Sunday 3 May 2009

Old Hampshire Calling New Hampshire

As usual, the rich and famous are making promises they don't intend to keep, this time they are threatening to move abroad because the Government would prefer to raise the tax on the 2% who earn above £150,000 annually than tax the 98% who don't.
Leading the exodus is Michael Caine who mumbled something about moving back to the United States, the scene of one of his career highlights, starring alongside Kermit in the Muppet Christmas Carol.
As i have yet to hear anyone complain about another of our washed up actors packing up and moving across the Ocean, i suspect that nobody much cares but it does make me wonder if i was a rich actress who didn't want to contribute to my own countries tax pot and preferred to hand it to the American Tax man instead, where in America would i head?
As i was born and raised in the English county of Hampshire, i would probably be drawn towards New Hampshire with the reasoning that its the same place, only newer and full of Americans.
A quick look at google maps shows that New Hampshire is in the top right hand corner of the USA and indeed there is my birthplace, Portsmouth, and it's a port so that's the same.
Looking a bit further a field there is also a place called Portchester, Newport and Milton, obviously all named by the founders after the places in Old Hampshire. Then it starts to go a bit strange.
Unless i am very much mistaken, Exeter, Plaistow, Londonderry, Alton, Manchester, Lancaster, Stratford, Plymouth, Bristol, Peterborough and Enfield are all way outside Old Hampshire but i guess maps were sketchy back then.
Don't know what the excuse could be for placing the likes of Berlin, Lisbon and Bethlehem in New Hampshire though, these places are not even in the same country as the place it took its name from.
I don't know if the inhabitants of New Hampshire, and Portsmouth in particular, ever actually wonder what things are like in the original Hampshire and Portsmouth but i would love to find out. I love the idea that people left here, went there and made a new and improved version of Portsmouth and Hampshire.
The website 'City Guide to Portsmouth, NH and the Seacoast' has some great information about the City and links to media sites in Portsmouth and New Hampshire so i'm going to see if they want to exchange information about similarities between the old place and the new place.
Meanwhile, if you stumble across some elderly British actors wondering around your American cities and looking lost, just ignore them.

7 comments:

Cody Bones said...

Lucy, based on your political leanings, I would imagine that New Hampshire (Live Free or Die) would probably be the LAST place here in the states that you would want to reside. Very libertarian, on the other hand, I would be HUGE there. You might want to consider the peoples republic of Massachusetts if your looking to emigrate. On the other hand if your looking for graft and corruption and a GRAND scale, come here to Chicago Illinois. We'll show you hundreds of ways to cheat the taxpayer, and get your no good cousins on the city or county payroll.

Falling on a bruise said...

I did have an ill-thought out theory based on recent Dem/Rep voting patterns that the central strip of states was where all the right wingers lived and the coastal states were lefty places. New Hampshire sure isn't like the Old Hampshire.
Chicago makes me think of Due South.

Cody Bones said...

Lucy, don't make the mistake of lumping all "right" wingers in the same category. There are Libertarians, Neocons, Social Conservatives, Classic Liberal, Minarchists, and religious nutjobs. The people of New Hampshire are very much small government, lower taxes, and just let me live my life with out too much govt. interference. Not very religious or neocon either. Not all members of the "right" and the "left" fit neatly in little labeled slots.


Oh, and for God's sake, don't let that show be a guide to Chicago.

Falling on a bruise said...

I did promise you it was an ill-thought out theory judged on the blue and red states in the last few elections.

I will continue to think of Chicago as the place Ray Vecchio and Benton Fraser of the RCMP and his wolf protect you all. Hopefully all your villans are just as bad shots as they seemed in the series.

Anonymous said...

Lucy,

Texas offers lots options. Consider these:

- Paris, Texas (yep we have a Paris right here in Texas)
- New London, Tx (no fish-n-chips)
- Odessa, Tx (How yawl Kommrads doing?)
- New Berlin, Tx (Herr Schmidt ja!)

Q

Nog said...

1) I'm pretty sure most Americans are not very aware of the origins of our placenames. I'm maybe 1 out of 50 who has ever heard of a "Duke of York".

2) New Hampshire would probably be somewhat to your political tastes. Sure they have a libertarian streak, but they aren't the crazy uneducated religious sorts (as mentioned above). And there are some states with a weird mix of Democrats for state and local government and Republicans for federal government. In the North, this tends to mean a pretty mild/moderate political scene.

And their Repubicans tend to be "Yankee Republicans" of a more leftist persuasion. Also, independents (folks who are neither Democrats nor Republicans) can win a state legislature seat once in a blue moon. And the state is swinging Democrat.

3) The climate is mild and probably somewhat like the climate of England (at least relative to Texas and New Mexico).


So it might actually be a good choice...


-Nog

Anonymous said...

Noah,

I've heard of Duke University...

Q