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I love England. I'm married to an English woman. Again, we don't live there because of two things: 1) the expense (almost $2 to the pound) and 2) the weather is pretty dismal, especially in the northeast where my wife's family lives.
Great places to visit:
Lake District
York
North York Moors
Durham
Whitby
Richmond
Chester
How interesting people like "the accent". I am an American living in London for the past 8 years. Even from day one I noticed that there are many many accents here in England, and they vary even within London. Not that I could place them or identify them, but there is not a universal accent here.
From an American perspective, one negative I notice is appalling customer service and an unwillingness for the English person to speak up or stand up to poor service/goods. My English DH leaves the complaining to me. (with usually good results, but not always, I think questioning service/goods is not that common and takes people off guard).
London is hideously expensive. Prohibitively expensive. Outragously expensive. The weather isn't too bad, not as bad as you might think. The NHS is "okay". I've had great experiences and horrible experiences with them
Other than these things, England (and the UK) has some of the most beautiful scenery of anywhere in the world, amazing museums, friendly and relaxed people, history everywhere, great documentaries on TV, and very child-friendly neighborhoods. London in particular is EXTREMELY diverse. The range of ethnic backgrounds and accents is amazing. There are many many many languages spoken here daily on the tube, the bus, in the streets.
I absolutely love England. I've never been there, but I've seen pictures, and I want to go there more than anywhere else. The culture, the history, even the weather just seems fascinating to me. Someday I'll spend a significant amount of time over there (Scotland too!). The accents are awesome too!
Goodness me. I am American, who has been enduring the UK for the past 2 years. Loving England from pictures... is a lot different then living here, and experiencing it firsthand. Visiting, is a lot different than living here.
Would I like England if I were just visiting? You bet.
Living here though... is a whole other story. It's over crowded, over taxed, expensive, the National Healthcare Service is a nightmare, and because of the European Union... it's getting even MORE over crowded. I feel like all I do is EXIST here. If you have little money... there is hardly anything to do. The weather is awful, in my opinion. Last summer was my first summer, and it was an exceptionally hot one. I was looking forward to this summer as well, only to be disapointed with rain and clouds so far. I am from Southern California, and the British summer, is more like a lousey Southern California winter.
If you have money here... you don't have to fret. You can travel to all the warm surrounding hot spots regularly, like Greece, Spain, ect. But try to be a middle class, hard working person here... is very difficult. If you want cheaper housing, you have to move up north... where jobs are scarce. That is why people crowd into London, where I currently live. Traffic is a nightmare, and that is coming from someone who is familiar with L.A. traffic.
In the next while, we can look forward to Gordon Brown as P.M, yuck. Being charged PER MILE to drive our cars. Being charged a HUGE amount of money for anything more than one major flight per year. Oh, and they want to invest money into aircrafts, that will take thermal imaging photos of your home, so that if you use too much energy, they will post your address and name on the internet for all of your neighbors to see, to try to bully you into using less energy.
Oh, and if you are declared homeless, or you are a young single mother, you can get anything you want. That is why you see so many teenagers walking up and down the street with babies. They get a free house as soon as they give birth. It's so hard to even save any money here. My husband is British, and he HATES his life here. We are moving to America in four months, and I am so counting the SECONDS, until we get out of here.
Socialism here, doesn't work, because people take advantage of it in a bad way. It encourages the lazy people to get something for nothing, the rich to get richer, and the middle class to suffer, and scrape by. When people actually do genuinely need help, it takes ages to receive it, because councils have to make it difficult, because of all the people who are dishonest, and abuse the system.
I love the English countryside, I have been to Scotland, it is gorgeous. I loved seeing my heritage, and where my ancestors came from. The history of England is something everyone should see. But enduring the socialist society here, is not something I would want to do for much longer.
Last edited by Calibelle; 06-24-2007 at 07:56 AM..
