UK city so dirty

[Ontobetterthings]

Just come back from my holiday abroad. Had a city break. It was lovely, beautiful buildings. Everything was so clean.

Was just driving home (midlands city). Everything looks do run down, dirty and it's just so depressing 😞

Have a walk around the central tourist areas of London, you'll find those are also very well kept.

A relative lived in budapest for a bit, like any capital city the affluent centre is lovely but venture beyond that and its far from perfect

Some places in Europe wash all the streets down early in the morning. All street cleaning in England seems to have been completely cut and I agree it's becoming a shit tip in places. Mind you I went to Wales a few years ago and some some of the sides of the roads in the South were far worse.

Try Palermo. Disgusting.
So tired if the 'it's all so wonderful abroad' crowd.

😆 Great response to this kind of silliness.

Just returned from Athens. Graffiti absolutely everywhere (not on ruins onv (yet)!

There's graffiti on the ruins. There was fifty years ago.

@Weirdatwork I never saw any (except for one that was in the museum that has been written in 5BC or something...

I remember being shocked when I was a kid at the amount of graffiti in France and Spain.

Yes I agree OP am in the midlands too and everything looks so grotty after being in France

When I visited London in the late 80s from Melbourne, Australia, I was taken aback at how filthy it was. Serious contrast to home and to Paris, which had been scrubbed and decorated for the 200th anniversary of the Revolution.

@Catza yes, even in the seventeenth century Paris was noted for its stench!

I've spent a lot of time over the last few years in brisbane and the surrounding towns, and on my first visit I remarked how clean it was compared to my area of the UK

I went to Rome on a coach trip, years ago. Absolutely gorgeous. But we left via a different route to how we arrived - graffiti, boarded Ilya windows, absolutely filthy with piles of rubbish. We all agreed we were glad we hadn't arrived that way - it would have spoilt how we saw the city.

It really does depend on the area, to a degree.

I do think people see stuff through a different lens when they're on holiday. They tend to not see (or overlook) the shit people who live there see every day. They tend to go to the more tourist areas which are always kept nice. You visit the tourist/ popular places in London, and they're amazing, but there are some also some shit areas of London, that no tourist would ever think of going

I've been to Japan a few times and I live in London. Honestly I get culture shock coming home! 😂

Japan is so clean, the people are so polite, everything is so orderly. I totally relax and become a "softer" version of myself. Come back to London and it's so filthy, people are rude and inconsiderate. It takes me a week or so to grow back my shell!

It's sad really. There are numerous reasons why this country is as it is but it won't change. Not much we can do.

When I moved back to the UK from Sydney my eyes were fully opened to just how filthy the UK was - London in particular. Also, everywhere seemed to stick of piss and weed. I was obsessed with how funky London smelt for a while until my nose readjusted to the stench.

To be fair I had the exact same feeling returning to my midlands city from the Lake District!

Twenty five years ago! I wouldn't say it is now at all.

Some bits of the Midlands are indeed shitholes. Dudley, Cradley Heath, Brierley Hill, Blackheath and West Brom come to mind. Boarded up shops, takeaways everywhere, busted up streets, weeds, dog shit and rubbish about. Silence or shouting, nothing inbetween. My bit is sort of in a no man's land between a really scruffy bit and a spotless bit. If you go one way it is a dump. If you go the other it's lovely. There's barely any bugger about in the streets of either. I think that adds to a feeling of desolation, even amongst the lovely houses down the road.

If places are littered and dirty then it is the occupants to blame for not respecting their surroundings. Holiday destinations usually are kept smart in order to attract tourists.

We went to Sicily in early summer, the crazy recycling system is unmanageable and therefore people dump rubbish everywhere.

Greece late summer was very tidy and clean, but a work trip to Portugal is dog poo dodging on a grand scale. It’s like France or going back to UK in the 70s

That said, Manchester a few years ago for work; what a dump.

That's what I thought in London in the 80s and 90s - that the pavements desperately needed scrubbing.

I'm in Japan at the moment and you could eat your dinner off most pavements. Its pristine.

@Ontobetterthings Budapest is horrible! Filthy place

Many places abroad are dirty too. I mean look at NYC