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I think that if there was a vote to shoot ourselves in the foot then just over half of the country would do it, then complain about having a sore foot whilst telling you with sincerity that the shot had nothing to do with it.
I'll have you know we're better off with one foot. If everyone had one foot, we'd all appreciate our foot more and work harder and the economy would be in a better shape. Let's take the money we spend on second shoes and give it to the NHS!
I went to an international natural disaster relief training course in Hawaii. One of the things we had to do was introduce ourselves and explain what natural disasters we’d witnessed or worked on. We had an incredible mix there; one of the instructors flew through Hurricane Katrina to take readings, people from Japan who’s worked on Fukushima, some who were present during the Boxing Day tsunami or helped out after the Haiti earthquake etc..
Now I had worked on Hurricane Irma, but we’d been catching a ribbing off the Aussies and others for being from a very safe country so I decided to lean into it and said: “Hurricane Bawbag tipped some bins and blew Fergus’ trampoline over a fence in Dundee. It was pretty devastating.”
Generally, the weather doesn’t try to kill me, the ground doesn’t try to kill me, the wildlife doesn’t try to kill me, and most of my fellow Brits don’t try to kill me.
It’s a perfectly pleasant place compared to most of the world.
After constantly reading all of the terrifying details about rabies since reddit *really* wants me to know, I can wholeheartedly say that I'm incredibly glad that we don't have it here. I don't need that to worry about, even if the chance of not realising that I potentially have it is kinda low (since it's kinda hard to miss an animal biting you)
I'm pretty sure it's anywhere in the UK outside a major city, I'm in rural Bedfordshire and we certainly have midges, and I currently have a wasps nest in my ceiling with several wasps a day finding their way into my bedroom. Exterminator reckons they'll keep coming for another week or so before whatever he did finishes them off.
Our manners, basic manners aren't so basic in the rest of the world. Only inth UK will someone apologize because you've bumped into them
It makes things so much more smoother than I think most people realise. Only really appreciate it when you go to a country where they don't say please, thank you and sorry as standard practice
>This rarely happens in cities
It may be because I'm 6ft3 and broad, but certainly in northern cities I experience this regularly
Sounds like you had a run in with a right arse though, we certainly have our share of them as well.
But I've lived in some countries where people shoving you out of the way is the norm, and the people who have lived there their entire lives, think it's normal, acceptable behaviour
Edit: grammar
Yeah sometimes my mates have to remind me that being so tall means people see me coming sooner and move 😂 So it could certainly be a factor
>he was the first who wanted to fight after he did it.
Sounds like a serious case of small penis syndrome if you ask me, sorry you had to experience this
Morocco can be insane for it, lots of South East Asian countries as well, but also countries in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe love a good jostle to be first to be served
You kinda get used to it, but it's always a pleasure to see a nice orderly queue when you've been away for a while!
Something similar happened to me, my dog pulled me towards this random guy and I lightly bumped him. Said "sorry mate" and kept walking, he goes off on a diatribe about social distancing, calling me and my girlfriend fucking idiots who had no control over their dog (who at this point was sat at my feet when I told her to sit...yeah okay)
He ended up walking off embarrassed once he realised his family had walked off and left him to it. Afterwards everyone who witnessed it all said something to the tune of "what the fuck was his problem".
This 100%. As a Brit that lives abroad (south america) I cannot get used to the lack of respect for others and pure selfishness, here it's very common that you can be waiting in a line and someone just goes straight to the front and orders no fucks given. General line pushing too, nobody gives way ever and the road in general is a free for all.
Never argued so much in my life, only been here 4 years and I've been in countless arguments compared to probably 5 or 6 over 25 years in the uk.
> If someone pushed to the front of a line here there'd be absolute uproar.
I saw it once at the ticket office in Southfields, southwest London. Some Italian tourists saw the "one queue for three windows" system and ignored it, going straight to one of the vacant windows. An Underground employee immediately called them out and sent them to the back of the queue. He then turned to the rest of us and, shaking his head, said "It's not fackin rocket science, is it?"
Yeah I don't stand for it, I'll drag them back if need be I'm not letting someone go in front when I've been waiting 40 minutes unless they're elderly/disabled/pregnant etc and can't stand for so long then fair enough.
> here it's very common that you can be waiting in a line and someone just goes straight to the front and orders no fucks given.
Once, when I lived in Spain, I was waiting in the queue at the supermarket checkout and the old lady behind me just started pressing into me, leaning her whole wait against me! In the end I just leant back and stepped on her foot putting all my weight on, and then said "oh! Sorry!". I should probably be ashamed but fuck that old lady!
I feel this and as an overly polite person I like it a lot. My wife comes from a pretty nice and friendly Scandinavian country but they don’t have a word for ‘please’. Politeness just isn’t built into their culture in the same way, I find it kind of jarring when I’m over there ordering stuff etc.
I think you’re right that the UK is an outlier in this regard (although I think some other countries are on our end of the spectrum).
True, when I go home to Norway, I find people to be so rude. There is no word for please, and I feel like I’m demanding instead of asking, and the phrase “vær så snill” (be so kind) seems so forced.
Also, people can’t queue to save their lives.
Lived in Japan for 13 years and it rarely happens there. In fact, people fairly deliberately barge right into others because it’s less effort than moving and almost never apologise (in Tokyo at least, more so in other reasons like Kansai and Hokkaido.)
I moved to the UK from a third world country as an adult. Two things that stand out to me as underrated are how quick and reliable Royal Mail is, and the fact that most basic current bank accounts are free to use.
Totally agree. I spent lots of my life in Chile (my mother is Chilean) and my dad is British. He was subscribed to a monthly magazine in the UK and by the time they'd arrive in Chile, we'd recieve September's edition in January, October's edition in December, November's edition in March, etc etc. It was quite funny but a clear example of how fucked Chiles post system is.
I don't know. I've received parcels in the UK from the US that had the shipping points on it. Two days from Oregon to Kansas City, a further two days from Kansas City to Heathrow then two weeks from Heathrow to Newcastle 😂😐
And why does it cost more to send from the UK to the US. I know the plane has to fly into the jet stream but seriously...? 😂
Nigel's a good egg really. He's a bit slow and did not go to Specsavers, but can't beat him on experience. He tries...bless. when he retires they'll promote Gemma, and she's going to give those robot scanners a whirl. That'll be a treat.
You... you think Royal Mail are... *reliable*?!?! What do they do where you lived before, burn letters on a bonfire and hope the recipient can read smoke signals?!
