LVSteve
Member
During my recent trip to the UK, I was reminded of a few things that I miss.
1) Loooong summer evenings. While we were there the Sun was up before 0500 for all you crazy early people, and didn't set until after 2100 for us civilized folks. Just wonderful, even when the weather isn't that great.
2) Passing only allowed on the offside, equivalent to passing only allowed on the left in the US. By law, you go to the lane nearest the kerb when it's open. Oh yes, I hear the whining about not wanting to drive in the "truck lane" already. Don't worry, they do the same in the UK.
3) Good English cafe cooking. I know, the UK doesn't have much of a rep for the culinary arts, but a good cafe meal of well prepared simple food takes some beating. My wife and I stopped in a little cafe for lunch one day, she had fish and chips, and I had Shepherds Pie. Both meals were prepared to perfection. No overseasoning, no attempts to make it some kind of fru-fru dish that it could never be. Place was run by a family of Turkish extraction who reverse commute 31 miles out of London every day.
4) Trains and subways. They're the only way to travel to/in an old city not built for the car. Where we were staying the line into London has regular trains that are clean, air conditioned and reliable. Not all the lines are as good. The improvements made to the London Underground while I've been away have been worth every penny. All that said...see #1 in next list below.
Now, the things I don't miss about the UK, not one bit.
1) Where we were much of the time, it was people everywhere. Recall that the UK is smaller than Nevada and has a population of over 66 million, and most of them live in the southern third. Under the press of that horde even supposedly rural places seemed to be full of people, even on weekdays when you might expect them to be working. In London we got on the Tube one day just as the early afternoon rush was starting. It wasn't pretty. What full on rush hour is like these days I shudder to think.
2) Speed cameras. The bloody things are everywhere, both instant and average speed type using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). Their omnipresence has led to the development of some maddening driving habits on Britain divided highways. Then you get road safety types whining on TV every day that the speed limit is not a target to strive for when traveling. Sorry, but once I passed 50 years of age, I ran out of time to waste traveling 10 mph under. Idiots.
3) Further to speed cameras is the apparent acceptance of a surveillance society by the UK population, not that they were given a choice. Some of you may think it's bad in places in the US, but frankly you have no clue. CCTV is freaking everywhere and even expected by many these days. If you're the type who likes to give the cameras the finger, you'd be worn out by mid-morning unless you stayed stood in the middle of a field. It's got to the point where the police have objected to the renewal of pub and club licenses because the building doesn't have enough CCTV in their opinion. The licensing authorities usually go along with these objections, by and large. I find it disgusting.
4) The corollary to the long summer evenings are the short winter days. There's a good reason why the UK often shuts shop for two weeks for Christmas and New Year. People take don't like going to work in the near dark, and coming home in the pitch black. Throw in some gloomy overcast with rain and you can see why we used to go into a short hibernation that time of year.
1) Loooong summer evenings. While we were there the Sun was up before 0500 for all you crazy early people, and didn't set until after 2100 for us civilized folks. Just wonderful, even when the weather isn't that great.
2) Passing only allowed on the offside, equivalent to passing only allowed on the left in the US. By law, you go to the lane nearest the kerb when it's open. Oh yes, I hear the whining about not wanting to drive in the "truck lane" already. Don't worry, they do the same in the UK.
3) Good English cafe cooking. I know, the UK doesn't have much of a rep for the culinary arts, but a good cafe meal of well prepared simple food takes some beating. My wife and I stopped in a little cafe for lunch one day, she had fish and chips, and I had Shepherds Pie. Both meals were prepared to perfection. No overseasoning, no attempts to make it some kind of fru-fru dish that it could never be. Place was run by a family of Turkish extraction who reverse commute 31 miles out of London every day.
4) Trains and subways. They're the only way to travel to/in an old city not built for the car. Where we were staying the line into London has regular trains that are clean, air conditioned and reliable. Not all the lines are as good. The improvements made to the London Underground while I've been away have been worth every penny. All that said...see #1 in next list below.
Now, the things I don't miss about the UK, not one bit.
1) Where we were much of the time, it was people everywhere. Recall that the UK is smaller than Nevada and has a population of over 66 million, and most of them live in the southern third. Under the press of that horde even supposedly rural places seemed to be full of people, even on weekdays when you might expect them to be working. In London we got on the Tube one day just as the early afternoon rush was starting. It wasn't pretty. What full on rush hour is like these days I shudder to think.
2) Speed cameras. The bloody things are everywhere, both instant and average speed type using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR). Their omnipresence has led to the development of some maddening driving habits on Britain divided highways. Then you get road safety types whining on TV every day that the speed limit is not a target to strive for when traveling. Sorry, but once I passed 50 years of age, I ran out of time to waste traveling 10 mph under. Idiots.
3) Further to speed cameras is the apparent acceptance of a surveillance society by the UK population, not that they were given a choice. Some of you may think it's bad in places in the US, but frankly you have no clue. CCTV is freaking everywhere and even expected by many these days. If you're the type who likes to give the cameras the finger, you'd be worn out by mid-morning unless you stayed stood in the middle of a field. It's got to the point where the police have objected to the renewal of pub and club licenses because the building doesn't have enough CCTV in their opinion. The licensing authorities usually go along with these objections, by and large. I find it disgusting.
4) The corollary to the long summer evenings are the short winter days. There's a good reason why the UK often shuts shop for two weeks for Christmas and New Year. People take don't like going to work in the near dark, and coming home in the pitch black. Throw in some gloomy overcast with rain and you can see why we used to go into a short hibernation that time of year.
