Thoughts on England?

[AlexRS4]

Hi there,

I've seen some comments lately on a very useless topic about door dents on parking lots, and some people just firmly believe the whole country has fallen.

I've recently moved to Italy after always having lived all my life in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I'm in Northern Italy, near Turin, and it's a tornado of fresh air. Being able to walk to places, riding a bicycle without looking over my shoulder every minute to see if I'm about to be robbed, decent traffic, their sense of safety being a reinforced door ("armored" they call it, albeit not bulletproof) and a burglar alarm, neighbors, local shops (for local people? Hehehe), a yard, trees and what not.

Nice as it may be, I'm not sure I'll be staying because of the ammount of taxes to open a simple company and getting a VAT number, which sadly is required for most things I'm interested in. I'm an industrial designer and I wanted to rent a place, put some light machinery and work, mainly on a prototype car I'm developing, but everything, from an oven for the clay to make some prototypes to a small manual lift-truck, eveything requires a VAT and some basic taxes are ~£2000/year on welfare, even if I don't employ anyone and never take any advantage of it. I have other income sources and I don't want to retire on Italy's or any country's social security, yet people who gain citizenship and are already of age can retire and receive their pension without ever having contributes. Same goes for health, I have a BUPA insurance, which is English, and I can pay for my health and leave the freebies for those who need.

But I digress. What are your thoughts on the current state of England? Same as everywhere else, live in a big city and get it's cons and pros, go farther away and relax with the occasional hiccup such as burglary or theft? I hear every now and then about cars being stolen in unlikely places but then again can't recall any case of one being taken from inside a garage where it didn't involve some stupidty or even at gunpoint, whereas in Brazil I've had my share of armored cars, couple of robberies and even the odd kidnap attempt a few years back when things were weirder, now criminals have just lost all respect and began holding up entire restaurants and blowing up ATMs (yes, it does sound like movie stuff, but guess why I left..)

I hear the Isle of Man is as boring as it's calm and relaxed, plus some tax benefits.

Feel free to flip me off if I'm way off and full of stereotypes, but even though I'm a tad anglophile, my humour culture is British and even my English certificate is from Cambridge, I haven't been to England except for Gatwick and thought of taking a car trip from here to Newcastle and noticed from London to there it's ~350 miles, so the country is not that big (think of my reference) and I thought that may have changed a bit of my feeling of distance, regionality, un-Londoness and eveything just became a big city blur...

[bam_bam]

TL;DR

[RSKiwi]

TL;DR

I must be getting old...I had to google what the meant.

Why do I write these things down.....

[HYFR]

we always moan about how bad the UK has got ... until you see how the rest of the world live

I drove to Greece this summer, and the utter chaos that followed the simple task of boarding and exiting the car ferries in Italy and Greece was ridiculous ... then you get to the Eurotunnel and the refinement and organisation is like you've just landed on another planet.

[RSKiwi]

we always moan about how bad the UK has got ... until you see how the rest of the world live

I drove to Greece this summer, and the utter chaos that followed the simple task of boarding and exiting the car ferries in Italy and Greece was ridiculous ... then you get to the Eurotunnel and the refinement and organisation is like you've just landed on another planet.

Also that 90% of the service stations I encountered when in Italy wouldnt take my UK credit card blew me away FFS this is Europe!!

I tend to think that England is a pretty damn good place. I have travelled extensively throughout the world and like anywhere it has its niggles but in reality its a darn sight better than A LOT of other countries. UK media is what perpetuates the 'its all going downhill' feeling. If you stop and think about it what is actually 'wrong' with the place?

[bam_bam]

we always moan about how bad the UK has got ... until you see how the rest of the world live

I drove to Greece this summer, and the utter chaos that followed the simple task of boarding and exiting the car ferries in Italy and Greece was ridiculous ... then you get to the Eurotunnel and the refinement and organisation is like you've just landed on another planet.

Agreed, the Latins and Greeks love a bit of drama but their lives are bristling with passion compared to Britain. Hence, adding drama to something as mundane as boarding a barge is turned into a massive ballache.
Zhen zhere's zee Germanz. Ordnung! Ordnung!
Never have I witnessed a country so well organised yet still able to incorporate tradition so well, but by <beep> are they boring. Humour must've be seen as inefficient by ze Germans and therefore it was phased out some time ago.
Yep, Ungland ain't that bad, however, If I weren't here, I'd be in France...
- Quality of life is great.
- Food is amazing.
- Weather isn't much different.
- Language is awesome, you can say "Cooor, that curry last night, *burp* I'm goin' to take a dump mate, get another round in yeah" but still sound sexy.
- Men are allowed to keep a mistress.
- It's the birthplace of the blowjob.

Profit!

[RSKiwi]

we always moan about how bad the UK has got ... until you see how the rest of the world live

I drove to Greece this summer, and the utter chaos that followed the simple task of boarding and exiting the car ferries in Italy and Greece was ridiculous ... then you get to the Eurotunnel and the refinement and organisation is like you've just landed on another planet.