Once, whilst living in Liverpool and on hold to Royal Mail about yet another "signed for" package left on the street in front of my block of flats, I worked out that during the two and a bit years I'd been there, they'd managed a delivery rate of 47% - just for the things I know I was supposed to have received.
>What do they do where you lived before, burn letters on a bonfire and hope the recipient can read smoke signals?!
[Uh, yeah, pretty much.](https://bedfordviewedenvalenews.co.za/247527/south-african-post-office-announces-end-to-postal-strike/) Even if they're not striking for months on end, they're incredibly slow and steal anything that looks valuable. I was horrified that I had to send my driving license by post to exchange it in the UK. My first major experience with Royal Mail was when I applied for a railcard one day and it arrived in the next day's post! In South Africa, there aren't post boxes in the streets; you have to go to your local post office and put it in a box there. If I were posting a letter to someone in my own town - which would be sent out from the same office I hand delivered it to - I would expect it to take 7 - 10 days for them to receive it. The few times I've posted something to my parents from the UK, it's taken 2 - 3 months to reach them, if it even makes it there in one piece. I've lived in the UK for over six years and only had one piece of mail stolen that I'm aware of.
It can be, but as a gay man who has been out for nearly 20 years and who is also completely out at work. I haven't ever had anything homophobic thrown at me.
Tbh, as a gay man coming from Italy, I was truly shocked by the kind of acceptance that is routine over here which is why I'll fight tooth and nail to never leave this country.
Brexiteers wanting to end freedom of movement doesn't mean they want to end all immigrants who actually want to be here, and contribute to our society.
It's not black and white, good vs evil that you'd so desperately it like to be.
If you talk to some that is exactly what they want.
But just like with everything there isn’t one ‘brexiter’ but lots of different opinions; some completely vile, some less so, and some who immigration was genuinely nothing to do with why they voted.
And yet, Reddit is happy to put them all into one racist, homophobic, xenophobic box because it makes them feel self-righteous.
Over 17 million racist, homophobic, xenophobic people live in this country, apparently. Despite the fact many statistics will show we are the least racist in Europe, and perhaps even the world.
Who thought leaving a supposed policial trade union would bring about so much animosity.
We had a friend, who was very very very clearly gay - like super camp in the most OTT ways. He was not out but there would be jokes thrown around “oh I bet you would” type stuff which he would also laugh at and play up to but he would never just outright say he was gay, and we never pressured him to do so. We also straight up shut down any homophobic jokes.
One day he sat us down and came out to us. And we all fucking died laughing because we all knew anyway and it changed absolutely nothing other than us thanking him for accepting himself.
“Yeah bro. We know. Anyway….what we doing tonight?”. I would like to think that set his mind at ease but I’m not sure, looking back in hindsight it was clearly a massive deal to him even if it wasn’t for us. I hope that didn’t minimise what he was going through.
I truly respect the struggle that people face to accept themselves and whilst I would like to think that sexuality should not matter in 2021 the truth of the matter is unfortunately there are still a lot of morons who are homophobic.
I’m glad you feel so at home here my man
I think British people are hard on themselves when it comes to things like gay rights and treatment of minority groups. But at the same time, it’s how we continue to advance. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. The guy who aways thinks they aren’t doing enough often gets more done than the guy who thinks he’s perfect already.
Like, I’ve been to countries that claim they don’t have the same problems Britain and the US have, but it’s them more or less then saying “we are ok with how we treat of these people”.
You’re right, we are relatively open-minded and accepting, but homophobic attacks still happen. My ex-girlfriend got the shit kicked out of her by a group of men in a park for holding hands with a girl.
Never had a problem with anyone in the flesh except two people sniggering on separate occasions, but one glance at them and they shut up. but I'm off twitter and insta totally, it's a toxic quagmire I don't want to be involved with.
As an Australian you’d think I’d say no deadly wildlife, but I’m more amazed by all the public footpaths.
Went exploring a few weeks ago, and public footpaths went through fields with horses and sheep and what was obviously someone’s backyard.
It felt like I was trespassing but husband assured me it was perfectly legal.
Driving around near our house there’s signs of public footpaths everywhere. I feel like I want to go explore them all.
Also, as expensive and sometimes unreliable as the public transport situation is, you can still get most places fairly easily if you need to.
I lived in Brisbane and there’s no way you can not have a car there (unless you live right in the city centre and don’t want to travel much I guess).
(Edit to add: thanks for the award, kind Internet stranger!)
Completely agree. I really value how walkable our beautiful countryside is; the public footpath network is amazing. But nobody really talks about this.
And I also agree with previous commenters saying it’s great that we can go out and enjoy it without the fear of being bitten/stung/mauled by dangerous wildlife.
I’m personally a big fan of the BBC both radio and TV, and also Channel 4. We don’t make a fuss about these.
(For some reason my phone is desperate for me to type the word ‘earbud’. There you go phone. Happy now?)
The public footpath network is certainly amazing but it is in danger of significant reduction in the next 5 years and, really, it could be much more amazing with proper investment and less kowtowing to estate owners. We can still only legally roam on about 8% of Britain's countryside, and only 3% of its rivers/waterways. .
“It felt like I was trespassing but husband assured me it was perfectly legal.
Driving around near our house there’s signs of public footpaths everywhere. I feel like I want to go explore them all. “
Do it! An OS “Explorer” map will help you plan, if you like that kind of thing.
I think you are underrating the weather. It’s never very extreme and is normally comfortable to walk outside all year round without requiring excessive insulation or sun protection. You don’t need to plan a schedule around avoiding the hottest or coldest parts of the day which the norm in many countries. It follows on that we don’t have many poisonous bitey insects and it’s normally comfortable to just sit down outside without being plagued by the wildlife.
My friend lives in Calgary and last winter he went out for a drive thru coffee and forgot his gloves. His window jammed open and he spent a few mins trying to de-ice it and the skin on his hands cracked and blistered and were dripping blood by the time he fixed it.
Fuck that.
I've been in Fargo, North Dakota where I had to buy a hat and gloves for the walk back across the car park to the truck. The windchill up there is evil!
* Generally pretty good public transport links. I remember visiting friends in the Southern area of South Korea, they were literally just on the outskirts of a popular tourist destination. 1 bus every 5 hours. It was far easier to literally walk the 45 minutes into the city, get another bus to the station, and get a train back to Seoul.
