Things you rather like about this country

[Andy in Germany]

Why leave then?

Not all these things are exclusive to the UK; Germany is a very nice place to live as well.

I think I've mentioned the reason for leaving the UK before on this forum: I met and fell in love with a Beautiful Lady from Japan; Even back in 2001 the British government made applying for a spouse visa very difficult with comparatively high earning requirements*, and even if we got a visa there was no certainty it would be extended.

As an EU citizen I could stay in Germany as long as I had a job where I earned enough to make social security payments. Most importantly, Germany treated my non-EU wife as an EU citizen, so we could live together.

*To be fair, so was the Japanese government.

 

[Cathryn]

Not all these things are exclusive to the UK; Germany is a very nice place to live as well.

I think I've mentioned the reason for leaving the UK before on this forum: I met and fell in love with a Beautiful Lady from Japan; Even back in 2001 the British government made applying for a spouse visa very difficult with comparatively high earning requirements*, and even if we got a visa there was no certainty it would be extended.

As an EU citizen I could stay in Germany as long as I had a job where I earned enough to make social security payments. Most importantly, Germany treated my non-EU wife as an EU citizen, so we could live together.

*To be fair, so was the Japanese government.

I love Germany! I’d happily live there! Such a sensible nation AND it has sommerrodelbahns!!

 

[Reynard]

Marmalade, marmite and motor racing.

And countryside like this - who says the Cambridgeshire fens aren't beautiful. I do so love the big skies...

And countryside like this also...

N.B. This is the road between Alresford and Ovington that runs along the Itchen Valley (NCN 23)

 

[Tail End Charlie]

It was the local village fete yesterday, Rose Queen, tombola, bric a brac, egg and spoon races, greasy pole challenge etc. All good, clean fun and something for every age group (the oldest attendee is 97). Quintessentially English and I love it.
(I was on the "guess the value of the groceries" wheelbarrow as well as a member of the men's dance troupe, about which the less said the better - as one person put it "it's not a dance display, more a comedy show").

 

[Blue Hills]

It was the local village fete yesterday, Rose Queen, tombola, bric a brac, egg and spoon races, greasy pole challenge etc. All good, clean fun and something for every age group (the oldest attendee is 97). Quintessentially English and I love it.
(I was on the "guess the value of the groceries" wheelbarrow as well as a member of the men's dance troupe, about which the less said the better - as one person put it "it's not a dance display, more a comedy show").

any terrier racing?
Used to go to a wonderful fete in a village near Nottingham which did it.
Terrier racing great on a summer's day with a beer - all the better for the fact that it's so unpredictable/is not a real race/everyone and every dog wins.
Stuff the Palio with its machismo, posturing, cruelty and celebration of cheating - terrier racing every time.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

any terrier racing?
Used to go to a wonderful fete in a village near Nottingham which did it.
Terrier racing great on a summer's day with a beer - all the better for the fact that it's so unpredictable/is not a real race/everyone and every dog wins.

No there wasn't. But great idea for next year maybe
The greasy pole was a great success this year. A few bales of hay supporting a wide heavy duty drain pipe and pillows used to try and knock the person opposite off. Kids love it and of course, in the evening the adults after a few drinks ...... The horse riders were the best at it, I guess they could grip with their legs better.

 

[Blue Hills]

No there wasn't. But great idea for next year maybe
The greasy pole was a great success this year. A few bales of hay supporting a wide heavy duty drain pipe and pillows used to try and knock the person opposite off. Kids love it and of course, in the evening the adults after a few drinks ...... The horse riders were the best at it, I guess they could grip with their legs better.

here you are - minimal equipment needed.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND3-KUEwDHQ

 

[Pale Rider]

Alwinton country show in deepest Northumberland has Cumberland wrestling which looks like something out of the 19th century.

Proper rural, one road in and the same road out.

The gents' toilet was a pallet slung over a brook.

During my visit, the wrestling was suspended because they needed the ring to land the air ambulance to pick up a a guy who had collapsed.

 

[purpan]

10 cc. Musically eccentric, exploiting American genres with a wry English lyrical humour. And bloody good songs.

 

[Stephenite]

The BBC, Radio, TV and the World Service.

The BBC is a quality act.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Random lanes, Moss and gravel up the centre, through random old woodland. The lanes used to just be the route from one farm or small settlement to another. But the settlements are gone and populations diminished. So the lanes don’t really go anywhere now. Perfect for cycling.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The peat moorlands. Something special about the solitude up on the moorlands.

 

[oldwheels]

any terrier racing?
Used to go to a wonderful fete in a village near Nottingham which did it.
Terrier racing great on a summer's day with a beer - all the better for the fact that it's so unpredictable/is not a real race/everyone and every dog wins.
Stuff the Palio with its machismo, posturing, cruelty and celebration of cheating - terrier racing every time.

They used to have terrier racing at Dalmally agricultural show when we did such events. Highlight of the day.

 

[swee'pea99]

The BBC, Radio, TV and the World Service.

In the same vein, and controversially, the great British press. Few countries boast such a range of, yes I insist, quality options for the engaged & thinking reader. Try spending time in somewhere like New Zealand, where all papers are local, with Otago wool prices on the front page and an earthquake in Iran given two sentences from Reuters on p13, you'd give your right arm for a Daily Mail, never mind a Grauniad.

 

[Blue Hills]

It's largely godless.

(I always tend to think that this is due to our history - periods of one lot burning the other lot, then a swap around in the human pyromania. And most folks then thinking, sod this for a game of soldiers - let's have a drink and watch some terriers run around)