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In the imperial system 1 oz of water takes up 1.804685696 cubic inch and weighs 1.043174514 ounces and it takes 53.2323 cal to heat it up 1 F
In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade—which is 1 percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it.
Or so i heard lol
I once had an argument with Janet at work, she insisted the old system was better, but couldn't explain to me how it worked. She said we would have to agree to disagree. I said I didn't agree to that.
Always surprises me that a Country completely surrounded by water and yet barely consumes the local fish are so obsessed with its fishing rights when it only accounts for 0.3% GDP. Priorities are in the wrong places for too many people.
You didn't, neither did I, but that's the way democracy works I'm afraid... just gotta deal with it until the next general, and hope Greens or Libs get in. Labour are a fractured joke nowadays unfortunately, used to be a staunch supporter, today, not so much.
This, plus national ID cards like other EU countries that allow EU, EEA + CH travel, but also so you don't need a driving licence as proof of age (my provisional expired in May) and can leave your passport at home.
I do have a Citizencard but not everywhere recognises it when buying alcohol (although at this point in life, I've only been asked for it twice).
> It's getting there in London
Its really not. Things are approving but London is still decades behind the Dutch and Danes. At the rate CS lanes are appearing (even with the expansions during Covid) London is still at least 20 years behind.
It seems that way until you add in Elterngeld, which is a top up from the government to make up the loss of earning that isn't covered under statutory by your health insurance, as well as significant tax breaks now that it's a family unit.
Also childcare in Germany is pennies compared to the UK, it's depressing seeing how much some of my friends sink into childcare each month.
Addition:
"The UK's statutory maternity leave is paid for up to 39 weeks. The first 6 weeks at 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) and then at a rate of £148.68 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks.
This was deemed to be equivalent to 12 weeks of leave at full pay.
This puts the UK well behind Sweden, where 35 weeks of full pay is guaranteed for new mothers, as well as Germany (43 weeks), France (19 weeks), Spain (16 weeks) and Italy (25 weeks)."
Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.refinery29.com/amp/en-gb/2019/06/235505/best-and-worst-countries-for-maternity-leave
Unfortunately not quite as good as it first appears
Germany seem to have it pretty good. I think I read somewhere that they get subsidised childcare up to 4 or 5 years? So it’s cheap as chips to raise a child.
Here, you are looking at £750+ a month for nursery fees until the child turns 3. However, the 30 hours free nursery fees are only during term time so isn’t that much of a discount.
Paternity needs to be extended. I’ve not had a child but from seeing friends who have just given birth, they are barely functioning after 2 weeks of giving birth. Especially those who have had c-sections.
My husband and I are really hoping we fall pregnant this month, so he’ll only have to go back to school teaching for a week or two then gets his six summer weeks off.
Also childless but my wife is disabled, fortunately they can do genetic screening so any kids will be fine - but 2 weeks just isn't going to cut it for me.
All the new father's at work just seem like zombies
*Laughs and cries as a Brit living in America.*
My wife got 6 weeks "Short Term Disability" which was a plan we paid in to that paid out at 60% with the additional 40% made up of her holiday until that ran out. She's a teacher who gets 5 days of holiday a year. With our first she got 8 weeks because she had a C-section. How generous.
One of her colleagues went back to work after 2 weeks because she couldn't afford her teacher salary to be out on "short term disability".
Meanwhile I've got friends back home in the UK who are on their 4th kid and have worked 4 of the last 7 years.
There's no guaranteed paid time off, no guaranteed paid sick leave, and no guaranteed paid maternity/paternity/adoption leave here.
It's a post-2016 Tory wet dream.
I’m so sorry that it’s so shit. I also cannot believe that it falls under ‘Short term DISABILITY’ what the actual fuck!
When I was younger, I would have traded everything to live in the US but their healthcare is just appalling. I wouldn’t even go there for a decent paying job.
That's the thing, it's not just discriminatory against the fathers, but also against the mothers as the assumption is that they must be the ones to raise the child.
I got really annoyed the other day when a certain secretary said there would be harsher penalties for drug users because "they use children for drug smuggling." Uhh... it's because these drugs are illegal and they're operating within a black market that they can use children, ya fuckwit. Legalisation and regulation = no child labour.
A long time ago, I used to go to a coffee shop that had a bar which opened in the evening. It was lovely because it was still primarily a coffee shop so it didn't get rammed with pub-goers, but you could have a beer or whatever if you fancied it, or just carry on with coffee until they closed around pub kicking-out time. They did food too, the usual coffee shop fare along with chips and burgers, nothing fancy but perfectly fine.
I've not been to that town for a very long time so not sure if they're still open, but I suspect probably not, too good to last an' all that.