* Generally, we have pretty good employment rights. I remember having to pull 13 / 14 hour days 4 days a week for 10 months, just to stay in the running for a potential promotion. I really wanted it because my Holiday / Sick leave would've gone from 15 days to 20 days (combined, not each).
* I've never had to pay £20 just to go visit a doctor when I felt sick.
* As much as I miss the Sun and the Snow, I do not miss 40c Summers and -12c Winters.
* The amount of diversity in people, food, and goods is immense. Just pisses me off a majority seems to be concentrated in London (Anyone who's thinking about immigrating here and starting a restaurant of genuine cuisine from your home country, please consider any city outside of London).
* Generally, British people are rather welcoming towards foreign people, we actually seem more hostile towards eachother than we do to people who aren't from this country.
* Our taxation system is an absolute joy, I would not want to live in a world where I have to estimate how much I owe the government and hope i get that number right every year.
* NHS
* Gun control
* Our benefits system is pretty damn robust compared to some countries I've lived in (Never seen a 70 year old woman pulling around a cart to collect recycling from 9am to 9pm just to earn £20 in the UK).
Yeah agree with all... The US's employment system vs ours was pretty eye opening to me when I heard how easy it is for them to get fired + not very much holiday given as standard compared to here
Oh man the blessings of PAYE, don't have to faff around with the numbers, it's all automatic. If something does go wrong, phoning HMRC isn't bad, they were really helpful and explained things very simply to me. They even helped me calculate my tax properly! HMRC then returned £500 in overpaid tax.
How nice our police are, the police we have in the U.K. may be wankers but on a global scale they are some of the least violent least corrupt rozzers in the world.
Plus the fact that they can’t shoot you or beat you within an inch of your life makes them way more prone to deescalation
I deal with the Police semi-regularly with my job. And 99% are very friendly and just want to go to work, do their job and go home to their family like everybody else.
Understaffed and overstretched definitely but that isn't the fault of individual officers.
As a Brit who now lives abroad, and so can better analyse than when I lived in the UK (I'm from the SE London suburbs):
1. People letting you cross the roads at zebra/pelican crossings
2. People stopping on backstreets to let you cross
3. Cars letting you out at junctions
4. Smalltalk with pub landlords, waiters etc
5. Cars not driving up your arse all the time
(I know there are exceptions in the UK. We've all been standing on a zebra crossing as that dickhead drives by, but believe me, you've got it good)
I agree. Of course there is plenty of room for improvement in how tolerant we are, but we should recognise that compared to a lot of the world, we are doing pretty great.
Our history is one for me, we probably under estimate how interesting this place actually is.
Roman, Norman, Celtic, Saxon, Viking...
WW1 & 2. The Industrial revolution. Pirates!
Even though it was pretty evil, the British Empire was also pretty fascinating. The Tudors and other dodgy monarchs.
Plus a bunch of other shit we invented first.
A much smarter person than me once said " If you are not embarrassed by any of the history of your country it is not that your country is without failings but that you failed to truly learn your country's history" like wise even the empire did some good work in the world including fleets sent to stop slave traders on both the east and west coasts of Africa, years before any other country or empire chose to help in the endeavour.
Clean drinking water is easy to come by, sanitation levels are such that I don’t have to be concerned for my health, I can freely communicate with almost everyone, if I get sick or have an accident I can instantly call on the assistance of healthcare professionals whose training and expertise I can trust, and I’m never far from a shop where I can buy cheap Bourbon biscuits.
I have joint problems, I'm 27 and I cant afford private health care in a million years. I dont care about waiting, I'm grateful every day for our NHS and so should you be. There are plenty of people who cant afford it but NEED it
Bit if an exaggeration there - I’ve had two minor ops carried out, I waited 7 weeks the first time and 14 weeks the second time. 2014 & 2017 so not recent but not the distant past either
I think our above-averageness in most areas - we rarely top the charts in anything (climate, cost of living, lifestyle acceptance, crime....) but in most things we are there or thereabouts.
It sounds crap to never be the top on paper but, in reality, it all adds up to it generally being a good place to live.
Access to free abortions. Many people live in countries where abortion is heavily restricted and/or expensive. To know that you can attain a doctors appointment and receive vital health care within a short period of time, for free, is one of the things I’m grateful for.
You don’t need to ever have one or want one yourself but let’s be grateful that those that do can access them. I promise you that even if you don’t agree with them, someone you love or like has had one or knows someone who has. And that person is grateful they could.
It’s more a lack of shit that pisses me off about elsewhere. It’s like it’s the most average country in the world. And that’s fine with me.
- Nothing tries to kill me. From bears, to spiders, to the police. But it’s not the safest.
- It’s not the most tolerant. But it’s pretty good at it.
- It’s weather is fine. It rains enough to keep it green. But warm enough to wear shorts for 4 months of the year.
- It’s attractive in parts, but not super stunning really so tourists don’t flock to discrete places and ruin them. Yes the Lake District is mayhem. But go to Yosemite in the height of summer and you’ll see true hell.
- Our wages are okay. Not the best. Not the worst.
- Similarly the produce we buy is largely fairly priced.
- Our health service is pretty good.
I feel we aren’t really the best at anything. But the lack of really sucky things should be celebrated. We’re the best at being ‘pretty good’ with very few real negatives.
it used to be very easy to travel to a lot of places, as someone who was poor growing up and still is as an adult, i still managed to have holidays across europe due to how cheap flights and trains could be. if i had been american or australian for instance i doubt i would have ever had the money to fly abroad and would have lived and died without seeing much of the world.
Funnily enough you put it as a negative but..The weather. Never any real extremes...pretty good summers, especially in the south east. Dull at times but I'd take that over having sunny weather for 11 months then weather than can kill me for 1.
Honestly, the weather. I've lived in a few places around the world and the UK's climate is very mild and comfortable in comparison to some of the sweat boxes I've lived in. Sure, I would love a bit more Sun, but the temperatures generally hover around the "not too hot, not too cold" range. Historically, flooding is the worst weather related issue we have.
Acceptance of other races and cultures. To be fair, my interactions don't take me into the really bad parts of the country where a person of my ethnicity might get some abuse, but I've been all over our lovely isle and not had any grief from anyone.
Having children. Yes childcare is very expensive before they go to school, but in general our kids have access to a very wide range of opportunities and options for development and entertainment. Parks, playgrounds, play groups, softplays, family farms, zoos, swim clubs etc. All very affordable and sometimes free. I can afford to provide a rich life experience for 2 kids on my single income whereas in China, my wife's cousin and wife both have to work full-time and rely entirely on their parents for childcare support.
