Topic: Possible fun?

[debord]

Nothing to do with that silly Twitter page.
This could be fun or it could be a really stupid idea.

Stroud was named the ‘best place to live in the UK’ by The Times last week because it's easy to get to on the train from London, which is annoying because it means no one local can buy a house any more but the Country Set obviously love it.

Commenter on the local newspaper site described it as "Royston Vasey twinned with a twee eco Narnia"
It's small, but XR started there and are really active, Ecotricity have a few sites with Zero Carbonista Vegan Football mogul Dale Vince living in a castle overlooking the town. There's loads of anti-vaxxers, a community action hub called The Beacon, nicknamed 'The 5g Shop' because they keep putting elaborate hand drawn Covid China Conspiracy etc. posters in the windows
Here's an article with very good comments: https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18420392.gp-slams-beacon-stroud-dangerous-wrong-coronavirus-sign/

There's even a massively popular Stroud version of BLM called "Stroud Against Racism", even though the town is 98% white.
basically lots of protests all the time, in a small town with loads of hippies and posh people.
Prince Charles is round the corner, Damian Hirst, Keith Allen, Sade and Cath Kidston are locals and Prince Harry's Nazi uniform was hired there.
Never a dull moment - except it's really boring because all the decent pubs and clubs have been shut for years leaving endless coffee shops, hairdressers and strangely for a small country town, three Turkish barbers.
The best shop in town is called World Foods but the owner got sent down for selling dodgy tobacco which is about the heaviest crime in the area.
Someone dressed in a cow costume protested outside the McDonald's when it opened for months with a sign saying "Your clown isn't funny" (can't find any pictures).

The ‘Stroud Chat and Information Page’ on Facebook has a bit of a reputation for moderation and was apparently set up by XR people because none of the local Facebook groups could cope with the amount of XR spam they were getting. They set up their own ‘Stroud Chat and Information Page’ because there wasn't one, so they could post what they like all the time and now they delete and ban anything they don't like (including other protest groups) in a emoji fuelled cuddly passive aggressive manner.
It's very Stroud.

Here are some screenshots of the sort of thing that goes on there daily. I have no real idea what those situations are, it’s just a sample of the bickering about censorship on there.





THIS IS THE BIT WITH THE MEAT IN-

This group has a lot of creative, funny people so, would anyone please be interested in writing some posts in a fictional Stroud local Facebook Like the Angry People in Local Facebook Group (which the Angry People in Angry Newspapers Facebook group page person told me about).
Doesn't even have to be that relevant to Stroud really, most places share the same shit at the moment.
Suppose that Twitter Guardian episode made me think it would be interesting to see what happened if people on here did come together to make something (apologies if this has happened before, I'm not on the board every day and it's been going years!).
Different viewpoints and random things could be fun in an imaginary real town where really mind bending shit happens all the time.
I've been on and off this board for years and think it is a great resource (although I don't post much), so I hope I'm not taking the piss and that this is seen in the spirit that is intended, to make a funny thing that people in Stroud will enjoy.

The place needs cheering up now as this comment shows:

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The ‘Not Unusual For Stroud’ page shows the wackiness too:
https://www.facebook.com/notunusualforstroud/videos/233215311488969
And there is also a giant cat problem: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14461662/black-panther-spotted-stroud-real-deal/

Not sure what will happen asking a bunch of people I don't know for what could be seen as free labour but it could be fun to see what happens when people just make stuff up in a Facebook group (without doing anything awful) and it could create something interesting, enjoyable and funny.

This is all sort of inspired by the very funny Angry People in Local Facebook Group (which the Angry People in Angry Newspapers Facebook group page person told me about!) and is probably come from lockdown and wanting to do something positive rather than going stir crazy looking after family and being spat on by the government.

Thought it was worth an ask anyway, hope it's something somebody might find funny or fun and no one knows you in Stroud, unless you are all actually from Stroud?

[g0m]

First

[debord]

First

Looks like we are off to a good start

[phes]

Always loved the idea of Scarfolk but the reality of it was lazy and unambitious. It sounds like what you're proposing is a contemporary Scarfolk.

[debord]

Always loved the idea of Scarfolk but the reality of it was lazy and unambitious. It sounds like what you're proposing is a contemporary Scarfolk.

Sort of, hadn't thought of that.
Stroud is a bit like Scarfolk so it's a good comparison.
No long term 'goal', just something that might make people laugh for a few minutes, manufacturing something like that on facebook alone would take ages and be really annoying but there's a lot of wit in here so I thought something might come together really quickly and be funny for a week or so, or just collapse and be a really daft idea

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Made a facebook banner thing, someone in Stroud could say it was racist because the text is white but that can be sorted later

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A friend sent me this picture yesterday, which shows the lengths people are going to without parody (The guy who runs the Beacon is actually a pretty nice guy):

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Probably a stupid idea and a few friends have sent some real Stroud things anyway.

Thought it was worth a go to do something 'fun' and 'engaging' etc.

Will just get back to the sterling work of lurking on here

[bomb_dog]

There’s a place called Chalford near Stroud where it’s trendy and posh to live. People who live nearby in Bussage pretend they’re in Chalford, adding it to their postal address when it’s blatantly in Bussage. Because of this, Bussage is jokingly pronounced Boo-Sarge rather than Buss—ige.

But I’m sure there are regions like this everywhere. Move along.

[debord]

Never knew that about Bussage and Chalford.
Bristol estate agents invented a new area called 'Lower Clifton' so they could charge more money.
You are right, it's a game played everywhere it just happens that currently Stroud is on trend for The Times.

Was going to edit my last post on this thread because in hindsight it may have come across a bit passive aggressive and 'I'll just take my toys away then' etc. but your post really cheered me up, so thanks BOMB DOG

[debord]

Going to post this because it might make some people laugh - there's something going down with Stroud Potato Day in the comments here:
https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/19215427.sandersons-boutique-department-store-team-prepare-opening/