after living and playing music for over 30 years in the south and south west of england and visiting many venues and pubs in both the 'rich' and 'poor' areas nothing could have prepared me for my visit to the north of england. it all started well and i was due to play in a local pub in a place called Timperley, actually its called Timperley 'village'.. don't know where they get the village from though cause believe me its NOTHING like a village. anyway to cut a long story short i had only been in the area for 2 hours and in that time i was mugged (my instrument was taken from me) and to top it all off my car had been broken into as well. is this typical of the north?? you hear about these things on the television and you think that it couldn't be as bad as they state...believe me it is. i've played in some rough areas before but timperley, manchester tops it off. we could do with a list of places NOT to visit.