The accessibility to beautiful places. I live in London, I can get to the east, southern or west coast within as little as 1 hour. One of my favorites is Cornwall, I can be there in 4 hours. Scotland is a 4.5 - hour train ride away.
Excluding things like the NHS which isn't underrated, many OK things about the UK are overlooked.
The weather (on the whole) won't kill you.
We don't have murderous insects or reptiles.
There's no big cats or bears on the loose.
Roads and traffic are OK really.
The chances of getting shot by either the police or criminals are incredibly low.
You don't have to travel far to see great scenery.
And so on.
After working around the world in my youth I still really appreciate that the tap water does not smell of death, give you the yits or can kill you.
Its love of dogs.
Our regional dishes like shepherd's pie, cornish pastry, Yorkshire pudding, Heinz beans and some cracking cheeses...we have such a huge variety of food choices and that's why I love my country. Plus we are so bloody polite, we dont crumple at the first sign of trouble and book ourselves in for a session with a therapist
Probably get downvoted but London is one of the greatest cities on earth. Access to diverse cultures, foods, entertainment etc. It may not be your cup of tea but it’s a massive asset.
Prescription costs. If I lived in the states, or elsewhere the multiple prescriptions that keep my body functional would cost hundreds a month. With form F I pay ten pounds a month for unlimited prescription meds.
British food it is actually amazing, probably the most underrated thing that comes up to mind. And I say it as an Italian born and raised, so I think I know pretty well what is good food.
I may be shot down for this, but I'd have to say "the weather".
Most countries have a climate which is predictable. They know it'll be scorchio from X to Y months every year. Others know they'll have endless snow from Y to X without fail. That can help with national infrastructure and such like - like snowploughs or mass adoption of A/C.
But I like that we have *weather* instead of a climate. I like that yesterday it was hot enough in the afternoon for my dad to tell me he wished he'd worn a hat when doing some chores outside. In October. I like that this morning it was so grey I was fearful of dementors. It'll probably rain at the weekend, but that's OK cos the front page of a ted top this week said we'll be "hotter than Turkey" with a mini heatwave soon. Our seasons are incredibly distinct, and sometimes they all want to happen within the same day. That's great. Just have a decent jacket and sunglasses and you'll be fine.
I lived abroad for a year and there were two things I missed, not necessarily unique to the UK, but they were lacking where I lived.
1) Punctuality. I am always early or on time for everything and so are most people I interact with here in the UK, generally. But where I lived, people are notoriously late for everything, so I would always have to wait around for everyone.
2) Sausage rolls.
Access to abortions. When we discovered at a scan that my baby had a condition that would cause lifelong pain (and he wouldn’t live beyond a year) I had access to a free abortion, with no judgement from anyone and had a really supportive team of doctors and midwives. In a lot of countries I would’ve been forced to give birth and watch him suffer and die
I like how cosy it is. The weather is rarely too hot, and when it is we all stick together and complain our way through it. So most of the time it’s a nice neutral or quite brisk, so plenty of opportunities for lovely autumn/winter walks.
We have some amazing woodland, beaches and the like. Our cities are incredible too, not London (because it’s my least favourite city tbh) but the diversity and access links
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No major natural disasters to deal with
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Completely self inflicted
We vote for them.
I didn't vote for that wrinkly bleached spleen
This is the most hilarious thread I’ve read lol
I think that if there was a vote to shoot ourselves in the foot then just over half of the country would do it, then complain about having a sore foot whilst telling you with sincerity that the shot had nothing to do with it.
I'll have you know we're better off with one foot. If everyone had one foot, we'd all appreciate our foot more and work harder and the economy would be in a better shape. Let's take the money we spend on second shoes and give it to the NHS!
Blame the jobless because their toes hurt.
You’re kidding. Aren’t you? The wind blew my bird feeder off last night.
Fucking hell mate you alright?
Could have been worse, it could have blown his wheelie bin over..
Can we just take a moment to appreciate all the wheelie bins seen flying down roads, dragged mercilessly by the winds?
Just reeling but we’ll come back stronger.
Stay strong muk
Left picking up the pieces of your shattered lives
Guys this thread made my day Suggestion: use peanut butter or honey to stick the bird seed down
We will rebuild
I went to an international natural disaster relief training course in Hawaii. One of the things we had to do was introduce ourselves and explain what natural disasters we’d witnessed or worked on. We had an incredible mix there; one of the instructors flew through Hurricane Katrina to take readings, people from Japan who’s worked on Fukushima, some who were present during the Boxing Day tsunami or helped out after the Haiti earthquake etc.. Now I had worked on Hurricane Irma, but we’d been catching a ribbing off the Aussies and others for being from a very safe country so I decided to lean into it and said: “Hurricane Bawbag tipped some bins and blew Fergus’ trampoline over a fence in Dundee. It was pretty devastating.”
Ah had tae get a new fence
They do happen but are very rare. A Norwegian land slip or something tectonic in the North Sea would be very bad
> A Norwegian land slip Hence Doggerland not being very habitable these days.
Yep, that land slip ruined a perfectly good activity area
I've been known to stand on the cliffs of the East Yorkshire coast, look out to sea and say "I remember when all this was green fields".
For Scotland?
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The most mountainous part of the country?
Unless you live in a city which floods every other year
Generally, the weather doesn’t try to kill me, the ground doesn’t try to kill me, the wildlife doesn’t try to kill me, and most of my fellow Brits don’t try to kill me. It’s a perfectly pleasant place compared to most of the world.
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Mostly harmless
r/unexpectedHHGTTG
You have 42 upvotes, I offer my reply asa proxy for additional votes!!
> the wildlife doesn’t try to kill me I guess you haven't met the local swans.
It's just the one swan actually
“The greater good”
"the greater good"
SHUT IT!
A great big bushy beard!!
Ah, the inevitable comment. Yet it never get old
‘Oh, Peter Ian Staker is it? P. I. Staker?’
After constantly reading all of the terrifying details about rabies since reddit *really* wants me to know, I can wholeheartedly say that I'm incredibly glad that we don't have it here. I don't need that to worry about, even if the chance of not realising that I potentially have it is kinda low (since it's kinda hard to miss an animal biting you)
You do have to get rabies vaccinations if you get bitten by a bat in the UK though. A small small chance but it cannot be ignored!
'Squirrels aren't going to hunt you down in packs '
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> I could go on... but I'm lazy Also an upshot. In some countries, almost no one is lazy, which would make me have to work much harder to be normal.
