Is the UK really THAT bad?
Discussion
Hi all,
I've been lurking around on this site for a while now but don't tend to post much. Anyhoo, here goes -
So i'm currently living in Toronto with the OH on a 2 year secondment with work. We're just over half way through and should be returning to the UK towards the end of August next year.
What's the problem then? Well, there isn't really a problem but we're both really looking forward to coming back to the UK. People here in Canada seem genuinely shocked when we tell them we're looking forward to going home. We both miss it a lot - the climate (weird one, i know but it tends to be mild enough all year round to go outside, at least!!), the sense of humour (healthy sarcasm and pessimism don't seem to exist here), the heritage, the sport, the bacon, etc, etc.... reading some of the forums on here has me in stitches and reminds me of the British SOH.
I know there are a lot of problems back home but there are problems everywhere these days - a chap had his head cut off on a bus over here the other day!! We could certainly learn some things from the Canadians about being proud of your nationality.
so.... Is it really THAT bad back home? or am i just mad for missing good ole England? I'm intringued to hear what you folks have to say because I think the media might be sensationalising how bad things are back home...
Cheers,
Ben
I've been lurking around on this site for a while now but don't tend to post much. Anyhoo, here goes -
So i'm currently living in Toronto with the OH on a 2 year secondment with work. We're just over half way through and should be returning to the UK towards the end of August next year.
What's the problem then? Well, there isn't really a problem but we're both really looking forward to coming back to the UK. People here in Canada seem genuinely shocked when we tell them we're looking forward to going home. We both miss it a lot - the climate (weird one, i know but it tends to be mild enough all year round to go outside, at least!!), the sense of humour (healthy sarcasm and pessimism don't seem to exist here), the heritage, the sport, the bacon, etc, etc.... reading some of the forums on here has me in stitches and reminds me of the British SOH.
I know there are a lot of problems back home but there are problems everywhere these days - a chap had his head cut off on a bus over here the other day!! We could certainly learn some things from the Canadians about being proud of your nationality.
so.... Is it really THAT bad back home? or am i just mad for missing good ole England? I'm intringued to hear what you folks have to say because I think the media might be sensationalising how bad things are back home...
Cheers,
Ben
I don't have a problem with life in general in the UK. As you've surmised, the media love bad news as it sells more newspapers. I live in a fairly nice place but back onto a council estate - I've not had any problems at all, much to people's surprise it seems.
I can't think of anywhere that would better suit my life at the moment - there are compromises wherever you go.
I can't think of anywhere that would better suit my life at the moment - there are compromises wherever you go.
Its overcrowded, dirty, expensive, stuffed full of chavs, nobody accepts responsbility for anything.
The government wants to spend all your cash on spying and controlling its people rather than fixing real social issues, (illigal)immigration is out of control & has pretty much bankrupted the country for the next 10-20 years.
Life can be great in the UK if you can find the right spot and either afford to live there or get a decent job close by. Reality for most is a bag of s
te though, even if they dont realise it.
Plasma TV's, new cars and 2 weeks in Spain is the measure of lifes qualities.
The government wants to spend all your cash on spying and controlling its people rather than fixing real social issues, (illigal)immigration is out of control & has pretty much bankrupted the country for the next 10-20 years.
Life can be great in the UK if you can find the right spot and either afford to live there or get a decent job close by. Reality for most is a bag of s
te though, even if they dont realise it.Plasma TV's, new cars and 2 weeks in Spain is the measure of lifes qualities.
RobDickinson said:
Its overcrowded, dirty, expensive, stuffed full of chavs, nobody accepts responsbility for anything.
The government wants to spend all your cash on spying and controlling its people rather than fixing real social issues, (illigal)immigration is out of control & has pretty much bankrupted the country for the next 10-20 years.
Life can be great in the UK if you can find the right spot and either afford to live there or get a decent job close by. Reality for most is a bag of ste though, even if they dont realise it.
Plasma TV's, new cars and 2 weeks in Spain is the measure of lifes qualities.
Rob,The government wants to spend all your cash on spying and controlling its people rather than fixing real social issues, (illigal)immigration is out of control & has pretty much bankrupted the country for the next 10-20 years.
Life can be great in the UK if you can find the right spot and either afford to live there or get a decent job close by. Reality for most is a bag of s
te though, even if they dont realise it.Plasma TV's, new cars and 2 weeks in Spain is the measure of lifes qualities.
I see from your profile that you are in NZ... how long have you been there? I assume you're originally from the UK?
Ben
The UK isn't bad, but I'd stop feeling that my future lies elsewhere in Europe if...
There were half as many people
Essentials/unavoidables (food, housing, energy, water rates, council tax) cost half as much as they do
It was warmer and sunnier
Motorists weren't a persecuted cash cow
The focus of the police was on crimes rather than fines
Respect rather than entitlement was instilled in people from birth
There were half as many people
Essentials/unavoidables (food, housing, energy, water rates, council tax) cost half as much as they do
It was warmer and sunnier
Motorists weren't a persecuted cash cow
The focus of the police was on crimes rather than fines
Respect rather than entitlement was instilled in people from birth
The UK is a perfectly good place to live if:
There are fewer Police on the roads these days than when I started driving in the mid-1980s, such that if I want to, I can drive at whatever speed I want and go unpunished. I merely have to remember where the speed cameras are. They don't move, so it's pretty easy.
