Why England.

[Semmelnknödöln]

Haven't logged in here for a while... hope this finds all you good folk in great (even if age-distorted) shape I have some random questions, especially to those who live(d) in the UK and/or France. Or those who deliberately avoid either place. And the rest 

Why should I want to move to England as opposed to France? Why not? Where's England headed? Binge drinking? Copying German style (or is that only in footie)? Drowning? Olympic glory? Sunshine? Please go wild, the more controversial, the more telling No need to go into any "depends on ... {where, me, family, life, job}" detail.. just some general blurb from YOUR perspective...put it more bluntly:

WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT LIVING IN ENGLAND? 

WHAT DO YOU DISLOVE 

What's disappearing, what's coming?

Just some minimal info: I don't care much for weather, I prefer French food and English beer, I'm from neither country or language, I like English pubs and French cafes 

Just randomly curious, cheers for any input

[Stoney]

First n fore most, for the purposes of the forum here, the best thing about living in England the last few tears has been the number of great NMA/Justin Sullivan/Ignite Books gigs n happenings......... (I purposely avoided RED SKY COVEN in the list coz I missed the Huddersfield gig! wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh =(............).............

Plus of course, Yorkshire is God's own county, Bratfud is my home town, what can I tell ya?

There's a great choice of great drinks, cider is hard to get in quantity abroad sadly. But not here! HURRAY!!!!!!!! We speak the best language in the world, there's loads of awesome, interesting, honest and fun people here (hi Family folks!lol), basically Engaland/UK rocks...........
I like France to go play shows, same for other Euro destinations, Holland, Germany, Switerland etc....... Played some great shows but home is HERE! Simple as that......... =)

[Danny]

Positives of living in the UK: what Stoney said plus West Ham United and if you were to choose London or somewhere near enough the fact that you'll be able to see regularly pretty much any band you like - they all come and play here.

Negatives: we have a godawful government of inbred millionaires who have never done one day's actual work in their entire life, nor have the faintest clue about what life is about in the real world, hellbent on destroying whatever's left of our once rightly admired welfare state and health service (they've already done quite a bit in this respect in the last two years and they show no signs of intending to stop) whilst helping the scum in the city avoid any consequences for their dirty deeds, indeed make sure they carry on doing what the **** they like.
France, I've never lived or spent enough time in to have a opinion based on personal experience, but from what I know in terms of workers rights they are light years ahead of us. Rest I couldn't possibly comment upon.

I now await the return of the troll with baited breath...

[Spudthemariner]

Positives of living in the UK: Cider, Real Ale and Pubs. The ability to take any foodstuff, wrap it in pastry, bake it and make it taste fantastic (Pastys in the West Country, morphing into Pies the further North you go). Some of the most beautiful countryside in the world, from Mountains, Moorland, Forests and Coast (all within fairly easy reach).

Dislikes: The weather (sometimes), and what Danny very succinctly said!

I like visiting France. They have excellent pastry's!

[Stoney]

Danny makes an exceedingly pertinent point, Spud bakes exceedingly good cakes.......... Now I'm off to gaze at my now out classed NMA collection and plot it's future additions....... (See Rarest NMA record thread!).lmao

[Barty]

I love England because it's home and, despite being small, has given the world some of the greatest music. The weather is important as it shapes our music!

[Sequoia225]

England HAS indeed given the world some of the greatest music...if my music collection was arranged by country, it would be by FAR the largest category.

But Mr SemmelYrekaZzyzxnknödöln   (wait...did I even get that right?),

I DO hear California is a fantastic place to live. All weather patterns (except the bad ones and even those are here if you want them), highest and lowest places in almost a whole continent. the most open space or crowded cities, ocean, desert, everything in between, good people, bad people, boring people, exciting people, downright strange people.

And hey, theres a British Pub just a few blocks away...I think weve even got places with great beer you would love in the oddest of places as well - like in the middle of the desert miles from anything else...

Oh....wait.....you didnt give California as an option did you.....

my mistake....I swear I.........oh.....I guess I read that wrong perhaps...

I guess thats why when my German friends speak of me, they always say...

Bei ihm fällt der Groschen pfennigerweise.


oh well.

[Barty]

Some good comments there. We honeymooned in California ('Frisco, LA, Carmel, Yosemite etc) and had an amazing time. I love 'Frisco and really hope to return some time. The Cult were playing there the day we arrived (August 2001) but it was sold out.....couldn't find a ticket anywhere. 

A couple of my fave bands come from California - Metallica and The Doors....

[Stoney]

Had some really good times in California, Arizona and the East Coast aswell........ Lots of great friends makea huge difference. Some amazing scenery aswell as other inspiring places to visit........ I was on the verge of moving to NY at one point before I met my good lady.......