I am middle class and I love it here in Oxfordshire, in the South of England where there is a LOT to see and do ( so much so in fact that we can't quite manage it all even after 18 years). Is it perfect ? NO. Is the US perfect? NO. Yes the roads are crowded in cites and near big urban centres, try the Cotswolds , you'll be lucky if you spot more than a couple of cars in a day on most little roads. Having sat in huge American traffic jams in every real urban areas I find that a rather strange thing to say. You country is virtually a continent in itself and the utmost majority is rural, the roads will be a lot less crowded, it goes without saying...
As far as socialism is concerned 20 years of fascist, extreme right wing Thatcher has destroyed this country not the last years of New Labour ( which could not be termed socialism in any way !). Privatisation and greed have put this country on its knees. I hope you are able to leave my beloved hell-hole so much very soon and that your Utopian dream of ultra capitalist, selfish ,profit motivated heaven works for you. Our NHS might leave a lot to be desired but at least being poor but nobody will check your pocket for medical insurance or credit cards when you get to hospital here .
Look up the statisitics for France ( best healthcare in the world ( WHO), most productive country in the world after Norway ( more than the US despite Socialist benefits galore such as minimum 4 weeks paid leave for everyone, 35 hours work per week, paid maternity leave ( full pay) , free healthcare education etc...and a vast array of other social benefits). France does have its social problems like ALL other countries but still manages to be the 5th economy in the world... Not bad for a so called "socialist" country.The US is so far no 1 and a small country like France WITH all the social net the most vulnerable in society need it still manages to be 5th. Gee Socialism is really, really bad. I mean by your reasoning, France should be third world standards... I lived in the US for 3 years and had never seen such poverty outside the third world. Maybe you should actually LOOK in your own backyard.
Last edited by Mooseketeer; 06-24-2007 at 07:04 AM..
I am middle class and I love it here in Oxfordshire, in the South of England where there is a LOT to see and do ( so much so in fact that we can't quite manage it all even after 18 years).
Yes, there are many places to visit. But most include gardens, castles, and old buildings. It gets old. I love the fact that in the U.S, there are several different climates to choose from. Desert, mountains, forests, beaches, rivers.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
Is it perfect? NO. Is the US perfect? NO. Yes the roads are crowded in and near big urban centres, try the Cotswolds , you'll be lucky if you spot more than a couple of cars in a day on most little roada. Having sat in huge American traffic jams in every real urban areas I find that a rather strange thing to say. You country is virtually a continent in itself and the utmost majority is rural, the rooads will be a lot less crowded, it goes without saying...
I hate driving my car here, and having to move over constantly on the dual carriage ways, because cars park in the far left lane. I hate buses swerving close to me, to exit their lane for the same reason, it scares me. There is no room to drive here to begin with, and yet people keep flocking in with their cars left and right, because of the E.U. Things were better before the U.K. joined the E.U. If they would come up with better road designs here... then traffic would be much better. I realize that the U.S. is larger, which makes wider roads a possibility. But if England already suffers from lack of space and over crowding, what makes them think that we need to allow a large majority of Europe to live and work here. The E.U. is a good idea... but we don't have the space to make it work in the long run.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
As far as socialism is concerned 20 years of fascist, extreme right wing Thatcher has destroyed this country not the last years of New Labour ( which could not be termed socialism in any way !). Privatisation and greed have put this country on its knees.
Ambitions are thwarted here, by the latest group of immigrants who can undercut the price of your services, making sure you never get anywhere, and that a small percentage of aristrocrats reap all the benefit of the hard work of others, clothing feudalism under the Labour tradition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
I hope you are able to leave my beloved hell-hole so much very soon and that your Utopian dream of ultra capitalist, selfish ,profit motivated heaven works for you.
Atleast in capitalism, with a little bit of brain and ambition you can have individual success.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
Our NHS might leave a lot to be desired but at least being poor but nobody will check your pocket for medical insurance or credit cards when you get to hospital here .
