chris955

I was referring to the reason he was on the dole for 30 years, he just sounds like a miserable old git.

brits1

Your friend should take a look at 3rd world countries and see just how lucky he is to have a roof over his head never mind where it is. Unless he has a long term disability he should feel ashamed of himself.

Sally Redux

What did he expect to get?

pompeyblonde

vikingsail

After that quote I think its time to link again to Bill Bryson. I must account for a lot of the views on this video:

http://youtu.be/jateuSygnPM

You can call it rose tinted and possibly a bit dated but its my piece of mind

vikingsail

After that quote I think its time to link again to Bill Bryson. I must account for a lot of the views on this video:

http://youtu.be/jateuSygnPM

"....I've said it before and I'll say it again I like it here..."

You can call it rose tinted and possibly a bit dated but its my piece of mind

Zen10

You need to zoom out a bit though Chris. If you look on this very thread you will see many of those trumpeting life in the UK do not have to work, and are living in very pleasant locations. Even those that are working are working from home so do not have to face the morning commute.

So what these people mean is THEIR lives are good, and fine. I'm pleased for them, but that does not escape from the fact - fact - that the UK is economically contracting and has an inexcusably large gap between rich and poor, that many of the roads are horribly congested at rush hour, that pensions have been stolen, etc.

I want to live in the UK again, but I won't do it unless I can basically wangle your lifestyle - i.e. working from home, property owned outright, etc. If I do that I'm sure I will be on this website going about how great life is there, but that's just a personal reflection. Life across the board there is different.

pomikev

I think he was on the dole for 30 years because he was a lazy self opinionated windbag who's early life as the son of a wealthy diplomat conditioned him to believe he was better than everybody else and that morphed into some twisted form of general loathing of everyone and he got stuck in this bizarre paradox of feeling upper class and believing that the world owed him a living and that in some strange way justified in his own mind that he was above everybody else and deserved the dole in the same way that the new royals leech off the public purse.

Being too up himself to admit that he was a non contributing lazy upper class twat who looked down upon the working class even though he was himself a do nothing dole bludger.

That internal conflict of feeling superior and the gnawing voice in the back of his mind that told him he was in fact a good for nothing failure led him to anger and contempt for himself that he now cannot bear to face and so continues to project it outwards onto the rest of the world instead of having the courage to turn his gaze inwardly.

He would be almost 70 years old now i guess.

As they say in Yorkshire - there's nowt so queer as folk.

Zen10

I must know who you are describing...

chris955

Zen, I have no idea where this angry nation is you are talking about but hey Im only living here so I might be wrong. I also dont see the country obsessed with TV or of course the country obsessed with class. If it were only me that cant see all these issues you obsess about I might begin to think it is something Im not seeing but as so many others also comment on you unusual views I feel better. Whatever makes you happy I guess
NOBODY has said that life for EVERYBODY lives a great life in the UK, that would be just as inaccurate as saying the same about Australia.

brits1

Oh come on...anyone with a brain cell wants to live in nice areas,great jobs,early retirement etc, we have worked hard and like most people in life we worked our way up to a nice lifestyle and we continue to do so here in the UK, thats the same in most countries,you work for what you want out of life, there are Rich and Poor everywhere that in its self is a class system, rush hour in any City. We lead a good life because we work for it and its the same for most who do, I would never begrudge someone their lifestyle because of that and just because some lead a good life does not mean to say they don't know how hard life can be, not everyone is born with a silver spoon.

vikingsail

I don't disagree. However, is that not the point. We all live in places with varying degrees of trade off and balance. I supposedly live somewhere people really want to be, the temps are an average 70 -72 F year round. Yet I crave England! Why? because my choices and observations make Nebraska by the Sea seem lesser in comparison. Here take away the gloss and beneath are daily murders, the spectre of Mexico, and all the usual suspects for not living in the US - but they are my choices, other people choose to see it differently. For me these are all things on balance I would prefer not to deal with.

I once lived in Hawaii - many peoples dream - but get beyond the tourist spectacle of Waikiki and it is pretty much a seedy rathole - with the same old problems of every community and society, again its a matter of choice and what you want to put up with.

We all want to be somewhere where it is easier to live/exist. All in all I think the UK offers a fair balance for me at this point in my life. I have tried other communities worldwide. I'm not 'blind' to the problems that exist in the UK, but on balance am prepared to deal with them over my current issues. I find it instructive to say if money were no object where would you live? Many celebrities choose the UK - then again theirs is a different lifestyle.

A friend in Hawaii once described how he ended up living there. After spending years becoming a lawyer on the East coast one day he had an epiphany. He could spend the next 30 years working and struggling to raise a family in New York all so he could eventually visit or retire somewhere like Hawaii. He decided to 'live in the moment' (being zen) and just move to Hawaii with his young family and see how things developed. Far better to live the dream in the moment than try and accomplish a safe harbor or point at which you feel safe to jump from. He did just that and did not look back. It may seem dreamlike and idealist but ultimately I do believe living in the moment is preferable to hoping and wanting. Of course age and experience make for a more measured approach but the principle still holds true. Just saying....

Perth

Have read that book many times over the years

dunroving

He is one of my all-time favourite authors.

It's interesting that one of the UK's biggest cheerleaders is American. Though in many ways I think he is an honorary Brit (I'm not talking about citizenship, I'm talking about "being British").

chris955

Exactly, are we supposed to say our lives arent good because we met someone who is homeless? The gap between rich and poor is widening in every country regardless of what some choose to believe.