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(I'm a Yank) Besides Land Rovers, I love the fish & chips, especially if the fish a chunk of skate or cod egg. (I am told F&C has been surpassed in popularity by curry/Indian takeout and that fried chicken is the new new hot thing.)
I also just recently "discovered" (call me Columbus!) the 10 year old game show "Distractions" with the superb Jimmy Carr. In episode 1, for one of the contests they bring out some rather "past prime" nudists, one for each contestant. The teams have to run a short course, doing leap frog, piggy back and wheelbarrow. There's no blurring of the wobbly bits, it's all hanging out and loose.
On episode 2, the winner gets 3 ear piercings and one nipple - no pain killers.
I'm impressed it was aired on what I assume was broadcast TV. (yes, I know the US is hypocritical re: violence vs sex on broadcast TV)
Seriously, I have met many nice people, find the relatively highly-structured society interesting, especially since I don't live there. :-) Love the food, beer, cider and biscuits! And boy to I feel rich with a pocketful of pound coins! :-)
Your post came at a good time for me, since I was just reading the 2013 list of friendliest nations and nothing in the UK was in the top 10, and there were many comments regarding just how rude and intentionally misleading Londoners were to visitors. I would like to visit there very much, and I hope that people are at least as nice as in the U.S.
Your post came at a good time for me, since I was just reading the 2013 list of friendliest nations and nothing in the UK was in the top 10, and there were many comments regarding just how rude and intentionally misleading Londoners were to visitors. I would like to visit there very much, and I hope that people are at least as nice as in the U.S.
Just as New York is not the USA or Paris is not France, London is not the UK. Worth visiting but the UK should not be judged on the way Londoners behave.
Just as New York is not the USA or Paris is not France, London is not the UK. Worth visiting but the UK should not be judged on the way Londoners behave.
That's a good point, and I guess if NYC was the only place someone went to in the U.S., they would have a very poor picture of what the whole country is like (not that the people there are any worse or better than anywhere--it is just not representative at all of the rest of the U.S.).
I have lived all over, and have recently ended up back in the tiny place in PA where I grew up, and the people here seem to have changed for the worse, and compare most unfavorably to some of the people I've known in larger places (DC, NYC, and Denver).
As I've said in other posts, I think there are good and bad everywhere. I have never lived in a city where one of the main things and biggest draws is tourism/tourists, and maybe that does wear on your nerves after a while. I don't know.
Do any of you live in a touristy place? How do you deal with tourists?
That's a good point, and I guess if NYC was the only place someone went to in the U.S., they would have a very poor picture of what the whole country is like (not that the people there are any worse or better than anywhere--it is just not representative at all of the rest of the U.S.).
I have lived all over, and have recently ended up back in the tiny place in PA where I grew up, and the people here seem to have changed for the worse, and compare most unfavorably to some of the people I've known in larger places (DC, NYC, and Denver).
As I've said in other posts, I think there are good and bad everywhere. I have never lived in a city where one of the main things and biggest draws is tourism/tourists, and maybe that does wear on your nerves after a while. I don't know.
Do any of you live in a touristy place? How do you deal with tourists?
I lived and worked in NYC for 10 years and the tourists would often drive us crazy. Especially when you were running for the 6.38 train and there were these people standing in the middle of the sidewalk gawking at the Chrysler Building and getting in everyone's way.
Times Sq. was pretty bad too. Tourists seemed to think that the traffic lights didn't apply to them. Only one thing to do, gun the engine and lean on the horn. Civility simply didn't work.
These are the problems you get when you mix a working city with a tourist destination.
Your post came at a good time for me, since I was just reading the 2013 list of friendliest nations and nothing in the UK was in the top 10, and there were many comments regarding just how rude and intentionally misleading Londoners were to visitors. I would like to visit there very much, and I hope that people are at least as nice as in the U.S.
Without exception, I found Londoners to be helpful, courteous, and friendly. I can't wait to go back.
I lived and worked in NYC for 10 years and the tourists would often drive us crazy. Especially when you were running for the 6.38 train and there were these people standing in the middle of the sidewalk gawking at the Chrysler Building and getting in everyone's way.
Times Sq. was pretty bad too. Tourists seemed to think that the traffic lights didn't apply to them. Only one thing to do, gun the engine and lean on the horn. Civility simply didn't work.
These are the problems you get when you mix a working city with a tourist destination.
How dare people stand on a sidewalk when you want to use it. The cheek of some people, eh? Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the tourists were there before you. They also spend a fortune in the destinations they visit.
If you don't want people standing on your sidewalk then don't choose to live in NYC or London, or Paris or anywhere else that somebody other than you wants to spend time in.
I lived in London for a long time and also Amsterdam for a few years. Tourists would regularly stop me in the street and ask for directions. I never found it to be a problem.
The more tourists the better, it helps to boost the economy and makes my taxes that little bit lower.
How dare people stand on a sidewalk when you want to use it. The cheek of some people, eh? Sorry, but I'm pretty sure the tourists were there before you. They also spend a fortune in the destinations they visit.
If you don't want people standing on your sidewalk then don't choose to live in NYC or London, or Paris or anywhere else that somebody other than you wants to spend time in.
My thoughts exactly! I can't stand the snobbery and self righteousness some (not all) residents of big cities have, as if they own the city. "How dare people come into MY city and stand on MY sidewalk and get in MY way!" Well done, you've just defined the stereotype of New Yorkers as rude, angry, unwelcoming, self-centered jerks.
Manchester isn't even one of the biggest tourist destinations in the UK and yet while I was showing my brother and his wife around one day, this bratty little teenage girl passed us and snapped "Stupid tourists, get out of my city!" I felt like telling her that she better not have ever gone on holiday (vacation) anywhere in her past or future because it would just make her a massive hypocrite. But then, she probably would have needed a dictionary to know what a hypocrite is so I didn't bother.
The refusal to make a fuss, even when something awful has happened (oh the train appears to have crashed and burst into flames... that's unusual!")
The deluded optimism that makes them think they'll win every sporting competition they enter.
Tea.
The diversity. The cities are full of hundreds of different nationalities.
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a good point