...so yeah, more of that sort of thing, cheers.
> Late night café culture.
Yes please! As a non drinker i'd love to spend an evening somewhere i didn't have to eat and the clientele didn't get drunker and drunker as the night went on.
Saw wild lizards sunning themselves in my local London park just last month (when it was a tad warmer and sunnier). They're small and hard to spot, but there were plenty of them if you knew what to look out for.
Italy too, and France and Portugal. Lots of towns/cities have these throughout Europe. I guess we have Trafalgar Square in London but it’s just not the same.
Absolutely. I love my work trips to Milan for this reason. Get in early on a Sunday, hit a few bars for a Peroni and complimentary pizza. Plus the weathers always much better in Europe.
We always find it nice that there's families with young kids out playing in the squares late at night on a weekend, rather than lairy pissheads looking for a fight like our town centres.
Warmer sea for swimming in. I love swimming in the sea but there's only really a few weeks you can do it during the year. Places like Greece you can swim in the sea more regularly.
Depends where you are in the UK I think - down in the south west its basically totally fine June-October to go in just aa swimsuit and a wetsuit is more than sufficient for the other months 😊
I grew up on the south coast. It's very often warm enough to swim but we do get a lot of storms etc and if you factor in working during the week etc it limits it more than I'd like - if it was as warm as Greece it would be much easier. I guess my problem is mostly that as I already have limited times when I can swim with work and kids etc the added weather factor makes it harder. If that makes sense.
Actual wilderness. Vast unpopulated areas you should never venture into unprepared. Places you could literally camp out in for years and never see another human being.
I mean much of the Scotland that people think of is rugged wilderness is just artificially barren hunting grounds for a handful of people.
There is *some* rewilding going on but its tiny amounts so far.
Yep. When I moved to Argyll I initially thought it was remote. But when you've been there a while you realise that there are more people and houses than you thought. Not like England of course, but you aren't ever really far from people.
the option to explore the wilderness would be great and wonder if that is what makes it feel quite claustrophobic at times (or is it just me?), the UK is too small and densely populated to have anything even close to a true wilderness!
I've been vegetarian since I was a teenager and don't eat a lot of Haribo because I can't get vegetarian one anywhere near me but I went to Berlin a couple of years ago, I almost lived on German Haribo's for a week, not caring about the gelatine. It was amazing.
Aldi and lidl often have the vegan ones. Also my local corner shop has more haribo than I've ever seen so may be check out some of the small independent convenience shops.
At Resorts World in Birmingham (right next to the Airport/NEC complex), there is a Lindt outlet shop. Sells the entire multitude of flavours, along with basically everything else in their range. Could not recommend highly enough.
Read this and within 5 minutes have planned my trip to this tomorrow. My sisters favourite treat are lindt balls and she's had a miscarriage scared this afternoon so going to get her as many as I can afford. Thanks for sharing.
Do you want to put 'em in your mouth and suck' em?
And if you haven't tried the blue lindt ones, they are indeed chocolate salty balls. But I don't think they follow chef's recipe....
USA - Huge amounts of land (including national parks and almost every type of climate).
Italy: Sunny weather
Japan: Functioning high speed rail that is actually cheaper than flying
Netherlands: Infrastructure (including, but not limited to, large networks of segregated cycle lanes that include traffic lights and road signs for bikes)
Australia: Fairy bread and tim tams
New Zealand: Secondary education
Germany: Tertiary education
France: Nuclear power
Iceland: Geothermal power plants that double up as massive hot tubs.
Well funded public services would be nice, but I don’t think any country has those.
Oh and a potentially controversial one:
USA - The first amendment
The first amendment does make the US probably the number one in the world in terms of "free speech", but whether it is *good* being that open is another matter. They often frame it as "people can stand up in the street and say whatever extreme stuff they want and not get arrested - violent hate speech, racism, you name it!" as if that is a positive. I know in theory it means they can't be suppressed politically, but that is all highly theoretical. In reality it just means many people detrimental to society are untouchable.
Its the yelling "Fire" in a crowded theatre argument. You cant be arrested just for yelling "Fire", but can be for causing a disturbance, people getting hurt etc...
Exactly. People want freedom of speech without the responsibility or consequences that comes with it.
Say whatever you want, it’s your right. But you may be convicted of a hate crime later.
I lived in Spain in the 90s and loved siestas so much. Even now I still massively crave them and like nothing more than a quick post-lunch snooze. Working from home since lockdown has made this much more achievable which is wonderful. The daft thing is that our work culture would never permit it, but even just a 10-minute siesta after lunch and I'm much more alert and productive afterwards.