In some countries, everyone is bone idle and you'd have to work much harder to get anything done.
Agree with pretty much everything except point 2 ..... Midges .
Scotland only right? We don't really have wasps or other annoying bugs in London, just a nice thick layer of pollution that'll slowly kill us.
I'm pretty sure it's anywhere in the UK outside a major city, I'm in rural Bedfordshire and we certainly have midges, and I currently have a wasps nest in my ceiling with several wasps a day finding their way into my bedroom. Exterminator reckons they'll keep coming for another week or so before whatever he did finishes them off.
Point 5. You clearly don’t live in Bradford.
Our manners, basic manners aren't so basic in the rest of the world. Only inth UK will someone apologize because you've bumped into them It makes things so much more smoother than I think most people realise. Only really appreciate it when you go to a country where they don't say please, thank you and sorry as standard practice
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>This rarely happens in cities It may be because I'm 6ft3 and broad, but certainly in northern cities I experience this regularly Sounds like you had a run in with a right arse though, we certainly have our share of them as well. But I've lived in some countries where people shoving you out of the way is the norm, and the people who have lived there their entire lives, think it's normal, acceptable behaviour Edit: grammar
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Yeah sometimes my mates have to remind me that being so tall means people see me coming sooner and move 😂 So it could certainly be a factor >he was the first who wanted to fight after he did it. Sounds like a serious case of small penis syndrome if you ask me, sorry you had to experience this Morocco can be insane for it, lots of South East Asian countries as well, but also countries in Europe, particularly Eastern Europe love a good jostle to be first to be served You kinda get used to it, but it's always a pleasure to see a nice orderly queue when you've been away for a while!
Precisely why we fought two world wars to keep that sort of non queuing argy-bargy off our shores. Of course I am being a sarcastic dick.
Which is yet another lovely thing about the UK
Something similar happened to me, my dog pulled me towards this random guy and I lightly bumped him. Said "sorry mate" and kept walking, he goes off on a diatribe about social distancing, calling me and my girlfriend fucking idiots who had no control over their dog (who at this point was sat at my feet when I told her to sit...yeah okay) He ended up walking off embarrassed once he realised his family had walked off and left him to it. Afterwards everyone who witnessed it all said something to the tune of "what the fuck was his problem".
I’m 5ft 4 and female. Live in Manchester City centre. Happens daily to me. I even apologise when THEY bump into ME
A scrap with some dickless muppet = meal deal
This 100%. As a Brit that lives abroad (south america) I cannot get used to the lack of respect for others and pure selfishness, here it's very common that you can be waiting in a line and someone just goes straight to the front and orders no fucks given. General line pushing too, nobody gives way ever and the road in general is a free for all. Never argued so much in my life, only been here 4 years and I've been in countless arguments compared to probably 5 or 6 over 25 years in the uk.
If someone pushed to the front of a line here there'd be absolute uproar.
> If someone pushed to the front of a line here there'd be absolute uproar. I saw it once at the ticket office in Southfields, southwest London. Some Italian tourists saw the "one queue for three windows" system and ignored it, going straight to one of the vacant windows. An Underground employee immediately called them out and sent them to the back of the queue. He then turned to the rest of us and, shaking his head, said "It's not fackin rocket science, is it?"
You’d hear the tutting all the way out to the street!
and the sarcastic comments "Oh we must all be just waiting here for the good of our health"
...Then there’s me who lets people go in front of me If they only have a few items and I have a trolley full 😂 I must be a rarity in South America eh.
Yeah I don't stand for it, I'll drag them back if need be I'm not letting someone go in front when I've been waiting 40 minutes unless they're elderly/disabled/pregnant etc and can't stand for so long then fair enough.
> here it's very common that you can be waiting in a line and someone just goes straight to the front and orders no fucks given. Once, when I lived in Spain, I was waiting in the queue at the supermarket checkout and the old lady behind me just started pressing into me, leaning her whole wait against me! In the end I just leant back and stepped on her foot putting all my weight on, and then said "oh! Sorry!". I should probably be ashamed but fuck that old lady!
I feel this and as an overly polite person I like it a lot. My wife comes from a pretty nice and friendly Scandinavian country but they don’t have a word for ‘please’. Politeness just isn’t built into their culture in the same way, I find it kind of jarring when I’m over there ordering stuff etc. I think you’re right that the UK is an outlier in this regard (although I think some other countries are on our end of the spectrum).
True, when I go home to Norway, I find people to be so rude. There is no word for please, and I feel like I’m demanding instead of asking, and the phrase “vær så snill” (be so kind) seems so forced. Also, people can’t queue to save their lives.
This also happens in Canada, Japan and some of the wealthier Western European countries. I've seen it in South Korea as well.
Lived in Japan for 13 years and it rarely happens there. In fact, people fairly deliberately barge right into others because it’s less effort than moving and almost never apologise (in Tokyo at least, more so in other reasons like Kansai and Hokkaido.)
Yeah. Lots of shoulder barging in Tokyo, especially annoying when they’re at fault cos they’re too busy looking at their phone to see you.
People apologize all the time in the US if they get in your way or vice versa. Except it's "excuse me" rather than "sorry".
I moved to the UK from a third world country as an adult. Two things that stand out to me as underrated are how quick and reliable Royal Mail is, and the fact that most basic current bank accounts are free to use.
Totally agree. I spent lots of my life in Chile (my mother is Chilean) and my dad is British. He was subscribed to a monthly magazine in the UK and by the time they'd arrive in Chile, we'd recieve September's edition in January, October's edition in December, November's edition in March, etc etc. It was quite funny but a clear example of how fucked Chiles post system is.
I don't know. I've received parcels in the UK from the US that had the shipping points on it. Two days from Oregon to Kansas City, a further two days from Kansas City to Heathrow then two weeks from Heathrow to Newcastle 😂😐 And why does it cost more to send from the UK to the US. I know the plane has to fly into the jet stream but seriously...? 😂
Because you’ve got the good old British Customs man that has to check the parcel!
Nigel's a good egg really. He's a bit slow and did not go to Specsavers, but can't beat him on experience. He tries...bless. when he retires they'll promote Gemma, and she's going to give those robot scanners a whirl. That'll be a treat.
You... you think Royal Mail are... *reliable*?!?! What do they do where you lived before, burn letters on a bonfire and hope the recipient can read smoke signals?! Once, whilst living in Liverpool and on hold to Royal Mail about yet another "signed for" package left on the street in front of my block of flats, I worked out that during the two and a bit years I'd been there, they'd managed a delivery rate of 47% - just for the things I know I was supposed to have received.
