Is the UK the same as it used to be?
Jul 31st 2010, 6:25 pm
#31
Democracy advocate
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 12,460
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
That's a pretty shrewd observation John after only being back a short while.
You are quite right,the British people have definitely lost their way that's for sure.
Rabid selfishness and materialism abounds. I blame the all American way partly for this which has been welcomed with open arms over here. Our 'bright' future,the yoof and their 'whatever' urban speak. The 'I want it now' stick it on the never never but can't be arsed to actually go out and earn it. Apparently they are entitled to it and expect the state and poor old Joe taxpayer to cover it,heaven forbid they should get a job !! Like the single unemployed 'mothers' who think they are entitled to have a never ending stream of kids to fund their lifestyles.
The country is going down the swannie at a rate of knots. Can't wait to get to retirement and get the hell out.
You are quite right,the British people have definitely lost their way that's for sure.
Rabid selfishness and materialism abounds. I blame the all American way partly for this which has been welcomed with open arms over here. Our 'bright' future,the yoof and their 'whatever' urban speak. The 'I want it now' stick it on the never never but can't be arsed to actually go out and earn it. Apparently they are entitled to it and expect the state and poor old Joe taxpayer to cover it,heaven forbid they should get a job !! Like the single unemployed 'mothers' who think they are entitled to have a never ending stream of kids to fund their lifestyles.
The country is going down the swannie at a rate of knots. Can't wait to get to retirement and get the hell out.
People like you have been whinging about youth culture (Teddy's, Mods & Rockers, Punks..) for over 50 years, same with unmarried mothers or whoever is the current whipping boy of the reactionary media and their tribe of negative, accusatory followers.
The UK is a great place to live and has become significantly better over the past 20 years. To the OP - ignore the doomsayers, they would be whinging regardless of the situation, hiking in the fresh air and rain in Snowdonia or sweltering in your underpants in Florida? Each to their own.
Jul 31st 2010, 6:28 pm
#32
Septic Sprout
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: Shanghai
Posts: 7,993
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
It seems to me that three years is a very short time for any country to change completely. But what has changed is your perspective; when you lived in the UK every day, you could ignore (or see in a true perspective) overblown news stories about how the country has gone to the dogs. You should go to the UK on holiday & see for yourself..
I've been away from England for 20 years, but return for holidays fairly frequently. It has changed quite a lot in that time (in many ways for the better) and I am aware of some negative changes such as more common disrespectful & antisocial behaviour in public. When planning to relocate, I would always be quite discriminating about the town & neighborhood I'm going to move to. You obviously want to try to avoid the vomit on the doorstep syndrome.
I've been away from England for 20 years, but return for holidays fairly frequently. It has changed quite a lot in that time (in many ways for the better) and I am aware of some negative changes such as more common disrespectful & antisocial behaviour in public. When planning to relocate, I would always be quite discriminating about the town & neighborhood I'm going to move to. You obviously want to try to avoid the vomit on the doorstep syndrome.
Jul 31st 2010, 7:08 pm
#33
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 190
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
hiking in the fresh air and rain in Snowdonia or sweltering in your underpants in Florida? Each to their own.[/QUOTE]
I'd rather have the former, any day.
I'd rather have the former, any day.
Jul 31st 2010, 7:43 pm
#34
Finally Home!
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Used to be New York, now North Yorkshire
Posts: 3,610
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
I had a long conversation with my mum the other day, and I have to say she put me off the idea of moving back. She wasn't trying to, but she was just so negative about everything. And when I tried to pin her down about how her life was bad, she couldn't tell me. (She really does live in an idyllic house in an idyllic part of the country with almost no crime and miles away from any city). All she could say is that the newspapers and TV talk of nothing else except societal decay and it gets her down - even though she has very little personal experience of it. All she could come up with when I really pressed her was that people swear a lot and the other day she saw a teenager throw a wrapper on the street. It really doesn't seem enough of a reason to be as depressed as she was, but now JJ is saying the same thing and he's experienced both the UK and US.
I'm starting to think that British people are so dour and whiney that they'd make me nuts. I don't know what happened to the old 'wartime spirit' I used to hear about from my grandparents but it's definitely been replaced by a bunch of negative ninnies.
Ugh it's so hard to know what to do.
Last edited by sallysimmons; Jul 31st 2010 at 7:46 pm.
Jul 31st 2010, 9:13 pm
#35
The Kwisatz Haderach
Joined: Aug 2008
Location: North Wales
Posts: 8,080
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
f you go hang out at a local high school you will hear all kinds of swear words that will make you blush. I asked my teen (who I have never heard swear ever) and he said that all they say is peppered with foul language, even he swears at school although he said he'd never do it to a teacher or other adult.
Being down on UK just from what the papers say? Stop reading the papers, if you watch the local news here you'd think we were all going to die from drunk drivers, and drive by shootings. They happen but not in all neighborhoods. I think you have to put it all in perspective.
UK has always had swearing teens and fighting and drunks and unruly behavior. Maybe if we are getting bombed and spend time in the subways we can get that wartime spirt but who wants too? Not me. Even then there were areas you didn't want to live and "those" kind of people you didn't want your kids around , and people who got so drunk they slept in doorways, and from my own recollection every village had a loose woman and all the men knew who she was, and the wives didn't want the husbands anywhere near her. Nothing much in those kinds of problems have changed I think as we get older we turn into that moaning old biddy, shouting at kids to get off my garden!
