To think England is a bit boring?

I think what you are saying can apply to some places in England but definitely not places like London. There aren't many cities in the world that is as vibrant as London in my opinion.

I'm not British but have lived in 5 countries, one of them UK, and the one thing that stood out to me about the British people is that they can be witty but very cagey about their lives. I found it very hard to get to know people because the only thing you could do was have meaningless small talk and any questions that was somewhat related to who they were was ignored, but at the same time they had no issues calling me love or darling. I found not being seen as rude difficult because in my country my questions wouldn't have been seen as rude, but British people are very easily offended and it makes life much bleaker.

I find some of the towns a bit depressing (UK in general, not just England).

See, I suspect the vast majority of non-tourist towns are a bit like that, no matter where you are in the world. I lived in a very non-touristy part of France for a year and it was just as grey and depressing as your average UK high street.

Well I used to live in Canada until v recently and if you don’t like England you probably won’t like anywhere else.

You think our weather is bad? 😂 oh yeah all those English snow storms, hurricanes, deadly heatwaves and tropical storms are just horrendous. Aren’t they? Don’t forget the wild fires & proximity to war zones.

Just last month Toronto was covered in litter during an opioid crisis. Homeless everywhere. Many car crashes due to drug use. Sure they had events on but could you get there without risking your safety? Not particularly.

The moment I arrived back at Gatwick and could see the spotless M25 (yep!) I was grateful to be back in my relatively safe, boring little country. With all its boring weather.

Sometimes, a little perspective goes a long way! ☀️

If you’re a social person then being around friends/people who you have fun with will make anywhere seem fun and lack of will be boring.

I doubt you’re in London as there are vast amounts to do and it’s by far the most fun city I’ve ever been to, it’s also hugely diverse with incredible food, green spaces, history etc and it’s very easy to get to many different places from London, public transport is great in comparison to many places. Scotland, Ireland, France. Although I have lived in London with few friends and I didn’t enjoy it, as soon as I had made a social network I had the best time.

re weather yes can be a bit miserable but as others have said we don’t have extremes and I really love the seasons so need a bit of rain and gloom, I wouldn’t want to live with a summer of 40 degree heat but others would so that’s just personal preference!

I personally would struggle to live far from London as other places do seem to have less going on but I love being able to visit other places for quiet weekends by the sea / country etc

Oh I like it! England itself can be very predictable (and that is very good) but the people are sparky and interesting, witty and even tempered.

I’ve literally never been told I must refer to the country as the U.K. How is it happening ‘constantly’ to you? Devolution has meant much more focus on the constituent countries within the U.K.
Abroad, yes, someone might clarify that, for eg, Wales is part of the U.K., but that’s just about establishing the geography. It’s not a rebuke.

I think you're probably right.

Can't say I've noticed the difference between English high streets and French ones to be honest. The French also have the same shops as eachother. Can hardly blame the weather either, it's pretty wet and miserable across most of Northern Europe!

I find some of the towns a bit depressing (UK in general, not just England).

It's the identikit high streets, gloomy and uninspiring mid-20th Century architecture etc. etc. - you know the type. Happily though, there are still plenty of towns which have retained their character and charm.

But the countryside is varied and beautiful, as is much of the coastline. Most of us are within 2-3 hours of some of the best theatre, art, and sports in the world, and I think it's easy to take for granted the history that is all around us.

"When you go to groups, people are so serious." - I have no idea what you mean by this 😂what part of the country are you in that people are so miserable all the time??

As my dad always says, only boring people get bored 😉

I personally love living here and think we're very lucky, all things considered. Yes, there a days when the weather is crap and the news seems to be full of misery, but I think that's the same no matter where you go.

On the other hand you have days like today - blue skies, sunshine, gorgeous autumn weather and, without sounding like a tampon commercial, life just feels amazing.

We have some amazing scenery and landscapes, great history, art and music - we have good food and some stunning places to visit. I don't think I could ever describe a country as varied as the UK as "boring".