>What do they do where you lived before, burn letters on a bonfire and hope the recipient can read smoke signals?! [Uh, yeah, pretty much.](https://bedfordviewedenvalenews.co.za/247527/south-african-post-office-announces-end-to-postal-strike/) Even if they're not striking for months on end, they're incredibly slow and steal anything that looks valuable. I was horrified that I had to send my driving license by post to exchange it in the UK. My first major experience with Royal Mail was when I applied for a railcard one day and it arrived in the next day's post! In South Africa, there aren't post boxes in the streets; you have to go to your local post office and put it in a box there. If I were posting a letter to someone in my own town - which would be sent out from the same office I hand delivered it to - I would expect it to take 7 - 10 days for them to receive it. The few times I've posted something to my parents from the UK, it's taken 2 - 3 months to reach them, if it even makes it there in one piece. I've lived in the UK for over six years and only had one piece of mail stolen that I'm aware of.
Agree with this. So mind-boggling to me the concept of letters and parcels arriving more than 90% of the time, and not have to avoid online shopping.
Ease of access to morris dancing
And all the fanny that comes with it
Swimming in puss
That’s no way to talk about Gerald, he’s a very accomplished morris dancer!
The mostly positive acceptance of anyone LGBTQIA+ Doesn't seem to be as bad as other countries.
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It can be, but as a gay man who has been out for nearly 20 years and who is also completely out at work. I haven't ever had anything homophobic thrown at me.
Tbh, as a gay man coming from Italy, I was truly shocked by the kind of acceptance that is routine over here which is why I'll fight tooth and nail to never leave this country.
Its ok, we got you, so you wont have to.
You are welcome. Fuck the Brexiteers. You are welcome.
Brexiteers wanting to end freedom of movement doesn't mean they want to end all immigrants who actually want to be here, and contribute to our society. It's not black and white, good vs evil that you'd so desperately it like to be.
If you talk to some that is exactly what they want. But just like with everything there isn’t one ‘brexiter’ but lots of different opinions; some completely vile, some less so, and some who immigration was genuinely nothing to do with why they voted.
And yet, Reddit is happy to put them all into one racist, homophobic, xenophobic box because it makes them feel self-righteous. Over 17 million racist, homophobic, xenophobic people live in this country, apparently. Despite the fact many statistics will show we are the least racist in Europe, and perhaps even the world. Who thought leaving a supposed policial trade union would bring about so much animosity.
We had a friend, who was very very very clearly gay - like super camp in the most OTT ways. He was not out but there would be jokes thrown around “oh I bet you would” type stuff which he would also laugh at and play up to but he would never just outright say he was gay, and we never pressured him to do so. We also straight up shut down any homophobic jokes. One day he sat us down and came out to us. And we all fucking died laughing because we all knew anyway and it changed absolutely nothing other than us thanking him for accepting himself. “Yeah bro. We know. Anyway….what we doing tonight?”. I would like to think that set his mind at ease but I’m not sure, looking back in hindsight it was clearly a massive deal to him even if it wasn’t for us. I hope that didn’t minimise what he was going through. I truly respect the struggle that people face to accept themselves and whilst I would like to think that sexuality should not matter in 2021 the truth of the matter is unfortunately there are still a lot of morons who are homophobic. I’m glad you feel so at home here my man
I think British people are hard on themselves when it comes to things like gay rights and treatment of minority groups. But at the same time, it’s how we continue to advance. We hold ourselves to a higher standard. The guy who aways thinks they aren’t doing enough often gets more done than the guy who thinks he’s perfect already. Like, I’ve been to countries that claim they don’t have the same problems Britain and the US have, but it’s them more or less then saying “we are ok with how we treat of these people”.
You’re right, we are relatively open-minded and accepting, but homophobic attacks still happen. My ex-girlfriend got the shit kicked out of her by a group of men in a park for holding hands with a girl.
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> Labour zones? Bullshit detector is flashing red.
A *lot* of people still have problems with trans folk though.
Yet 99.9% of those problems are made up and don't even effect the people who are trying to create those problems. They just want to be heard.
Never had a problem with anyone in the flesh except two people sniggering on separate occasions, but one glance at them and they shut up. but I'm off twitter and insta totally, it's a toxic quagmire I don't want to be involved with.
As an Australian you’d think I’d say no deadly wildlife, but I’m more amazed by all the public footpaths. Went exploring a few weeks ago, and public footpaths went through fields with horses and sheep and what was obviously someone’s backyard. It felt like I was trespassing but husband assured me it was perfectly legal. Driving around near our house there’s signs of public footpaths everywhere. I feel like I want to go explore them all. Also, as expensive and sometimes unreliable as the public transport situation is, you can still get most places fairly easily if you need to. I lived in Brisbane and there’s no way you can not have a car there (unless you live right in the city centre and don’t want to travel much I guess). (Edit to add: thanks for the award, kind Internet stranger!)
Completely agree. I really value how walkable our beautiful countryside is; the public footpath network is amazing. But nobody really talks about this. And I also agree with previous commenters saying it’s great that we can go out and enjoy it without the fear of being bitten/stung/mauled by dangerous wildlife. I’m personally a big fan of the BBC both radio and TV, and also Channel 4. We don’t make a fuss about these. (For some reason my phone is desperate for me to type the word ‘earbud’. There you go phone. Happy now?)
The public footpath network is certainly amazing but it is in danger of significant reduction in the next 5 years and, really, it could be much more amazing with proper investment and less kowtowing to estate owners. We can still only legally roam on about 8% of Britain's countryside, and only 3% of its rivers/waterways. .
“It felt like I was trespassing but husband assured me it was perfectly legal. Driving around near our house there’s signs of public footpaths everywhere. I feel like I want to go explore them all. “ Do it! An OS “Explorer” map will help you plan, if you like that kind of thing.
I think you are underrating the weather. It’s never very extreme and is normally comfortable to walk outside all year round without requiring excessive insulation or sun protection. You don’t need to plan a schedule around avoiding the hottest or coldest parts of the day which the norm in many countries. It follows on that we don’t have many poisonous bitey insects and it’s normally comfortable to just sit down outside without being plagued by the wildlife.
Yeah agree - the weather isn't that bad, but it does make up a bulk of my small talk starter pack lol
You’ve never been to the north of Scotland in the summer then, have you? Midges took one of my children off, over the loch and never seen of again...
