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BigDGeek - I really enjoy reading your perspective on things, but I really do wish you'd read what I write a bit more carefully! Most of my post was tongue in cheek and meant to be taken that way.
It's OK. I do realize you were being tongue in cheek but that is a hard emotion for me to convey, especially in writing, since I have Asperger's Syndrome.
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I also clarified that people here wear skinny jeans too. However, I just returned from London - and it seemed that nearly WITHOUT EXCEPTION everyone - EVERYONE of all ages - seemed to be wearing skinny jeans! I mean - it was as if some giant shrinking machine had descended on the city and shrunk everyone's clothing up two or three sizes (including men's jackets and shirts, now that I think about it). I know it's a fad there - it's a fad here too - but in London (not Yorkshire), it seemed as if there simply were no other available clothing styles or something. It was crazy!
I believe you!
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I've been to Dallas recently and didn't notice the nearly universal usage of skinny jeans, though of course I saw people wearing them (they wear them here in my little East Texas town as well - and like most Dallasites and Londoners, probably SHOULDN'T!). They're probably even more popular in the big cities on our East Coast.
Depends on where you go I guess!
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But all that aside, I was kidding for the most part about my "complaints" about the UK. In fact, I was hoping that people would realize that my "complaints" were quite petty - as in, "Wow, is that all she could find wrong with the UK?"
Yep, that's what I mean - the positives FAR outweighed the little petty inconveniences and idiosyncrasies that I encountered.
I'll be back - wearing skinny jeans. It won't be pretty, but I'll fit right in!
By the time you go back they'll be on a different trend. Don't worry about trying to blend in in London...no matter how you dress, you won't blend. And that's OK!
OH, OK - well, NPR is on Sirius/XM too and I listen to it a lot. There are also several BBC stations I listen to quite a bit (mostly news). S/XM is satellite radio with about a million stations of every genre, most of them commercial free. So yes - I'm spoiled!
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t's OK. I do realize you were being tongue in cheek but that is a hard emotion for me to convey, especially in writing, since I have Asperger's Syndrome.
Ah - I see! That makes sense - will keep that in mind in the future!
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By the time you go back they'll be on a different trend. Don't worry about trying to blend in in London...no matter how you dress, you won't blend. And that's OK!
Oh I know - the diversity of London is amazing and one of the things I really like about it!
OH, OK - well, NPR is on Sirius/XM too and I listen to it a lot. There are also several BBC stations I listen to quite a bit (mostly news). S/XM is satellite radio with about a million stations of every genre, most of them commercial free. So yes - I'm spoiled!
I like regular radio because I don't have to pay a monthly fee to listen to it.
I like regular radio because I don't have to pay a monthly fee to listen to it.
I know what you mean - I didn't have it in my car at all, till my husband said, "Oh good grief, I hate driving your car anywhere without satellite radio! I'll pay for it - just sign up for it!"
I know what you mean - I didn't have it in my car at all, till my husband said, "Oh good grief, I hate driving your car anywhere without satellite radio! I'll pay for it - just sign up for it!"
LOL - does that make him my sugar daddy?
Erm no.
I pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime and U-verse, so I'm hardly one to talk.
I'm American but have lived in the UK before. The high cost of living there combined with the lower QOL that low salaries/high COL brings was a deciding factor in me leaving the country. I also was put off by xenophobia and the fact that British people are very difficult to befriend...for an American, anyway. I found I was constantly offended and hurt by British reserve even when no hurt/offense was meant. It's just a different culture, and one I found I could not live in and be happy.
I'm betting you lived in or near London or one of the big cities in England, right?
You have to be able to laugh at yourself here. Took me at least a year to get used to the humour. In my experience the expats that seem to be the happiest with living here are the ones in Scotland. The ones in cities in England are the least happy and often repatriate.
Xenophobia? You actually think it's worse in the UK than in the US??
I'm betting you lived in or near London or one of the big cities in England, right?
Nope. Small village outside of York.
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You have to be able to laugh at yourself here. Took me at least a year to get used to the humour. In my experience the expats that seem to be the happiest with living here are the ones in Scotland. The ones in cities in England are the least happy and often repatriate.
I was there much longer than a year. Never got used to living there. I get the humor.
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Xenophobia? You actually think it's worse in the UK than in the US??
Xenophobia? You actually think it's worse in the UK than in the US??
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Originally Posted by BigDGeek
Yes, I do.
I tend to agree with this too.
While the US seems to have a much larger problem with race relations, Xenophobia in the UK is almost ubiquitous, consider the following groups.
Whites, Blacks, Indian/Pakistani, Chinese/Japanese, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, French, German, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Argentines, Russians, Northerners, Southerners, English, Irish, Scots, Welsh, Geordies, Yorkshiremen, Scousers, Mancunians, Brummies, Londoners/Cockneys. (groups with a '/' are often confused with one another, but both apply).
I think if I try I could name a person I know in the UK who detests one or more of each of those groups.
I hate the fact that the majority of British are agnostic or atheist. Not to say I hate individual atheists or agnostics; I love them. However, I hate the loss of Christian heritage, and the general faithlessness among the British public.
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