Greetings from Manchester [[England)

**Barbara Nadel** · November-09-10, 09:11 AM

Originally Posted by sumas

I own a small booklet entitled, "Historical Detroit, A Story in Bronze" you might like to copy.

J L Hudson Co, [[which is no more) commissioned 20 Bronze historical markers to dedicate to the city in 1926 to commemorate its own 45th anniverary. Sadly not a single marker still exists. The booklet has brief histories, pictures and drawings and includes a site location map.

Still laughing about the Django description. Actually you should hire him as tour guide, bodyguard and photographer if you wish to get up close and personal in your ambition to seek out and experience our ruins hands on.

Django has a fantastic way with words, I agree. As soon as I have dates I can let everyone know what I'm doing. At the moment I'm trying to juggle work with having parts of my house renovated - a mission I can tell you. I live in an old cotton mill house made of stone and so it has to be treated carefully least it fall into ruin like most of the actual mills around here. Getting the stone treated properly is about as easy as flying to Mars.

Interesting about your Bronze book, I would indeed like to see that some time.

**Barbara Nadel** · November-09-10, 09:21 AM

Weird moment today, pertinent to health care. I was out in the car, viewing our many derelict cotton mills and cloth selling halls when I noticed that our local doctor's surgery is actually right in the middle of the worst of it. Like Detroit, the old cotton towns of the north are still inhabited and we do all still need our services. Luckily for us, we do have them. But for how long, no-one can say. On the radio today there was a report that some economist believe that our close neighbour, the Republic of Ireland is actually bankrupt. I hope this isn't so. I've lived through a couple of recessions before, but never like this. What drives me mad is that, in this country where we know our healthcare and welfare and going to be cut it is the poor who are being punished for the mistakes of the rich. The bankers are still rolling in money! I know people say it again and again and again but the corporates who block your chances of healthcare are just beyond bad.

bartock · November-09-10, 09:52 AM

Ms. Nadel - off topic a bit, but let me just say that the music of Manchester is at worst, the second best in the World [[to Detroit, of course). The Bee Gees, Sex Pistols, were a bit before my time, but Stone Roses, Oasis, Verve [[Wigan), etc., and especially Doves, have put out THE best music of the last 20-odd years.

**Pam** · November-09-10, 01:17 PM

Sex Pistols, were a bit before my time,

Sex Pistols were from London. Did you mean the Buzzcocks?

bartock · November-09-10, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by Pam

Sex Pistols were from London. Did you mean the Buzzcocks?

Right about the Sex Pistols being from London. However, it was their Manchester show that was credited as setting off the punk rock craze [[of which the Buzzcocks were obviously prominent) in the UK.

Pingu · November-09-10, 08:35 PM

Originally Posted by Barbara Nadel

Pingu,. no worries. I know where you're coming from. My old borough, including the sanitised bits, was recently voted the worst place to live in the whole country. I don't believe that Eastenders should apologise any more than Detroiters. We have what we have and we are what we are and let's hear it for diversity!
My main concern at the moment is the weather. Basically I want to visit Detroit in January but, I am also considering the beginning of March.I am hesitating over January because of the cold and snow. Sounds pathetic and soft I know, but I broke my leg earlier this year and I have started to notice that the cold aggravates it. I have pins and plates to hold it together and when the sun goes down [[most of the time here now!) it hurts. Any suggestions? Advice? Winter stories?

Hi Barb, it's like everything else in this country, Viet Nam was a watershed. I wish you could have seen this place back in the Sixties, everything was up for grabs. It's an open secret how Ted Nugent candied out of his obligation, but I'm telling you, as I rode my bike home from school, I heard dozens of garage bands and how many of those guys got caught up in it? All I'm saying is that you would have loved it here, and never given it a second thought. You just took it as it came, thinking this this was kind of how it was like for your folks, but with longer hair and cooler music.

