"Nick" wrote in message
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"A H" wrote in message
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What I loathe is people within the GLA boundary denying they are part of
London. Places like Bexley, Bromley etc only exist in their present form
because of London, not the neighbouring county of Kent.

If the people of Bexley want to be associated with and branded as part of
Kent, who are you to force them to share your London identity? I never
understand why Londoners always want to conquer yet more and more
territory
and smear their London branding ever more thinly over areas who actively
reject it.

What annoys me most about this "London" mindset is the staggeringly wrong
assumption that somehow London is the best place on the planet and
everyone
within the boundary should somehow consider themselves lucky to be here
(and
that everyone else outside the boundary must be dying to join, right?!).
Much of London is a polluted, grim urban toilet that festers with high
levels of anti-social behaviour, and is characteried by a total absence of
community.

I wager that Sevenoaks, Swanley, and Dartford are all as dependent on the
London economy as Bexley is. Do you loathe them being allowed to remain
in
Kent (even if that's what they want?)

Sevenoaks and Swanley are not part of the metropolitan built up area, they
are seperate from London. Bexley and Bromley are part of London.


All these people in outer London suburbs who like to deny they are part
of
the metropolis and think they live in rural Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts
or
'Middlesex' should take their heads out of the sand.

It is entirely up to us, the local people, to choose what we want to be
described as. Nobody is pretending that suburban Bexleyheath is rural
Kent - that hasn't been said, and I'm sure you know that. But the
character
of somewhere like Bexeyheath and Sidcup I find *much* closer to the
character and ambience of say, the suburban housing developments on the
edge
of places like Tonbridge, Dartford, High Brooms, Maidstone. How can I
explain this: when I visit somewhere like Maidstone it feels very similar;
when I visit somewhere like Lewisham, New Cross, or Deptford, they seem so
entirely different. Superficially, Bexley is on the edge of the urban
sprawl that includes these latter places, but it is so entirely different
in
character.

You are clearly in denial and living in the past. You live in suburban
London, *not* in a town in Kent.


The only reason they
can still cling to outdated county identities was due to the Post
Office/Royal Mail insisting after 1965 (wrongly) that large chunks of
London
were actually in Kent, Surrey, Essex, Herts or 'Middlesex' when they
weren't.

And, of course, another reason being we have a right to label our area as
Kent if we wish. You'll just have to understand that everyone doesn't
want
to be part of your area or share your identity.

Even this requirement has been dropped by Royal Mail, as always it
will takes generations to catch up...

Postal counties still exist and are maintained, they just aren't one of
the
mandatory address fields. However, as far as I am aware, the RM *still*
recommend the use of the postal county for places such as "Rainham, Essex"
and "Rainham, Kent" to avoid any potential confusion.

I understand why some people like London and understand why others like
Kent. Each to their own. If you want to be part of London and enjoy what
it has to offer then that's just fine with me, but don't deny my
neighbours'
and my right to choose our county affiliation.

Nick

If you feel so strongly anti-London (which is what clearly comes across)
then why are you still living in suburban London, within the Greater London
boundary (GLA area)? Why have you not moved out to your beloved Kent so that
you can really say you live there - not pretend your Bexley, outer London
house is in Kent when it is not?

You're fighting a losing battle. Your refusal to face up to reality i.e.
that cities expand and surrounding hamlets, villages and towns get swallowed
up and become part of the city which fuelled their suburban growth in the
first place, is just sad. Get over it, you live in the London Borough of
Bexley, not a small town in Kent (Kent County Council area).

Andy