England is a spectacularly beautiful place. The greenery, the roads, the villages - it is everything we lost as we became the United States. Logically, one doesn't lose green when one becomes a country nor does one lose a road or a village, but one loses the idyllic setting as one becomes the United States.
I am not referring to the M-25 or other such freeway equivalents, I am referring to the bulk of other roads. I am amazed at times how they function driving on 1 1/2 lane roads where one party stops to wait for other traffic or a railway crossing that has no substantial guard system to prevent crossing when trains are coming. They do not get stuck on railroad crossings and sue, nor do they ignore civility, for the most part. That idyllic lifestyle has been lost to progress and we relegate the simpler life to the past.
Even the driving is more complicated than our driving. If I drive 120 miles, it is likely that I will drive that distance in 1 hour and 45 minutes to 1 hour and 50 minutes. In England, it could take you 2 1/2 hours. To drive that far means you are really quite dedicated to whatever it is you wish to do. We simply do it with little desire other than getting from A to B and doing so as quickly as possible (hence our roads take us everywhere we need to go without an odd configurational driving route).
I have never felt the same way anywhere in this country, or for that matter in a couple other countries the way I feel in England - not for people or places, but for the country and its presence. It is quite something to be English, yet they have lost the understanding of what makes them so unique, in much the same way as Americans have lost the comprehension of what it means to be American and what makes us so unique in the world. Perhaps that explains why we are losing.
So much of England is historical - the walls to the manor homes are over 150 years old. The Abbey may well have been built in the 15th century at the latest, and more likely during the 13th century, and rebuilt since. In this country we have very little as old as 150 years in age, and nothing that is so laden with history. Yet, few if any Englishmen notice as they live their lives for it is to them simply those things they have always seen. To us, it is the history of the past, worth saving and worth fighting for.
It is perhaps the second greatest country on earth and well worth the investment we Americans make to visit and admire. Never have I met (save one useless person in a pub in Saxmundhen) anyone who was rude and inconsiderate. Never has anyone complained about Americans that I can recall. Yet, problems exist. Like any country, there are those who seek isolation or exclusion - perhaps 25% of the population is clued in to the dynamic role England plays today and must play. 75% are clueless. That number is possibly a little less skewed in the US. Perhaps 60-40 where 40% are clueless.
For all the praise, England is a mess. The cost to live is beyond my ability to comprehend very well. We went to dinner at a pub (not Frosty Fuckheads bar - it was another day). It was a decent meal. Decent, not spectacular. The cost was nearly £50. For us - $100. I left a £10 tip. For us $20. $120 for dinner for four people. Each plate should have been about $8. I am not quite sure about inflation, but it seemed to me the cost was a bit high AND they do not tip 20% nor even 15% regularly, more often 10% and exceptional 15% and tipping is not something done automatically, always.
Gas costs approximately $11.00 a gallon. To fill a minivan (people mover) would be $175.
Yet their wages are not significantly higher than ours. $12-15 per hour for minimum wage/ starting wages.
It becomes difficult to understand how people can survive, yet they manage. They are shifted from school by 16 (unless they move on in a highly regimented system that defines class and structure) and are off to work making a wage that is unquestionably too low to live on or at or near. Tenacity perhaps or a will to survive. Impressive regardless of what drives them onward.
Their taxation system is out of whack. Their medical system is a failure and their society is faltering under the weight of oppressive immigration. If the 18th century was the death throes for Europe, these moments are its last gasps. What we see from the outside may be appealing, but it is all superficial. What does it portend for us, the US - even absent manners - is there anything from their demise that we should learn from, to prevent here, in the United States.
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