The best thing about America
 

Looks like I'm going to be returning to the UK within 6 months.

Not something I want really, but the continuing uncertainty of visa extension and/or green card has gotten too muh.

Fed up of renting. My family need a home.

Anyway, the main thing I will miss is that I have yet to encounter chavs in the US ( at leat the areas we frequent ). No tattooed, facially pierced morons whose idea of classy is having a glass to drink from.

My impression over the past two years is that the US ( or at least the affluent areas in NJ ) are muh more civilized than the UK.

People call you "sir" in a shop, my kids friends call me "Mr. le10", I love hearing the phrase "you're welcome", I love the absence of aggression on the roads etc etc

And....I'm going to miss the trees, lakes and beautiful blue skies.

I'm going to miss amazing health insurance and some of the best doctors in the world (NYC).

Wish we could stay...but it's ended up just too complicated.

Wonderful to have had the opportunity and experience though.

Le10

Re: The best thing about America
 

I agree with much of what you say, but you appear to have managed to avoid contact with the deprived "inner city" areas, and the many poor rural areas, with both having plenty of "chav substitutes", and worse still, many of them are armed. :(

Re: The best thing about America
 

Yep...l'm aware we have lived in a bit of a bubble here.

US society seems much more stratified than the UK.

In other words, you only get to live in a "nice" town here if you can afford it.

Nice for the privileged, not so nice for the under-privileged.

UK towns are more a microcosm of the general UK society.

I realize I'm generalizing so dont shoot me..

Re: The best thing about America
 

Affluent areas, I think that's key.

When it's lovely, it's lovely. When it's not, it's not.

The different scenery and wildlife is really quite lovely though :)

One thing that's a little sad, go to any kids museum, farm or some such for kids and the car park is all very upper middle class. Never see and old banger in the lot with inner city poor folks. Even the library passes for a lot of things still don't make them affordable places to visit for families, which is a big shame as they would probably benefit the most from it.

I've no idea if that's the case else where, but in my little bubble of the burbs at least.

Re: The best thing about America
 

They don't call this town LaLa Land for nothing. ;) Yes it is safe but go down the road a few miles into some areas of M/town and things change.

Re: The best thing about America
 

In a way, this goes to show just how diverse different areas in the US are. Certainly in my locality, if you ever hear a "you're welcome" or "thanks", it will come complete with a UK or Commonwealth accent. You can spend a week of holding doors open, letting people out into traffic, picking dropped items up, etc. and never have any acknowledgment other than the occasional grunt.
As for tatted morons, this place has more tattoo parlours than it does doctors offices. Miss chavs? We have plenty, usually hanging out in our multitude of dive bars. The police estimate that at any given time, 30% or more of drivers on the roads are impaired with either drink or drugs. We even have teenagers hanging out in parks being abusive to passer-bys.
Sounds like some horrible inner city location? Nope. This is a town that regularly makes top 10 lists of desirable places to live, best places for tourists, best ski towns, etc.

Re: The best thing about America
 

A bit illusory I think. We recently had some British visitors and they were really shocked by the homeless in San Francisco and that LA did not look glitzy as they imagined it would.

Re: The best thing about America
 

We certainly live in a bubble. We have virtually no crime apart from out of towners speeding. If I call the cops they will be at my door in less than 5 minutes. Chain stores and fast food outlets like McD's, Burger King, large supermarket chains are not allowed to operate here. We've recently used a large painting and decorating company. The area manager said working in this town in a nightmare because the cops will often stop their vans and search them...just to make sure nothing has been stolen from the houses they are working in. After dark if the cops don't recognise your car...there's a good chance you will be pulled over.

Re: The best thing about America
 

They call them rednecks here... ;):D

Re: The best thing about America
 

But it sounds like such a paradise....:eek:;)

So why on Earth are you planning to move out of town Jerseygirl? :lol:

Re: The best thing about America
 

You know where I live and the reasons for moving. ;)

Re: The best thing about America
 

I guess they dont know about all the homeless on the streets of London :)

Re: The best thing about America
 

They're pretty visible there and everyone knows about it.

Gets swept under the carpets a lot more around here.

Re: The best thing about America
 

I do not live in the burbs, I have done.

I was in Boulder on Friday and you can tell summer has come, the wino's were at the traffic lights with their cardboard notices.

When I first came over it was one of the things I noticed that initially it was much more difficult to tell the nice areas from the not so nice or down right nasty.

I was watching the coverage of Woolwich, I know the area and then reading the bio of the killer, he went to a 6th Form college that used to be the Secondary Modern nearest where I was brought up.

Does not make me want to go back.....

Re: The best thing about America
 

So you say anyone with tattoos and piercings is a chav? I must be a chav then? but at least i'm not a shallow minded bigot. You obviously don't Know fashion and trends because a very large spectrum of adults are getting inked.

Re: The best thing about America
 

To put it in perspective, the last count of the homeless here showed just over 2,200 homeless. Of those, 700 were under 17. Bear in mind that this is people sleeping rough (not staying with friends or relatives) in March when the overnight temps average around 20F. This is in a town of around 75,000 people.
On one really cold (-10F), the city council asked local churches to open their halls and meeting rooms to house the homeless overnight. Over the 5 largest they asked, 4 refused, including the huge mega-church. Personally, I'd take their tax exemptions and stick them where the sun don's shine.
Sorry for the off-topic rant, but the lack of social care, and the "I'm all right Jack" attitude of people pisses me off no end, especially for a so-called Christian country. Have these people ever read the New Testament?

