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    That was Treibeis.

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      https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-50975362

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        Unlucky: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50979485

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          https://twitter.com/TheProleStar/status/1213159669490835456

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            I feel that a version of that story appears at least annually (and that this one already made the rounds this summer).

            Reading the details makes clear that she had many more legitimate complaints about Thomas Cook's behaviour in this case than the headline would have one believe.

            Someone has to have done a serious sociological study of the Brits on the Costa Blanca, but I have yet to find it.

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              Perhaps posted before, but always good for a look: the house in Buffalo, NY that was trapped in the very '80-est of the '80s decor. Enjoy.

              https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...9-92310#photo0

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                You may be in Buffalo and have kids, but you can still "live Miami Vice"

                My first guess is a someone who played for the Bills, but it was probably a car dealer or something much more quotidian

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                  Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                  I feel that a version of that story appears at least annually (and that this one already made the rounds this summer).

                  Reading the details makes clear that she had many more legitimate complaints about Thomas Cook's behaviour in this case than the headline would have one believe.

                  Someone has to have done a serious sociological study of the Brits on the Costa Blanca, but I have yet to find it.
                  Be careful - and I'm sure you would - not to generalise. Not everyone there is a Brexit /Johnson loving nut. They do like their fish and chips and Sky TV though.

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                    That's why I would like to read a serious study. The tabloid accounts are inevitably caricatures.

                    I'm also interested in what that kind of mass tourism does to the local communities that support it.

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                      I can only talk about my brother's friends in Fuerteventura, but they were decent people who seemed to be well assimilated in the local culture.

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                        It's not so much mass tourism as masses of people living in, usually, fairly well defined residencias, most of which have their own interior worlds with British plumbers, electricians, golf courses etc. but most of all pubs. Many of the residents have only the most basic grasp of Spanish. You'd say this points to a pretty right wing world. I can't speak for other countries apart from Spain and even here my views are no better than anecdotal but one interesting thing has been the reluctance of Tory governments to loosen the 15-year rule on "Brits" having the vote in UK elections and referendums. If the majority of us abroad had been so conservative (small and big c) then you would have thought they would have been falling over themselves to extend the plebiscite.
                        Last edited by Sporting; 04-01-2020, 16:30.

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                          Yeah, I should have put mass tourism in scare quotes, because the population in question is much more established than that, but I'm also interested in places like parts of Cyprus, Mexico, Thailand, etc that have largely given themselves over to foreigners who are there for a week or two.

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                            I have so little knowledge of, or eye for, trends in home decor that I'd have had no sense of that Buffalo home being "eighties". It looks loud and vulgar, sure, but I would have guessed that the sort of people who would have gone for that decor in the 80s would also have gone for something equally tacky in all periods since up to and including today. What features are particularly "period"?

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                              Originally posted by Evariste Euler Gauss View Post
                              I have so little knowledge of, or eye for, trends in home decor that I'd have had no sense of that Buffalo home being "eighties". It looks loud and vulgar, sure, but I would have guessed that the sort of people who would have gone for that decor in the 80s would also have gone for something equally tacky in all periods since up to and including today. What features are particularly "period"?
                              The colors, the loud patterns, the chrome accents, the glass tables and the overall McMansion design of the house itself.
                              Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 04-01-2020, 18:18.

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                                Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                Yeah, I should have put mass tourism in scare quotes, because the population in question is much more established than that, but I'm also interested in places like parts of Cyprus, Mexico, Thailand, etc that have largely given themselves over to foreigners who are there for a week or two.
                                The secret as a local is not to live in those areas where tourists tend to go. One of the secrets of being a tourist is (when not seeing the mandatory sights etc) is to eat in areas where people like me live.

                                NYC is a very touristic city. Does this bother the locals in any way?

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                                  NYC is at least big enough to absorb a lot of tourists. It's places like Cambridge or Florence that really struggle

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                                    Very true, and yet their concentration can still be enervating, especially when areas that were formerly "off the beaten track" become "hot".

                                    In the last 30 years, this has happened (sometimes almost literally overnight) to SoHo, Tribeca, the "Felicity" and "Sex and the City" parts of the West Village, parts of the Financial District near Ground Zero, the "Gossip Girl" parts of the Upper East Side, Williamsburg, and a variety of other places in Brooklyn that have featured on television or Instagram.

                                    In about half of those specific cases, the wave crested sometime ago, and the neighbourhoods are returning to the locals. Though that process can bring a different set of challenges, as it takes years for commercial landlords who have become accustomed to affluent tourist driven rents to realise that the party is over and that they need to go back to renting to hardware stores and dry cleaners. Thus the absolute plague of empty storefronts in (for instance) the West Village.

                                    I am personally thankful that the Mrs Maisel phenomenon has not brought many people to our neck of the woods.

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                                      Originally posted by Sporting View Post

                                      The secret as a local is not to live in those areas where tourists tend to go. One of the secrets of being a tourist is (when not seeing the mandatory sights etc) is to eat in areas where people like me live.

                                      NYC is a very touristic city. Does this bother the locals in any way?
                                      If there weren’t tourists, who would they scoff at and mock?

                                      That’s not unique to New York, of course. People who don’t work in hospitality or retail are rarely fond of tourists.
                                      Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 04-01-2020, 21:02.

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                                        Each other

                                        We've been doing it for centuries

                                        The easy targets have made us soft

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                                          Assault with a deadly-ish seabird: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-51013458

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                                            Hmm. By inference a live seagull too. The beaks on those buggers can do serious damage, I'm curious as to how he managed to catch it.

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                                              https://twitter.com/aoiph/status/1214917759592738818

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                                                Diable Rouge making an early bid for the 2020 Guy Profumo award

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                                                  Anyone fancy a whiff of Gwyneth Paltrow’s lady-parts? Of course you do! Sadly sold out, naturally.

                                                  https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/...er-vagina-goop

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