I think people just want something to complain about.
Being down on UK just from what the papers say? Stop reading the papers, if you watch the local news here you'd think we were all going to die from drunk drivers, and drive by shootings. They happen but not in all neighborhoods. I think you have to put it all in perspective.
UK has always had swearing teens and fighting and drunks and unruly behavior. Maybe if we are getting bombed and spend time in the subways we can get that wartime spirt but who wants too? Not me. Even then there were areas you didn't want to live and "those" kind of people you didn't want your kids around , and people who got so drunk they slept in doorways, and from my own recollection every village had a loose woman and all the men knew who she was, and the wives didn't want the husbands anywhere near her. Nothing much in those kinds of problems have changed I think as we get older we turn into that moaning old biddy, shouting at kids to get off my garden!
I think people just want something to complain about.
Last edited by Mummy in the foothills; Jul 31st 2010 at 9:17 pm.
Jul 31st 2010, 9:47 pm
#36
Forum Regular
Joined: Dec 2003
Location: FL
Posts: 273
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
I started this thread to get an insight into how life would be like now in the UK - especially from those who've made the transition from wherever in the world they moved to. I really do appreciate the comments thus far.
Sitting here in Florida with a heat index of over 100f and being stuck indoors under the safety of the air conditioning for the past and forthcoming months, I'd do anything to go back and spend a weekend in Snowdonia with the wind (and probably rain) blowing through my hair...
In reference to the "Yoof" of England today - The Chavs - they do exist everywhere - only under different names. We live in a beautiful subdivison / neighborhood in FL - but drive half a mile down the road, you slowly start approaching the oh so typical "Red Neck" truck drivers, who drive up your backside whilst polluting the environment at the same time - and they look at you as if you are an alien because you're using your indicators on your car to prewarn them of your next move. The journey will then take you to one of the strip malls (which I loathe) as you need to do your weekly shop - there you'll be greeted with pretty much the same mixed in with the "normal" people of the city - give me Sainsburys / Tesco anyday. Although the "Chavs" here don't wear the fake burberry or the extra white trainers as it's too hot - they do exist, only under a different subculture of the land. And no, we don't live in a bad part of town - Florida seems to be the Red Neck haven of the USA!
Anyway, I've had my moan - back to watching On The Buses on ITV as I need a laugh
Sitting here in Florida with a heat index of over 100f and being stuck indoors under the safety of the air conditioning for the past and forthcoming months, I'd do anything to go back and spend a weekend in Snowdonia with the wind (and probably rain) blowing through my hair...
In reference to the "Yoof" of England today - The Chavs - they do exist everywhere - only under different names. We live in a beautiful subdivison / neighborhood in FL - but drive half a mile down the road, you slowly start approaching the oh so typical "Red Neck" truck drivers, who drive up your backside whilst polluting the environment at the same time - and they look at you as if you are an alien because you're using your indicators on your car to prewarn them of your next move. The journey will then take you to one of the strip malls (which I loathe) as you need to do your weekly shop - there you'll be greeted with pretty much the same mixed in with the "normal" people of the city - give me Sainsburys / Tesco anyday. Although the "Chavs" here don't wear the fake burberry or the extra white trainers as it's too hot - they do exist, only under a different subculture of the land. And no, we don't live in a bad part of town - Florida seems to be the Red Neck haven of the USA!
Anyway, I've had my moan - back to watching On The Buses on ITV as I need a laugh
Jul 31st 2010, 10:54 pm
#37
Finally Home!
Joined: Mar 2010
Location: Used to be New York, now North Yorkshire
Posts: 3,610
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
I don't care about swearing - I do it myself - but I do it much less since I left England.
Jul 31st 2010, 10:59 pm
#38
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 41,518
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
I think a huge amount of the perception of British people is media-driven. I have a friend who lives in a lovely house, both kids in private school, she doesn't work, they take holidays 3-4 times a year etc, last I heard from her, "Everything ghastly here as usual"
Aug 1st 2010, 12:31 am
#40
Lost in Space
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK
Posts: 804
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
Some people can be so down on their luck!
Aug 1st 2010, 12:41 am
#41
Lost in Space
Joined: Oct 2009
Location: Stockport, Cheshire, UK
Posts: 804
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
I think that's the difference. Just walking round the streets where I live, you could go months without hearing a curse word. Last time I was back in England, it seemed as though every kid was cursing in public.
I don't care about swearing - I do it myself - but I do it much less since I left England.
I don't care about swearing - I do it myself - but I do it much less since I left England.
Aug 1st 2010, 12:46 am
#42
Not around much..
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 1,873
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
They should try that around these parts...
Your friends not fergie is it?
Aug 1st 2010, 12:47 am
#43
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 839
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
Britain is 2nd rate for living in comparison to Spain,Italy,France and Germany.It is vastly superior to the States ,Australia and NZ.
Aug 1st 2010, 12:50 am
#45
Not around much..
Joined: Apr 2010
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 1,873
Re: Is the UK the same as it used to be?
This is a great point. I returned from Oz 17 monyhs ago. Last week I went to Spain(no, not Bedidorm or package holiday). I will tell you this!!!
Britain is 2nd rate for living in comparison to Spain,Italy,France and Germany.It is vastly superior to the States ,Australia and NZ.
Britain is 2nd rate for living in comparison to Spain,Italy,France and Germany.It is vastly superior to the States ,Australia and NZ.