Yes, I am happy to spend money on quality healthcare in America, where people check my pockets for my insurance card, rather then stay here, and not even get my pulse checked upon entering the hospital. When I go to the doctor here, I get handed a box of pain killers, and a prescription for anti-biotics, no matter what my symptoms, by my "doctor", who makes £100,000 pounds per year. The NHS almost killed me earlier this year, not exaggerating. Good luck to me, trying to get any compinsation for it. If the terrible care I received here in the U.K, was allowed to go on in the U.S, I would be about a million dollars richer. But people just have to sit back, and accept the horrible healthcare they get here, because that is just they way things are. No thanks.
I don't mean any disrespect to people, but having lived in, and experienced, many places, all over the world, it has made me more greatful for what America has to offer. I am not one of those arrogant Americans, who thinks I am better than everyone else, with no travel experience, I am speaking from first hand experience. I was so upset with the Bush administration when I left America, all I wanted was to live somewhere else. I see now, that the grass isn't greener on the other side, and I am looking forward to going home. America is far from perfect.... but there is more diversity, as far as places to live, and things to see and do. The quality of life, is much richer, and you can enjoy it with little money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mooseketeer
As far as socialism is concerned 20 years of fascist, extreme right wing Thatcher has destroyed this country not the last years of New Labour ( which could not be termed socialism in any way !). Privatisation and greed have put this country on its knees. I hope you are able to leave my beloved hell-hole so much very soon and that your Utopian dream of ultra capitalist, selfish ,profit motivated heaven works for you. Our NHS might leave a lot to be desired but at least being poor but nobody will check your pocket for medical insurance or credit cards when you get to hospital here .
Look up the statisitics for France ( best healthcare in the world ( WHO), most productive country in the world after Norway ( more than the US despite Socialist benefits galore such as minimum 4 weeks paid leave for everyone, 35 hours work per week, paid maternity leave ( full pay) , free healthcare education etc...and a vast array of other social benefits). France does have its social problems like ALL other countries but still manages to be the 5th economy in the world... Not bad for a so called "socialist" country.The US is so far no 1 and a small country like France WITH all the social net the most vulnerable in society need it still manages to be 5th. Gee Socialism is really, really bad. I mean by your reasoning, France should be third world standards... I lived in the US for 3 years and had never seen such poverty outside the third world. Maybe you should actually LOOK in your own backyard.
If you read my post, I say that socialism HERE doesn't work, because people abuse the system. I am not arguing that it works in France. Still though... nobody can convince me that socialism is the best way to go. I have my opinions... you have yours.
The U.S. is not perfect by anymeans. I agree that they need to provide more maternity leave, and things like that. But for the reasons I mentioned earlier, I prefer the U.S. to the UK.
No hard feelings I hope. I don't hate England, I just don't want to stay here over America. On a daily basis at my job, I am asked why I would choose to live here, when I am able to live in America, so obviously, there are many other UK citizens who feel the same way my huband and I do about the UK vs. America
Last edited by Calibelle; 06-24-2007 at 08:07 AM..
The UK is all the same in every town apart from London(London isnt all that imo but is the only worth city in the UK) is the same, dull and boring the only difference is the layout of these places. My city Sheffield is terrible and soooo depressing, the US has so many cities that are totaly diffrent from each other and that is what appeals to me the fact that you cross the state line and its totally different.
The US has much better scenery in terms of desert(death valley, Grand Canyone), some amazing forests, the beaches in the Uk suck and very tacky, most of them are deprived as they dont pull in the tourists because more people go abroad and its cheaper. Plus most of the beaches are not sand but stones so try walking on them in bare feer.
Driving in the US is heaven I love it even in traffic jams as they at least move, the US tries to solve the traffic problem and expand why dont we do that here we have the room but then again im sure our taxes would go up.
Although the UK is trying to get people out of cars and onto the crap public transport its not working I would never catch the bus because they suck, they break down, smell, old, slow, never turn up on time and the whole public transportation its useless and again just like eveything in the UK it costs big time. I used the busses in the US and they had tv monitors, electronic messages, pay low fares, fast and modern.