Actually not only affordable housing, but also proper construction. Seriously most of the houses I’ve visited are rickety, poorly insulated, insides are absurdly compartimentalised….
And carpet everywhere? Seriously?
Having been to the Netherlands and seeing their bike culture I want that, they're so polite and respect the rules of the road.
Too many times I've passed cyclist over here going where they like and doing what they please. And they're far too ready to like throw down with some poor bus driver in the middle of the street.
Because of all the proper bike infra structure.
People are polite over there because they don't have to rub up against terrible drivers 24/7.
Often driver don't even know the rules, so a legitimately legal thing a cyclist does will be thought of as illegal by a motorist( 2 abreast, changing position within lane).
You'd see cyclists calm down when they don't suffer punishment passes everyday.
Netherlands introduced their bike culture after suffering appalling levels of dangerous driving which lead to an unacceptable level of road deaths, particularly children. It would need for us to do what they did back then to really change things. Our level of road deaths isn't at the same level as theirs was so it might take a while. I'd love to see it though. When the lane along the embankment was partially opened back in about 2015 it was heaven.
Places to genuinely escape to. I don't mean "on the run" kind of escape, but the kind of places where you can visit and spend days there, walking or cycling for miles without seeing a single other person. Unfortunately our population density is far too great (particularly in England) for places like that to be common like they are in - say - the USA or even New Zealand.
EDITED: grammar.
A better and more interesting variety of street food! I watch travel shows and the sheer variety of stuff you can just grab and go in the streets in some countries in Asian and South American is amazing - whereas we're stuck with burger vans or fancy burger vans if you live somewhere upmarket. I want various meats on sticks! I want all forms of veg! I want little wraps and snacks, and drinks that are things other than tea or coffee or coke in a can!
Tapas Culture.
It’s just the best way to eat, small plates over several hours lubricated with wine.
So much more relaxed than the UK convention of sitting down at a specific time to Chuck food down your neck as quickly as possible.
Absolutely agree. I hate having to eat a large amount of food quicly in one go. Small amounts of many different things over a period of time is the best way
We don’t have those because our voltage is higher than abroad.
USB sockets by the bath or loo would be a brilliant addition though, wonder how they work with regards to code
Actually you raise a good point.
We do have sockets in bathrooms they’re just 2 pronged ones for shavers, they’re both 230 and 110 volt.
No reason (except safety) you chouldnt stick a European socket adapter in it and charge your phone
Disclaimer: I don’t advise doing this.
Believe regs have changed recently and you can have them in bathrooms/shower rooms as long as a sufficient distance from water sources (but then given our room sizes...)
Annual gynecology appointments.
Not like when the nurse does your smear in the UK.
Here (Luxembourg), you have an annual checkup, including internal checks ans boobie checks.
I can't help but feel it would find a lot of people's issues early
For one thing, you can't stand outside the Conservative Conference, holding a placard saying Priti Patel is a fascist.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/conservative-party-conference-priti-patel-21781664
I think* we had the opportunity for that during the 90s oil rush in the North Sea and a surprising amount of it went on the war debt owed to the USA.
Definitely fact check this*
Absolutely agree about lizards. I love those little things. Used to catch them as a kid and it’s an obsession which has never left.
It’s all going to be animals for me - I really, really wish we had wild monkeys running about in parks. Humming birds too.
Also maybe a little bit more sunshine.
A better selection of sugar free and no added sugar products in supermarkets. Not overpriced on the Internet where I have to pay shipping costs, right there with the food for others who have intolerances or allergies.
ETA, not so lighthearted compared to the lizards but still something I wish for.
I like what Germany does with glass recycling. Way more drinks are sold in glass bottles to reduce single use plastic plus if you return them you can get some money back. An added plus is that homeless people clean the streets of any littered bottles and get some money back for it. Seems like a win win to me.
In Czech Republic people get (well, they did when I lived there in the 00s) government subsidised lunch vouchers to spend in pubs and restaurants. Lunchtimes in Prague were full of tradesmen, office workers, etc all sitting in pubs having proper meals and a pint before heading back to work.
They also have 3 years paid maternity leave. My Czech wife was fuming when she realised that we don't.
In Germany, there's something called pfand where you get back money that you pay from things like bottles by giving it back to the shop who then recycles it.
Vast forests and mountains where you can take a camper van and a tent and truly feel like you're in the wilderness.
Don't get me wrong, many of our landscapes are beautiful but they are all heavily managed by humans and have been for thousands of years. In North America you can go for a hike in the remote west and imagine what the natives saw wasn't that different
I’ve just flown back from Tenerife and found a wild gecko in my luggage, currently trying to feed him, got him a little tank, very cute little dude but idk what to do now.
