I live near go Glasgow but have loads of nice quiet countryside on my doorstep, BUT the one thing I have never got my head around in certain areas of England, like the Midlands, is the fact that you have loads of cities practically right next to each other.
Now I admit that you could just think of them as being big towns, but I am afraid that to me, cities should be a remotely sensible distance appart, never mind the fact that there must be far, far too many people and general urban sprawl to make it a bit.... Well, crap!
It is also why I could never live somewhere like London - It is just TOO big!!