What aspects of other countries would you like in your own country?

[MeiganMcSeinna6]

I would say
More table service

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

One of the places we lived school hours were 7.30am-1pm. (And office hours 6am-2pm!). Then home for a rest in the heat of afternoon if needed, then extra curricular stuff from 3pm (or 2pm indoors) The work/school vs life balance was brilliant.

I'd love school hours like that again.

Fine for primary school students perhaps but it must be terrible for teenagers - their circadian rhythms are more suited to a later start to the day, not an earlier one!

Agreed
@EmilyDickinson
@AllAroundTheWorldYeah
a much higher level of commitment to providing safe cycling routes - obviously the Netherlands in particular lends itself to it bike use because it is so flat - but we could do a lot more in many areas of the UK. I've biked a lot in the Netherlands and on the Belgian border and you can have a road that is no wider than a standard 2 lane road going through a small town in the UK and it will have a cycle lane both sides leaving only enough space for one car to drive down - in the Netherlands - the bikes take priority and they cars have to sort themselves out and navigate their way (slowly) down the road - car drives in this country generally have a really sh*tty attitude towards people on bikes and it doesn't have to be that way - people need to start accepting that the days of the car ruling the road are numbered - the environment has to take priority.

I used to live in a city in Italy where cycling was just totally normal. Everyone cycled everywhere, usually on ancient bikes that were about 45th hand. There were some cycle paths but also, there were so many cyclists that drivers were great as they probably also cycled themselves and even if not, they would have family and friends who did. I cycled for a year there, never had a near miss. I would love a bit of that to come to the UK.

Extended families supported as the norm - venerating the elderly, rather than chucked away in care homes

@Galassia

A strong leader. Putin for example, puts his country and his people first.

But we already have a leader who puts Putin and his country first!

More introverted people.

Better support for disabled people to work.

No yob culture.

Less litter.

Ice cream shops being open late evenings. 😋
People going for a walk about in cities in the evening with no real purpose- promenading?
We went to Warsaw when dd was 9, and this was the norm. Just walking about, stopping for a casual drink or coffee,having an ice cream (even groups of young men). Also no shitty children’s menus! She just had a smaller portion of what we had.

A government that is accountable to its citizens. People can't say Jack to government officials no matter what they do. Those who want to have to fear for their safety.

Well-paid jobs for plumbers, carpenters, builders, electrician, mechanics, etc that people look down on and pay litte to nothing for where I'm from. Lots of talented skilled workers treated like trash amd paupers for doing jobs that not else can or wants to do.

Cooler weather.

Free or govt subsidised education for all.

Free or subsidised healthcare like the NHS.

Benefits like tax credits, universal credit to get children off the road hawking wares to survive. Rich people are on top of the world. The middle class are doing well. Working class are managing. Poor people are suffering. The gap is too wide.

More and better paying jobs.

Better roads. More and well-marked pedestrian lanes.

24/7 electricity.

Constant water supply.

Training on good customer service across all sectors.

@languagelover96

More Halloween parties More beaches More activities for teenagers

More beaches?

We live on an island surrounded by beaches. We're not some landlocked country like Switzerland!!!

Where is everyone eating that there are hoards of drunks?! I think you may need to find a better restaurant!

More table service in pubs, this is one positive of Covid! More public toilets, I don’t even mind if I have to pay, but the lack of toilets makes some places a complete no go for me.

@Breadbun
What country are you from where electricians and plumbers are paid little? Over here it’s a bit the other way!

@hiplip

More introverted people.

Better support for disabled people to work.

No yob culture.

Less litter.

YY to all the above, also free/subsidised higher education.

I would like to pay at the pump with a figure punched in so the petrol cuts off before I spend more than I want to

Hannibal Hayeski

But we already have a leader who puts Putin and his country first!

No we have a leader who puts himself first .. personally like :)

[quote Miliao]@Breadbun
What country are you from where electricians and plumbers are paid little? Over here it’s a bit the other way![/quote]
Yes I know...that's why I'd like to see it done where I'm from as per the title. It's a country in West Africa.

Plumbing, Carpentry, etc are seen as menial, dirty jobs that only lower class (not working class) people do. A lot of them train for it (unofficial apprenticeship) and some are quacks too. It's an untapped industry because it's looked down upon and no one wants to be seen doing it unless you're poor. Those from my country who go to uni to study electrical/civil engineering, etc for example, have to oversee the ones actually doing the job to make sure it's done right but they rarely get in there themselves because of being of a higher class and richer. In fact, being an engineer is the least among the sought-after careers and status. That's why some leave the country to find better treatment, pay and training for their skills.

Funnily enough, foreign engineers are paid a lot to work in the country. Just weird.

Lived in Japan for many years I would like to see-

Shoes off inside the home and slippers worn by all. So clean and so cosy.

Eating more seasonal fresh produce that’s love t you, so lots of little mom and pop grocers in at the end of your street. Lovely.

Cheap but delicious and healthy street food.

A very courteous and polite society in general with almost no anti social behaviour. (Although the organised crime is something else!)

