Any English people?

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:

And we have Elvis Presley! We win

LOL -Very good. But we'll see in 400 years if you win.

It can be no bad thing to be into Elvis. And certainly no bad thing to remember his musical influences.

Have you tried Little Black Bomber cheddar? It is soooo nice.

Those little truckles? Oh yes! They sell it in the foodie part of our local garden centre (along with 'artisan bread' - lol!) - very nomsome!

I think so I believe Elvis will live forever. I'm a huge Elvis fan, and I was born 13 years after his death. And my 5 year old niece is absolutely in love with him. He'll always have fans who keep his spirit alive.

I was 14 when he died, and was devastated (because you have to be at that age, right?!). I still love Elvis, and am still saddened by the way he was manipulated and used by those around him. So tragic.

I've heard it takes a long time to see a doctor over there!

I think it probably depends on where you are. In this town, you never have to wait for more than 48 hours - obviously if it's urgent, you can be seen straight away. Most of the time though, it's pretty easy (in my experience) to be seen on the same day if you ring early enough. When I lived in rural areas here, I *always* got seen on the same day as I rang for an appointment.

A lot of internationals come to the U.S. for emergency medical care because although it's expensive, you get amazing care.

While I've fortunately never had need of medical assistance in the US, I can say that in general, the level of service/customer care I've received there has been second-to-none. I do actually think the British could learn a lot from US in that respect, especially in shops!

Also, I think a lot of poverty exists and other issues in the U.S. because we always have to recue everyone. We always donate the most when any disaster happens.

Is that as a percentage, or per capita, or overall? Just curious!

I feel like the U.S. should focus more on its own people.

I'm sure there are many people across the world who would agree with you! :laugh: I do see your point though - and I can see how easily foreign aid might breed resentment at home. Striking a balance must be very difficult....not a job I'd like to have!

I love British chocolate. I will take it over that Swiss and Belgian nonsense any day. It generally also has a nicer taste and texture than US chocolate.

Fantastic!! can i just say nothing and i repeat NOTHING beats a good bar of cadburys choc!! ok ok this is a health/ fitness site but i'll admit to having choc everyday, in moderation and yes its cadbury and MMMmmmmmm :-)

ps i have tried american choc and sorry, not for me!!

I love the iow go there on my fiances bike whenever someone will have the kids it has some great biking roads we hope to be able yo move there sometime as we love it so much

Yes indeed, we have some great roads for riding. Even my commute to work is a good ride.

And forget Elvis. Chuck Berry is the king!:laugh:

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

I live in a Tudor cottage, and at 5'5" I am forever hitting my head.

bloody hell some people are miserable sods are they not?

Love my country, love the weather, love the countryside, the towns and villages, the seaside, the mountains, the lakes, the history and the majority of the people.

The food here is fabulous, the chocolate is the best in the world, and I love the cheese.

I live in a village, I can walk to the downs or the county town, visit the castle on the hill above or a Roman villa in a near by road, I can visit Neolithic standing stones, I can ride on a steam train. All just near my house. I love that I live here, I love the NHS, I owe it my life and that of my son, I was in a private room for 6 weeks before he was born and saw the consultant every day, had all manner of tests and treatment and it cost me not a penny piece, my Mother received all her many operations and treatments and palliative care free, it was fabulous care and I now work for the NHS and I know its a bloody marvellous service we should all be thankful for.

I think there are things to be improved, people who are vile and places that are not pleasant, but this is a GREAT country, with fabulous people and although I don't live in a cottage, I speak the traditional RP that you are probably thinking of, I say barth for bath, I say sitting room, I say toilet and I laugh at Monty Python and think that the Royal family are great.

**Applauds!**

I live in a Tudor cottage, and at 5'5" I am forever hitting my head.

My MIL's cottage has been an ale-house and a post office at various points in its life, and the only part of it which has a ceiling high enough for us to not bang our heads is the hall area....and that's because it used to be a courtyard! She made some 'mind your head' signs, which our niece and nephew take great delight in putting up whenever we go for a visit! :laugh:

People are so pessimistic about our country. I totally agree with TheGoktor about the UK. I love living here!
The weather might not always be the sunniest but we do have the chance to take holidays to somewhere more tropical and we appreciate the weather a lot more this way I think. Also we don't have to constantly worry about hurricanes, tornados and droughts, forest fires, earthquakes and pretty much every other natural disaster that is more common with warmer climates.

For the poster who mentioned the class divide you seem incredibly bitter about people who maybe slightly better off than you. Has it occurred to you that you could change your own life if you really wanted to? there ISN'T a massive divide between classes and if you feel like there is, stop moaning and do something about it.

Our NHS is amazing too, fair enough they might not be the prettiest places to spend your time in but I'd prefer to be there than somewhere just as shabby but paying for it!
I'm currently waiting for an operation on my left hip (have been for 2 years) but if I wanted to go private I would have to spend close to £10k which I just don't have and I don't fancy having to spend the next 10 years trying to pay it back. But at least I have the choice. I need my operation to get back to work to earn a good living and if I was to be living in America or other countries I would have had to have paid for the last 2 years of consultations and doctors appointments. Thank you NHS.

I actually like the food too! I don't see what we have to complain about when compared to other, less fortunate countries ours is a paradise! That's why we have so many people moving here to live!

I went on a business trip to China about 4 years ago and that really opened my eyes to how fortunate we are here. Yeah we have "chavs" and "pikeys" we also have "goths" and "emos" If you are a chav you don't like the goths, if youre a goth you dont like the chavs etc etc. Each to their own. You live your life they live theirs.