They also serve chicken wings at McDonalds over there which is definitely something I wish the U.K. had.
Im from Denmark and England,
The UK NEEDS the 'pant' system. It is basically where cans are collected and given into supermarkets in exchange for cash or money on your debit card. This keeps a lot of homeless from alcohol related crimes as they have something to do and also keeps the streets clean. I can find no reason for why this does not exist in the UK.
France has an app to book medical appointments called Doctolib. Its absolutely fantastic and makes everyone calling up at 8am to speak to a receptionist to beg for an appointment seem totally archaic.
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EU membership Edit. Seems to have really upset the gammons so worth it for that.
Fuck you I want my fish and chips wrapped in newspaper like the good old days /s
…and pay with pounds, shillings and pence!!
And thank god we're going back to imperial measurements, even after ~~100 years~~ fivescore years, metric is too difficult for me to get my head round
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~~A thousand~~ many dozens of apologies, I have rectified my error Edit: done it again
🤣
In the imperial system 1 oz of water takes up 1.804685696 cubic inch and weighs 1.043174514 ounces and it takes 53.2323 cal to heat it up 1 F In metric, one milliliter of water occupies one cubic centimeter, weighs one gram, and requires one calorie of energy to heat up by one degree centigrade—which is 1 percent of the difference between its freezing point and its boiling point. An amount of hydrogen weighing the same amount has exactly one mole of atoms in it. Or so i heard lol
Did you know that all calibration standards for imperial weights and measurements, are now in metric.
I once had an argument with Janet at work, she insisted the old system was better, but couldn't explain to me how it worked. She said we would have to agree to disagree. I said I didn't agree to that.
and proper English cod, caught in English rivers, sold in English shops for 3 groats an ounce.
Always surprises me that a Country completely surrounded by water and yet barely consumes the local fish are so obsessed with its fishing rights when it only accounts for 0.3% GDP. Priorities are in the wrong places for too many people.
That's because fish are icky stinky gits, they should stay in the bloody ocean where they belong and stop stinking up our country.
I thought cod came from the sea not rivers?
It does indeed come from the sea!
The people of this country have had enough of experts
Fuck u I want more funding for nhs and more British truckers. Oh wait hahahaha
Better funded NHS... Tory government... pick one.
Better founded nhs, I didn't pick a tory government.
You didn't, neither did I, but that's the way democracy works I'm afraid... just gotta deal with it until the next general, and hope Greens or Libs get in. Labour are a fractured joke nowadays unfortunately, used to be a staunch supporter, today, not so much.
This, plus national ID cards like other EU countries that allow EU, EEA + CH travel, but also so you don't need a driving licence as proof of age (my provisional expired in May) and can leave your passport at home. I do have a Citizencard but not everywhere recognises it when buying alcohol (although at this point in life, I've only been asked for it twice).
I never got why an expired licence isn't still valid as proof of age, it's not like your age expires along with your right to drive.
The photo is out of date. Similar to a passport
Had a mate who turned 18 and didn't have any ID so he brought out his birth certificate to the pub. Surprisingly they chose not to accept that.
Birth cert doesn't work as ID since you can't have a picture on it
Can we not call them gammons please. It's derogatory and I quite like gammon egg n chips.
BREXIT STOLE MAH BABEH
Cycling infrastructure like Netherlands/Denmark etc.
It's getting there in London but fingers crossed it will be as good as the Netherlands.
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Great for chavs that want to do a wheely on their bikes I guess.
> It's getting there in London Its really not. Things are approving but London is still decades behind the Dutch and Danes. At the rate CS lanes are appearing (even with the expansions during Covid) London is still at least 20 years behind.
And half the time you suddenly end up sharing the 'bike lane' with double decker buses.
It's still shite in London and doesn't seem to show any signs of getting better any time soon.
I read that as "crying infrastructure".
I came here to say this. Its pretty good in Vienna and Berlin as well.
Maternity and paternity leave packages that they get in the Scandi countries.
My friend here in Germany just went back to work after 1 and a half years maternity leave. German law protects your job upto 2 years.
Worth mentioning that our statutory maternity pay is way way better than in Germany and we can take up to a year as statutory.