P.S. Back on topic, don't sweat the weather, Lake Michigan acts kind of like the Gulf Stream does in Old Blighty. And don't be shy, feel free to PM me, my little sister married this dude in Clapham Common, and now lives in Brighton. It's all good.

**Barbara Nadel** · November-23-10, 06:15 AM

Yes, the Sex Pistols were from London but also yes that iconic gig was in Manchester. I loved punk! That was really my time and I was, I admit, in love with Dave Vanian of the Damned for years. I loved how spontaneous it all was and also how you could just make it up as you went along. When I went into hospital to have my son in 1981 I had green hair and wore a fireman's overcoat and Dr Marten's boots. You could be young and poor and still have a laugh back then and nobody thought too much about the future because, as the Sex Pistols so rightly said, there was 'no future'.
Echoes of the 80s here at the moment with another royal wedding 30 years after Charles and Diana. God help us all! Only the press are interested this time, oh and the government who would like us to concentrate on that as opposed to thinking about all the cuts to our services that they are making. They are so transparent, it's insulting. I don't know how any government can still believe that people can be distracted by circuses of this type. But then our Prime Minister isn't very bright - there's a surprise. Cameron, not very bright rich boy, before whom we had Gordon Brown who was useless and had a temper like a volcano, before him, the ghastly Tony Blair, then useless John Major and before him the devil herself, Margaret Thatcher. It's not exactly a good record is it? I'd actually like someone else to give it a go next time, maybe a non-politician. Johnny Rotten maybe. He couldn't do any worse and he wouldn't bang on about the royal wedding. I expect he'd ask William and Kate to get married in a registry office [[like most people) and wear clothes from Marks and Spencer or made out of newspaper or old clocks or something really cool like that.

**Barbara Nadel** · November-23-10, 06:17 AM

Originally Posted by Pingu

Hi Barb, it's like everything else in this country, Viet Nam was a watershed. I wish you could have seen this place back in the Sixties, everything was up for grabs. It's an open secret how Ted Nugent candied out of his obligation, but I'm telling you, as I rode my bike home from school, I heard dozens of garage bands and how many of those guys got caught up in it? All I'm saying is that you would have loved it here, and never given it a second thought. You just took it as it came, thinking this this was kind of how it was like for your folks, but with longer hair and cooler music.

P.S. Back on topic, don't sweat the weather, Lake Michigan acts kind of like the Gulf Stream does in Old Blighty. And don't be shy, feel free to PM me, my little sister married this dude in Clapham Common, and now lives in Brighton. It's all good.

Great advice, thanks for that. I think that I'm going to plump for January and try to see Detroit in all its winter glory. By the way we are forecast snow here tomorrow!

**Barbara Nadel** · December-02-10, 05:56 AM

So the snow has come and my country has ceased to function. You lot would laugh if you could see this. Roads closed, airports closed, no rubbish collection and people buying up ten loaves at a time 'just in case'. We can't deal with snow at all here in the UK. When I broke my leg last year there was a lot of snow on the ground and so the ambulance couldn't make it up the hill to my house. So we had to call mountain rescue! In Greater Manchester, one of the biggest cities in this country! But what it does mean is that I can get a lot of work done. Working for yourself can be a lonely and sometimes frustrating occupation but I reckon that if I put the work in now, I can give myself the odd day out on non-writing assignments later. Last week I was over on the Olympic site in London. It's pretty chaotic right now and routes change on a daily basis and so no-one knows where they're going. I tried to find where the old allotments had been before the redevelopment, but amongst all the confusion and the mud it was impossible. One of the old allotment holders was an elderly Turkish man who had spent the last 40 years cultivating a grape vine. He made grape syrup called pekmez out of it and it was his pride and joy. But when the Olympics moved in, he was moved out and his grape vine was cut down without a thought. This is the trouble with redevelopment, it is so often faceless and without thought. Just looking at this instance, grape vines take decades to come to maturity, there was no way the old man could just go somewhere else and start again.
To anyone who has sent me a private message lately, please don't feel upset that I haven't responded. I'm still not yet accustomed to this forum thing and I think I may have accidentally deleted them. So please do send again and I'll get someone competent to help me! Also I am thinking of trying to come to the city in time for the Auto Show in January. Does anyone have the dates? I will brave the snow!

