Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,022
|
Post by Nifty on Feb 14, 2023 21:51:20 GMT 1
Just though I would update you with my impressions of the UK after essentially a 6 year absence. Overall mixed. Lovely to see my family again. Went to the theatre, a 70s soul music venue, walking on the South Downs, a vegan restaurant...all lovely, lively..great atmosphere (although I found the UK expensive..but probably when all things taken into account about the same as France). Mixed bits were.. public transport.. wonderful to have some, and when it works it was great but doesn't always work. Staff were great, doing a shit job in difficult circumstances but with humour. People I encountered in London were great, Sussex less so, and Bedford definitely not! Traffic and people everywhere..even in the country. People walking dogs everywhere. Cars everywhere.. M1 and M25 in rush hour was moving but a little too fast and with no space between the vehicles. Terror even worse because our driver was OH's 75 year old uncle who talks all the time. I shut my eyes. London seemed quieter than I remember, other places were busy. Still have to book everywhere outside of central London if you want a table in a restaurant. Negative..everywhere is bloody filthy. Litter everywhere..buildings dirty, public toilets filthy. Overall, the people on the whole are great but the country deserves a better government than the one it has currently, and needs a better one if it doesn't want to sink further into the cesspit. I am surprised there is no mention of the roads. If you are looking for a weird experience you should stay at or see the derelict Services near the M1 at Markfield.
|
|
|
Post by ForumUser2 on Feb 14, 2023 22:27:36 GMT 1
In this mention of "UK" whereof do our contributors speak? Enniskillen is not as described above, nor Kingussie, Dolgellau, Stamford, Chester, the South Downs, Cowbridge, Lerwick, the Hebrides, Dales, Lakes, Peak District. Or hosts of places conveniently located out the SE of England which, oddly, seems to be synonymous with UK.
And France holds some fairly grim metropolises.
So if you compare Luton with the Auvergne the comparison is likely to be unflattering. On the other hand surely we'd all take the Marlborough Hills over Metz?
But, yes, some parts of the UK are, basically, a toilet and unlikely to improve any time soon.
|
|
tim17
Member
Posts: 964
Member is Online
|
Post by tim17 on Feb 15, 2023 7:40:26 GMT 1
I was referencing my home city of Norwich which on the whole is fairly affluent.
|
|
|
Post by lapourtaider on Feb 15, 2023 7:43:01 GMT 1
I am surprised there is no mention of the roads. I will. As someone who is returning to France today after a month in the UK and driven and ridden all over the South of England, the roads are in an absolutely disgusting and frankly as a cyclist, dangerous state. I was constantly swerving to avoid potholes. Not all roads in France are perfect, but the general state is SO much better.
|
|
Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,022
|
Post by Nifty on Feb 15, 2023 9:20:34 GMT 1
The ‘cake and eat it brigade, think that they can skimp on tax and maintain a coordinated national infrastructure. Anybody with an iota of knowledge can see the impossibility of this. Meanwhile, the cats are getting so fat that soon they will explode. With any luck.
Never mind Enniskillen, Englishkilling is the flavour of the present.
|
|
Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
|
Post by Aardvark on Feb 15, 2023 11:46:00 GMT 1
I did a "Grand Tour" back in '71 in a Mini equipped with a tiny two-man ridge tent and a single burner Gaz cooker. Crossed pretty much every western european country apart from Spain. My lasting impression was of how untidy Italy was. Great swathes of litter along the roads, even miles from the nearest towns. In some areas of England they are following this fashion. In my part of Brittany it is rare to see roadside litter apart from the odd bit of detritus that has blown off a trailer on its way to the deshitterie. The cities may well be different but I have no desire to visit that sort of place.
|
|
|
Post by ForumUser2 on Feb 15, 2023 12:45:46 GMT 1
Funny you should talk about roadside litter. We've just spent a few minutes in slow moving traffic on the A47 at Peterborough (I know, but we all have to suffer) and noticed how much litter there is on the verges. It's very unpleasant. Indeed, the edges of busy roads are very untidy.
|
|
Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,022
|
Post by Nifty on Feb 15, 2023 14:55:31 GMT 1
I was travelling quite a lot in Spain in the early 1980s and was quite taken by the amount of rubbish there was in certain areas. From the places that I have been there since, are very much more salubrious and I wonder where the pockets of poverty are.
|
|
|
Post by lindalovely on Feb 15, 2023 15:27:36 GMT 1
Roads..yes, mostly in poor condition, especially the pavements. Don't know how my MIL manages without breaking a hip. I wasn't really comparing with France, but how I remember the UK from 6 years ago. Public transport would have been good apart from strikes (can't say I blame them and neither did most people I spoke to) and engineering works, which according to my brother have been causing disruption for months. Bus transport was good and traffic in the city seemed less than I rememberred.
|
|
Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,022
|
Post by Nifty on Feb 15, 2023 17:13:48 GMT 1
I thought that the traffic in London was less and more orderly than it used to be on the 1980s Perhaps that is because I have slowed down a bit.
|
|
tim17
Member
Posts: 964
Member is Online
|
Post by tim17 on Feb 15, 2023 17:43:22 GMT 1
I think there is less traffic in town/city centres thanks to working from home, online shopping and Critair type schemes across the UK.
|
|
|
Post by houpla on Feb 16, 2023 9:20:27 GMT 1
I did a "Grand Tour" back in '71 in a Mini equipped with a tiny two-man ridge tent and a single burner Gaz cooker. Crossed pretty much every western european country apart from Spain. My lasting impression was of how untidy Italy was. Great swathes of litter along the roads, even miles from the nearest towns. In some areas of England they are following this fashion. In my part of Brittany it is rare to see roadside litter apart from the odd bit of detritus that has blown off a trailer on its way to the deshitterie. The cities may well be different but I have no desire to visit that sort of place. That's what struck us most forcibly on our (pre-emigration) trips to France. After a market a whole team of clearer-uppers moved in leaving the square pristine within half an hour. A complete contrast to our market town in UK which was ankle deep in litter from Friday to Monday, and the verges of the A45 which looked more like the local tip. We're just seeing the start of 'incivilities' around here now, with the odd drink bottle or can thrown from a car or lorry into the ditch, people in the towns throwing rubbish onto the ground despite the presence of waste bins. That's so sad. I wonder what goes through the minds of litterers, assuming they've got minds....
|
|
Nifty
Member
Posts: 5,022
|
Post by Nifty on Feb 16, 2023 20:03:46 GMT 1
But, apparently some of them are happy.
What was that saying ‘ as happy as a farm animal in something or other’
|
|
|
Post by houpla on Feb 16, 2023 20:14:02 GMT 1
True, but cochonnerie is contagious.....
|
|
|
Post by omegal on Feb 17, 2023 0:49:32 GMT 1
|
|