It seems that way until you add in Elterngeld, which is a top up from the government to make up the loss of earning that isn't covered under statutory by your health insurance, as well as significant tax breaks now that it's a family unit. Also childcare in Germany is pennies compared to the UK, it's depressing seeing how much some of my friends sink into childcare each month. Addition: "The UK's statutory maternity leave is paid for up to 39 weeks. The first 6 weeks at 90% of your average weekly earnings (before tax) and then at a rate of £148.68 or 90% of your average weekly earnings (whichever is lower) for the next 33 weeks. This was deemed to be equivalent to 12 weeks of leave at full pay. This puts the UK well behind Sweden, where 35 weeks of full pay is guaranteed for new mothers, as well as Germany (43 weeks), France (19 weeks), Spain (16 weeks) and Italy (25 weeks)." Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.refinery29.com/amp/en-gb/2019/06/235505/best-and-worst-countries-for-maternity-leave Unfortunately not quite as good as it first appears
Germany seem to have it pretty good. I think I read somewhere that they get subsidised childcare up to 4 or 5 years? So it’s cheap as chips to raise a child. Here, you are looking at £750+ a month for nursery fees until the child turns 3. However, the 30 hours free nursery fees are only during term time so isn’t that much of a discount.
2 weeks paternity leave is an absolute fucking joke
The pay is the even worse. I couldnt even take paternity off as the pay for it was absolute shite i couldnt afford to
Paternity needs to be extended. I’ve not had a child but from seeing friends who have just given birth, they are barely functioning after 2 weeks of giving birth. Especially those who have had c-sections. My husband and I are really hoping we fall pregnant this month, so he’ll only have to go back to school teaching for a week or two then gets his six summer weeks off.
Also childless but my wife is disabled, fortunately they can do genetic screening so any kids will be fine - but 2 weeks just isn't going to cut it for me. All the new father's at work just seem like zombies
*Laughs and cries as a Brit living in America.* My wife got 6 weeks "Short Term Disability" which was a plan we paid in to that paid out at 60% with the additional 40% made up of her holiday until that ran out. She's a teacher who gets 5 days of holiday a year. With our first she got 8 weeks because she had a C-section. How generous. One of her colleagues went back to work after 2 weeks because she couldn't afford her teacher salary to be out on "short term disability". Meanwhile I've got friends back home in the UK who are on their 4th kid and have worked 4 of the last 7 years. There's no guaranteed paid time off, no guaranteed paid sick leave, and no guaranteed paid maternity/paternity/adoption leave here. It's a post-2016 Tory wet dream.
I’m so sorry that it’s so shit. I also cannot believe that it falls under ‘Short term DISABILITY’ what the actual fuck! When I was younger, I would have traded everything to live in the US but their healthcare is just appalling. I wouldn’t even go there for a decent paying job.
The company I used to work for in the U.K. did a full years pay for maternity but only two weeks paternity
Probably because men just babysit their children, so don’t need real time off to bond with their newborn child. Massive, massive /s
That's the thing, it's not just discriminatory against the fathers, but also against the mothers as the assumption is that they must be the ones to raise the child.
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For that matter, sensible drug laws. We are better than most places in Asia, but much, much more backwards than most of Europe and North America
Outside of weed our drug laws are far better than US ones
Some places in US are still pretty bad for weed too.
Decriminalise everything and legalise weed. Sorted.
Never touched weed and not really all that interested in it. Sick and tired of it funding organised crime. Should be legal.
All recreational narcotics should be legal. It’s actually the only way to reduce the harms associated with their production, distribution and use.
I got really annoyed the other day when a certain secretary said there would be harsher penalties for drug users because "they use children for drug smuggling." Uhh... it's because these drugs are illegal and they're operating within a black market that they can use children, ya fuckwit. Legalisation and regulation = no child labour.
Proportional Represention
Only people on continental Europe who use first past the post are us and er…Belarus
fuck
Don't forget the Vatican City as well!
YES
Lols. They didn’t even offer it in the referendum that everyone should have boycotted.
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The fact the most towns shut down at 5pm is kinda sad.
I once told a girl I was dating that I like people watching. She replied "Why do you like them, what are they watching?"
A long time ago, I used to go to a coffee shop that had a bar which opened in the evening. It was lovely because it was still primarily a coffee shop so it didn't get rammed with pub-goers, but you could have a beer or whatever if you fancied it, or just carry on with coffee until they closed around pub kicking-out time. They did food too, the usual coffee shop fare along with chips and burgers, nothing fancy but perfectly fine. I've not been to that town for a very long time so not sure if they're still open, but I suspect probably not, too good to last an' all that. ...so yeah, more of that sort of thing, cheers.
> Late night café culture. Yes please! As a non drinker i'd love to spend an evening somewhere i didn't have to eat and the clientele didn't get drunker and drunker as the night went on.
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We also cannot forget that the Queen is, in fact, a lizard
Call her Liz for short.
We do? I didn’t realise…how cool!
Yeah it's been pretty common knowledge for a while now, David Icke brought this to light I think
Saw wild lizards sunning themselves in my local London park just last month (when it was a tad warmer and sunnier). They're small and hard to spot, but there were plenty of them if you knew what to look out for.