**sumas** · December-03-10, 07:35 AM

If you come, how long do you plan to stay?

There is so much to see and do around here. Us Detroiters are a pathetic bunch because we are so intent on showing off that this city is so unlike the negative press we receive.

**Wingnatic** · December-03-10, 07:58 AM

Info on the North American International Auto Show
http://www.naias.com/

It would be nice if they had the guys from your tv show '' Top Gear '' come over for a meet and greet at the show . We just started our own Top Gear but have big shoes to fill to be as whacky and funny as your guys lol

**Django** · December-03-10, 09:36 PM

If you do come, Sumas I believe has some rooms for rent in a absolutely beautiful home. She might give you a DYES deal.

**Ststannies** · December-06-10, 10:03 AM

So many of you sound so young and optimistic about Detroit......just as I was back in the late 60's/early 70's when I was a teen-ager growing up in the city.......in a pretty gritty part of the city. As a student at Wayne State University I was equally optimistic and hopeful for better things to come. In 1988, after nine years in a nearby apartment, I was optimistic to buy a house in Indian Village and claim my own stake in the city. Back then, we had Van Dyke Place, Benno's, The Royal Eagle and the Harlequin in the neighborhood to go to for a great meal; today, in 2010, they're all closed and gone with not one new business having opened in any of their former spaces. I've finally lost my optimism as I now look around. While there are pockets of hope [[midtown, downtown) there still is an every growing cancer spreading throughout the rest of this huge city. America is unique among countries in its very strong predilection to things new: Anything old is to be discarded, disregarded and disowned. Grand old buildings sit empty and vacant [[homes, office buildings, huge industrial plants, schools, etc) and the economic conditions we face today only portend further disinvestment. I hope I’m wrong in thinking that, ten years from now, General Motors itself will have relocated to Houston or Dallas but, I’m not willing to bet a lot on it. I’m very hardened to the realities of living in the city [[as I still do BY CHOICE) and I do still have unexplainable spasms of hope but, looking at it with eyes that are now over 50 years old [[as opposed to 20), it’s harder and harder to deny the downward progression all around you. So Barbara, please do come and I'd be really interested to hear what your own observations are.

**sumas** · December-06-10, 12:00 PM

Ststan, hope you aren't as hardened off to the city as you wrote. Like you, I grew up here, graduated WSU and am closer to 60 then 50. Like you, I am in the Villages of Detroit. Hope, let me re-phrase that, I am still an optimist when it comes to this city.

I really do understand all that is wrong here but stay open to all that is right. I see amazing people all over this city.

Like you, I look forward to someone from outside giving an unbiased view, the good and the bad.

**REL** · December-09-10, 12:11 PM

Originally Posted by sumas

J L Hudson Co, [[which is no more) commissioned 20 Bronze historical markers to dedicate to the city in 1926 to commemorate its own 45th anniverary. Sadly not a single marker still exists. The booklet has brief histories, pictures and drawings and includes a site location map.

Sumas- I think I know of a marker that still exists. Private message me.

**Gannon** · December-09-10, 01:33 PM

I do still have unexplainable spasms of hope

Don't we all?! What a great quote, thanks.

I'm with Sumas, though.

**hogz** · December-11-10, 01:48 AM

You should have a character use the greeting "What up doe?" particularly if the character is african american.

I saw a fantastic BBC film on Detroit. Best documentary I have ever seen on Detroit. You should check it out. I believe the creator of this forum is in it. Can't recall the title, but it was directed or produced by Julian Temple, so looking through his filmography somewhere online should turn it up.