On roads where moving camera vans are, I just take it easy.
If I need someone to plaster a wall/ceiling, there are more people than ever available thanks to Eastern European immigration, and the quality is better than ever. In fact, thanks to a new fixed-price mentality, the only time I worry about being ripped off is if I take my car to a main dealer. But I don't. I take it to a local independent garage staffed by the aforementioned Eastern Europeans, who do a proper job for a proper price.
It's a shame that our own native workforce no longer wants to work, and that our govt wants to pay them not to, whilst they impose more and more controls over our freedoms, but to be honest if you don't follow the political news, you'd never know in practice, so you can go about your daily lives with more cash in your pocket than any generation before you.
Just beware that there are scammers wanting to overpay your for "buying" your car, wanting you to enter you bank details into a website linked to in their email, wanting to give you £6million if you could just pay a fee of £2,000 up-front, and wanting to sell you double glazing (oh, that could be genuine, but I wish they'd stop calling).
The weather's usually wet or grey but that gives rise to a fabulous countryside. We've overpaved our land of late, and built on floodplanes. This has led to flooding but you're too clever to buy in one of those areas, and whilst the new taxation system for big cars like 4x4s might look a bit steep, in the general scheme of things, it's not, so you can plough through the worst that the weather throws at you on your way to your home atop a hill.
Most Brits, despite moaning about their relative poverty, still afford foreign holidays, thanks to cheap airlines. Our parents were considered "rich" if they managed a single holiday abroad in a decade.
In fact, there is a negative for living here... all the moaners who would have you believe it's not a good place. But you can ignore them. They probably come from London.
- You don't live in London
- You don't read the newspapers or watch BBC news
- You ignore threads like this one
- You have no interest in politics
There are fewer Police on the roads these days than when I started driving in the mid-1980s, such that if I want to, I can drive at whatever speed I want and go unpunished. I merely have to remember where the speed cameras are. They don't move, so it's pretty easy.
On roads where moving camera vans are, I just take it easy.
If I need someone to plaster a wall/ceiling, there are more people than ever available thanks to Eastern European immigration, and the quality is better than ever. In fact, thanks to a new fixed-price mentality, the only time I worry about being ripped off is if I take my car to a main dealer. But I don't. I take it to a local independent garage staffed by the aforementioned Eastern Europeans, who do a proper job for a proper price.
It's a shame that our own native workforce no longer wants to work, and that our govt wants to pay them not to, whilst they impose more and more controls over our freedoms, but to be honest if you don't follow the political news, you'd never know in practice, so you can go about your daily lives with more cash in your pocket than any generation before you.
Just beware that there are scammers wanting to overpay your for "buying" your car, wanting you to enter you bank details into a website linked to in their email, wanting to give you £6million if you could just pay a fee of £2,000 up-front, and wanting to sell you double glazing (oh, that could be genuine, but I wish they'd stop calling).
The weather's usually wet or grey but that gives rise to a fabulous countryside. We've overpaved our land of late, and built on floodplanes. This has led to flooding but you're too clever to buy in one of those areas, and whilst the new taxation system for big cars like 4x4s might look a bit steep, in the general scheme of things, it's not, so you can plough through the worst that the weather throws at you on your way to your home atop a hill.
Most Brits, despite moaning about their relative poverty, still afford foreign holidays, thanks to cheap airlines. Our parents were considered "rich" if they managed a single holiday abroad in a decade.
In fact, there is a negative for living here... all the moaners who would have you believe it's not a good place. But you can ignore them. They probably come from London.
MitchT said:
The UK isn't bad, but I'd stop feeling that my future lies elsewhere in Europe if...
There were half as many people
Essentials/unavoidables (food, housing, energy, water rates, council tax) cost half as much as they do
It was warmer and sunnier
Motorists weren't a persecuted cash cow
The focus of the police was on crimes rather than fines
Respect rather than entitlement was instilled in people from birth
Apart from the warmer and sunnier bit (and the downside would tend to be colder winters) I doubt there's anywhere much different to the above.There were half as many people
Essentials/unavoidables (food, housing, energy, water rates, council tax) cost half as much as they do
It was warmer and sunnier
Motorists weren't a persecuted cash cow
The focus of the police was on crimes rather than fines
Respect rather than entitlement was instilled in people from birth
And as for Toronto, I spent a week there a couple of years ago and though it was a weird place. It didn't seem to have any kind of "vibe".
Mars said:
RobDickinson said:
Mars proves my point.
Mistaking quality of life for cost of possesions.
It's free over there then?Mistaking quality of life for cost of possesions.
Incidentally, where in the UK did you move from?
I moved from the Northwest, had a decent house, decent job, decent car. I've also lived in quite a few other areas of the UK.
benhunt said:
Mars said:
RobDickinson said:
Mars proves my point.
Mistaking quality of life for cost of possesions.
It's free over there then?Mistaking quality of life for cost of possesions.
Incidentally, where in the UK did you move from?
But you know all that. I'm in Redditch. Lemme know when you're over here and we can go for a pint.
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