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I've never visited the UK, but I found the people who work at Heathrow to be unhelpful and gave off snobby vibes whenever I've been there for a layover/connection. I'm not sure if this applies to London or UK as a whole.
I have fantasized about being a dentist in Europe in my next life. More specifically, an orthodontist.
I’m not talking about whether they get their teeth cleaned on the government dime, but many go around with really unsightly crookedness, and missing teeth.
My present hygienist is from Bosnia. In her country she was just short of being a dentist. She said that people there do not really take care of their teeth at all. The first year she came here, she got invisiline braces and tooth whitening.
My dad did a bunch of Oral Surgery training in London. He did a bunch of cases in his career where he took a piece of rib and used it as a jawbone. Birth defects, cancer, and motorcycle/car crash patients, mostly. The US wasn’t doing those kinds of cases at the time. UK dentistry is as advanced as anywhere.
We were in Bristol, Virginia some years ago in Appalachia on a drive from Nashville to New England. At breakfast, some woman commented about my wife’s good teeth. We’re from affluent New England suburbia where everyone has good teeth. It’s socioeconomic. Most of the US has really lousy oral care.
My second cousin is a dentist in Lancashire. Oral health is better than the US. Low income people have better access to hygienists and there’s less sugar in their diet. The difference is cosmetic dentistry. The affluent in the US spend big on it because a row of straight-white teeth is expected for white collar professionals. Any blue chip suburb is full of people with cosmetically perfect teeth.
The sporting culture fascinates me. I watched Sunderland-Blackburn today. Sunderland attendance was 43,921. Metro Sunderland only has ~ 300,000 people. A few miles north and you’re in Newcastle with your own Premier League team. ~ 15% of the city was at the football match. There’s absolutely nothing like that in the United States. Sunderland doesn’t even have a very good team. They’re mid-table in Championship League with low odds on promotion to Premier League.
The NFL does around $10 billion in television revenue. It is shared among 32 teams. The Premier League is now around $7 billion and more than half of the revenue is international. It’s shared among 20 teams so the big teams are now out-earning the NFL teams. The other top European leagues can’t keep up with that giant revenue stream so all the best players will eventually land in the Premier League.
The people in the North East are football barmy, also they are one team towns, Blackburn may only 'average' 14'000 attendances but when you think that Blackburn's population is only 150'000 and they are surrounded by 'other' league clubs, small town clubs like themselves, Burnley, Preston, they are also close to some Yorkshire and Lancashire giants, Manchester United / City, Leeds, Sheffield & of course Liverpool I think that their attendances are pretty good really.
The people in the North East are football barmy, also they are one team towns, Blackburn may only 'average' 14'000 attendances but when you think that Blackburn's population is only 150'000 and they are surrounded by 'other' league clubs, small town clubs like themselves, Burnley, Preston, they are also close to some Yorkshire and Lancashire giants, Manchester United / City, Leeds, Sheffield & of course Liverpool I think that their attendances are pretty good really.
I’m contrasting that culture to my New England culture. The New England Patriots draw from a population of 12 to 14 million people. We don’t have a sport where the whole city goes to a match every Saturday.
I’m contrasting that culture to my New England culture. The New England Patriots draw from a population of 12 to 14 million people. We don’t have a sport where the whole city goes to a match every Saturday.
14 million! How big is the stadium? I'm guessing it's hard getting hold of a ticket.
14 million! How big is the stadium? I'm guessing it's hard getting hold of a ticket.
If you don’t know a season ticket holder, it’s impossible. Gillette seats 65,878. I get invited when it’s lousy weather and they’re playing a bad team. I had Revolution season tickets a few rows up from the corner flag. They draw around 20,000 so it mostly fills the lower bowl. The level of competition is barely mid table Championship. No academies. No loans from Premier League teams. Minimal television revenue.
Like I said, I’m fascinated by football culture. The notion of a derby where the two teams are only a few miles apart in neighboring cities. Or different sections of London. I grew up a Boston Red Sox fan and there has always been a Yankees rivalry but the cities are 3+ hours apart.
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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