**hogz** · December-11-10, 01:55 AM

Also, consider writing a scene at a coney island or a scene[[s) inside automobiles. The era you set your story in is going to determine a lot about your writing on detroit

**Barbara Nadel** · December-16-10, 04:34 AM

Originally Posted by hogz

You should have a character use the greeting "What up doe?" particularly if the character is african american.

I saw a fantastic BBC film on Detroit. Best documentary I have ever seen on Detroit. You should check it out. I believe the creator of this forum is in it. Can't recall the title, but it was directed or produced by Julian Temple, so looking through his filmography somewhere online should turn it up.

It was called Requiem for Detroit and it was, I agree, completely wonderful

**Barbara Nadel** · December-16-10, 04:43 AM

Originally Posted by hogz

Also, consider writing a scene at a coney island or a scene[[s) inside automobiles. The era you set your story in is going to determine a lot about your writing on detroit

The book is going to be set in the present day. This is because my series is modern and also because although most of my books are set in either London or Istanbul there is now a global dimension to crime that is common to us all. We all suffer, to a greater or lesser extent, from urban decay, from poverty in the inner cities, joblessness and inequality which can all be precursors to crimes of theft, violence and of drug addiction too. But you're right, I do need to go to out automobile plants and I do plan to write scenes in them.

**Barbara Nadel** · December-16-10, 05:39 AM

Took my car in to have it's MOT test [[Ministry of Transport) we have to have this done by law once a year and of course the poor old thing failed. It's an old Subaru which gets a hammering up and down mountains and in Manchester and London [[mad traffic). And so it's in being fixed now. However because I use a garage to the north of here whenever I take the car in I get to go to an old seaside resort called Morecambe which in on a massive and very lovely bay. That said, the town is wrecked. Previously the holiday haunt of Noel Coward and Vivian Leigh it's now a place of cash for gold shops, cheap property [[for the UK - in the rest of the world even Morecambe is ridiculous), crumbling mansions and ghostly music halls. It is slowly coming back to life especially since the redevelopment of the fantastic art deco Midland Hotel. But the place is still full of heroin and poverty is endemic. That said, the people are fabulous. I know a dance school that is so wrecked its almost at ground level but kids still go there and I met a very nice, and funny, pair of dominatrix ladies in a cafe. All PVC cat suits and whips. Morecambe people are warm, friendly and darkly funny.

We are forecast a white Christmas here in the UK. Don't know how I feel about that!

**Barbara Nadel** · December-21-10, 06:43 AM

I was in London yesterday where I met a lady from Detroit in a bookshop in Piccadilly. We had a chat and I told her what I was doing with regards to setting the new Ikmen book in Detroit. She was really pleased and said that it was about time that foreign authors discovered some US cities outside of New York, LA and San Francisco. Can't disagree with that! But anyway I am home again now and the weather has really closed in. Heathrow Airport is shut and my poor friend from Turkey is stranded in the UK probably until after Christmas. Hope you're all keeping warm. Have a very Happy Holiday [[of whatever sort) and a great New Year!

**sumas** · December-21-10, 09:53 AM

Happy holidays to you too.

**Gistok** · December-21-10, 02:15 PM

Barbara,

In a sense Detroit is somewhat reminiscent of British author Mervyn Peake's GORMENGHAST fantasy book series.... where instead of the "77th Earl of Groan", we currently have the "76th Mayor of Detroit".... although sadly unlike Gormenghast [[where "the stones are forever").... in Detroit the historic fabric is NOT forever....

Welcome to Detroit Barbara!!

**beanietek** · December-21-10, 04:56 PM

yes, welcome to detroit.... i've been watching corrie since i've been in diapers, so i speak your lingo [[sort of) - so if you need an interpreter when you get here, let me know - cause in a few years i'll be in diapers again and won't remember a damn thing!!! You'll love it here, warts and all.