Today I start my first post about what I don't like about living in England.
All these are in no particular order, they are very subjective and based on what makes ME happy or not happy. While I don't mind any of my readers sharing their opinions, I really don't want to get into online argument over how great UK is or is not. I get enough of that from other Americans who live here, who love it here, and who have been extending or coming back numerous times.
My Lakenheath Village is literally one street long and we're lucky that we get a grocery store in it. I drive through villages that don't even get that much. Having a car is a necessity here, and every single house has one. One time I was complaining about that to one of my friends, and she asked me why do I need a car, after all I live in EUROPE! I wanted to scream and pull my hair out, because she clearly didn't understand that Europe doesn't mean "London" or "big city" every time, and that it also means small villages and animal farms.
If I want to go hang out somewhere, I have to plan on driving at least 30mins, which wasn't so bad in the USA, but pretty annoying here in the UK. Remember those pig farms and wheat fields I've mentioned before? It also means tractors, that go SUPER SLOW and which are often impossible to pass on the winding roads.
Living in the middle of nowhere also means that I can't take public transportation easily and have to rely on my car to go everywhere. There are no train stations nearby, buses show up once every three days (it seems), and even if I do try to take a train, it will take an extra long time (as compared with trains from London for example) and will cost a lot more too.
I won't miss this area because I prefer the convenience of a city.
~ Lyuba
Well, I'd say it is a "beautiful English countryside" - but only if you see it from the outside or are there for holidays for a week.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I understand your horror with public transportation, that's an issue in Germany too - if you live in a small village, you're most likely doomed without a car.
Oh, and tell your friends I had a good laugh about the "but you live in EUROPE!" argument. One could have the same argument about parts of the USA...
I'm not even sure you can find a week worth of stuff to do in my area. Yes, if you drive for a while, but nothing in the immediate vicinity.
DeleteActually I would say it's not parts, it's almost everywhere (except big cities that have good public transport). But in the USA the roads are so good that it doesn't take that long to get anywhere. Where I used to live, the population was only 54 thousands people, but it was probably more spread out than my hometown in Ukraine with 800 thousands people. Everything was too far away to walk to, but at the same time everything was probably within 15-30 mins drive. I definitely miss having a whole city around me, even if it's a "town" by American standards.