Ditzy

I have not been in England for 20 years and recently spent a couple of days there. A few things captured my attention.

People are so helpful. Can I carry your case for you, here let me do that for you, Why don't I help you with that - that sort of thing.

Cosmopolitan - wow - there are so many nationalities now, it's a very different place!

Food - I had been most excited about that, getting some wholesome fresh food and lots of exciting new options but I really didn't have any decent food. It was all stodge and everything advertised on TV was JUNK! So many adverts about junk food. Get this huge box of crisp packets for 3 pounds etc.

Following on from the above, the thing I was most shocked about was the obesity issue. There really are very overweight men & women and even more worryingly, overweight children. Not so much in London where people tend to be cycling, walking, fitter etc but when you travel to other parts it really does seem that there are a lot of very overweight people. At a theme park we saw people tucking into big funsize packets of sweets at 9am, it was a hot day and throughout the whole day we never saw anyone drinking any water, just huge tubs of fizzy drinks.

Everyone just seems to be eating huge portions of everything and consuming a LOT of sugar. Don't get me wrong I've got a few kilos to lose but I was quite shocked to see this, it is not what I remember about the UK and it just seems to be the norm now.

Just my observations, does anyone else notice anything when you visit the UK after a while away?

mikewot

Try the US of A, much worse than UK. Now is the time to buy shares in diabetes treatment manufacturers and artificial foot suppliers.

nonthaburi

Agree with you about the helpful. We noticed last year( first time for wife and kids) that everyone is very polite. There is a special word in my wife's language that is only used for England because of the reputation of politeness.

As she said, even the poor people say thank you.

Millhouse

Just got back from the second week there. I've been moving house and working with builders etc.

Where we are all builders and removal men look like Peter Kay.

Food is shite. Terrible in fact. Tasteless, and generally not nice

Amazing selection of sweets, cakes and pork products.

Sainsburys is brilliant

Everyone watches too much TV

It's a tough place. The removals guys were on 50quid a day, zero hour contracts - got work roughly 2-3 days a week. A working day could be anywhere between 6 or 15 hours depending how the job goes.

While people are polite I would say that this is mostly the men - many of the women I saw were truly dreadful beings. Shouting, swearing into mobiles, barking at the kids and men. Nasty.

nonthaburi

I kind of mean things like saying thank you in shops, holding doors, driving habits, saying excuse me/sorry etc.

Millhouse

All very true.

I find driving the habits very interesting. I actually find the driving in the UK, while excellent, uniform and better than pretty much anywhere else, it is also very unforgiving. If you are in the wrong lane by accident, expect to see someone mouthing off in your rear view mirror.

I was lost and following the sat nav, had to do a full circle of a motorway roundabout as I missed a junction. You would have thought I'd shat in the man's tea from the abuse I go from the guy behind.

nonthaburi

I kind of like driving in other countries where things are less rigid. Just got back from Thailand yesterday and had a few dealings with traffic police. 4GBP in the palm and the problem goes away, can't do that in the UK. Drove in BKK for years and really liked it.

Beaverstate

True, but you are catching up fast.

OriginalSunshine

Ditzy, agree, but also very locale dependent. Legoland = nightmare
South west - fit people, less obesity
South East -lots of obese, less things to do
London feels foreign in that it is not the London I remember

scot47

Fat people with tattoos and body piercings are everywhere. They are often accompanied by dangerous looking dogs.

shiva

on average the country is now fat
an awful lot of people dont realise this fact and as such dress in the most horrific way

generally people are really ****ing negative about everything. thats the thing that winds me up the most

people also have zero appreciation that they live in a democracy and squander the rights that provides to an alarming level.

DubInRiyadh

People are generally more polite - its called civilization....oh and everyone's got a tattoo and an iphone (maybe one comes free with the other)

Grayling

That is Scotland not England you are thinking about

Millhouse

Don't forget paranoid with the negativity.

scrubbedexpat141

It doesn't sound much different here.