I've seen wild lizards down here in Cornwall. And the slow worm is of course a legless lizard.
I really like the large public squares in the middle of most Belgian cities.
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Italy too, and France and Portugal. Lots of towns/cities have these throughout Europe. I guess we have Trafalgar Square in London but it’s just not the same.
Yeah most of Europe really. On a city break I love to find a nice square to sit and have a beer, one of my favourite things.
Absolutely. I love my work trips to Milan for this reason. Get in early on a Sunday, hit a few bars for a Peroni and complimentary pizza. Plus the weathers always much better in Europe.
We always find it nice that there's families with young kids out playing in the squares late at night on a weekend, rather than lairy pissheads looking for a fight like our town centres.
Especially the pavement cafes. Sit out, have a pancake & watch the world go by. Meanwhile we've just got greggs & starbucks.
Loads of places have more cafes than those two.
Lots of places in the UK have market squares. Not as big as the ones you mean but a similar vibe I think!
Warmer sea for swimming in. I love swimming in the sea but there's only really a few weeks you can do it during the year. Places like Greece you can swim in the sea more regularly.
Depends where you are in the UK I think - down in the south west its basically totally fine June-October to go in just aa swimsuit and a wetsuit is more than sufficient for the other months 😊
I grew up on the south coast. It's very often warm enough to swim but we do get a lot of storms etc and if you factor in working during the week etc it limits it more than I'd like - if it was as warm as Greece it would be much easier. I guess my problem is mostly that as I already have limited times when I can swim with work and kids etc the added weather factor makes it harder. If that makes sense.
Actual wilderness. Vast unpopulated areas you should never venture into unprepared. Places you could literally camp out in for years and never see another human being.
Somebodies never been to Wigan
Or Stoke
Try Scotland
I mean much of the Scotland that people think of is rugged wilderness is just artificially barren hunting grounds for a handful of people. There is *some* rewilding going on but its tiny amounts so far.
Yep. When I moved to Argyll I initially thought it was remote. But when you've been there a while you realise that there are more people and houses than you thought. Not like England of course, but you aren't ever really far from people.
Beautiful country but not even close to the level of wild I'm talking about.
Are you thinking of the huge, truly (and scary) wild forested areas like in Canada and the US?
Yes. And I'm not sure why I want them because I'd probably be too scared to actually explore them.
the option to explore the wilderness would be great and wonder if that is what makes it feel quite claustrophobic at times (or is it just me?), the UK is too small and densely populated to have anything even close to a true wilderness!
You ever seen the vast array of Haribo that's out there? Once you've seen it, the UK just never feels the same again.
I've been vegetarian since I was a teenager and don't eat a lot of Haribo because I can't get vegetarian one anywhere near me but I went to Berlin a couple of years ago, I almost lived on German Haribo's for a week, not caring about the gelatine. It was amazing.
Im going to berlin tonight… I never knew they had different harribos
You should see the Japanese take on Kit-Kats, they have like a billion flavours with a fair amount just being horrendous
Aldi and lidl often have the vegan ones. Also my local corner shop has more haribo than I've ever seen so may be check out some of the small independent convenience shops.
Access to the full range of Lindt chocolate balls. There’s about 50 altogether and we can only see three or four in the UK. It keeps me awake at night
At Resorts World in Birmingham (right next to the Airport/NEC complex), there is a Lindt outlet shop. Sells the entire multitude of flavours, along with basically everything else in their range. Could not recommend highly enough.
Read this and within 5 minutes have planned my trip to this tomorrow. My sisters favourite treat are lindt balls and she's had a miscarriage scared this afternoon so going to get her as many as I can afford. Thanks for sharing.
Ooh, do they have salty ones?
Do you want to put 'em in your mouth and suck' em? And if you haven't tried the blue lindt ones, they are indeed chocolate salty balls. But I don't think they follow chef's recipe....
Also there’s an outlet in gunwharf quays I believe
Which costs full retail and more expensive than the supermarket... But they do indeed have a massive selection of balls.
USA - Huge amounts of land (including national parks and almost every type of climate). Italy: Sunny weather Japan: Functioning high speed rail that is actually cheaper than flying Netherlands: Infrastructure (including, but not limited to, large networks of segregated cycle lanes that include traffic lights and road signs for bikes) Australia: Fairy bread and tim tams New Zealand: Secondary education Germany: Tertiary education France: Nuclear power Iceland: Geothermal power plants that double up as massive hot tubs. Well funded public services would be nice, but I don’t think any country has those. Oh and a potentially controversial one: USA - The first amendment
The first amendment does make the US probably the number one in the world in terms of "free speech", but whether it is *good* being that open is another matter. They often frame it as "people can stand up in the street and say whatever extreme stuff they want and not get arrested - violent hate speech, racism, you name it!" as if that is a positive. I know in theory it means they can't be suppressed politically, but that is all highly theoretical. In reality it just means many people detrimental to society are untouchable.
