Remind me what you hate about the UK

[AllMyFriendsAreWasted]

4 months in to a new life overseas but having a major wobble this week and I'm seeing uk through very rose-colored-glasses. Give me a reality check and remind me what I'm not missing....

Capiora "I just like it better here, for many personal reasons. I won't list because I think Brits get very upset about those kind of things."

now I'm fascinated, though I can probably guess...though they might be assumptions....also wondering where you live.

I'm still seeing a lot of stuff here that exists everywhere else surely?

Capiora "I just like it better here, for many personal reasons. I won't list because I think Brits get very upset about those kind of things."

now I'm fascinated, though I can probably guess...though they might be assumptions....also wondering where you live.

I'm still seeing a lot of stuff here that exists everywhere else surely?

Yes - for instance the justified complaints about our politicians. At least in the uk we can say that in person without getting shot.

The uk could be better, and it is in our hands.

Very few people posting in the Living Overseas section are living in places where criticising politicians gets you shot. I get to both criticise politicians and get a same day GP appointment...

the weather is shit
it's quite a horribly racist country overall
dogs aren't even allowed in shops
people are uptight about absurd things
it's expensive to live in the UK

• The weather! It's so rubbish.
• "Class" is a big deal here, I don't understand it
• Expensive (I live in London so this might not be the case in other parts of the country)

I have lived here for 15 years; I think Brits are very friendly, and the country offers a lot of freedom. I don't think it's a particularly racist or violent country, but I can only say this from my personal experience.

It's just so grey most of the time and the weather is so unpredictable so even if you do get a nice sunny day (not so often here in Scotland), you haven't prepared for it so you don't 'make the most of it'.
The Tories.
Brexit.

The weather! We have "proper" weather here, so even though the extremes of heat and snow can get a bit much, it somehow feels better than all those the drizzly meh days we get in the UK

Playing telephone roulette with the GP - will I get through before all the appointments for today are gone??

Cricket (obv not something you'll be missing in Oz...)

Yes sure - if you assemble a list of every expat's dislikes about the UK, or even just one person's, you'll find several things which are present in many places.

The national obsession with booze
The national obsession with mortgages
The national obsession with health & safety
Long dark cold nights
Long dark cold mornings
The tube
Jobs worths
No-can-do attitude
Tall poppy syndrome
Traffic jams that never move
The M25
Price of black cabs
Scuzzy pavements covered in gum
Car hire companies that close 3pm Sat, don't open on a sunday (i'm looking at you Enterprise Rent-a-car)
London. Innit.

The traffic, there are just too many cars on the roads.
The inability to attend any function/event without getting drunk.
The harking back to the "great" days of empire.
The likelihood that the country will be split by Scottish independence.
The pride people have in their inability to speak other languages.

I'm sorry but I absolutely love living in the UK. you didn't want to hear that

I find everything tiny when we go back (side effect of living in Texas), I can't park anywhere (see above) and it all looks really scruffy and dirty and inefficient (walking literally miles through Heathrow) and bound by rules and jobsworths ("no you can't pay at this till", "join the other queue", "you'll have to ask someone else" etc).

I do love it (in an idealistic sheep in fields, cream tea, British sense of humour way) but it drives me mad!

Nothing.

Sorry

Where does everyone else live? I used to like the UK haveing moved here from a different country but the grubbiness gets me down sometimes now. Am interested to know where everyone else lives

Sorry OP didnt mean to hijack your thread

Moaning
Tabloids
Anti-intellectualism
People outside in pyjamas and slippers
Any interest in fresh food being seen as elitist

couple of people mentioned "jobsworths"
I must be lucky because I haven't been coming across those.

I will add "rowdy kids at bus stops" but again, most places have those I guess.

Definitely the anti-intellectualism
Fear of the unknown/jealousy shown through people being defensive and attacking your life choices
The weather, especially moving into this time of year
Inward-looking, insular thinking

Lack of seasons - often we get no Summer in the Summer, no frosts or snow in the Winter
Shops mostly open 9 to 5. If you want to shop on a Sunday, you're weird
Awful xenophobia
No decent left-wing papers
Public buildings not prepared for hot weather
Society in general does not like seeing children in public spaces. Teenagers especially boys are feared and despised and everyone feels the need to lecture them.
Outside of London public transport is usually terrible - overpriced, filthy, unreliable, the routes useless
Railways are 10 times worse.
The Fear of being ill because you will not be able to get a GP appt for weeks, the out of hours is dangerous, A&E is beyond saturation point and hospitals are terrifying (see the recent thread about post-natal ward experiences)

I'm not used to being totally negative but you asked for it!

Hope this helps

Ffs, there is a spectrum between the uk and north korea!

One part of which is that those unhappy can leave.

I live in South America, married to a cattle rancher /farmer. He worked in a different job before and got fed up with the daily grind of life. So we sold up and bought a farm out here.

Having read a lot of other peoples´ comments a lot of my dislikes are listed. I was also fed up with anti-social behaviour.

ah, Caipora, I think we've met before

yes, I think the anti-social behaviour is a big issue but again I imagine it's probably in every country and you will only escape it if you live on a ranch or similar. This year I've been to stay in a couple of really really quiet places for weekends away - not spas but places that were really remote and I think people renting holiday cottages do well there because a lot of us just want to go and stay somewhere that there isn't much around.

I've never lived abroad though - is anti-social behaviour the same in other countries? I had rellies in NYC who thought it was worse here than there in the zero tolerance policing period but I don't know if they still have that - and my rellies are not living there any more anyway.

Elvira "Lack of seasons - often we get no Summer in the Summer, no frosts or snow in the Winter
Shops mostly open 9 to 5. If you want to shop on a Sunday, you're weird"

the shop thing made me double check you were talking about England!

I don't feel we have a lack of seasons but then I hate snow with a passion. We haven't much frost in London the last two years but I loved that! But I would def say frost is a norm here?