporary lights and road closures are always with us! It's such a shame when our youngsters have to move away to get decent work. With no Higher Education over here, the brightest ones leave and never really come back. I don't think families moving over from the mainland realise this. Allie x

I live in West Cornwall, near St Ives and I work in St Ives 3 days a week. I am utterly demented with the sheer volume of cars and people. St Ives wasnt built for cars but the powers that be do nothing to stop cars going through the centre. Their cunning plan to reduce the volume of traffic has been to put up car park charges. As 90% of the car drivers are visitors, they don't know what the charge will be till they get there! St Ives is now filled with shops which are open for a maximum of 16 weeks a year - they make a quick buck and then clear off back to wherever they came from - nowhere in Cornwall, that's for sure. Most of the Tourists are on camp sites or all-inclusive hotel deals and bring their groceries with them or do their shopping in the nearby Tesco, adding very little to the economy of the town.Tesco hand out overtime to their staff who only have 16 hour contracts to cover the quiet time in the winter - so the visitors don't make jobs there, either. My three daughters have all left Cornwall for decent jobs elsewhere - they were all fed up of waitressing and chambermaiding, which is the only employment here.Winter unemployment is about 40% and we have the highest percentage of self employed people in Britain, all barely scratching a living. The Tate Gallery is widely trumpeted as being a major 'earner' in the town (mostly by the Tate Gallery, LOL) but how on earth do you judge if visitors to the Tate spend any money in the town, or just get right back on the coach and head out again. But I love this place, I LOVE it in the winter when its quiet and I wouldnt ever want to live anywhere else now. OC

Hi Babs Yes it's still there (though bits keep falling off of it into the sea!) Years since we've been, but looking forward to the day we can take our little grandaughter there (though don't want her to grow up too quick). Sounds a bit risky taking blind people there - what with all the cliffs etc! Allie x

Allie is blackgang chine still there and still all done up;; Its years since I was there with a load of blind peep;; I had them into everything so they could feel/see things got some funny looks and had few rows that w/e babs

Babs You would NOT want to live in Godshill if you knew what it was really like! It's awful in the summer - jammed with traffic and rubber-necks LOL

Ohh Allie and I wanted to live in Godsill;; still have to win lottery 1st;; Babs

Must be quicker than getting that b****y ferry all the time - then having to drive up the M3, A35, M4, A43 and THEN the M1!

the M1 is quite a long road - it will take you a while to get to Notts from here

Ah goo-on! M1 ? I could be seeing my litle grandaughter in Notts in no time if I lived near it!

Well I live 5 minutes from the M1 & the M25 & I wouldn't swap for the world - well unless someone gave me loads of money :-)

Did I mention the bonfires on sunny days ? Grrrrrrrrrrr............

Teresa, my dear you are so lucky if you are still alive in Norwich, lieing in the road!!!! lol I am currently in the outskirts of Norwich with a field at the end of the garden, but a busy road quite close, and the airport not too far so you can see the planes come down very low, ready to land, and taking off. My own house is close to the city centre in a street parallel to the main road to London, but with the trees and foliage around it can be very peaceful too. I would love to live somewhere near the countryside but within walking distance of a nice beach, best of both worlds really. Maybe we should set up a holiday swap site so we can exchange homes for holidays with other members in different kinds of places, Allie could swap with someone in London etc. But Teresa get out of the road!!

I do sympathise, but here it's all year round! Just so much worse in the summer...... Allie x

Problem is Tourisim is a big Industry now and and some places survive on it , and when you talk about traffic on a Friday here in Dorset you can sit for over two hours in a traffic jam where people are trying to get to either Bournemouth , Poole , Devon or Cornwall along the A31 after coming off the M27 , I work from Southampton sometimes and to get home to Poole on a friday might take anywhere up to three hours when it normally takes 45 minutes , the price we pay for living in a brill part of the country , oh yeah forgot to mention the New Forest :-)))))))))

Sorry to be so slow getting back - broadband has gone on a go-slow (countryside connection?) Christine - I'm sorry to say that the Island HAS changed for the worst in 15 years! You would not believe how many houses are going up. The ferries are so much larger bringing over ten times the amount of cars as before. And the exorbitant cost of the crossing doesn't seem to put people off! Gillian - yes, the occasional 'fix' of a mainland trip is good, but most of the time this involves an overnight stay in a hotel. If you add the cost of the ferry it's something which can't be done too often. I don't think people who want to move here take this into consideration. Thanks everyone who has replied. Sometimes it's good to get these things off 'your chest'. I felt like screaming with all the noise outside when I was in the garden yesterday!!!!!!!!!! Allie

Allie, It could be worse, someone may decide to build one of those religious houses with a tall tower and huge loud speaker at the top to call the faithful, sorry meant congregation to prayer. We'd know when it was time to get the carpet out over in Gosport lol. Len

I do think that the 'right' sort of Tourism is good for a place - unfortunately Minehead has become a victim of the wrong sort! It could have been promoted as the Gateway to Exmoor and would have attracted people who would have appreciated it's natural beauty, instead they built a Butlins and attracted a lot of unsavoury types - the town now has a problem with drugs. As for creating jobs for the locals - it didn't really do that, Butlins pay a pitance in wages and usually end up with staff from other parts of the country. Now you wouldn't really want to work there as it doesn't look good on your CV - I have even known people turn away potential tennants if they have/are working at Butlins. Kaye x