Whitey Grandad

What dough? 4 years out of 17, and those in a deep recession.

It's very subjective.

First was still in holiday season. Next was Sunday 4:00 on telly. Swansea was Sunday at silly time. And the price is excessive.

Why are you obsessed with this? I give an example, nothing more, of Cowes as being as near to Southampton City Centre as anywhere within the M25 is to the City of London. The fact that they are separated by 11 miles of water just makes that example more extreme. If you're going to include all the London boroughs in the appraisal of London then you have to include all the amenities around Southampton. That is all..

Yes, also called the Square Mile and separate from the City of Westminster.

This definition? . the administrative area of London, consisting of the City of London and 32 boroughs (13 Inner London boroughs and 19 Outer London boroughs): formed in 1965 from the City, parts of Surrey, Kent, Essex, and Hertfordshire, and almost all of Middlesex, and abolished for administrative purposes in 1996: a Mayor of London and a new London Assembly took office in 2000. Pop: 7 387 900 (2003 est). Area: 1579 sq km (610 sq miles) That's bigger than a lot of sovereign states. How can you compare it with the City of Southampton?

That just shows how ridiculous the whole concept is. What are we considering here? How do we define a town? Does London include everything inside the M25.

We were actually talking about the Solent, but just because two locations are separated by a short stretch of water doesn't mean that they are not a connected community.

Or vice-versa. You can't divorce a community from its immediate surroundings. It's ridiculous to say that London, for example, is a great place or a crap place. It's an enormous conglomeration of vastly different communities and can't be compared with somewhere like Chipping Sodbury..

So what if it's water? Were talking about boats here. Cowes is only 11 nm from Southampton, that would fit comfortably. Into the North Circular. Some people see water and think that's where the world ends but actually it's where the rest of the world starts.

You rely on Google too much, I would suggest.

The runway is long enough but not wide enough, apparently.

Royal Yacht Squadron? Cowes week? Round the Island Race?

And all probably smaller in area than London?

A lot of them stay in hotels the night before their cruise.

I met somebody who used to have a box but drooped out when we reached the Premiership and the prices rocketed.

What boos?

No comparison.

85% of the yachts sold in Britain are sold through the sales offices in Hamble, or used to be. Is Hamble allowed?

It all depends on what you want in a town. I never go shopping in Southampton but it has a very local airport, the only theatre south of the Thames that can stage full-scale productions and a major cruise industry that we use a couple of times a year. I think it's a bit stupid to include major cities, these are effectively several 'towns' clumped together. There's good and bad in all of them. Even Swindon has relaxed its parking restrictions.

A referee can change his decision providing play has not restarted.

Indeed they are.

I'm not impressed with it myself, and I was born there.

I'm Spartacus.

So what's the alternative?