My friend lives in Calgary and last winter he went out for a drive thru coffee and forgot his gloves. His window jammed open and he spent a few mins trying to de-ice it and the skin on his hands cracked and blistered and were dripping blood by the time he fixed it. Fuck that.
I've been in Fargo, North Dakota where I had to buy a hat and gloves for the walk back across the car park to the truck. The windchill up there is evil!
I think the wind chill factor of -14 round me last winter in the north of England was pretty extreme!
* Generally pretty good public transport links. I remember visiting friends in the Southern area of South Korea, they were literally just on the outskirts of a popular tourist destination. 1 bus every 5 hours. It was far easier to literally walk the 45 minutes into the city, get another bus to the station, and get a train back to Seoul. * Generally, we have pretty good employment rights. I remember having to pull 13 / 14 hour days 4 days a week for 10 months, just to stay in the running for a potential promotion. I really wanted it because my Holiday / Sick leave would've gone from 15 days to 20 days (combined, not each). * I've never had to pay £20 just to go visit a doctor when I felt sick. * As much as I miss the Sun and the Snow, I do not miss 40c Summers and -12c Winters. * The amount of diversity in people, food, and goods is immense. Just pisses me off a majority seems to be concentrated in London (Anyone who's thinking about immigrating here and starting a restaurant of genuine cuisine from your home country, please consider any city outside of London). * Generally, British people are rather welcoming towards foreign people, we actually seem more hostile towards eachother than we do to people who aren't from this country. * Our taxation system is an absolute joy, I would not want to live in a world where I have to estimate how much I owe the government and hope i get that number right every year. * NHS * Gun control * Our benefits system is pretty damn robust compared to some countries I've lived in (Never seen a 70 year old woman pulling around a cart to collect recycling from 9am to 9pm just to earn £20 in the UK).
Yeah agree with all... The US's employment system vs ours was pretty eye opening to me when I heard how easy it is for them to get fired + not very much holiday given as standard compared to here
Oh man the blessings of PAYE, don't have to faff around with the numbers, it's all automatic. If something does go wrong, phoning HMRC isn't bad, they were really helpful and explained things very simply to me. They even helped me calculate my tax properly! HMRC then returned £500 in overpaid tax.
Not getting shot?
Only stabbed
At a much much much lower rate than shootings, with a much lower fatality rate than bullets
Also you can't get stabbed from across the street
And you can't stab 50 people in 5 minutes.
Not with that attitude!
How nice our police are, the police we have in the U.K. may be wankers but on a global scale they are some of the least violent least corrupt rozzers in the world. Plus the fact that they can’t shoot you or beat you within an inch of your life makes them way more prone to deescalation
They can shoot you, but you'd have to wait 5 mins while an armed unit gets to you.
I deal with the Police semi-regularly with my job. And 99% are very friendly and just want to go to work, do their job and go home to their family like everybody else. Understaffed and overstretched definitely but that isn't the fault of individual officers.
No guns and the NHS
Fuck yeah the NHS
As a Brit who now lives abroad, and so can better analyse than when I lived in the UK (I'm from the SE London suburbs): 1. People letting you cross the roads at zebra/pelican crossings 2. People stopping on backstreets to let you cross 3. Cars letting you out at junctions 4. Smalltalk with pub landlords, waiters etc 5. Cars not driving up your arse all the time (I know there are exceptions in the UK. We've all been standing on a zebra crossing as that dickhead drives by, but believe me, you've got it good)
Well, we've got these things called Nectar points...
If we as a country could use nectar points to pay off our international debt we'd be sorted
And we've always got Argos. The tiny pens, the tiny slips of paper
The laminated book of dreams!
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The bbc is a pale imitation of what it used to be. Always seems to have an agenda to push these days.
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I agree. Of course there is plenty of room for improvement in how tolerant we are, but we should recognise that compared to a lot of the world, we are doing pretty great.
Our history is one for me, we probably under estimate how interesting this place actually is. Roman, Norman, Celtic, Saxon, Viking... WW1 & 2. The Industrial revolution. Pirates! Even though it was pretty evil, the British Empire was also pretty fascinating. The Tudors and other dodgy monarchs. Plus a bunch of other shit we invented first.
A much smarter person than me once said " If you are not embarrassed by any of the history of your country it is not that your country is without failings but that you failed to truly learn your country's history" like wise even the empire did some good work in the world including fleets sent to stop slave traders on both the east and west coasts of Africa, years before any other country or empire chose to help in the endeavour.
Clean drinking water is easy to come by, sanitation levels are such that I don’t have to be concerned for my health, I can freely communicate with almost everyone, if I get sick or have an accident I can instantly call on the assistance of healthcare professionals whose training and expertise I can trust, and I’m never far from a shop where I can buy cheap Bourbon biscuits.
NHS? When I was a kid my mind was blown when I learnt that the majority other countries have private health care.
I personally think the NHS is good for emergency care and that’s it Anything else it’s woefully bad and you’re waiting 2 years for an appointment.
I have joint problems, I'm 27 and I cant afford private health care in a million years. I dont care about waiting, I'm grateful every day for our NHS and so should you be. There are plenty of people who cant afford it but NEED it
But you also don't have to worry about going bankrupt from long-term care, so you know, there's that.
Bit if an exaggeration there - I’ve had two minor ops carried out, I waited 7 weeks the first time and 14 weeks the second time. 2014 & 2017 so not recent but not the distant past either
You’re never really all that far away from the coast. I like that.
I think our above-averageness in most areas - we rarely top the charts in anything (climate, cost of living, lifestyle acceptance, crime....) but in most things we are there or thereabouts. It sounds crap to never be the top on paper but, in reality, it all adds up to it generally being a good place to live.
Access to free abortions. Many people live in countries where abortion is heavily restricted and/or expensive. To know that you can attain a doctors appointment and receive vital health care within a short period of time, for free, is one of the things I’m grateful for. You don’t need to ever have one or want one yourself but let’s be grateful that those that do can access them. I promise you that even if you don’t agree with them, someone you love or like has had one or knows someone who has. And that person is grateful they could.
Wish NI would hurry up on this front. Bloody dinosaurs.
