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The town of Swindon, Wiltshire; whose previous claims to fame were a railway engineering works, the UK's first public lending library and the (in)famous Magic Roundabout now has a new claim to fame.
It has just been twinned...
...with Walt Disney World.
I kid you not. But beneath the attention-grabbing headlines, it turns out this is not so much a properly organised twinning, with committees and representatives from both locations etc., but a competition by the theme park - further evidenced by the fact the town will only hold the title for a year (presumably they'll have another competition next year to choose another town), the only benefit it appears to receive is a "holiday party" in January, and the majority of the prize seems to centre around whoever submitted the entry (four free tickets for family & friends to the theme park).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8402686.stm
http://www.waltdisneyworldtwinnedtown.co.uk/about/
Comments
The Magic Roundabout
Who needs Disneyland rides when you can drive round/across/through Swindon's magic roundabout?
Thrills, terror, wacky races and Goofy (aka the driver in front of you) all in one place :)
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Twins?
I thought you were referring to Melinda Messenger's enhanced b... she's from Swindon!
Angharad
Angharad
Swine Town
I'm not the least bit knowledgeable about the etymology of the name "Swindon," but I had the deep displeasure of spending one night there during my 6-week solo "Epic Bicycle Tour of Southern England"© in my youth. The B&Bs there were distinctly grottier than any other town I stayed in, the people less friendly, and the town itself totally ignorable. I've had more excitement driving around a run-down industrial park in a suburb on a Sunday.
I'm not so sure about Disneyworld, but even if it's improved immensely in the last 20 years, I'd have to say, if you ever get a chance to visit Swindon, don't.
What an endorsement
After such a passionate testimony, I'll be sure to stay away from Swindon :-)
Hugs,
Kimby
Hugs,
Kimby
There are worse places
I have to go on an occasional basis to Swindon, as it's the nearest place to me that I can get my LPG van serviced. It's once a year now, thank goodness, but when I was working it was every eight weeks. I would drop it at an industrial unit by the station and then be stuck in the town till they finished.
Fortunately I love shopping so I had all day to wander round the town centre. Trust me, there are worse places in the UK. Much worse.
However, wandering around in the dead of winter sucked, so I would arrange the service on a day my partner was free, and then after dropping the van we would go somewhere on the train: Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Cheltenham come to mind. More shopping, of course, but at least it was somewhere fresh.
That so-called "magic roundabout" was eeevil. I will always remember the look of sheer terror on the faces of poor innocent car-drivers who had never encountered such a thing before as everyone else just nonchalantly launched themselves across it.
For my money, the original and authentic magic roundabout has to be the one in Hemel Hempstead.
Penny