46 minutes ago, MigL said:

You may be a bit too critical of the UK; it has its fair share of 'quaint'.

I was born in York, the UK's 'quaintest' city, and know of what I speak.

Spaces such as this are invariably populated by supermarkets, banks, fast food franchises and similar commercial ordure. No sense of community whatsoever.

29 minutes ago, sethoflagos said:

I was born in York, the UK's 'quaintest' city, and know of what I speak.

Well, I wouldn't call York 'quaint'; it is larger than the city I live in.
Although it does have many historical attractions ( for myself, at least ).

As opposed to Poznan ( also with its many historical attractions )

Maybe you should get out to visit some of the smaller towns of a few thousand people, where everyone knows everyone else.
That's where you find a real sense of 'community'; and every country has them.

Big city life often forces a certain amount of detachment between inhabitants.
In some BIG cities, people live, work, shop, and get their entertainment in their hi-rise building.
Downtown Toronto ( one hour away ) is one such city; I don't like that kind of life, so I don't live there.

Incidentally, I was born in a little town in South-central Italy, of 4000 inhabitants

Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi - Wikipedia

which I would definitely call 'quaint'.

Oh, and today I learned where you were born, and you learned where I was born.

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by MigL

TIL about the deep scattering layer, aka false bottom, in the ocean

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_scattering_layer

“a layer in the ocean consisting of a variety of marine animals. It was discovered through the use of sonar, as ships found a layer that scattered the sound and was thus sometimes mistaken for the seabed”

Well Chester has the arcades similar to those shown in Poznan, as does La Rochelle in France.

Chester has also just been voted The Uk's most welcomeing city.

https://www.chester.ac.uk/about/news/articles/new-rankings-hailed-as-chester-named-most-welcoming-uk-city-and-makes-global-top-ten-/

As can be seen from the second picture they galleries are two level.