Great things about Great Britain

[wheretoyougonow]

It feels like the world has gone slightly mad around us and everything is very negative. I want to start a thread about the positives of living in Great Britain.

I am sure there will be many a negative to the positive e.g great nhs experience vs waiting times but let’s keep this as a proud thread. There are lots of things that we do well. Can be light hearted or serious.

My initial thoughts are:
When I had a sudden medical episode where I was dying, within 40 minutes I was in hospital with a medical team who saved my life.
When there is an international major sporting event, in my area, lots of flags are displayed of different countries. No one bats an eye to this.
We have a great variety of restaurants.
Our homegrown tv programmes are often awesome.
I (mostly) love our comedians and sense of humour.
When there is an International crisis we can be brilliant. The young lads stuck in the Thai cave being an example.

Nice nature for walks

Nowhere has pubs and pub culture like ours

@Scarlettjuneand @MidnightPatrol I’ll combine those and say nothing beats a long walk with a country pub at the end!

I don't know about that. I think the pubs in the UK are a bit boring, compared to other countries

porter down, then mi5/mi6 gchq

I don't really get the pub "culture" either.

However, I think we have the loveliest countryside and so varied - Welsh (and Northern Irish though you said GB not UK) and Northumberland coastline, Scottish highlands, Kent pretty villages, Devon pretty villages of a different sort etc. And it's so green.

And a pretty benign climate and there's not much if any wildlife that wants to kill us!

England is (to me) the most beautiful country in the world. So green and lush, I just love the meadows, wildflowers, old houses etc - of course many parts are not beautiful but the ones that are, really are. We have woodland animals like deer and squirrels and butterflies.

SENSE OF HUMOUR!!! British people are the funniest.

People would genuinely help you in an emergency. Big feeling of pulling together during times like Covid.

We’re very very forgiving. WW2 was moved past swiftly within 20/30 years we even joined the EEC with Germany. I find that level of forgiveness and pragmatism and lack of grudge amazing.

Some of the food but by no means all of it 😆 but can you really beat fish and chips on a windy beach, a roast dinner on an autumn day or a cold cider in the summer?

The Thames is the cleanest river running through a major city.

London has so many trees it can be classed as a forest.

Our history has been beautifully preserved in places (obviously less so language/culture in Wales/Scotland/Ireland but buildings have done well).

We have protected our craftsmen and artisans well

British cheese

Free public toilets at train stations

The arts, music and theatre, especially in London is exceptional.
Free museums are brilliant.
Hard agree on British cheese.
The fine dining scene is fantastic in London and increasingly elsewhere.
I love the British humour. It’s so easy to find a point of shared humour with almost everyone you come across.
We have the loveliest gardens (both public and domestic m) in the world.

You don’t have to go far to see something different.
Our countryside is amazing, our history is unique and it’s all on this island.
This is what a visiting Australian couple said to me earlier this week.

A thousand years of architecture everywhere you go.
Glastonbury.
The free art and history that you can see for free in hundreds of galleries.
5.6 million acres of national parkland.
Our pop music, tv, film and theatre is superb.
Fabulous local food and drink - cheddar, cider, haggis, whiskey.
Our fashion designers.
Northumberland's beaches.
Tower Bridge.
The ever changing weather and seasons.
Country churches and fabulous cathedrals.
Chelsea Flower Show.
David Attenborough, Mary Berry, Judy Dench, Paul McCartney.
Real ale.
Saville Row.
The Rolling hills of Somerset.
The spires of Oxford.
Snowdon.

I moved from a very overcrowded city to a market town 6 years ago. Everyday I pinch myself and think how lucky I am to live here. We have such beauty and nature on our doorstep, a thriving town, gorgeous architecture and people seem just happier. It is a part of England I had never known until I met my OH and now I am so proud to live here.

We produce far and away the best wildlife documentaries in the world.

The British sense of humour.

Roses grow better here than anywhere else.

Our climate is temperate and we don't have huge volcanoes, massive earthquakes, four metres of snow in winter or monster tornadoes half a mile wide.

Very forgiving but not good at apologising

The U.K governent really should give an official apology to Ireland for all it did to that country.

As sure as day follows night…

Old Landrovers.
Dogs asleep in country pubs.
Church bells across the fields on a spring morning.
Kew.
Pulp.
Stonehenge.
Windermere.

Eccentric people.

David Bowie came from here.
The canal boat trip through Regent's Park.
Camden Town.
The swimming ponds on Hampstead Heath.
Exmoor ponies.
Roast dinners.
The canal network.
Wimbledon.
The National Trust.
Allotment sheds.

The truth is always going to exist.

It was a bit much for that poster to write "the U.K is very forgiving", after all the hurt and pain that the U.K has done to other countries.

The Equalities Act. The fact that in the UK you have legal protection against discrimination based on ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation and disability (amongst other things)

The fact same sex marriage is legal.

Democracy and free speech.

Cultural diversity and our celebration of this.

Fish and chips. Not every day but on a lovely sunny day overlooking a quaint little harbour on the Devon coast somewhere

Scotland is Gods own country, beautiful scenery even if the weather is a “ bit “ changeable We are friendly especially Glasgwegians , a comedian once told me you don’t laugh easily but if we can make you laugh we know we are good!
Edited to say and you can’t beat a Scottish wedding and a good ceilidh!

Well what can I say, we dont sit around for hundreds of years wallowing in self pity, we just get on with things.

Try it, you might like it.

Anyway, back to Britain.

All of the above but particularly the cheese, the free museums and the national parks. Also M&S.

I find the Scots so funny, the accent just really lends itself to making sarcastic/deadpan jokes