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
Dogs have owners; cats have staff. Grand-daughters have minions.