To think England is a bit boring?

[Annalikesblue]

I'm from England originally. I was working abroad for a long time.

I moved back recently to work, and for a family reason. I probably won't stay here forever. Maybe for two to three years max.

Do any of you think that England is a bit boring?

Every street, wherever you go,
has the exact same shops.

The Weather is bad. People are miserable. When you go to groups, people are so serious.

It just seems so dull and lifeless

You'll love Leeds. Very friendly compared to those over the Pennines. Only joking! The Leeds Inspired website is full of events and groups which you can filter on the 'what' tab to crafts, visual arts, music etc, and by date:

https://www.leedsinspired.co.uk/site/search?search_api_fulltext=&field_date%5Bmin%5D=&field_date%5Bmax%5D=&categories%5B11%5D=11&family_friendly=All

And there are load of Yoga groups. Yoga Hero, Yoga Kula, they'll all be on the internet.

Ah! I'm Norwthwestish...sort of. Kind of. But I've lived in Leeds and Liverpool. (Originally a scouser, moved from Ireland and all!)

What do you like? What are your interests? I'm further out than you these days but they're my go to cities, and there's loooooaaads around outside.

But you're comparing apples to oranges. Those English cities are smallish, industrial cities - not knocking that, but you can hardly compare them to capital cities elsewhere.

What I do think is sad is the decline of cities in the old industrial areas - I know things have improved over the past couple of decades, but provincial cities were once proud, independent, thriving places. Just look at the amazing art collections they built up in Victorian times. I live near London (not by choice) and the way everything is so London-centric now depresses me. I grew up in the N/W.

I keep my mouth shut and my big nose out of it, but I feel sad that quite a few young people I know say they would only consider living in London - or a foreign city. So narrow-minded. They just write off the rest of the country! And also, if you only know London, you don't know England - London is far from representative, just as Paris is not representative of France. Can't do anything about it, but it's a shame.

No, an entire country isn't boring.

I do agree. Spain by comparison has a lot to offer: glorious weather, food, culture, standard of living. Shame their economy isn't the best but I worked there a while back and the people are generally more outdoorsy, sporty, outgoing, ...mostly due to climate.also good for families/ children.

It's not boring per se. Too much theatre, sports etc.

But it is bleak, I find. The standard of living seems to have dropped.

That's strange because all the young people I know are heading for Manchester, Bristol, Liverpool and Cardiff.

That's really good to hear! I know those cities are seen as thriving and buzzy, which is great.

Perhaps it's just the demographic round where I live...

I mean, going to university is all about getting away from home and being independent, but the ones (4 specifically) I'm thinking of would only consider UCL (nothing wrong with that - esp if you come from outside London) but it was basically just down the tube line from their homes. They then only want to live in London, and expressed contempt for anywhere else in the UK - that's the bit I minded. They think they're metropolitan/cosmopolitan, but to me they're narrow-minded and missing a lot.

Hope you enjoy Leeds! I can recommend lots of things to see and do in Leeds, but I need to know what you're interested in
I don't know much about groups, but I know there are loads here, so just Google the kind of group you're looking for.

Come and live in Chelsea OP.

It could be more I’m bored where I am rather than the whole country as not everyone is suited to a small town

British people are so vibrant and funny, I don't know where you live but it's alien to my experiences all round the UK

I'm glad you're happy. I wouldn't say that every single British person is vibrant and funny. Of course there are nasty people everywhere.

My Polish colleauge called me, really upset last week, because an English man told her to "fuck off back home",

when he heard her speaking Polish.

I don't mean to be offensive but England's not boring. It's your life in England that's boring. If you can have a more enjoyable life elsewhere - fine.

Personally, I've never found anywhere I'd rather live.

A former colleague of mine had a similar experience speaking English in Prague. She was working there - not a tourist.

Nasty little shits are to be found everywhere, I am afraid,

Indeed, there is very noticeable xenophobia at the moment, particularly since the riots, but I'd say it's been increasing since Brexit.
A lot of people don't want to admit this is happening. I've seen so many instances of xenophobia and racism over the last few months. As well as all the lovely British people that live here, there are plenty of very nasty ones. Life here can be quite unpleasant in some places if you're not white or British.

But we have that in our local park (lido rather than sea, but loads of kids take their music systems out to the park to spend the day hanging out and chatting in summer. And then people moan about teens hanging about “in gangs”.

I don’t think much socialising does revolve around drinking - it’s just that a lot of it is happening in people’s houses in winter, due to the weather, so you don’t see it.

but loads of kids take their music systems out to the park to spend the day hanging out and chatting in summer. And then people moan about teens hanging about “in gangs”

Exactly.... because overall the culture in the UK is quite anti children/young people/families.

People seem to hate children and teens enjoying themselves outside although they are also the types who moan that they sit at home playing computer games all day.

England is not boring. It's full of culture, the arts, history, museums, cute towns, big cities

Yes the weather is a shit but it's easy to get out and cheap to pop over the channel to do city breaks.

That happened to me in Russia in 1998. And old German women are famous for it, I’ve had tonnes of them come up to me and DS on the S Bahn and say “In Deutschland sollten Sie Deutsch sprechen” in not-at-all-friendly tones (they are fighting a fucking losing battle in Berlin).

There are xenophobes everywhere 🤷‍♀️

@Annalikesblue Well of course there's shit people sometimes.
But you made out like everyone miserable. It's really not like that.

It's more so that people are clicky. It looks like in some groups I go to that some (not all) of the "middle class" english people are extremely friendly to the other english "middle class" people.

And if you don't fit that exact mold, you're totally frozen out.

So you may experience many people as vibrant and happy. Other people may feel totally frozen out.

I'm not fully English. I was born here but I have dual nationality with another European country.

I feel like any slight difference, or not going to the right school, can make some people be very unfriendly to me, in some groups in England.

Anyway I'm going to try more groups, in a bigger city!

Sure. I got this on a semi-regular basis as an Irish person in England over the course of over 25 years. I won’t say it didn’t contribute to my decision to leave in the end, but I wouldn’t generalise about English people from the prejudices of a small minority.

I disagree. I spent many years living in France. So boring. Sundays in France are dreadful, nothing to do. People are very insular and closed in with their familiies. I feel like in England there is much more variety and openness in activities, with people willing to make an effort and generate community.

A small-ish town north west is quite an unusual choice for someone moving to the UK. Is it your home town? There is a particular culture shock about going back to where you grew up that is a bit different to moving anywhere in or outside your home country.