Today all of England and Australia's attentions are based on one city. It is not the biggest city in the world, nor the richest, however for so many people at the moment it is hosting one of the most important events this year for England and Australia, the fourth test in the Ashes Series! And we so should win!

If it is shopping you would like we can provide with four major shopping centres, although I've only ever visited the first two, the Victoria Centre, the Broadmarsh shopping centre, the Exchange Arcade and the Flying Horse Walk. The Bridlesmith Gate area is the place for designer shops, and is also the home of the original Paul Smith boutique. In 2004 we were voted the 5th Best Shopping area in the UK, and we've got Robin Hood, so what more would you want?

At the moment the sporting attention in Nottingham is on the Cricket at Trent Bridge, that is probebly for the best, seeing as our other sports are slightly dissapointing. We have two football teams; Nottingham Forest, who under the late Brian Clough, won the European Cup twice, and Notts County of Football , the oldest Football League team in the UK, having been founded in 1862. We have the National Ice Centre, a large ice skating rink, a great place to go throughout the year, although I believe it is most popular during the winter, and it also hosts many of the concerts in Nottingham. When it comes to Iceskating, we boast th Olympic ice dancing champions Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean. The NIC is home to the Nottingham Panthers ice hockey club, one of the UK's top sides. There is also has a rugby club, and a large tennis centre, where the annual Samsung Open is held in the weeks immediately prior to Wimbledon, and is a great place to play tennis at the weekends. If it water that sends your adrenaline rushing then the National Water Sports Centre is the place for you, based at Holme Pierrepont, with a 2000m regatta lake for rowing, canoeing and sailing, and a white water slalom course. A number of other sailing, rowing and canoeing clubs are based along the River Trent.

Nottingham has a good reputation for a lively pub and club scene, and it's problems with drink, and it also boasts some great eating establishments. The large number of students in the city helps to bolster the nighttime entertainment. There are several well established areas of the city centre for entertainment such as Lace Market, Hockley, The Waterfront and The Corner House. The Corner House being my favourite, as it houses the UGC Cinema, it is also a very modern buiding which also contains clubs, restaurants, and even a beauty salon. Next door is our royal centre which has a theatre and the musical auditorium, where I have sung, for those looking for culture.

If you visit the city centre at a weekend you are likely to come across the city's Grebs and Goths congreating within the Market square, also the location of occasional European Markets and other seasonal events. Do not be alarmed by these people, they only look scary, but in reality most of them are quite tame, at least all of them that I am aquainted with are! If you favour the Greb/Goth life, then we also house shops such as Ice Nine and Void in the Hockly Village, I also believe there is even a Goth Pub, although my mates and I avoided the place.

However Nottingham is not perfect, last year during Goose Fair time, after a run in with a rival gang, a teenager, Dannielle Beccan unfortunetly lost her life on her way home, this brought attention to our gun problems, often associated with the area of St Anns and the meadows. It also highlighted our gangs, I have friends who were reluctant to take part in the silences held in respect for Dannielle, because she was a rival to their friends, which is awful that some people cannot forgive, even after death. At the moment there are also a lot of traffic problems within the city, but hopefully this will lead to a better system. There are also issues of pick pocketing, I have only been affected by this once, when my sister's bag went missing when I took her shopping in town once.