The Most Boring Place You Have Been To

[Emil Miller]

For reasons that I will not go into here, I once spent a week in Bodmin which is the county town of Cornwall. It was the most incredibly boring place I have been to. The most interesting building was an old prison that was no longer used and that was it. The whole town seemed to be built of some indeterminate grey material and I kept expecting to see the proverbial "one horse" hitched to a lampost. Needless to say, I never returned but the town has remained firmly fixed in my memory as the most nothing place imaginable.
I shall be interested to see what other LitNetters come up with.

[TheFifthElement]

Well it would have to be a tie between Flint and Dudley Port train station. Grim and boring.

[MarkBastable]

Peterborough.

For work reasons, I was staying in a house on the outskirts of Peterborough. Not even the middle of nowhere. The suburbs of nowhere. I spent three nights a week in a cul-de-sac of Seventies Barratt homes, like Brookside but less convincing.

One night, about eight-thirty, I got a cab from my place of work to my Matalan maisonette, and as we made our way through the identical residential roads - Oak Street, Elm Street, Yew Street, Elder Street, Monkey Puzzle Boulevard - we saw two girls standing on a corner talking and, a bit further on, a bloke walking his dog to the off-licence - and as we tucked into the kerb to let a Mondeo pass on the other side, the cab driver pursed his lips and, without a scintilla of irony, he said, "Well. Busy round here tonight."

[oopsycandy]

Rhyll in Wales, I went it was closed :)

[Lokasenna]

Two locations in my beloved Wales! Gosh!

Have none of you ever been to Milton Keynes? It combines the architectural pleasentness of the Soviet Union's finest planners with the civic ambience of something from the darkest, most twisted nightmares of H. P. Lovecraft.

To quote the late, great Linda Smith: "It isn't twinned with anywhere, but it has got a suicide pact with Dagenham."

[SleepyWitch]

Have none of you ever been to Milton Keynes? It combines the architectural pleasentness of the Soviet Union's finest planners with the civic ambience of something from the darkest, most twisted nightmares of H. P. Lovecraft.

hehehe, you beat me to it. I was about to mention Milton Keynes.
I visited it two weeks ago. You see, I'm a Geographer and Milton Keynes is a New Town and I had to study it for my final exams. So I've been meaning to visit there forever and never got round to it until two weeks ago. There might be something interesting to see somewhere in this town, only there's no way to find out because all the buildings are the same height and the streets are so wide that it's absolutely impossible to see whether there's anything interesting ahead.
I did manage to find the shopping centre and lost my way in it. So I ended up buying three books although I meant not to buy anything. I'm sure it's a conspiracy to make unsuspecting visitors buy stuff, because the only place you can find is the shopping centre.

[Amundsen]

In Croatia at beach, long hours, long days, one week. I have read The Godfafther twice in that week. I'm not beach type.

[Delta40]

Newdegate, Western Australia. A sprinkling of houses, a post office, a general store, a petrol station and a pub. Not much else really. One of those outback towns 8 hours from anywhere exciting (i exaggerate a little but you get my point) People are very friendly though. That makes a difference, always. And a cold beer of course.

[Virgil]

Socorro, New Mexico. Enough said. :D I had to actually spend over a week, including a weekend there. The whole town is about a mile long and in the middle of ugly desert. Some deserts are interesting. That wasn't. I think there was one restaurant (Mexican, not bad but I've had better) in the whole town, and a fleabit hotel that had desert dust all over. The only activity was sitting at the hotel bar and drinking. Here's a picture of the surroundings off google:

http://www.1881.com/vdm2347.jpg

[Joreads]

Delta is right there are a lot of towns like that in Australia -but the people and the beer make up for it.

[losttvseries]

kitchen!!

[Zee.]

I hate isolated **** holes. To put it bluntly.

Fort Worth, Texas..
shudder.

[Silas Thorne]

Heaven's a pretty boring place. At least it was the last time I was there. All these people playing golf in the midday sunshine, and a limitless supply of golf balls they don't charge you for. Plus the chocolate and icecream didn't melt and run down your hand so you can lick it off. Disappointing. Next time I'm going to the other place that has good resorts.

[imthefoolonthehill]

Jr. High.

[PoeticPassions]

In Croatia at beach, long hours, long days, one week. I have read The Godfafther twice in that week. I'm not beach type.

ha! one of the most boring places I have been to was also in Croatia... I AM the beach type however, but I was in this tiny place called Sreser... only old people and people with small children were there. THERE WAS NOTHING TO DO. There was one grocery store that closed really early, and one cafe... that was almost always empty. I had to stay a week with my mom, my sister, and her crazy and ****ole ex-husband (whom I kept getting into arguments with). I read Catch 22, studied, wrote in my journal, and read another book (can't even remember which one) all in those seven days of nothingness. (I did get really tan, however)

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=Virgil;671345] The only activity was sitting at the hotel bar and drinking.


So it wasn't all bad then.

[amalia1985]

My aunt's house! Boredom to death!

[Tournesol]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't boredom a state of mind? Yes, some places may lack in mental and emotional stimuli, but one's state of mind, while in most cases is a reaction to stimuli around one, should be able to 'save' one from 'dying' from a state of boredom, shouldn't it?!

[well, I guess it's pretty easy, and a bit naive, for me to say that...I live in the Caribbean, surrounded by beautiful colours, and with the nearest beach not more than an hour away!]

[SleepyWitch]

Socorro, New Mexico. Enough said. :D I had to actually spend over a week, including a weekend there. The whole town is about a mile long and in the middle of ugly desert. Some deserts are interesting. That wasn't. I think there was one restaurant (Mexican, not bad but I've had better) in the whole town, and a fleabit hotel that had desert dust all over. The only activity was sitting at the hotel bar and drinking. Here's a picture of the surroundings off google:

http://www.1881.com/vdm2347.jpg

hey, I actually like this pic! but then, I liked the Mongolian steppe and it didn't even have any shrubs in it like your desert.

