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What`s Wrong with Life in Britain?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I was speaking to an chap last night who is a native Brit, but who`s wife is French and he was commenting on how there is so little quality of life in the UK.

People basically go to work, and come home, go to work the next day and come home. You do this until you`re in your 60`s.

Then you retire and die.

He was saying in France people enjoy themselves, they gather as families and go on picnics, or have relatives around for dinner, etc.

He was also saying people here take work too seriously .. in the sense that they get a job for a big company and then end up acting as if they actually own the company and taking the company line on issues... when in fact they`re just another employee, albeit it one higher up the chain then the next guy.

Any comments? Do you think we have a quality of life problem in this country?

Do you think there are regional differences?
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Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If we could as a country work better rather than just longer hours then we would be better off. But thats a hard issue to tackle.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And lets not romanticise France too much. Its got much heavier unemployment than the UK and I doubt the people living in the French inner cities, which are probably even more deprived than ours, often go for these family picnics in the French countryside.

    And we have picnics, invite people round for dinner... You can do that in the UK - its not illegal.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hasnt the French government also spent more than it has gained in tax for the last 20 years or so as well?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was speaking to an chap last night who is a native Brit, but who`s wife is French and he was commenting on how there is so little quality of life in the UK.

    People basically go to work, and come home, go to work the next day and come home. You do this until you`re in your 60`s.
    If you want your own property you have to, mortgages cost so much.
    He was saying in France people enjoy themselves, they gather as families and go on picnics, or have relatives around for dinner, etc.
    Again, who is to prepare the dinner? To be able to afford a mortgage both the man and the woman often have to work full time, especially within the stock broker belt. However, where 'm from in North Wales you tend to find families close knit rather than dispersed widely around the UK. A lot of the people who I used to serve in my pub lived in council houses or relatively cheap accomodation and got to see their family all the time, go to the pub with them, have them over for dinner ect.
    Do you think there are regional differences?
    Without a doubt. I've moved from working class rough town Wrexham down to middle class Kingston where some people can't believe that I've never had a passport or travelled, or that some people simply can't afford passports. There seems to be less binge drinking here and more luxiaries in the supermarket...

    Being one who likes to see different places in the UK, different areas definately do have different feels to them.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    .
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Britain rocks. To be honest, it's not the nation's fault if people don't go on picnics and family outings and all that crap. When it's not the weather's fault, it's the fault of the people who choose not to do these things.

    Anyway, since when did going on picnics and outings and all that gay crap make the standard of life better?

    We have potato waffles, Nectar points and Little Chefs. What more could any developed nation want?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really don't think life is so different in the UK, perhaps you just live in the wrong part?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    If you want your own property you have to, mortgages cost so much.


    no renting in this country is relatively expensive for what it is, unlike in europe where people live in same place all their life
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    people are obbsessed with what others think and being sucessful in their parents eyes. also making vast amounts of money.

    i have come to the conclusion that from now till forever i will always value happiness above money. Yes, paying the rent is important, being a musician i will never have to worry about going hungry, i can always sing for my dinner, but i have found that some of the happiest people in the world have nothing.

    I have one thing in my life that i value increadibly and thats love.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Britain rocks. To be honest, it's not the nation's fault if people don't go on picnics and family outings and all that crap. When it's not the weather's fault, it's the fault of the people who choose not to do these things.

    Anyway, since when did going on picnics and outings and all that gay crap make the standard of life better?

    We have potato waffles, Nectar points and Little Chefs. What more could any developed nation want?


    what he said!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Having lived in France, I'd say there are some cultural diffrences but it wouldn't be fair to say Brits have little life quality, it's just diffrent.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    no renting in this country is relatively expensive for what it is, unlike in europe where people live in same place all their life

    Is living in the same place all your life a good point? I was more than happy to leave the nest and move away. Not because I didn't like Northern Ireland, but because I was ready to be independent from my parents.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Like any country, it depends where you live, tbh.

    I live in Essex where it is shit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There's deffinately a "romantic" outlook on continental Europe and in reality I suppose it's pretty much the same as our life, dull, boring, shite, but who cares? Not me anyway..I'm going to Mozambique when I die :yes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Britain rocks. To be honest, it's not the nation's fault if people don't go on picnics and family outings and all that crap. When it's not the weather's fault, it's the fault of the people who choose not to do these things.

    Anyway, since when did going on picnics and outings and all that gay crap make the standard of life better?

    We have potato waffles, Nectar points and Little Chefs. What more could any developed nation want?
    Yeah we're probably the slobbiest most uncultured nation in Europe. :p
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    Yeah we're probably the slobbiest most uncultured nation in Europe. :p

    I know that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah we're probably the slobbiest most uncultured nation in Europe. :p

    Damn straight. I refuse to be ruled by Europe with their Mediterranean diets and all that guff.
  • Teh_GerbilTeh_Gerbil Posts: 13,332 Born on Earth, Raised by The Mix
    We learn no foreign languages compared though.

    British customer Services is largely recognised as the worst. The Customer doesn't come first in the UK.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    British customer Services is largely recognised as the worst. The Customer doesn't come first in the UK.

