What is it like living in the U.K.?

NEGI RK Thursday, January 14, 2021

What is it like living in the U.K.?

I am sharing Daniel Story

He had spent several years in the UK as a university lecturer in his thirties and forties.

He spent his other years in places that are perhaps interesting to compare, namely Germany, Austria, Canada, the US, France, New Zealand, China, India, and Sweden.

From that perspective, He would describe life in the UK as follows, but I can give away right from the start that he love the UK madly, and will always be happy to be there:

It’s a stable country that preserves tradition fiercely without forgetting to update according to societal change. The latter, it often does in more proactive ways than some, leading to a strange juxtaposition of the antiquated versus the visionary.

So you’ll see gentlemen in powdered wigs saying “hear, hear!” in high places while using multidimensional deep data decision tree modeling to back up their proposals, beloved vehicles like the ancient Land Rover Defender updated with new tech every year, or fellas in pirate garb drinking ale at a pub they pay for with their mobile phones.

There is a notion that all things nifty ever created by mankind will live on forever in the UK, and that many things whose niftiness may be lost on the rest of the world are recognised and coveted forever in the UK.

The underdog is always lovingly protected, and new ones qualify for entry all the time, such as the Stormtroopers of Star Wars, whom everybody despised as the stupid henchmen of The Empire, until they somehow took off as a beloved group unto themselves. Even if this particular example may not be British, it serves to illustrate the dynamics at play there very well.

He also felt welcomed there in this way.

All my life, he was “the stranger”, “the weirdo”, “the eccentric”, anywhere he moved. In the UK, He experienced for the first time in hai life what it’s like to be welcomed into a group and to be given the chance to “have a go”. He will be forever grateful to Great Britain to have given me that. It made me, and he feel indebted and connected to Britain for it to this day. If he weren’t in Sweden now, I certainly would be in Britain, my other soul home.

So what’s it like to live in the UK, for real?

You’re on an island in the North Sea, swept by brisk, north Atlantic winds and mild ocean currents at the same time. Get used to high humidity and cold winds. You will be uncomfortable at all times, and manage to both sweat and catch a cold the same day. It’s a Viking climate, but you’ll get used to it. On the upside, it’s never too hot, and never too cold, everything is always green, and you will almost never see snow or ice.
It’s a small place, heavily populated with a population that is mind bogglingly diverse, both of old, and as of more recently. The concept that people are from complex backgrounds, and nobody is alike, with old traditions and identities at play everywhere is a standard expectation in the UK. If you could sit on a bus in the UK and turn on some sort of cultural X-ray, the diversity you’d become aware of would be incomprehensible in its depth and breadth. There will be people of every denomination in the entire world, and often a result of a mixture of them; and what unites them are the lifestyle and the conventions of this small, interesting island world. It’s almost a utopian vision in the manner of Gene Roddenberry. The UK is Starship Enterprise.
You will live in cramped quarters, because space is expensive in the UK, but it will be packed with character, too, and cosy. There is wonderful, usually overpowered central heating everywhere, keeping everyone sweltering, and since the 1990s, marine grade double glazing that keeps out noise and the cold have made UK homes steamy little palaces where you’ll happily spend your time. To me, UK home cosiness is unrivalled in the world. Put me anywhere, I will always live as if I lived in the UK. It makes sense, and is good for your soul. Just be prepared to battle the ubiquitous arch enemy of home owners in Britain, mould and condensation.
Manners are legendary in Britain. If you’ve ever watched a film, you’ll be famliar with the way they speak and carry themselves. There is a range of behaviours from the ferally drunk to the pristinely refined, and they all fit into a day. But the standard pillars on which everything is built are self deprecating humour and apology, which translates simply into “showing respect”, in my opinion. If you can do that at all times, you can fit in perfectly. And not everyone will always do that, but the cause is usually alcohol, which is the third pillar of British society, in my opinion. Every day is a drinking day in Great Britain, at any time, and it pervades the mentality and society deeply.
Ethical standards are high. There is a very clear image of what “a baddie” looks like, and you will always be under radar surveillance for showing signs of infection. But as long as you consistently “have a go”, give everyone a chance, apologise, support the underdog, never complain, and are witty at all times, you’ll be a good chap. Not being a burden to anyone and helping the oppressed are pretty much central to being British. This can take extreme forms. My ex-wife, a German nurse, used to complain about her British patients, “you ask them how they are, and they say ‘oh, I’m just fine, dear!’ And then they die.”
There is a bottom line sense that you are well-protected. If you get sick, the NHS will fix you up, no charge. If you crash and burn, social services will have your back. If the bad lads are after you, call out to the Bobbies, they’ll hurry to your rescue with their sticks. All of these have a bit of a shoestring feel to them, but they are there for you, in principle. Apologies will be made for malfunctions as they occur.

I have tens of thousands of images of my years in Great Britain, and I will show a selection here that I feel can express what life there is like. I wish I could show all of them, but somewhere north of 50,000, it just gets a bit much. I recommend watching these images while listening to the T-Rex songs “Telegram Sam” and “The Slider” to get into the right spirit: