London: Whar I will Miss and What I won't miss

I will miss:



Semi-reliable public transportation. (Where if you miss the bus, you wait 7-10 minutes for the next one instead of one hour!)


The Fact I can go through an entire day and count the number of pickup trucks I see on one hand.


Indian Food. (Seriously, we need more Indian Restaurants in the states. It would be perfect for downtown. Indian food, especially the spicier dishes is recognised here in the UK as the perfect drunk food.)



BBC Radio 4. (For the comedy programs and news alone. It’s also refreshing to see that Radio Drama is still popular somewhere.)



The BBC in General



Top Gear (Great Show, I may not agree with Jeremy Clarkson’s politics and his stance on Climate Change, but He’s seriously funny.)



Blackcurrant (You don’t see blackcurrant products that much in the States. It has a flavour that I quite enjoy.)



British Style baked beans in a tomato based sauce



Spitfire Ale (Best. Beer. Ever.)



Hard Cider (Yes, I know Woodchuck is widely available back home, and it’s good cider, but There’s so much more variety over here.



The lack of prudishness.



The culture of politeness and civility.



The lack of Christian Fundamentalist influence in politics. (No bible-humpers legislating their twisted morality on the masses! If only The United States could Follow Great Britian’s Example)



The fact that abortion and Gay marriage are not hot button political issues. (except for a scant few Tory backbenchers and loonies in very obscure minor political parties who don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning.)



Unarmed (for the most part) police



A good cup of tea.



The Journalism (Except for the tabloids)



The fact that I don’t need to drive to go somewhere.



Crunchie Bars (Ambrosia of the Gods!)



Jaffa Cakes (Orange and Chocolate, a marriage made in Heaven..)



The footy (proper football, not that game where a bunch of Kevlar armoured ponces take breaks every 10 seconds whilst they play a wussified form of Rugby.)



Arsenal! (too bad the premier league seson gets underway the day I leave.)



Rugby



Irn-Bru (Best soda ever!)



Cricket (For some reason, I’ve become fascinated with this sport. I know, to most Americans it seems exceedingly dull, but I like it.)



The fact that all sales taxes are included on displayed prices! (If it costs £5.99, you pay £5.99, no trying to figure out how much more you pay like back home.)



The lfact that people here actually care about the environment. (Although, I admit there is a contingent who does take the whole thing a bit too far.)



Things I will not miss:



The religious loonies of all faiths at Speaker’s Corner. (Seriously, these guys, no matter if they are fundamentalist Christians or fundamentalist Muslims say some seriously creepy stuff)



Hot crowded Tube Journeys, especially on the Circle Line



Delays on the bloody Circle Line!



Right, the Circle Line in general



Traffic (Especially on Marylebone Road)



Cliff Richard (Now I know why the TV Show Red Dwarf made the joke about everyone knowing where they were when Cliff Richard was shot)



Big Brother (What a stupid TV show. I can’t believe so many people here actually like it! If I wanted to see people do stupid stuff in ritualistic self-degradation, I’d go to a TKE initiation. At least there I could get free beer!)



Channel 4 in general



The Exchange Rate (Thank you, Mr. President!)



The fact that London is the #2 most Expensive city in the world.



Watching my back all the time.



Tinned hot dogs



Tinned sausages and beans.



Sausages that taste like they have more filler than meat.



Raw Stilton Cheese (I like it in pasties, but otherwise. Uggh.)


Tinned Steak and Kidney Pie.

I'll miss your posts from London, JohnathanChance. :D

Sound's like you've had a wonderful time.

Oh, and when you get back, try to find Hornsby's Dark Cider. That's my fave.

I'm living on £20/week for lunch and dinner.

Need money for souveniers.

And there's a lot more varieties of cider. Both of these are good things.

which is really good too. I found that when I had a Halloween party a couple of years ago.

:9 :9 It's in a yellow label, rather than the green label.

...that Pear cider is generally referred to as Perry, although it's certainly not a widely drunk product and as such I don't even expect the English to know that!

My local pub sell's Perry, but it's VERY strong and has been the ruin of many an underage kid who thought they were being big and clever by ordering it.

:P

That's cool. Now I'll know what to order if I come across it over there (in my as yet to be determined trip).

Great, now I'm imagining an entire middle school class strung out on pear cider. :D :rofl:

but I figured I had better use 'pear cider' rather than 'perry', because more people on this board would know what I was talking about that way. I remember in the 80's when a commercial market for cider startet to emerge, and no one knew what I meant when I called it cider, unless I called it 'hard cider'.

Also, I didn't want to annoy Perry Logan.

but he's more vinegar than cider. :P

How about Cider Vinegar? :P

http://www.somersetcidervinegarco.co.uk/

Good stuff.

Jeez, what's it like in America then? :scared:

We still make a pretense at it anyway. :-) You'll hear actual kids says "Yes ma'am" and " No sir" And some of us adults too, grumble, grumble :-)

"The lack of Christian Fundamentalist influence in politics" - There was an English woman on Bill Maher awhile back who was baffled that Americans want to know what religion a candidate is. She said in England it has nothing to do with their political job.

"Watching my back all the time" - You mean muggers? I've never heard that to be a problem, in all my visits to London.

Nice post!

Some parts of London are pretty awful, but by the same token other areas are really quite wonderful. You just have to know where to go.

Lots of pickpockets there. The High Street is generally OK, Old Bill has plenty of foot patrols there.

I never carry a wallet when traveling--money belt always, esp. on the Tube, or the Metro in Paris. I've heard too many stories of vacations ruined by pickpockets.

Only place I felt a money belt wasn't needed was Stockholm.

Is it that bad for Americans over there? Or is it some other reason?

that is all.

I'm glad you found so many things to like over here.

Speaker’s Corner: we keep all the religious loonies in one place - keeps them out of politics and civilised life in general.

Oh, and Stilton cheese is seriously good!

I'm surprised they don't have them in the States?

But they are specialty stores, such as international foods stores and the occasional Irish store.

I wish they'd have the British Mars Bar in the US, it's a million times better than the US Mars Bar.