I am from a medium-sized city in England. Well, they call it a city but it's more like a bunch of towns lumped together. It's definitely not a place I recommend to tourists!! The urban parts are very dirty and ugly (even the city centre is an eye-sore - not even in a 'modern, blocky' way, but all grotty), and like every urban area in the country, there's a lot of crime and scummy people. There are queues everywhere, housing is dirt cheap, doctors aren't always good, and the schools have a pretty bad reputation.
On the other hand, it does have a decent amount of shops so I never have to travel far to get anything. And there are a lot of nice, quaint areas that aren't too far away - my university isn't far from me and in a very rural area. There's a lot of access to public transport which is also a bonus (though it can be unreliable!)
And though it is sometimes scary, it's not quite as daunting as I can imagine some of the big cities being (e.g. London, Manchester, Birmingham).
On the whole, I can safely say my hometown is a dump...but since I was born and raised in this area, it's a somewhat homely dump. It's probably not the worst part of Britain, but I'd rather live somewhere else.
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I'm sailing across Spectrum Sea, in my little boat.
The waters of the port were choppy. After I set off, there was a long, massive storm.
Years later, however, the sea calmed. I'm still on tranquil sea, but I'll never reach the Neurotypical Beach.