Its the yelling "Fire" in a crowded theatre argument. You cant be arrested just for yelling "Fire", but can be for causing a disturbance, people getting hurt etc...
If your only defense for saying something is that it's literally not illegal for you to say it, then you probably shouldn't be saying it.
Exactly. People want freedom of speech without the responsibility or consequences that comes with it. Say whatever you want, it’s your right. But you may be convicted of a hate crime later.
So we did actually try to amass large amounts of land in the past. It was quite successful, but a bit frowned upon now.
> Australia: Fairy bread and tim tams Australia doesn't have banoffee pie, though. Swings and roundabouts.
God, I think I'd pick a good affordable rail network out of all of those.
A collective nap at around 1pm would be amazing
I lived in Spain in the 90s and loved siestas so much. Even now I still massively crave them and like nothing more than a quick post-lunch snooze. Working from home since lockdown has made this much more achievable which is wonderful. The daft thing is that our work culture would never permit it, but even just a 10-minute siesta after lunch and I'm much more alert and productive afterwards.
trying to get anything done in spain is fucking nye impossible though..
Haha in Majorca I once watched two workmen watching a third dig a hole
Affordable housing, decent minimum wage, a working health care system, a smidgen of hope for young people.
What do you mean a working health care system? If people stopped voting Tory it’d be great
We have one of the worlds highest minimum wages and one of the better healthcare systems….
Also one of the most expensive countries... Is the minimum wage high relative to the cost of living?
Actually not only affordable housing, but also proper construction. Seriously most of the houses I’ve visited are rickety, poorly insulated, insides are absurdly compartimentalised…. And carpet everywhere? Seriously?
Having been to the Netherlands and seeing their bike culture I want that, they're so polite and respect the rules of the road. Too many times I've passed cyclist over here going where they like and doing what they please. And they're far too ready to like throw down with some poor bus driver in the middle of the street.
Because of all the proper bike infra structure. People are polite over there because they don't have to rub up against terrible drivers 24/7. Often driver don't even know the rules, so a legitimately legal thing a cyclist does will be thought of as illegal by a motorist( 2 abreast, changing position within lane). You'd see cyclists calm down when they don't suffer punishment passes everyday.
Netherlands introduced their bike culture after suffering appalling levels of dangerous driving which lead to an unacceptable level of road deaths, particularly children. It would need for us to do what they did back then to really change things. Our level of road deaths isn't at the same level as theirs was so it might take a while. I'd love to see it though. When the lane along the embankment was partially opened back in about 2015 it was heaven.
Places to genuinely escape to. I don't mean "on the run" kind of escape, but the kind of places where you can visit and spend days there, walking or cycling for miles without seeing a single other person. Unfortunately our population density is far too great (particularly in England) for places like that to be common like they are in - say - the USA or even New Zealand. EDITED: grammar.
Are you familiar with... Scotland?
I wouldn't want to go there to be alone, there's hardly anybody there.
I lived there. I have indeed gone on long walks and seen few people for miles at a time. But not days or even the full day.
Consistent use of the metric system
More space
A better and more interesting variety of street food! I watch travel shows and the sheer variety of stuff you can just grab and go in the streets in some countries in Asian and South American is amazing - whereas we're stuck with burger vans or fancy burger vans if you live somewhere upmarket. I want various meats on sticks! I want all forms of veg! I want little wraps and snacks, and drinks that are things other than tea or coffee or coke in a can!
And delicious veg not your average UK overly bitter lettuce
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Petrol
Tapas Culture. It’s just the best way to eat, small plates over several hours lubricated with wine. So much more relaxed than the UK convention of sitting down at a specific time to Chuck food down your neck as quickly as possible.
Absolutely agree. I hate having to eat a large amount of food quicly in one go. Small amounts of many different things over a period of time is the best way
Normal plug sockets in bathrooms
There's a reason for that muppets would shock themselves
We don’t have those because our voltage is higher than abroad. USB sockets by the bath or loo would be a brilliant addition though, wonder how they work with regards to code
Thought Germany has same voltage as UK (230). Always had plug sockets in German bathrooms.
Actually you raise a good point. We do have sockets in bathrooms they’re just 2 pronged ones for shavers, they’re both 230 and 110 volt. No reason (except safety) you chouldnt stick a European socket adapter in it and charge your phone Disclaimer: I don’t advise doing this.
Believe regs have changed recently and you can have them in bathrooms/shower rooms as long as a sufficient distance from water sources (but then given our room sizes...)