Re: The best thing about America
 

I'm going to guess that you haven't checked the fire codes and zoning of said church buildings. I don't know that it would be a problem but either could cause a problem, and quite possibly both.

Re: The best thing about America
 

The general frank and open honesty of Americans compared to Brits. You always know where you stand with them. Very refreshing for me.

The polar opposite of 'hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way'

Re: The best thing about America
 

As a general rule....yes

You may be an exception though....many are.

Not shallow minded ( are you saying that people who don't like tattoos are shallow ? How bigoted ! ;) )....merely observational.

As for fashion....meh !

Re: The best thing about America
 

:lol:

That made me smile :)

Re: The best thing about America
 

Tattoos do not age well.

But then neither do clothes, fortunately my clothes from my teenage years have long since been discarded. Afghan's that you did not want to be downwind of?

There may be exceptions, I just have not come across any.

Re: The best thing about America
 

you have stereotyped anyone with a tattoo or piercing a chav. Take a look at the real world and you'll see all walks of life getting tattoos.
I choose to have piercings and tattoos, there is nothing chavy about it. I bet 3/4 of this forum have at least one tattoo and so we are chavs.
Bigot? yes. I doubt many people feel the same as you.
I'm off to by a shell suit now and a giant gold chain to match.:amen:

Re: The best thing about America
 

http://www.computerweekly.com/blogs/...too-man_1_.jpg

It did not work out too well for Ray.

Re: The best thing about America
 

Troll!

Re: The best thing about America
 

Me too. A good contender for the Funniest Post of the Year Polls.

Re: The best thing about America
 

Me three. Good thing I'm taking my morning coffee outside on the deck or I'd have ruined the carpet indoors.

Re: The best thing about America
 

Fashion and trends change frequently. Ink tends to hang in there far longer.

Regards, JEff

Re: The best thing about America
 

I thought chavs were more into Burberry clothes than tattoos.

Re: The best thing about America
 

They just get the Burberry pattern tattooed directly on now. That way they can stop nicking clothes and concentrate on Citroën Saxos instead.

Re: The best thing about America
 

God, we had a Citroen Saxo they could have had for free! I hated that car with a purple passion!! :D

Re: The best thing about America
 

That's what they all drove round our way. Well, it used to be a Saxo before the off-brand plastic body kit and naff paint job got applied, that is.

Re: The best thing about America
 

Funny you say that, as the people I think of as Chavs in California are all the people with their Coach handbags.

Re: The best thing about America
 

We have groups in the US that are seen as counterparts to the chavs in the UK but it differs between urban areas and the countryside. In this town the demographic that gets stereotyped as 'chavvy' are the Puerto Ricans - meaning people perceive them as living off welfare, playing music too loud, behaving trashyily (e.g stabbing each other at Chucky Cheese) etc. In the countryside the chav counterpart is the hick or redneck who lives out in the woods down a dirt road and drives a rusty pickup - usual uniform; shirtless, NASCAR baseball cap and tattoos. Difference between the UK and the US is you typically don't get youths prowling the streets harassing people round here like I was used to back home. Reason for that is probably the large number of cops, different drinking culture and the fact that people drive everywhere. Closest you get to it is probably the flash-mob phenomenon in the inner cities.

Re: The best thing about America
 

I live in downtown San Jose and on the weekends, about 20K-40K people visit the bars, restaurants, and nightclubs each night in the one square mile downtown area. A significant number that visit the downtown area are from gangs in east San Jose (gang markings all over) but seldom is there any problems. The police have zero tolerance for problems in the downtown area and if a bar owner has a problem, the police are there within minutes, if a fight or argument breaks out in a parking lot, the police are there in minutes, and if people are harassed, the police are there in minutes. The police doesn't just warn the violators but immediately hauls them to jail to make sure that everybody understands the rules of behavior in the downtown area.

Re: The best thing about America
 

Totally different too here going to a ball game , it a pleasure to take the whole family , you can't even go to the pubs in the UK with a team shirt on .

Re: The best thing about America
 

An interesting theory, but not borne out be the reality that there is an average of 20% more police per capita in the UK than in the US.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...olice_officers

Re: The best thing about America
 

You're not comparing like with like. I hear that NFL fans inside and in the streets and nearby bars are often aggressive towards fans of other teams, whereas cricket is generally a family friendly game for spectators.

Re: The best thing about America
 

It might be different in other cities but in the Chicago area people get overly tribal about their (in national terms rather crap) sporting teams, often to the point of stupidity.

I used to go to the pub wearing a Liverpool shirt all the time back home and other than the obligatory friendly rivalry with United fans, nothing untoward ever happened. I'm not so sure that would work around here in certain places if one was wearing, say a Packers jersey :unsure:

Re: The best thing about America
 

I didnt just "hear" of football hooligans in the UK I've seen them for myself :)

Re: The best thing about America
 

Then why are they banned in pubs ?