The North-south Relativee Divide In England

Having lived and travelled in the north and south of England, I've noticed something of a divide. For example in a way transport services tend to be somewhat better in the southand there seems to be more in the way of things like yarn stores and knitting socials and probably craft-related things in general. There are also many more options in terms of 0/low-waste stores and vegan places to eat out if one would like to do so. The markets while they still exist in many parts of the north of England, in some places are becoming fewer or simply non-existant. I read recently that there is now a 0-waste shop in Tynemouth in Tyne And Wear in the northeast, but other than that I've found pretty much nothing for getting loose ingredients except those markets that have fruit and vegetables and perhaps the bakeries selling bread etc. Still apart from that 1 shop, I haven't heard of anywhere one could get things like oats or rice or lentils etc. Some yarn stores are also closing down in Newcastle or have already, so the only independent one I know now is in Whitley Bay. Still there are pretty much no knitting or craft social things, unless you count one that is in a coffee shop in one of the towns near the coast. But that is a town I don't even know how to spell, so I can't exactly look it up or ask anyone where to go. The bus services are hit and miss as to whether they talk or not, buut the metro most of the time talks in Tyne And Wear. Even there thouggh, I've noticed the spoken announcements don't always talk, so good luck knowing where you are unless you want to do the old count the stops or ask someone. You could of course also use GPS if that's your thing and hope i lets you know where to get off. Having said all that, the bus pases I find to be more useful there, in that they can be used all day. The one I have from Hereford only letts you use it after 09:00, which has caused me much irritation. If you have or want to go somewhere before that time, a bus pass from Hereford is rather pointless, because unell it's a one-off you still have to pay. Speaking of the north of England, there are a tonne of craft-related things in Yorkshire and in the northwest, but you can forget finding anything of the sort in the east. Noticing that there are also very few things like I've been talking about in the villages in parts of Lincolnshire as well, I asked my Nan and she reckons it's because the north has less money than the south and because where she and Grandad live is mainly villages. I don't think that's necessarily the case. It can be cheaper to only buy what you need and use your own containers or paper bafs than buying a packaged version of something for example. If you want to as I have, you can of course buy things like flasks or mugs or lunchboxes, but at least to begin with you can use what you already have. I think being in villages would be an even better reason for having more fruit and vegetable shops or low-waste places (the UK doesn't have bulk sections of supermarkets as the Americans do). I know there tend to be bakeries in some villages which is always useful. I think it would be nice as well if there were once again more yarn stores and independent craft suppliers in villages and small towns. The nearest I know of to where the grandparents live for example is about half an hour to an hour drive away in any direction and that doesn't have any room for social events or classes etc. I say yarn store, because the term "wool shop" is not entirely accurate as yarn is not necessarily made from wool although it can be. Many times I've often thought I don't belong in the current time. I love the independent shops (bakeries, fruit and vegetable shops, markets generally etc) and would gladly support them any day over the chain stores. The only exception would be if the business was to do something I thought unethical. The thing I don't understand and never have, is why the companies and people selling organic produce put a higher financial price on things than non-organic. I get the powers that be want to make everyone eat the chemicals and processed food and create problems that were not there in the first place, but otherwise food was already organic before they added anything like fertilizers or pesticides to it, so surely it's cheaper to produce organically than non-organically. Weirdly though you have to get things certified as organic or vegan/vegetarian, but somehow even if you know what you produced is that, you can't just write it on there. Even more beaurocracy ...