[Emil Miller]

hey, I actually like this pic! but then, I liked the Mongolian steppe and it didn't even have any shrubs in it like your desert.

I was actually talking to a Mongolian girl last night, they have the most eclectic selection of bar staff imaginable at my usual watering hole, and she told me she actually prefers London to Uhlan Batour. Either she's easily pleased or the Mongolian capital must be an absolute no no.

[SleepyWitch]

I was actually talking to a Mongolian girl last night, they have the most eclectic selection of bar staff imaginable at my usual watering hole, and she told me she actually prefers London to Uhlan Batour. Either she's easily pleased or the Mongolian capital must be an absolute no no.

Ulaan Baatar (sp?) is awesome! I loved it. but it depends on what you're looking for in a city, of course. I liked the temples, the run-down socialist-Asian architecture, the food etc. But there's also a lot of squalor that you don't have to deal with on a daily basis as a tourist.

[mono]

Two words: Spokane, Washington.
Years ago, during summer, I went on a roadtrip with some friends that went from my home (Portland, Oregon), to Southern California, east through Arizona, Utah, a few places in Nevada, through Idaho and Western Montana, then our car broke down in Spokane, a city in northeastern Washington, a few hundred miles from Portland. Of course, my friend owned an imported car (VW), and we had to wait days for the parts, stuck in Spokane - a flatland, desert-like town with almost nothing to do, and I had never felt so bored in my life. On the good side, I mastered the game of solitaire. :)

[Emil Miller]

:yawnb:QUOTE=SleepyWitch;671541]Ulaan Baatar (sp?) is awesome! I loved it. but it depends on what you're looking for in a city, of course. I liked the temples, the run-down socialist-Asian architecture, the food etc. But there's also a lot of squalor that you don't have to deal with on a daily basis as a tourist.[/QUOTE]

Sorry about the spelling, I was using the former method that I recall from my schooldays; I think the Mongolians have changed it since. You're right about the squalor being missed by tourists, with their eyes fixed on the Buckingham Palace etc. etc., they probably don't pay too much attention to the rubbish that seems increasingly to encumber the streets of London.

[Niamh]

One of my best friends will kill me for this but Turiff. I love scotland, but the only highlight of this entire town was a shop. About an hour from Fyvie Castle, but didnt get to go because of other engagements.
Oh and i cant forget that small town near Sleaford in Lincolnshire. It had one pub, and the only shop was a furniture shop... not even a newsagents so the people who lived there could get milk without having to drive to sleaford.

[kilted exile]

I have also experienced the hell-hole that is Milton Keynes. However, from a literary standpoint, should we not also consider Slough (http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1522.html)?

[Virgil]

The only activity was sitting at the hotel bar and drinking.

So it wasn't all bad then.
Well, it's all relative. I'd rather have been drinking somewhere else. ;) Good thought for a thread by the way. :)


hey, I actually like this pic! but then, I liked the Mongolian steppe and it didn't even have any shrubs in it like your desert.
Actually the shrubs made it worse. They are just wirey weeds that don't mind the heat. The have almost no color or leaf. I've never been to the Mongolian Steppe, but I was afraid of rattle snakes over in Socorro. ;)


Two words: Spokane, Washington.
Years ago, during summer, I went on a roadtrip with some friends that went from my home (Portland, Oregon), to Southern California, east through Arizona, Utah, a few places in Nevada, through Idaho and Western Montana, then our car broke down in Spokane, a city in northeastern Washington, a few hundred miles from Portland. Of course, my friend owned an imported car (VW), and we had to wait days for the parts, stuck in Spokane - a flatland, desert-like town with almost nothing to do, and I had never felt so bored in my life. On the good side, I mastered the game of solitaire. :)
Never been to Spokane, but used to have some business trips to Tri Cities, Wash. a couple of hours south of Spokane I think. I am familiar with the desert there, but at least in Tri Cities there were some hopping country western bars with good live music and some wild women and crazy cowboys. :D

[SleepyWitch]

I have also experienced the hell-hole that is Milton Keynes. However, from a literary standpoint, should we not also consider Slough (http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1522.html)?

:lol: what a hilarious poem :)

[Emil Miller]

[QUOTE=Tournesol;671498]Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't boredom a state of mind?

I'll try to remember that should I find myself in Milton Keynes.

[Nightshade]

Jr. High.

I was going to say something along the lines , but data entry offices, seriously thouse places are evilly morbidly boring, unless they let yu play on theinternet/have music on at the same time in which case they can be ok.

[jon1jt]

Nashville, Tennessee. Very fake.

[bouquin]

Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia > just block after block of monstruous, newly constructed, ugly-looking hotels!

[SoonerSoul]

The SECOND time i went to Disney Land

[1n50mn14]

they probably don't pay too much attention to the rubbish that seems increasingly to encumber the streets of London. OBVIOUSLY you've never been to Toronto, or anywhere in Canada, for that matter... I found London pleasant and clean and relatively rubbish free. The Underground was clean, the streets were clean, the parks were clean. But maybe that's only comparative to the Hell-hole I crawled out of.

Most boring place I've ever been: I grew up on Manitoulin Island/Wahnipate (outside of Sudbury, Ontario). All small towns. Tehkummah was a town I lived in when quite young, and am still obligated to visit grandparents in. It isn't even a town- there's no town center. Just a few houses scattered in the woods and fields, a few farms. There are two or three stores: an old general store, a summer tourist-y ice cream place, a gas station, and a town hall. Oh yeah, and a park that's overgrown with weeds and bush.