Agreed, the Latins and Greeks love a bit of drama but their lives are bristling with passion compared to Britain. Hence, adding drama to something as mundane as boarding a barge is turned into a massive ballache.
Zhen zhere's zee Germanz. Ordnung! Ordnung!
Never have I witnessed a country so well organised yet still able to incorporate tradition so well, but by f*ck are they boring. Humour must've be seen as inefficient by ze Germans and therefore it was phased out some time ago.
Yep, Ungland ain't that bad, however, If I weren't here, I'd be in France...
- Quality of life is great.
- Food is amazing.
- Weather isn't much different.
- Language is awesome, you can say "Cooor, that curry last night, *burp* I'm goin' to take a dump mate, get another round in yeah" but still sound sexy.
- Men are allowed to keep a mistress.
- It's the birthplace of the blowjob.

Profit!

+1 to that! Having spent a fair amount of time in France, once you get used to the 'opening/closing cant be arsed working today' theme its a great spot. Disgracefully attractive countryside at times too.

[HYFR]

oh yeah i'll add that not one fuel station in Kos (Greece) accepted anything BUT cash .....

dodgy tax avoiding feckers !!

[Timster]

Too many bl**dy kiwi's here.... I'm off as soon as I can.

[bam_bam]

Too many bl**dy kiwi's here.... I'm off as soon as I can.

Are you off to Nue Zeeloond?

[Timster]

Too many bl**dy kiwi's here.... I'm off as soon as I can.

Are you off to Nue Zeeloond?

You mean to get away from all of you.... not a bad plan, I 'spose.

[PJC]

New Zealand, lovely place, loved Queenstown.

[bam_bam]

Too many bl**dy kiwi's here.... I'm off as soon as I can.

Are you off to Nue Zeeloond?

You mean to get away from all of you.... not a bad plan, I 'spose.

You'll have it better here, I'll explain why.

The good news: All of the prime pricks, ar*eholes and <beep> Australians come over here for a few years, then return home.
The bad news: All of the prime pricks, ar*eholes and <beep> British emigrate to Australia. Full stop.

Nothing has changed since 1788.

[AlexRS4]

we always moan about how bad the UK has got ... until you see how the rest of the world live

I drove to Greece this summer, and the utter chaos that followed the simple task of boarding and exiting the car ferries in Italy and Greece was ridiculous ... then you get to the Eurotunnel and the refinement and organisation is like you've just landed on another planet.

Agreed, the Latins and Greeks love a bit of drama but their lives are bristling with passion compared to Britain. Hence, adding drama to something as mundane as boarding a barge is turned into a massive ballache.
Zhen zhere's zee Germanz. Ordnung! Ordnung!
Never have I witnessed a country so well organised yet still able to incorporate tradition so well, but by f*ck are they boring. Humour must've be seen as inefficient by ze Germans and therefore it was phased out some time ago.
Yep, Ungland ain't that bad, however, If I weren't here, I'd be in France...
- Quality of life is great.
- Food is amazing.
- Weather isn't much different.
- Language is awesome, you can say "Cooor, that curry last night, *burp* I'm goin' to take a dump mate, get another round in yeah" but still sound sexy.
- Men are allowed to keep a mistress.
- It's the birthplace of the blowjob.

Profit!

Omg as soon as I stop laughing... Ok.. Mistresses and bjs?

But I would like somewhere less annoying and with less armpit hair (ahh, the stereotypes...), plus Iron Maiden concerts would be handier. And you drive on the RIGHT SIDE...

[RSKiwi]

quote="TimsterRS4"]Too many bl**dy kiwi's here.... I'm off as soon as I can.

Are you off to Nue Zeeloond?You mean to get away from all of you.... not a bad plan, I 'spose. [/quote]
You'll have it better here, I'll explain why.

The good news: All of the prime pricks, ar*eholes and <beep> Australians come over here for a few years, then return home.
The bad news: All of the prime pricks, ar*eholes and <beep> British emigrate to Australia. Full stop.

Nothing has changed since 1788.[/quote]

I was about to debate this point but realised you were correct.....

Not quite the same with NZ as everyone from NZ is moving to Australia...still, I guess it raises the IQ of both countries....

We get South Africans emigrating to NZ constantly..... The last one I worked with in NZ used to tell us how he shot someone in the back who was stealing his ute....while you should never mess with another mans ute he could at least have had the decency to shoot him face on.

Tim stay here you know you love us, we teach you Brits how to not take life too seriously. The bonus of staying here is that you will also be able to continue to afford the pleasures of European performance motors, in Oz and NZ you have sell both Kidneys to own one otherwise you end up in an Aussie muscle car that has about as much class as Jordan. Sure you may want to go for a ride out of curiosity but in the end you will just end up disappointed you were seen anywhere near one.