To think the UK is just a bit crap?

[moussakka]

Right don't get me wrong - I love being British and am super proud of being British. But having moved back recently, I just can't escape the feeling that everything's a bit... I don't know, nothing TERRIBLE, just a bit... well, crap? I don't know what it is exactly, but there's just a certain grimmness that I just can't put my finger on. Am I imagining it? Is it just re-entry shock?

Seasons and food....drooling here 😀

My Qatari friends say the racist stuff they get in the UK is always Freon other foreigners. One guy was telling me his neighbour came round toncomplained and called him old chap and asked if he would very much mind not revving his car. The same day he got called some terrible things in the street by Kuwaiti guys! I know there is some racist activity and more than ever people are scared in public places, there's bound to be a bit of unrest. But people who are abusednin the street have the right to report it and be believed. That's more than 90% of the death of the world for a start.

Rest not death. I might be called an entitled stupid expat because of where I live but I am hot declaring death in the world I promise

I love the uk its just full of shit people

Madbengalmum Sat 07-May-16 11:37:17

"Surely the upshot of this thread is that NOWHERE IS PERFECT!"

What a few of us have been noting, rather sadly, is not that the UK has deteriorated from its own standards over the last decade or so, nothing to do with the rest of the world. Pointing this out is not being whiny, and need not arise out of some dislike of the country: if you love someone you want to see them being the best you know they can be.

And before we set ourselves too low a standard by comparing with countries with awful human rights records, it is worth remembering that most countries in the same part of the world as the UK have very similar freedom of speech, gay rights, abortion rights etc, but in many cases are doing better on such criteria as child poverty and child mortality and people dependent on foodbanks. Surely it would make sense to compare with them and not some totally different culture on a different continent?

AerithEarthling speak for yourself love.

Sorry, a superfluous "not" in that first sentence: what we have noted is that the UK has deteriorated.

What I liked about living abroad was the adventure

One thing I loved about living abroad was the sense that frequently came that I was in the middle of a film. However, it was best to leave before that faded and normal mundanity appeared.

cleaty, I could not chose between my home country and my adopted one, but they are both Western European, by international standards wealthy countries with a very similar set of values and huge shared history (whether we like it or not).

I sometimes feel that people who may have never lived away from the uk, don't realise how privilidged they are to live here.
Yes, I think that's true, but is equally true for people who have never lived or extensively travelled outside Western Europe/North America IME so not just unique to the UK.

Couldn't live anywhere else, I love good old Blighty.

It's the lack of sun. Grim areas look exotic and dangerous in hot sunny places. Here they just look shit.

It' s interesting what people say about liking UK season when I often bemoan the lack of proper seasons. But that may just be the lovely West of Scotland then…

Wow Betsy Derek - 😃 no need to tell me to fuck off. I didn't insult YOU I insulted the country you happen to be living in. I wasn't even responding to one of your posts I don't think - it was the one lauding Qatar and its levels of equality that I found funny.

Also not sure why YOU read that I called YOU an entitled expat - that's not what I said. I said there were levels of entitlement in Qatar that are off the scale, I said that it has mountainous levels of corruption and that the safety levels are shocking. I stand by every single word of that. No need to viciously attack me. I don't mind if you like Qatar - enjoy! It's good for western expats and the locals (to a certain extent) BUT it really is at the expense of some of the most put apon people you'll ever meet. That's actually one of the reasons I hated it so much. That and the driving, the corruption, the safety (and I don't mean being able to leave your door unlocked, I mean the buildings etc) and yes, the hideous levels of entitled behaviour you see daily. You can't pretend that doesn't exist. It does here too, but not like it is there.

And I didn't jump in the thread without judging the tone - I'd already posted way back. I did post a lot more than my few lines about Qatar.

I will say one thing, I was certainly more stressed as an expat in the Middle East - a very low level anxiety as I had seen people fuck up (or get fucked over) and have to leave very quickly. I also had l professional dealings with two women who were fighting to get custody of their very young children after their husbands accused them of adultery and working without the husband's permission. Neither allegation was true. I guess that's what also led to the low level anxiety... Knowing that it wasn't home, it couldn't ever be home and that if the shit hit the fan it really wasn't a great place to be to try to sort things out.

I agree with the poster talking about that fantastic Olympic feeling - that was an
incredible summer (except for the weather). The air of optimism, the national pride (as opposed to UKIP nationalism) was heady. We were here on holiday and I think that's when I realised how badly I wanted to come home. It took several months to get settled again though - everything seemed really odd. It's very much limbo land until life starts making sense. I think a lot has to do with your rituals: what you do at the weekend, your "normal." It's so different from country to country that your "normal" shifts and then when you return you have to get it all back again.

I love the UK. I love walking through the churchyard of a morning and listening to all the birds... I love my garden, the seaside, my local shops etc. I can understand why you might miss Munich because it is fab to live there, although I feel there are too many rules and too much bureaucracy (or it's just harder to deal with when you aren't so familiar with the system). However, if I had to live anywhere outside the UK it would probably be there, but not during the Wiesn...

I live in a beautiful area of Buckinghamshire. My life in Britain is delightful, so I object.

I object too. I live in two places in the UK. Urban Herts and SW rural Scotland. Both equally lovely. Also Kent coast. The only other country I would live in is Italy.

Kent is beautiful. Its so alive. I would like to live there one day...near the city of you want it but beautiful views and the sea as well.

I get it, OP. I am a brit abroad, and while I don't currently want to go back to the UK, if I was ever tempted, fear of feeling what you are feeling is what would stop me!

I like it when I visit, but by christ I get tired of the grey skies and the crowds in short order. I'm sure I would get used to it again, but right now I don't want to.

Nope I love it here. Live in Ayrshire. went a gorgeous drive along the coastal route last night. Been to a wooded walk and play park today. Yesterday it felt like spring today it felt like Autumn, I love that! People are friendly. I couldn't handle living in a city though.

This was our stunning sunset we watched last night with an ice cream.

Love the Ayrshire coast Exasperated
I went to Girvan for a two week holiday with a friend in the late 1970's We were burnt to a crisp!

Haha Derxa I can't imagine anyone wanting to go to Girvan for a holiday especially two weeks! You were lucky with the weather though although I'm sure summers use to be warmer and sunnier growing up.

Exasperated It was 1977. 1976 was the very hot year.

I agree. What's crap for me is that most things seem capper than they were. I feel as a country we are moving backwards not forwards in some things.

We are the laughing stock of Europe because of how we kill ourselves to own our smallest houses in Europe at stupidly high prices (in some not all areas).

I'm back in the UK and chose to live in an area I love but considered crap/chavvy by some.

I don't think anywhere is perfect but I do think as a whole the UK 8s sliding backwards.

"....the laughing stock of Europe..." because of our housing situation?

Yes I imagine the folk of Salamanca, Vilnius and Poznan, for example, talk and laugh about little else.