Attack of the Clones

Well, sort of. According to a recent survey, there are 42 towns in Britain described as 'clone towns', with their high streets dominated by chains of fashion shops.

Sure, it doesn't sound as bad. I mean, in Malaysia we have franchises as well, right?

The only thing is that in Britain, the high-street set-ups is as though it's straight from an identikit. Go anywhere is England and you will see these shops, Woolworths, Next, Boots, SuperDrug, WH Smith, HMV, Marks & Spencer and Games.

During the last summer holidays, we drove all the way to the North-West in a pristine holiday area called the Lake District. I mean, the architecture there is something straight out of Victorian times with quaint shops and tea-rooms. Lovely, until I reached the High Street. Expecting a nice little English town, I saw Woolworths and a host of other chain stores. Wow.

In fact, every single town I've been in the North east has always had the same stores. I told my wife, there is no point in going anywhere else. We'd know what to expect. The exceptions are of course the larger cities such as Manchester and London. They have their clones AND the US shopping clone chains.

The good thing is that by visiting one city, we have visited them all!

Anyway, chalk one more destination to my list of growing towns/cities that I have driven to. This time, it is Newcastle. Just an hour's drive northwards.

Birdman would definitely love this country. They tend to speed a lot. I think a lot of them mix up Mph with Kph. Just about everyone I spoke to tend to drive at 100mph in the highways. I'm sorry, but I tend to put a limit on my top speed when my steering wheel vibrates too much. I mean, it is ok if you have a huge steady car like a Merc or a BMW but when they are driving a smallish car like a Nissan Micra (Kancil Wannabe), it tends to be dangerous.

Why? Because of the dangerous crosswinds. English north-eastern countryside tends to have strong shearing winds that make your car drift to one side. You can get the idea of how powerful it is by looking at the amount of wind farms they have. Another fact is the condition of the car driving at those speeds. Poorly maintained and would probably disintegrate at a touch.

I'm sorry. I prefer driving slower and not have a piece of tree wrapped around me.

I heard they tend to drive faster in the German Autobahn. Then again, I also heard that the German Road authorities are stricter in terms of car maintenance. Get a tire puncture and you MUST change all four tires. Yikes!

Anyway, this is all to justify my snail-like driving skills.