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Mrs V's family are here for a couple of weeks and we've just been up to the local High Street. Now I know I tend to knock things about this country but it was very nice to hear them commenting on how friendly drivers are here to pedestrians. Yes, people actually stop to let you cross the road even when they don't have to and you're not at a designated crossing point. This seems to be something alien to much of the rest of the world and it's something we can surely be proud of. Despite her initial paranoia about all the cars (yes there are probably more in SE London than the whole of Slovakia) it wasn't long before my S-I-L was crossing the roads with confidence and allowing V Junior #1 to push the baby along in the pram. It's nice to have something pleasant to say about driving in the UK for once - perhaps we are guilty of seeing only the negatives sometimes.
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I'm pleased to see your comments and they make a nice change. I get a touch irritated by people constantly knocking the UK at every opportunity. My message would be.... If it's so bad why don't you go somewhere else.......and if you have moved somewhere else, then be grateful you've got out of somewhere you didn't want to be - and stop grumbling.
If it's as bad as we're told, why are there so many people desperate to get here?
KB.
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Because we give them free money KB, thats all it is, they don't actually like it here and would prefer to be at home but at home they don't get... free money!
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KB, I have lived and worked in the UK, US and Germany. Germany is the best; UK is not nearly as nice - expensive, congested, dirty, lot more crime and a lot of not very nice people, aggressive and rude. I have been offered permanent work in Germany and would gladly move there - my children would have a much better future; it is not a Utopia, but it is better. Sadly my wife refuses to leave the UK and so I have had to face the fact that I will stay here.
I am English born and raised, but England is a different place to when I was growing up in the 1960's. England has become a nation of strangers, divided into lots of 'communities' that don't communicate with each other.
People are desperate to come to the UK for a whole collection of reasons. Easy access to immediate welfare and health care is one of them. There are also big communities from all races and religions here, so newcomers soon feel at home and can 'vanish' into the community. Another reason is the lack of any ID card. It is easy to get work in the black market.
In Germany, I have seen the police 'raid' a large ethnic restaurant. They grab all the staff and check their ID. Any without ID are followed-up and, if appropriate, deported. Employers who take on staff without appropriate ID get about Euro 10,000 fine !!
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The other positive reasons for the motorists are:
1. You can drive without insurance, knowing that if you get caught, the fine is likely to be much much less than the cost of insurance.
2. You can drive a banger through London, until the congestion fines exceeed the value of the car, when it does not matter if the car is clamped and crushed.
3. You do not need to ever get a tax disc, MOT, licence, etc.
4. You can break all kinds of motoring laws, but the state will give you all the help in Legal Aid to fight your corner.
5. And on and on, ....
Note: {P} = advertising profile is ON. You can add pictures at groups.msn.com/honestjohn
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Vman,
Your post about your lad last Wednesday touched the thoughts of many of us on the BR.
Great to see you back with a very positive post!
Matt35.
PS - Give him a hug from me.
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Sincere thanks Matt35 - thankfully he's a tough little boy so we're hoping he's going to come through OK. He's had a lot to put up with in his short life but he always makes people smile and we're making sure we spend as much time with him as possible - hugs, kisses and cuddles abound in our house right now and long may it continue. I'll deliver your hug personally tomorrow morning when I go to see him first thing.
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