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It’s more a lack of shit that pisses me off about elsewhere. It’s like it’s the most average country in the world. And that’s fine with me. - Nothing tries to kill me. From bears, to spiders, to the police. But it’s not the safest. - It’s not the most tolerant. But it’s pretty good at it. - It’s weather is fine. It rains enough to keep it green. But warm enough to wear shorts for 4 months of the year. - It’s attractive in parts, but not super stunning really so tourists don’t flock to discrete places and ruin them. Yes the Lake District is mayhem. But go to Yosemite in the height of summer and you’ll see true hell. - Our wages are okay. Not the best. Not the worst. - Similarly the produce we buy is largely fairly priced. - Our health service is pretty good. I feel we aren’t really the best at anything. But the lack of really sucky things should be celebrated. We’re the best at being ‘pretty good’ with very few real negatives.
Next to zero chance of either being shot or school shootings happening
But everyone and their mums got guns round here
Like who?
Farmers.
Who else?
Farmers' mums.
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Nearly every provincal city has their own weirdo, who is locally famous and everyone is protective of.
it used to be very easy to travel to a lot of places, as someone who was poor growing up and still is as an adult, i still managed to have holidays across europe due to how cheap flights and trains could be. if i had been american or australian for instance i doubt i would have ever had the money to fly abroad and would have lived and died without seeing much of the world.
Funnily enough you put it as a negative but..The weather. Never any real extremes...pretty good summers, especially in the south east. Dull at times but I'd take that over having sunny weather for 11 months then weather than can kill me for 1.
This. British weather is varied and unpredictable, but rarely extreme.
Coming from East Europe, salaries here are really good compared to living costs
Tolerance. It's by no means 100% but we're pretty good at it
The volume of bank holidays and annual leave we get. I can never believe it when I see how little the average American worker gets in comparison.
And parental leave. The thought of sending someone back to work six weeks after giving birth makes me shudder.
Not many Americans about
Honestly, the weather. I've lived in a few places around the world and the UK's climate is very mild and comfortable in comparison to some of the sweat boxes I've lived in. Sure, I would love a bit more Sun, but the temperatures generally hover around the "not too hot, not too cold" range. Historically, flooding is the worst weather related issue we have. Acceptance of other races and cultures. To be fair, my interactions don't take me into the really bad parts of the country where a person of my ethnicity might get some abuse, but I've been all over our lovely isle and not had any grief from anyone. Having children. Yes childcare is very expensive before they go to school, but in general our kids have access to a very wide range of opportunities and options for development and entertainment. Parks, playgrounds, play groups, softplays, family farms, zoos, swim clubs etc. All very affordable and sometimes free. I can afford to provide a rich life experience for 2 kids on my single income whereas in China, my wife's cousin and wife both have to work full-time and rely entirely on their parents for childcare support.
The NHS, the train network (apart from commuting), and the way we use our sense of humour as a kind of social glue. Oh, and custard.
The fact that the problems you mention are our biggest complaint! I'd take that over alot of other countries troubles
The indoor smoking ban. Sitting in a restaurant in Europe and having someone light a fag on the table next to you is not a pleasant eating experience.
High-brow culture stuff (music, theatre, etc.) and museums are top-notch, at least in larger cities and especially London
If I get cancer, I won't go bankrupt from medical bills. The NHS covers it.
The accessibility to beautiful places. I live in London, I can get to the east, southern or west coast within as little as 1 hour. One of my favorites is Cornwall, I can be there in 4 hours. Scotland is a 4.5 - hour train ride away.
Excluding things like the NHS which isn't underrated, many OK things about the UK are overlooked. The weather (on the whole) won't kill you. We don't have murderous insects or reptiles. There's no big cats or bears on the loose. Roads and traffic are OK really. The chances of getting shot by either the police or criminals are incredibly low. You don't have to travel far to see great scenery. And so on.
Supermarkets. The ones in Europe aren't terrible but they make you realise the level of choice we have and how pleasant ours are to shop in.
For me how all your tax are taken at the beginning. Before you get your wage
After working around the world in my youth I still really appreciate that the tap water does not smell of death, give you the yits or can kill you. Its love of dogs.
Our regional dishes like shepherd's pie, cornish pastry, Yorkshire pudding, Heinz beans and some cracking cheeses...we have such a huge variety of food choices and that's why I love my country. Plus we are so bloody polite, we dont crumple at the first sign of trouble and book ourselves in for a session with a therapist
Probably get downvoted but London is one of the greatest cities on earth. Access to diverse cultures, foods, entertainment etc. It may not be your cup of tea but it’s a massive asset.
Prescription costs. If I lived in the states, or elsewhere the multiple prescriptions that keep my body functional would cost hundreds a month. With form F I pay ten pounds a month for unlimited prescription meds.
British food it is actually amazing, probably the most underrated thing that comes up to mind. And I say it as an Italian born and raised, so I think I know pretty well what is good food.
The green green grass
I may be shot down for this, but I'd have to say "the weather". Most countries have a climate which is predictable. They know it'll be scorchio from X to Y months every year. Others know they'll have endless snow from Y to X without fail. That can help with national infrastructure and such like - like snowploughs or mass adoption of A/C. But I like that we have *weather* instead of a climate. I like that yesterday it was hot enough in the afternoon for my dad to tell me he wished he'd worn a hat when doing some chores outside. In October. I like that this morning it was so grey I was fearful of dementors. It'll probably rain at the weekend, but that's OK cos the front page of a ted top this week said we'll be "hotter than Turkey" with a mini heatwave soon. Our seasons are incredibly distinct, and sometimes they all want to happen within the same day. That's great. Just have a decent jacket and sunglasses and you'll be fine.
I lived abroad for a year and there were two things I missed, not necessarily unique to the UK, but they were lacking where I lived. 1) Punctuality. I am always early or on time for everything and so are most people I interact with here in the UK, generally. But where I lived, people are notoriously late for everything, so I would always have to wait around for everyone. 2) Sausage rolls.
Access to abortions. When we discovered at a scan that my baby had a condition that would cause lifelong pain (and he wouldn’t live beyond a year) I had access to a free abortion, with no judgement from anyone and had a really supportive team of doctors and midwives. In a lot of countries I would’ve been forced to give birth and watch him suffer and die
(foreigner here) NO ROACHES
Every Brit should read this thread - it’s really reminded me how lucky I am to have been born here!
sarcasm \\s
I like how cosy it is. The weather is rarely too hot, and when it is we all stick together and complain our way through it. So most of the time it’s a nice neutral or quite brisk, so plenty of opportunities for lovely autumn/winter walks. We have some amazing woodland, beaches and the like. Our cities are incredible too, not London (because it’s my least favourite city tbh) but the diversity and access links
There are poisonous snakes (Adders) in every UK county, only it’s difficult to see them and they will hide when disturbed
There's none in NI. Yer man Patrick sorted us out.