Any English people?

I loooooove the English people i've met so far. But im sure there are always a few that spoil the bunch. Like what purplepollypops said, Im Canadian and we're not all super nice and live in igloos lol

I'm from the UK and I'm afraid to say I live in a nasty looking block of flats in a council estate (it is in the countryside though) and i dont talk like the queen lol.

I went to america once, I hated being called charming. Firstly because I'm not..my accent does not make me charming, secondly because when I think of charming I think rich bellend being a bit smarmy trying to win you over, yuck.

hi im welsh! live in a small village in the valleys. got quite a welshy accent, i hate hearing welsh ppl on tv though, sound so dull lol

Strike a light guvnor, apples and pears, etc. No cottages around here in East London!

i'm english... from East Sussex by the sea. sorry i've never lived in a cottage but i would love to!! I have some tall family members tho and quite frankly they would just keep hitting their head in a little tudor cottage LOL

one of my posts recently was how 'chuffed' i was that i had lost weight. didn't realise how British that sounded til it was pointed out to me by an American friend lol. was quite honoured that she said she may well use the word in her future!!! think she may confuse a few people tho. sure i can think of some more british -isms too to confuse our friends across the pond :-)

Why would you want to live in England? The weather is ****, the food is bland and the people are mostly racists and homophobic and theres a class system and the divide between the groups is only getting bigger. It's not very nice.

But on the other hand, there are no monsoons or true droughts; there is a great national health service; the government isn't massively corrupt; most of the police can be relied upon to do their job; the justice system, although not perfect, is a lot better than in the majority of the rest of the world; statistically, you are unlikely to be raped or murdered (or both), stolen from, beaten up etc; there is very little poverty here (although there *are* homeless people and folk living on the breadline); the postal system works (generally!); the church doesn't try to interfere too much; this is a great climate for growing food; there is a shedload of history; there's loads of great theatre; this is a wonderful multicultural melting pot of diverse cultures (and despite what the media would have you believe, racism *is* on the decline). And there is very little dangerous wildlife (unless you count the chavs)!

Go to Bangladesh and see how people live there - Britain is a paradise by comparison. When amato mio went out there a couple of years ago, he was moved to tears. The class divide is astounding - makes Britain seem devoid of it. In fact, I'm not really aware of a true class divide here - I think it's a bit of a myth, really!

However, it's true that there are pockets of many of the things that Needleknievel mentioned above but I think you'd get that anywhere. I have to agree about the food though! In general, British food sucks! Fortunately, thanks to the aforementioned cultural diversity, it's pretty easy to find good and interesting food.

Despite missing Italy every day of my life, the UK really is not a bad place to live...I do wish it were warmer though!

Oh, and my MIL lives in a cottage in the country (and she *does* speak like the Queen!)! We used to have a cottage too, until we decided to move to a town and bought a converted Victorian shoe factory in 2006! :happy:

im English too )
but i agree, its not all cottages and 5acre gardens (

Goktor I disagree strongly with the majority of your points, I am shocked you see the NHS, postal service, police, crime rates and the government in such a good light. As for the class system, once you're at the bottom of it looking up you soon realise how big the divide is - granted its not as bad as other countries but a little bit of a bad thing does not make it right or acceptable.
I don't need to go to Bangladesh to see it there, that's like saying if I had a broken arm go and visit somebody with terminal cancer and see how good I've got it. I don't need to see somebody worse off than me to realise I've still been dealt crap cards.

It has been brought home to me recently how grateful we should be to have the NHS. I have seen topics on here from Americans who do not have health insurance, and they cannot afford to even go to the doctor for a simple check up on something that MAY be minor, but MAY be fatal. I would far rather live in a country where I don't have to put a price on my health lihe that.

I don't need to see somebody worse off than me to realise I've still been dealt crap cards.

Just out of interest where do you think it would be better to live?

Why would you want to live in England? The weather is ****, the food is bland and the people are mostly racists and homophobic and theres a class system and the divide between the groups is only getting bigger. It's not very nice.

