That is exactly what I feared - "disgusted of Tunbridge Wells"!! I can assure you I am not like that, my USA friends accused me of being a "liberal" because of my views. Look at some of my earlier postings.
Problem is that I either "tell it like I see it" or I obfuscate the truth, and I would rather leave that to Politicians.
More news (hopefully more positive) coming soon.
Don't you worry about it, Rick -that's Vegas' idea of a compliment roll lol
Some good things
Pubs - can't beat them! And the pub food is now generally of a very high quality - much better than anything in a USA bar or chain.
Restaurants - wide range and excellent quality. After the US bland same 'ol, same 'ol at the vast majority of USA restaurants it is great to be served a variety of well prepared quality fresh food. The UK has come a million miles on the food front.
Supermarkets - Sainsbury's, Waitrose etc. - huge variety of quality fresh food and unusual ingredients. Things you would never see in a US supermarket with it's aisles of identical but different branded products. The chill fresh prepared foods are superb, from regular to real gourmet meals.
Newspapers - wide variety from crap to highbrow but just more interesting than US papers (NY Times apart!)
Utility bills only being sent out every 3 months and generally much less than USA; though gap is narrowing (Petrol prices @ $6+ per gallon are something else!)
Cars are much better, roads are much worse! Car insurance is cheaper.
All this is lovely if the people here now weren't so rude and stopped effing and blinding all the time. Maybe I didn't notice it when I lived here before but after living 12 years in the USA I find such appalling language disturbing. I hate to say it but the average Brit seems to be an uncouth yob, I know that is a terrible generalisation but it is very hard not to be forced to that conclusion after spending a day at a mall (shopping centre).
We went back to the US in April/May for settlement of the condo we have bought. Got our car and all our furniture out of storage - no damage - and spent the first few weeks settling in, putting up curtains, blinds etc. Very pleased with the place, nice neighbours, within walking distance of the town centre and right by a country walk. We stayed for approx 6 weeks and arrived back early June to the start of good weather and since then it has been a really hoy English summer, yesterday it hit 95 F.
We really enjoyed going back to the US, everything seems much less rushed than in the UK and life is just, well, less hassled. I am sure it is partly due to the fact that getting around is much easier (wider, quieter roads and easy parking), people are more polite than in the UK (why are people here so rude and "angry" all the time? - Probably the taxes!). However, eating out in the US is generally as bad as it always was and after English Gastropubs a real downer. Mobile phones are now ridiculously more expensive in the US than UK - my UK mobile phone cost me £25 including £5 airtime on a pay-as-you-go system. Minutes never run out as long as you use the phone at least once every 3 months and coverage in the Uk is universally great. Couldn't even get a pay-as-you-go phone in the US unless I paid an extravagant sum and guaranteed to use $30+ every month in calls !!
We are spending summe in UK then going back to US for 2-3 months at end of Setember so we are getting the best of both worlds at the moment.
Longer term we are still working out what to do, whether to make main home in USA or UK. Decided to take it slowly and see what the next few years brings.
If someone asked me now to summarise the difference between US and UK I would have to say that the US is a much freer place to live, in the UK the Government seems to control everything and there is little chance to influence how you live or the environment you live in. If you have never known any difference I guess it is okay but we find ourselves reviling the controlling system. However, if you can go along with the Government control and high taxes then you are "looked after" by the State with endless "benefits" and "free" health service.
Do we want to give up our freedom for controlled complacency?? That's the $64,000 question!!!
Mobile phones are now ridiculously more expensive in the US than UK - my UK mobile phone cost me £25 including £5 airtime on a pay-as-you-go system. Minutes never run out as long as you use the phone at least once every 3 months and coverage in the Uk is universally great. Couldn't even get a pay-as-you-go phone in the US unless I paid an extravagant sum and guaranteed to use $30+ every month in calls !!!
I have a Virgin Mobile mobile phone here and it's only $20 to top it up every 3 months.
Glad to hear its all going well for you Rick - must be nice to compare and contrast and not have to choose one over the other.
I don't read the daily Mail!
All these observations are from my talking with people here or from my personal feelings on my return.
Tell me this - a guy in Poole was walking home from a Berbecue with his wife and another couple. A couple of youths picked an argument with them and beat up the guy so badly he is now unable to work and permanently disabled, physically and mentally - he had just qualified as a barrister. The penalty? One 18 year old got 18 months and the 17 year old got 12 months youth custody. Do you think justice was done? I don't.
I refuse to be totally negative about the UK, there are advantages but I promised to give my honest views for everyone to read if they want.
You are completely right that is terrible treatment, but bear in mind, near where I live is Oakland, CA which is a police no go area and there have been 75 murders so far this year. And asbad as violent behavior is in the UK, 30,000 people a year are not dying of gunshot wounds. Hope you manage to get the best of both worlds.
East end boy - I can't envisage living somewhere like that with numerous murders! I guess we have been fortunate to live in places in UK and USA which are "safe". The reason for my comment was that the guy was walking through a good area when he was set on - not a no-go area with high crime.
Where we lived in the US (30 miles from a major East Coast city) was a very rapidly growing area yet people often left their cars unlocked and the weekly crime reports were more about 'dog-bites-man' than any violence. However, it is true that as the area developed more then crime was slowly increasing; but nowhere near what we have in the UK where police rarely attend burglaries and just give you a crime number for insurance purposes.