US view of us

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

If there are accuracies in the article, I think I could very happily expat my ass to England. I am sick of the giant everything: houses, cars, washers/dryers, refrigerators. In America, if you can't park a car in your refrigerator or dry three hobos at a time in your dryer, well you just ain't livin' the American dream. (On House Hunters International I'm appalled by the americans who won't take an apartment because it doesn't have an 'American-sized' refrigerator. Or it doesn't have granite counters. OR the appliances aren't stainless. Really? THAT's what matters?)

Basements are just places that flood occasionally.

I know that England has the hustle and bustle of the city, particularly in London (I don't know other than that) but I think of small villages, quaint, where the grocer is down the street, the pub is around the corner, maybe you can walk to work.

It just seems simpler, and more peaceful. I may just be romanticizing Jolly Old' but I sure can envision living in what I envision.

Now, about getting a job... Where do I start?

Well, aside from my quibbles, which are as much founded in mild annoyance at the way London and the South are all that seem to count when discussing 'British' culture and norms, generally, the article nails a lot about life in the UK.

The cost of living is very high (though nowhere near as high where I live as it is down south) and wages are low. We have much lower expectations, for the most part, around property and space. But I don't mind that.

The dependence on the weather for things like drying clothes is a definite factor. As also wedding plans. Basically anything that has to be done outdoors needs contingency plans built in from the start: our weather may not tend to extremes, but it is ridiculously erratic. I remember an aussie once describing his first summer over here with friends, and in particular the way we approached barbecues *smiles* - basically, very few people plan a barbecue as such. They may get stuff in, with a tentative plan in mind, but who the fuck knows if it'll be possible come the day? More often than not, barbecues are things conceived and enacted on the day: ya wake up on Saturday morning and it's sunny, so you dash out and buy barbecue stuff and invite your mates round that day. All the while hoping the sun will stay and it won't suddenly start raining.