Other things I liked/
Italy- families are king. Children are cherished. A great place to have a family holiday.
America- amazing customer service
Australia- seafood and wine. They know their stuff.
Singapore’s- clean!!

Lovely towns and villages in France, built in the local stone and traditional style!

It seems to me, that in England so many towns and cities were ruined by concrete monstrosities, built in the 1960s - ripping the traditional heart out of the place (probably bombed in the war actually, but we saw the Old Town in Warsaw, which apparently the Nazis flattened before they left; but looked exactly what we would expect, as if nothing had happened to it).

I often wonder what town planners or whoever gave planning permission for these soulless blocks, were thinking of?

From Switzerland (and many others) a public transport system that is:

-an actual better option than driving
-punctual
-cost effective
-clean (naturally, it's Switzerland)
-not weather dependent
-safe

From America:

-ice in drinks
-frigid cold beer

From Greece:

-fruit and veg that tastes and looks like it's actually meant to
-sunshine

From everywhere:

-adults not regarding other people's kids as a fucking nuisance

French architecture, especially the respect for traditional styles. A town like St Malo was bombed to glory during WWII and was rebuilt in the old style and looks glorious, instead of putting up a concrete monstrosity just because it looks modern and often stands out like a sore thumb. Also windows which open inwardly to make cleaning easier.

Drinking a moderate amount either with or without a meal instead of drinking to get drunk and then behaving like a moron.

I've just read back and you've beaten me to it Intercity - I think town planners are thinking, 'look at us - we're modern' rather than tasteful.

Definitely traditional architecture and a respect for old buildings. The utter shit flung up in this country is a disgrace. I feel it is vandalism, especially in ancient places. The squat concrete shits dumped on the once lovely town I live in depress me beyond belief.

There are so many lovely unspoilt villages in France. How did they survive? Why can't we have that? Why are modern buildings in England so so awful?

@prettyteapotsplease I wonder if the drinking a moderate amount is because, in somewhere like France, as a PP said you can get delicious vin du table in a small (or big) carafe for a very reasonable price, unlike the UK a where you buy by the bottle and with a higher mark up, and therefore feel obliged to drink it all?

I love French cafe culture: small carafe of red and then coffee, no rush to drive you off/out, buy champagne by the glass etc

@SwimmingUnderwater

Well , having spent the past ten days or so watching back to back Montelbano episodes, a lot. Much better food. Fresh veg and great fish. Veg that tastes of something. In France and Greece in particular, food just tastes completely different.

Wine. Why does even a bottle of plonk abroad taste so much better than wine here? It’s a mystery. It’s not just being in holiday, wine here is genuinely crap . From supermarkets anyway. You can get a bottle of wine for half the price abroad and it tastes so much better!

Better chemists. Chemists abroad are far better stocked and it’s all more reasonably priced. Lots of interesting lotions and potions, many of them organic or homeopathic.

People in Italy in particular are so much more expressive, emotional and family orientated. This goes for all Mediterranean countries but particularly Italy. Men are desperate to not appear emotional in this country. I wish we were more expressive generally. In Mediterranean countries, family life is celebrated and elderly people are venerated. Not here.

Better clothes and hair . In other countries people dress better. Better quality clothes, cut beautifully. Great haircuts . Obviously more in cities and smart towns, but Mediterranean countries have a much better sense of style.

History and culture. We obviously have a lot of history and culture, but countries abroad often have more beautiful buildings, better art, wonderful opera and music. What has this country produced? Brittan and Elgar. Ugh. Shakespeare and Chaucer make up for it though. We have got some great writers in this country.

Better transport and cleanliness. Thinking of Germany and Switzerland here.

In fact there really isn’t much I appreciate about this country. Our pubs perhaps.
That’s about it. I don’t know why I am living here really. We do treat animals a lot better than many other countries, and obviously there’s the health service. Although it’s on its knees.

40 women have been killed by their partners in Italy so far this year. 3 since last Friday. One killed his daughter at the same time. The Italian family orientated thing leads to more femmicide than almost any other western country. There's a huge campaign ongoing about it but the omerta' means that every time the neighbours are interviewed after the fact it's always "nice bloke, hard worker, yes we heard the screams and shouts but that's normal isn't it?"

The intercity trains are fab though.

I don't know what it is @TSSDNCOP and wonder if it goes beyond that. After all, in the UK we work longer hours and have fewer bank holidays than in many other countries - perhaps people want to let it all hang out due to the stress that brings, I don't know.

A nephew laughs that if he has an awful head next morning it's in direct correlation to the good time he had the night before which I don't understand at all. But then I'm a staid old auntie aren't I? And obviously I haven't lived and I know nothing.

I would also like trains from Europe in England. But when I'm in the US I LONG and PINE for English trains.

Last time I was on a train in the US the (first class) seats were gaffer taped together and you had to bribe a 'red cap' to even get one. Like it's some old time movie!

Amtrak is so bad it's sort of breathtaking. And unbelievably expensive. Astoundingly so. Once you've experienced Amtrak you'll be utterly charmed by Cross Country.