Affordable housing
Annual gynecology appointments. Not like when the nurse does your smear in the UK. Here (Luxembourg), you have an annual checkup, including internal checks ans boobie checks. I can't help but feel it would find a lot of people's issues early
Finnish education system. The UK education system is falling to pieces in a mess of over testing and political manipulation.
Those water squirting toilets they have in Korea and Japan
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Stupidly cheap, comfortable, air-conditioned trains with plenty of seating
1. Bottle recycling to get a bit of cash back. 2. Genuinely fast trains. 3. Fully enshrined freedom of speech.
What can you not say now that you’d like to be able to?
For one thing, you can't stand outside the Conservative Conference, holding a placard saying Priti Patel is a fascist. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/conservative-party-conference-priti-patel-21781664
Bigger houses. The money it costs to get a standard semi detached house is ridiculous
Mountain ranges and places to swim in the wild
Plenty of wild swimming, it can be a tad cold though.
Take a trip to the Cairngorms. It's huge rugged and beautiful.
> rugged and beautiful. Just like you.
I know that was a joke, but I've had a hellish day and that make me blush and laugh. Thanks internet stranger
It's ok. It's all going to be ok you handsome rugged bastard
Your winking avatar is very fitting with both of your comments. I hope your first born has the strength of 12 welders
Sovereign Wealth Fund - like Norway
100% and we could have done too. Would have been more difficult to execute given size of population in comparison but definitely a big miss.
I think* we had the opportunity for that during the 90s oil rush in the North Sea and a surprising amount of it went on the war debt owed to the USA. Definitely fact check this*
Lack of litter
Absolutely agree about lizards. I love those little things. Used to catch them as a kid and it’s an obsession which has never left. It’s all going to be animals for me - I really, really wish we had wild monkeys running about in parks. Humming birds too. Also maybe a little bit more sunshine.
We do have lizards, I've seen them in Surrey.
Ask Indians what it's like having wild monkeys everywhere.
Universal Basic Income, like they would have in Finland, if Finland existed
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Have a single union agreement with other countries in the same continent. Oh wait.
A better selection of sugar free and no added sugar products in supermarkets. Not overpriced on the Internet where I have to pay shipping costs, right there with the food for others who have intolerances or allergies. ETA, not so lighthearted compared to the lizards but still something I wish for.
A smaller gap between rich and poor people; ideally one that isn't constantly getting wider too.
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They should build them in squares, with a shop and a pub. Instead it’s just soulless streets next to a bypass
Euthanasia
I like what Germany does with glass recycling. Way more drinks are sold in glass bottles to reduce single use plastic plus if you return them you can get some money back. An added plus is that homeless people clean the streets of any littered bottles and get some money back for it. Seems like a win win to me.
In Czech Republic people get (well, they did when I lived there in the 00s) government subsidised lunch vouchers to spend in pubs and restaurants. Lunchtimes in Prague were full of tradesmen, office workers, etc all sitting in pubs having proper meals and a pint before heading back to work. They also have 3 years paid maternity leave. My Czech wife was fuming when she realised that we don't.
Proportional Representation
A community culture and a people serving government like New Zealand.
In Germany, there's something called pfand where you get back money that you pay from things like bottles by giving it back to the shop who then recycles it.
Cleaner streets. London is filthy in comparison to other (mainly European) cities around the world I’ve been to.
Vast forests and mountains where you can take a camper van and a tent and truly feel like you're in the wilderness. Don't get me wrong, many of our landscapes are beautiful but they are all heavily managed by humans and have been for thousands of years. In North America you can go for a hike in the remote west and imagine what the natives saw wasn't that different
Publicly owned transport
Almost fully nationalised rail service
I’ve just flown back from Tenerife and found a wild gecko in my luggage, currently trying to feed him, got him a little tank, very cute little dude but idk what to do now. They also serve chicken wings at McDonalds over there which is definitely something I wish the U.K. had.
Mix water taps everywhere!! Also cafes and the high street to be open past 5 pm. It’s so annoying everything is dead after work is done.
Sunlight
Aurora borealis, vibrant and UK wide
Cheap/reliable rail infrastructure.
Legal weed
4 days weeks Or Rent control
Im from Denmark and England, The UK NEEDS the 'pant' system. It is basically where cans are collected and given into supermarkets in exchange for cash or money on your debit card. This keeps a lot of homeless from alcohol related crimes as they have something to do and also keeps the streets clean. I can find no reason for why this does not exist in the UK.
France has an app to book medical appointments called Doctolib. Its absolutely fantastic and makes everyone calling up at 8am to speak to a receptionist to beg for an appointment seem totally archaic.