Ecky thumps is Yorkshire, ey up lad get your facts right!! As for saying its grim and cold up here, well, can't argue there, i'd love to live down south, to me it's just a nicer place to be. I don't know much about fracking, is shale gas available everywhere or is it located in certain places and if they do it in Yorkshire the bonus could be that my place of work might "fall down", I really hate that "fracking" place :-)