On the defense of the UK traffic will always be worse here than the US due to it being a tiny island but now for the negative the roads are out of date again we are charged a tax(road tax and not cheap) where the hell does it go cant figure it out, most UK roads have 10 times more traffic on them so what the Uk government do, lets build cycle lanes since the UK mostly has gloomy weather and not many people ride bikes.
I HATE small cars and that is the UK way to drive small unless you are rich and can afford a big SUV and pay high road tax, insurance and petrol prices.
Many businesses have packed up and gone and many smaller ones clossing down, this is what makes the UK cities all the same as the are filled with the same large comapnies and the smaller ones struggling.
Healthcare and allthe other benefits we get are not free, we pay very high taxes which pays for healthcare(which is no good) etc.. nothing and I mean nothing is free in the UK. (Go to the dentist how much does this cost im sure it wont cost more in the US, I cant even get a dentist on the NHS)
Being poor anywhere sucks, yes poverty will always be higher in the US but with 300mil to 70mil people its to be expected. London is like any US city for povety. Bristol and brimingham the worst 2 cities I have visited in my life both have many "ghettos" and homeless. Parts of these cities are comparable to 3rd world im sure they are that deprived.
Many people blame Thatcher for the decline and yes I agree she was an evil old hag and brought in many news taxes etc, but to me Labour have sunk the UK to where it is unbearable to live imo, they promissed big things and have done big things all for the worse if the country was on its knees its flat on its face now, and Brits are realising as many are moving more than ever, Labour or divy blair has been critisied for driving the British people away and so he has.
I hate the UK for many reasons not just the usual banter but the whole life style isnt for me and culture doesnt interest me either. The UK may be Utopia for some but it seems hard to find these days for many to say positives about the UK. I am glad Mooseketeteer you have found a place you really like and are happy with
I have spoke to american here in the UK that realize the problems they were running from in the US are not really that bad after all.
Every country has its faults and no where is the perfect palce but to me the US has always apealled to me and the life style, culture and I am eager to move there so I hope the "dream of ultra capitalist, selfish ,profit motivated heaven works for me."too
Here in the US of A, at least if you have ambition, you can get places. I am from Ireland and every year when I visit, I am reminded of why I left. I am not saying it is perfect here at all, we have our problems. But as far as financial, work hard here and you can get ahead. Use your brain, your education, and your ambition.
Here if you have a problem, complain and something will be done about it eventually. At home, people only complain and do nothing at all.
dorothy
Here in the US of A, at least if you have ambition, you can get places. I am from Ireland and every year when I visit, I am reminded of why I left. I am not saying it is perfect here at all, we have our problems. But as far as financial, work hard here and you can get ahead. Use your brain, your education, and your ambition.
Here if you have a problem, complain and something will be done about it eventually. At home, people only complain and do nothing at all.
dorothy
I am sure there's plenty of people in America who are hard working and ambitious and still don't make it. I refuse to believe that all poor people are lazy , stupid or unambitious I'm afraid. At least here in Europe being sick is not something only the wealthy can afford to be. I think you have far more chances of making it here actually. Maybe not to be billionaires but then again that's not all that life is about. Not for me anyway.
I am not saying poor people are lazy ; not at all.
What I am saying is that from my experience, the opportunity here is outstanding. If you have enough drive and ambition, the world is your oyster.
From growing up in Ireland, I felt that we were expected to keep on the same level thruought your life. Here, we came as immigrants, with less than $200 in our pockets. Thru hard work and ambition and grabbing every opportunity that we got, we are doing ok. If we had stayed in Ireland, we would not be self employed, would not have some rental properties and not be able to help our children have a better life. I see friends of mine that stayed at home and are still on the same level that they were 20 years ago.
dorothy
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I don't hate England, I just don't want to stay here over America. On a daily basis at my job, I am asked why I would choose to live here, when I am able to live in America, so obviously, there are many other UK citizens who feel the same way my huband and I do about the UK vs. America
.
we have the room but then again im sure our taxes would go up.
and that is the UK way to drive small unless you are rich and can afford a big SUV and pay high road tax, insurance and petrol prices.
