Hi Folks

I left the UK way back in the 1990's and have only been back on a few very brief trips (usually for family funerals!).

Anyhow, just recently I had to go back and spend a fair amount of time, and I soon realized that the place was nowhere near the same place that I left all those years ago.

Here's a few light-hearted discoveries I made on my recent trip (please don't take them seriously, this is, as stated, light hearted!)...

Pies 'n' Pasties:
It appears that the national diet has evolved into one of pies and pasties, which also appear to be shoveled in by folks, directly out of a paper bag, whilst walking the street.

'Sports Wear':
Folks appear to find it perfectly acceptable to go out dressed in track suits. I don't mean just popping to the shop for a pint of milk, I mean actually dressing up to go out, in sports wear! I also feel that the majority of these 'sports wearing' kind have probably never seen the inside of a gym in their entire lives. I walked round a supermarket yesterday and was horrified to take note that I was the only person wearing real shoes ... everybody else (young, old, male, female, kids) were wearing training shoes.

TV
Despite the fact there are lots more channels, they are all showing repeats of things that were on before I even left the UK (Porridge, Last of the Summer Wine, endless repeats of Top Gear, Rising Damp, etc.). Otherwise it's the Soaps (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders, etc.), which are now also repeated day and night in 'Ombibus' versions! Other than that, there seems to be some strange fixation with Antiques shows (Cash in the Attic, Antiques Roadshow, Flog It, Dickinsons Real Deal, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, etc., etc.).

TV advertisements
Appear to be mainly made up of 'Vulture' type folks trying to get you to make a claim for an accident, or to claim back 'payment protection insurance' you shouldn't have paid, etc.

Mobile Telephones
It seems that the nation's turning into a population of folks who have a mobile telephone constantly planted at their ear? Several people actually walked right into me whilst trying to txt and walk at the same time? I had the misfortune to catch a bus and was surrounded by constant 'beeping' of phones, teenagers typing text messages at the speed of light, and others with headphones in, playing a constant dirge of tinny music. Horrible.

Bacon
What happened to bacon? No matter where you buy it, and how much you pay for it, as soon as it hits the frying pan a load of water and 'white slimy' stuff comes oozing out. I've decided that bacon butties are no longer a part of my life.

Shops
Where have all the shops gone? Nearly every high street I went down only had charity shops (every charity you could possibly think of), posh coffee shops (Starbucks, Costa, etc.) and Fast Food joints (McDo, BurgerKing, Subway, etc.). Plus of course, the odd sprinkling of Pastie and Mobile phone shops to cater for those previously mentioned above.

Take Aways
In my day we had one local Indian takeaway and a much farther walk away, a Chinese take away. Nowadays it seems that every takeaway does every style of food (kebabs, burgers, pizza, indian, thai, chinese, tex-mex, etc.). What kind of chef must that me to be a specialist in all those forms of cuisine? I've also decided that takeaways are also no longer part of my life now.

Am I just getting old and lagging behind the times?

Chris

Chris

Lots of good observations there Chris.

Spot on with all of them, I think.

The bacon is the worst. You are right about all the water coming out of them. It IS illegal to inject water into meat to make it weigh more in England, however, to get round it, a lot of the meat industry ship out meat *pork, bacon, beef, etc) to holland where it isn't illegal and then ship it back.

The shops on the high street are becoming a thing of the past. Why shop in the middle of town paying expensive car park fees and having to carry your bags 3/4 mile to your car when you can go to one of the retail parks where you park for free and can usually park fairly close, though make sure you don't park in the disabled, mothers and toddlers or black lesbian single mothers car park spaces. Not that I have anything against single black lesbian mothers or even mother and toddlers. I am quite happy to walk to my car which is parked over the horizon when all the aforementioned spaces lie empty, but one day may be occupied.

Ah, the take-aways. I live in a small village of maybe 4 or 5000 people and the centre of the villae has 16 takeaways. As I don't do takeaways, I reckon someone is eating about 18 takeaway meals a day just to keep the average up.

The only thing I think you missed was the love of pets that the English have. Someone gets killed in a car accident or house fire and everyone says 'what a shame'. A woman dared to put a live cat into a wheely bin and the next thing you know is she is receiving death threats from all and sundry. But what can you do when a country has the RSPCA for 60 years before it has the NSPCC?

Lastly, I love the observation on the television adverts. No longer does something accidental happen. It is now described as a meat feast for solicitors who drive everyones insurance premiums up because they continually prey like the carrion eaters they are on businesses who are already struggling to survive.

Damn, this seems to have turned into a rant....sorry!

Charvez wrote:

Damn, this seems to have turned into a rant....sorry!

Should have seen the first version of my post before I edited it several (many) times! [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

I posted the 'tame' version

:H

My light-hearted reply

Come on Chris, You are showing your age now, old fashion, out of date and living in the past

Have you not heard of evolution (dictionary version) gradual development, its progress for our next generation so I am told

Your comment about the telephone stuck to the ear, Yes I do agree with you it is a nuisance when people don't look where they are going, but at least people do return their calls, which is more that you can say for the Bulgarians. Their trick is to ring you, let it ring once and then close it down, cleaver thinking because that means we have to ring them back

Chris, I am in my seventies and I have walked down the street eating chips in the past, but if you saw people eating out of a paper bag that is surely a bit up market. I had to eat mine out of the daily news paper

You ask, Am I just getting old and lagging behind the times? well of course you are, If I asked my two adult children that question, the answer would be, Chill out Dad and get up with the times

:Good post:Chris
It makes you wonder how we put up with it. We have lived away for 5 years, and have no intention of going back, I have only had short trips back and apart from my family and grandchildren would not want to even go.
The mobile phones one would wonder how we ever lived without them, children as young as five years seem to have one. Turkish people must have them glued to their ear they are always talking and have all the up to date models.
As for chefs the same here, they all think they can be [patron umcar] which means top man or boss. In our local paper today is an advert asking for a Turkish chef to cook Indian food, [ I don't think so ]. As for Chinese food they think sweet and sour is just tomato ketchup, I had an awful taste in my mouth after one mouthful, and yes that put me off from eating anymore here.
Nothing stays the same.
Apart from the repeats they keep showing on T.V.
Everyone seems in a rush and I find it all looks so drab and dowdy. I feel so lucky to be out of it.

it actually (well a lot of it ) could have been written about bulgaria...in the towns anyway...