[Barty]

We were supposed to be going to NY this year......until we found out the roof needs replacing 

Been to Arizona too and thought it was awesome.....and Nevada (Vegas) - great to see but 3 days was enough 

I'd love to go to New Orleans one day to sit in the bars and listen to live music with an ale or 6 

[jc]

Hello Tarje, long time no see and hear; in no particular order and by no means exhaustive, some random things I like:-

• the passing of the seasons
• the climate, I mean when you look at how hot the Earth can get, and how cold it can get, and how wet it can get; we get it pretty good here really
• I don't drink but I do eat, and I think English food (including curry which is the new fish and chips don'tcha know) is amongst the best in the world if cooked right
• as mentioned by others, the countryside is just beautiful, from the rolling hills to the jagged rocks
• the fact that we are an island

Some random things I dislike:-

• mainly the fact that it is so expensive here for everything, yet in other countries goods and services seem cheaper and better value for money
• the fact of the current climate where the haves can get away with anything, whilst the have nots are left holding the baby, and there doesn't seem to be any prospect of redress this any time soon
• there is no passion in food, everywhere I go abroad they have great local food at local prices, eaten by the local people, over here it seems to be a 'let's see what we can get away with' mentality which means that we just get used to mediocre sludge at over inflated prices
• when driving, the fact that British drivers have no lane discipline or consideration
• the fact that we are an island

If I think of any more I will add to the list.


Cheers


jc

[Knutty]

I was at work the other day. A massive truck pulled up, the driver was from Hungary. Somebody noticed a head bob down under the truck, we helped a guy out from under it. He was an Asylum seeker who had ridden on the axle outside the truck from Belgium. He arrived in Cheshire after a day underneath the truck after climbing underneath during the ferry crossing from Belgium. We gave him water and a twix bar (that's all we had) the police were called. Before they came I spoke to him, he had limited English, but he was from Syria, his Mum and Dad, brothers and Sisters had been killed. He had been traveling for a month. I was asked by a colleague to "watch" him as he may do a runner. NO CHANCE! the guy was frightened shitless. The sirens came closer, i told him not to be frightened of them and the uniforms when they came. He asked where he was, I told him Cheshire..he hadn't a clue..."Cheshire, England" His face lit up when he heard England. The police took him away. I keep imagining how he felt, no money, no language, no passport, family dead, no home NOTHING!...I can't, it's too much. That poor man.
Why England? cos hopefully England will look after him and respect him.

[Scruff225]

England HAS indeed given the world some of the greatest music...if my music collection was arranged by country, it would be by FAR the largest category.

But Mr SemmelYrekaZzyzxnknödöln   (wait...did I even get that right?),

I DO hear California is a fantastic place to live. All weather patterns (except the bad ones and even those are here if you want them), highest and lowest places in almost a whole continent. the most open space or crowded cities, ocean, desert, everything in between, good people, bad people, boring people, exciting people, downright strange people.

And hey, theres a British Pub just a few blocks away...I think weve even got places with great beer you would love in the oddest of places as well - like in the middle of the desert miles from anything else...

Oh....wait.....you didnt give California as an option did you.....

my mistake....I swear I.........oh.....I guess I read that wrong perhaps...

I guess thats why when my German friends speak of me, they always say...

Bei ihm fällt der Groschen pfennigerweise.


oh well.

Yes exactly what you said, England is better in California (Nor Cal to be precise!!!)

[Semmelnknödöln]

Many thanks for the diverse replies, was hoping this would trigger some interest... if you asked me about ups and downs of my "home" I'd have to sit down and think for a minute

Music, pubs, footie - no doubt winners in England... although I'd have to get used to the stale state and temperature of yer beer 

Danny - You echo my political concerns completely.... yet again the decision would be much longer-term than any current government, and unfortunately a lot of countries are seeing similar directions too. I decided to slightly decouple life/habitat decisions from current politics... my concern is basically whether the Cameron style of cutting funds at all the wrong ends, detachment from neighbors (aka Europe, despite that *gigantic* Channel ) and letting bankers keep producing their inbred dirty shite all along, whether this culture is just a pendulum swing or deeply routed and no change to be seen any time soon (decadal time scales)? Obviously impossible to predict anything and I know that England is not and will never be France in terms of social benefits (which I value very highly there), still curious.

Weather - I'm a nordic type, so if anything it'd be too hot ... seriously, I love seasons, fog, rain, as long as it changes every so often...

Mr Giant-tree! California - been there done that, change is GOOD 
I wouldn't need much of inquiry about living there indeed, and yes landscape, some of the cities etc are hard to beat... unfortunately it's not an actual option right now, job-wise. Which may come down to the economic state of the State, eh?

And yes I'd also highly recommend NEW ORLEANS Barty... spent a summer there, loved the place. Outside of Bourbon Street of course... Music and food, mix of cultures... absolutely unique place. Although I can't remember many ales

I was in La Push a few weeks ago, what a place! And rather well described by JS... but what else do we expect  I could post some images soon.

Jack - many thanks...
- Island, indeed comes with its peculiarities on all sides (by definition )!
- Food passion... I can see that, but I imagine this highly depends on where you are? I bet metropolitan areas have a huge variety in style and quality nowadays... ?
- Driving... I think my alternative would be worse...

Knuttys - Chilling story... hope the lad will be in good hands. Cannot repeat enough how I hate the current cynical, nasty, me-myself-and-I, xenophobic, whiny atmosphere around this continent.... and my impression of England is - despite its Europhobia - that it's less so compared to large parts of the mainland. IMO such stories, if with a positive outcome, pretty much decide whether a country is somewhat civilized, along with very few other topics (infrastructure (health, education, public transportation), acceptance of variety/diversity... )
 

[Sequoia225]

You know I was being facetious right?
I was also pretending to not know you, which is always nice right??
You are missed here - thats all.

And no comment on my German?!?! Ah well - I cheated anyway.