To think England isn't such a great place to live

[Cloudminnow]

Not just the weather, but so much more ...

parking fees everywhere and having to have change at hand (or very expensive pay as you leave - £8.80 to park for an afternoon shopping today!!)

hopeless and expensive public transport system

traffic jams all over the place

terrible customer service

obsession with celebrity culture and all it stands for

union flag and all it stands for

embarrassing monarchy (even having to have one at all)

desperate government

Olympics sponsored by Coke

Education system overly concerned with literacy, numeracy and data at the expense of a love of learning and creativity...

Can anyone sell England to me?!

Seriously, if you go out wearing anything shorter than knee length in Germany (even in Berlin) people will call you a slag. To your face.

I think the Brits are a hell of a lot more stylish than other countries, especially in London.

London fashion is crazy too, I loved it. We have good British designers here.That woman with the red hair err...

Noooooooo i don't!

I think we are stylish. We don't go on and on about it blowing our own trumpet like the French or the Italians [yawn] but i believe we are stylish in our own British way. Obviously some places are more stylish then others!

I love the individual style that you get in places like camden.

Well a lot of London, and brighton is cool!

Perhaps the problem is the succession of posters not commenting on OP's opinion at all but merely saying "if you don't like it you can leave", Yellow?

Don't be shy Laquitar PMSL, you said I agree with EVERYTHING you said

Yellow?

Shrug. Is that such a big deal? That's their opinion.

Being all serious for a minute, the UK's not perfect, but on the whole, it is a pretty good place to live. I can only think of a few places I might prefer to live, and they would have to be quite specific parts of other countries (e.g. US, but only certain places)

Things I missed when I lived overseas:

Bacon (no one makes it right apart from us and the Danes send us all the good stuff)

Cheddar (the Americans have cheese in liquid form and in a can - yuck)

The greenness everywhere and the landscape

The people and the wonderful tolerance and diversity. You can't be openly Christian, Gay, show your arms and knees or eat what you want in so many countries.

England is great. Now live in Scotland which is also great (and we have had much better weather recently).

Cash machines. You can do so much at them in the UK.

Stylish fabrics.

Civil society.

decent choral and chamber music.

Decent music education.

Schools that teach the kids to pass the exams.

Parks.

Proper cider.

Variety of people.

The best supermarkets in the world.

November 5th.

Pork pies, branston pickle, salt and vinegar crisps.

Schoo dinners.

I'll comment on the OP's opinion then if it will make you happy CatholicDad - it's a shit stir! It's all there and any one of the points can and will go off at a tangent guaranteed to get the frothers going! Yellow? Are you feeling a bit ill?

Oh yellow is a person!

Stuff like internet banking. Maybe it's taking off in other places now, when I was living abroad it was a massive pain in the arse cos you had to go into the bank all the time.

Supermarkets - yes, they're a bit evil, but you can buy everything under one roof. German supermarkets are frequently filled with weird stuff but you can't find spaghetti or chicken or some other basic item.

Basically you can be a bit of a weirdo in Britain and it's not a huge deal. Wear ANYTHING outside the norm in many European countries and you will be seen as the biggest oddball ever.

I'm not a person, I'm a raincoat.

I think I would like to live in Sweden, but I'm not sure. I think I would miss Waitrose.

Omg, you really DO need to go and live in another country for a few months and you will realise how you take thr littlest of things for granted here. Food, water, electricity, FREEDOM, JUSTICE are things that you wont find in some countries, and that is from personal experience. Seriously, go and spend a few months in India or Pakistan, you'll take back every word of your OP

Supermarkets - price and choice! visitors from both Oz and Ireland wander round em in awe because they're so cheap and there's so much to choose from!

The internet works, last time I was in Ireland (this year) it wasn't working anywhere in the whole town

OP why should anyone here 'sell' Britain to you?

I don't know you from Adam and couldn't give a low flying squirty shit if you stay here or not

I moved to London from Los Angeles 8 years ago and I wouldn't dream of moving back unless the US sort out their healthcare system. I also love many of the things about the UK that others have mentioned: transport, sense of humour, museums, historical surroundings, NO EARTHQUAKES. Sure, no sunshine either, but I still choose England!

I assume you've never lived anywhere else and take it for granted. You have no idea.

That was for the person who started the thread. Glad there are so many who agree with me.

DH desperately needed to send an important work email while we were there, in a 4* hotel in a big town midweek - took 2 days!