    Have you ever been to Paris???? :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i lived in france for a year and whilst it is true that families spend sundays together and go to markets which sell local produce there are also ghetto areas where the arabs and blacks live who behave more like someone from salford.

    in other words, the wealthier have a good quality of life in their pretty little houses and the deprived don't in their nasty little flats.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    We learn no foreign languages compared though.

    British customer Services is largely recognised as the worst. The Customer doesn't come first in the UK.
    Yup, the European students in my college all speak at least two languages fluently... A lot of British people can barely speak one (I wanna learn Spanish somehow).

    And I agree about customer service, but at the same time if you work behind a bar you're not respected (especially if you're female, unless you're blonde with big tits, then you get tipped because ugly men want to sleep with you) and a lot of bar staff just throw it back at people. The same in a lot of shops... Yeah if you work in customer service you should bite your tongue, but it doesn't stop you from being treated like crap by customers a lot of the time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    in france, when you walk in to a shop of any size you always say hello to someone who works there and they say it back. its sweet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Teh_Gerbil wrote:
    We learn no foreign languages compared though.

    British customer Services is largely recognised as the worst. The Customer doesn't come first in the UK.

    I have to say that British customer services are a lot better than most places in the world simply because the customer does come first rather than the staff. The British reputation for being the politest nation in the world even now, is largely deserved.

    The language thing is lamentable but part of it is that we learn French as our first foreign language. What most people don't realise, is that French is a genuienely hard language to lean and even coming from someone who used to speak it fluently. If more people learnt Spanish as their second language at school, I guarantee that people in this country would be more inclined to embrace foreign languages. French puts people off becuase it's hard whereas Spanish, to get to say, GCSE, is a far easier language. Plus Spanish has about 400 million speakers worldwide compared with about 150 million French speakers and most of those are in Africa where your abverage tourist is probably not going to be visiting.

    As a linguist, I rekon that would be the single change that would change the most as far as languages in this country go.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lipsy wrote:
    in france, when you walk in to a shop of any size you always say hello to someone who works there and they say it back. its sweet.

    Does that not happen in Manchester or something...I've always found workers here to be quite sound, even in Belfast.

    ETA:I think the reason why they learn more languages than us is because they almost have to learn English, English is the universal language, once they learn it, they learn more. We just don't see the need to learn other languages cos we don't really have to.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    turlough wrote:
    Does that not happen in Manchester or something...I've always found workers here to be quite sound, even in Belfast.

    ETA:I think the reason why they learn more languages than us is because they almost have to learn English, English is the universal language, once they learn it, they learn more. We just don't see the need to learn other languages cos we don't really have to.

    True. Unless you're specifically wanting a career which involves foreign language, there's no reason to study French, Spanish etc.

    It's boring and useless for most people...also being Scottish it's near impossible to speak like a Frenchman - far too many oohs and la-la-la's. Introducing German as the primary foreign language in schools up here could be a way of helping somewhat.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yup, the European students in my college all speak at least two languages fluently..
    Do you think they might be a biased sample? ;)

    And I'd dispute the customer service thing. You get good and bad the world over, there's nothing uniquely British about rude people.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'd agree that Britain is one of the politest countries, and also that customers are generally treated well.

    Over here, every british person says thank you thank you thank you. The chinese are polite when they are thanked telling you that you don't need to say it, but very rarely have i heard a chinese person say thank you!

    Also, customer service is poor. It's not terrible, but so much better in England. Part of this is because the people have no concept of queuing and being polite. For example i was in the train station the other day, one of the only places that i've actually seen a queuing system attempt to be introduced. Even then, from behind the barriers, some guy tried to get his tickets before me even though he couldn't get to the window as i was in the way!

    As well as that, people take ages serving you and will quite happily answer the phone and chat as opposed to serving you. If you stand there and demand service, or demand that people queue, then it does tend to be done. Altho there was a funny incident in the bank the other day, there was a huge queue for the atm, we were next and then a couple of guys just missed the queue and stood next to us. so i turned round and in chinese told him to "pai dui" or to queue in english, and he looked at me incredulously. he walked away outside but then came back in on his own, with his card out, so i told him again to pai dui and deliberately stood in front of him so that he couldnt jump into the cash machine. It meant he lost the place he would have held in the queue if he'd just done it properly, as more people lined up!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    What you doing in China...uni?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Spliffie wrote:
    True. Unless you're specifically wanting a career which involves foreign language, there's no reason to study French, Spanish etc.

    It's boring and useless for most people...also being Scottish it's near impossible to speak like a Frenchman - far too many oohs and la-la-la's. Introducing German as the primary foreign language in schools up here could be a way of helping somewhat.

    I really think that in today's modern international world, there are very, very few careers which do not involve languages in some way. And what right do we have to assume that every person we meet from abroad speaks, or should speak English? The fact is that, in the business world, even though having English as your mother tongue is a boon, having more languages under your belt will take you very far.

    Personally, I think German would be a bit of a waste of time in schools. Better Spanish for the fact that it's a lot easier and a hell of a lot more people speak it in the world.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep, i'm at leeds uni doing Chinese and Spanish, where we spend our second year over here doing an intense language course. It's really useful actually i feel like i'm learning far better than i was in England!

    I agree that Spanish would stop a lot of people being put off. It is a lot easier to speak! And we are so complacent in expecting everyone to know english, it is a really difficult language to learn!
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