But on the other hand, there are no monsoons or true droughts; there is a great national health service; the government isn't massively corrupt; most of the police can be relied upon to do their job; the justice system, although not perfect, is a lot better than in the majority of the rest of the world; statistically, you are unlikely to be raped or murdered (or both), stolen from, beaten up etc; there is very little poverty here (although there *are* homeless people and folk living on the breadline); the postal system works (generally!); the church doesn't try to interfere too much; this is a great climate for growing food; there is a shedload of history; there's loads of great theatre; this is a wonderful multicultural melting pot of diverse cultures (and despite what the media would have you believe, racism *is* on the decline). And there is very little dangerous wildlife (unless you count the chavs)!

Go to Bangladesh and see how people live there - Britain is a paradise by comparison. When amato mio went out there a couple of years ago, he was moved to tears. The class divide is astounding - makes Britain seem devoid of it. In fact, I'm not really aware of a true class divide here - I think it's a bit of a myth, really!

However, it's true that there are pockets of many of the things that Needleknievel mentioned above but I think you'd get that anywhere. I have to agree about the food though! In general, British food sucks! Fortunately, thanks to the aforementioned cultural diversity, it's pretty easy to find good and interesting food.

Despite missing Italy every day of my life, the UK really is not a bad place to live...I do wish it were warmer though!

Oh, and my MIL lives in a cottage in the country (and she *does* speak like the Queen!)! We used to have a cottage too, until we decided to move to a town and bought a converted Victorian shoe factory in 2006! :happy:

Well said "TheGoktor" ,I live in Gateshead ,would love to live in a cottage by the sea would be nice ,if the lotto comes up I am away :happy:

Goktor I disagree strongly with the majority of your points, I am shocked you see the NHS, postal service, police, crime rates and the government in such a good light. As for the class system, once you're at the bottom of it looking up you soon realise how big the divide is - granted its not as bad as other countries but a little bit of a bad thing does not make it right or acceptable.
I don't need to go to Bangladesh to see it there, that's like saying if I had a broken arm go and visit somebody with terminal cancer and see how good I've got it. I don't need to see somebody worse off than me to realise I've still been dealt crap cards.

I am sorry you feel you've been dealt a rubbish hand but honestly, if you saw a bit more of the world, even your own country, you might revise your opinion. In the UK, we are incredibly fortunate. Just because *you* have a less than equitable life, it doesn't mean it is the same for everyone. If it's so bad, why don't you change it? I have to tell you, that *I* was dealt a dreadful hand but I changed my life because I wasn't prepared to let other people beat me into submission (both physically and mentally). Living in the UK meant that not only did I survive my childhood (no mean feat) but I was able to get a decent education, which in turn enabled me to eventually have a good life.

So thank you NHS for fixing all my broken bones, and thank you UK system for taking me away from a mother who tried to kill me, and for keeping me safe. Thank you also for educating my children, for making the streets where I live safe and clean, and thank you for helping even the poorest people in the country have access to healthcare, food and education.

(And yes I do know what I am talking about because I worked for SHELTER for several years, and continue to do voluntary work with the homeless.)

Your cancer analogy was fatuous to say the least.

I know the UK may have its problems and I am right at the bottom of the class system but like to look at what I have got and not what i haven't like my beautiful kids my health a roof over my head ect. A lot of people in the world don't have any of those things.

As for the NHS i would probably be dead in any other country as I had a rare blood condition when I was younger where my white blood cells killed my red ones. I got all my treatment for free and can honestly say they saved my life so I will never say that its a bad thing. I know they have their faults but I sometimes think we take for granted that when we are ill we just go to the drs without a second thought

Shall I compare thee to a Summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And oft' is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd:
But thy eternal Summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wanderest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

And of course, the UK has Shakespeare too! :bigsmile:

I'm a Canadian living on the Isle of Wight just off the south coast of England. I live in a modern townhouse in a village. There is a castle within walking distance of my home. The weather is mostly very good, and I can ride my motorcycle year round. The food is excellent, not bland at all, and the beer is superb. Most of the people I've met since moving here are wonderful. The area has problems with unemployment, but that can be said about a lot of places at the moment. I like where I live. It is physically very pretty, and if you like cycling, hiking, or other outdoor pursuits it's a great place to be. I have zero complaints about the NHS or our local hospital, and my doctor is a great guy. He happens to be German. I'm the one with an accent here, and I'm told it's 'charming' or 'sexy'. I'm occasionally mistaken for an American, but that's ok.