So glad we are not the only ones who feel these things. My husband loves the comment about the shoes, he is still the shoe polishing type, no man should be seen without polished shoes, but then he is older than me

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Chris and yes, I do agree with everything you say. However, as Willowsend says, the younger folks just think we're old-fashioned and life moves on but not always for the better (in our opinion). I can't stand the fact that everything moves so fast that last year's mobile phone is not good enough so you have to have a new one. No wonder people think they are poor if they can't afford the latest must-have. Come and live in a Bulgarian village to understand real poverty. I am not on a rant because everytime I think maybe I am mad living here, I think of the alternative. Here I live with people my own age who understand me and I am not surrounded by consumerism so I feel lucky to have what | have. This I think is the secret of a happy life.
I'm glad your post was light-hearted Chris because, even agreeing with everything you say, I still love Britain when I visit and take all the 'progress' in my stride and I suspect you do too.

I'm relieved to hear you found people wearing tracksuit;
although i'd agree that its not very smart. having just moved from a city where people have going out pyjamas. These are for wearing to the job centre, shops, meetings,visits to school, buying takeaway and a few pints down the local pub. Of course you should always make sure your wearing your very best primark slippers to match. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Agree with all that has been said here

But when we go back we always go to a place called "
Marino's ' best Cod &
Chips we have ever tasted . It has not changed in 30 years.

But talking about the TV has anyone ever noticed the government advert for the job centre. There is this guy walking in wearing the scruffy jeans trainers etc, now that brings it all home to roost as could this guy really be looking for work . When I left school a long, long time ago I was always told go to the Youth Employment (The name of it in those days) dressed ready for an interview . Oh well just give em the dole money .

Absolutely first class Chris but I would have preferred to unedited version. I suppose it can be a bit of a culture shock once you have been away for so long and if your from a city then the shock is even greater because everything changes so quickly, I'm afraid people now live in the fast lane along with fast food etc and to be honest if all the the takeaways etc were moved then I'm sure that some of these people wouldn't know how to function.

Chris wrote:

Hi Folks

I left the UK way back in the 1990's and have only been back on a few very brief trips (usually for family funerals!).

Anyhow, just recently I had to go back and spend a fair amount of time, and I soon realized that the place was nowhere near the same place that I left all those years ago.

Here's a few light-hearted discoveries I made on my recent trip (please don't take them seriously, this is, as stated, light hearted!)...

Pies 'n' Pasties:
It appears that the national diet has evolved into one of pies and pasties, which also appear to be shoveled in by folks, directly out of a paper bag, whilst walking the street.

'Sports Wear':
Folks appear to find it perfectly acceptable to go out dressed in track suits. I don't mean just popping to the shop for a pint of milk, I mean actually dressing up to go out, in sports wear! I also feel that the majority of these 'sports wearing' kind have probably never seen the inside of a gym in their entire lives. I walked round a supermarket yesterday and was horrified to take note that I was the only person wearing real shoes ... everybody else (young, old, male, female, kids) were wearing training shoes.

TV
Despite the fact there are lots more channels, they are all showing repeats of things that were on before I even left the UK (Porridge, Last of the Summer Wine, endless repeats of Top Gear, Rising Damp, etc.). Otherwise it's the Soaps (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Eastenders, etc.), which are now also repeated day and night in 'Ombibus' versions! Other than that, there seems to be some strange fixation with Antiques shows (Cash in the Attic, Antiques Roadshow, Flog It, Dickinsons Real Deal, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is, etc., etc.).

TV advertisements
Appear to be mainly made up of 'Vulture' type folks trying to get you to make a claim for an accident, or to claim back 'payment protection insurance' you shouldn't have paid, etc.

Mobile Telephones
It seems that the nation's turning into a population of folks who have a mobile telephone constantly planted at their ear? Several people actually walked right into me whilst trying to txt and walk at the same time? I had the misfortune to catch a bus and was surrounded by constant 'beeping' of phones, teenagers typing text messages at the speed of light, and others with headphones in, playing a constant dirge of tinny music. Horrible.

Bacon
What happened to bacon? No matter where you buy it, and how much you pay for it, as soon as it hits the frying pan a load of water and 'white slimy' stuff comes oozing out. I've decided that bacon butties are no longer a part of my life.

Shops
Where have all the shops gone? Nearly every high street I went down only had charity shops (every charity you could possibly think of), posh coffee shops (Starbucks, Costa, etc.) and Fast Food joints (McDo, BurgerKing, Subway, etc.). Plus of course, the odd sprinkling of Pastie and Mobile phone shops to cater for those previously mentioned above.

Take Aways
In my day we had one local Indian takeaway and a much farther walk away, a Chinese take away. Nowadays it seems that every takeaway does every style of food (kebabs, burgers, pizza, indian, thai, chinese, tex-mex, etc.). What kind of chef must that me to be a specialist in all those forms of cuisine? I've also decided that takeaways are also no longer part of my life now.

Am I just getting old and lagging behind the times?

Chris

Chris