I think the current situation in England magnifies your thoughts maybe, it hasn’t been well run for years, decades even, people struggle and it shows.

I have been living abroad for 12 years now, it miss it a lot. I miss the British culture, the landscape and people. I don’t care if it’s raining or it’s dreary, that’s what I grew up with.

Yes it could be better, I’ve seen better in other countries, in terms of healthcare, working conditions, lifestyle etc, but my sense of family and friends kind of overrule that.

Any place can be boring, no country is perfect, it depends what you value most.

Reading between the lines, the sort of “family reasons” that make a single person move close to family don’t tend to be happy ones. Is it possible that it’s other things making you sad and you are blaming this on the location?

No. Not me. I'm never bored, but like I said, we're all different. I would say it's not the location, though.

Thank god for the artists

I don't think I'm boring, I regularly have LSD- like mental trips where everything is fight or flight for weeks and the world is like a lucid dream. But between that, I'm bored as anything. I think life just is boring, and I thought everyone else knew it too

This is such an unhelpful reply.

Reverse culture shock is a real thing.

And why is it not possible to say one word of complaint about the UK without someone saying, “well leave then”.

You don’t know the op’s circumstances, and it’s just a really crass and ignorant thing to say. Most people live where they do because of economic circumstances.

Op, having lived in several countries,
I wouldn’t describe the UK as boring.

I absolutely love the countryside, the seasons, the Stately homes, the architecture, the relative friendliness, the diversity, the sense of humour, the variety of food, the creativity.

However, in comparison to other EU countries, the running down of basic public services, makes the bits which make life worth living very hard. Things like affordable transport to see family and friends, accessible and affordable arts, good health care, basic security, nice public parks and libraries. The absence of these basic things which the state should be able to manage, and are managed well in other countries, make life a bit stressful and hard.

And the COLC makes things even harder when there is no money to spare and everything is run down to the bone.

People daren’t risk starting creative projects or social enterprises because of the costs.

I also think what it is lacking atm is proper leadership with a vision.

Post-Brexit I think the UK is going through a bit of an identity crisis tbh.

When you decide to leave the centrist left mainly Christian democratic EU, it kind of means you need something else to replace that position? But with what exactly? We don’t want to be Singapore on Sea or have a right wing society largely based on capitalist tenets to the exclusion of everything else?

But who and what do we want to be?

And even if we had a government with vision and competent, compassionate, capable, common sense politicians, we don’t really have the economic resources to follow their ideas through atm, so we are stagnating.

When I lived abroad, (Malaysia) many people were interested to hear that I lived in London and wished they did!

Right. It's just a bit of a strange thing to then say the UK, but whatever.
Haven't you travelled much in England or been to other parts of the UK?.

In this other country, you were obviously a foreigner unless you are native fluent in the language. You may have failed to take into account the fact that people generally make more of an effort to welcome visitors/newcomers and don’t assume they already have an established social network. In the UK you are a native so you have no novelty value and don’t seem obviously in need of new friends.

Unless you have spoken to even person in every country, you cannot possibly say people are not bored in other countries too ,all countries have less than desirable areas
And all countries have bored kids and teens.

@DogInATent absolutely and to be honest we pay an arm and a leg to be in one of those places and definitely aren't rich . Some of this is down to people too, there's a big difference between a bunch of clearly 'middle class' students I saw in a cafe today clearing up after themselves and recycling as suggested and a bunch of feral shouty youths I saw in Maccy ds just walking out and leaving a table a total state - and this is in Bath- the difference is we've got more of the first type and others places won't have- I do blame plenty of parents too for also having zero standards, chucking rubbish on street, fly tipping etc - there's a culture too of getting 'pissed up' in public -to the point of leglessness in many places - I've seen it far less in 'most' other country's. ( with exception of Ireland)

And everyone is different so you can’t say this country is boring

Maybe you just need to find one better suited to you