England, what have they done to you?

[rebness]

There are many things I do so appreciate about England and I am glad to have: really, really hot baths. Yeah! My beloved dogs. Chippy teas. Central heating. Double glazing. Beautiful green gardens. 

But nobody cares for misty-eyed eulogies to this country, so let me tell you about three things that have changed in the last year that have shocked and dismayed me:

The Price of Things 
There is absolutely no need for the price of food in the UK. You can't even argue that it's the cost of importing produce, because even local food is through the roof. Trout, native trout, may I add, costs £5 in yer supermarket. Now, a year ago? I was paying £2 or less for that same fish. It's cheaper to buy British trout in fookin' Spain! Cheese is expensive. A loaf is double what I was paying in April 2007. Vegetables are ridiculously expensive, but thank God for those German usurpers Aldi and their 59p vegetables. Wine? Don't even go there.

Where Did Coronation Street Go? 
So my brother and I are sitting there on Sunday, just finished our dinner. Hey! It's 7.30pm! Time for some crappy soap! Except... it's disappeared from the Sunday schedule. Considering I would rather eat my own dog than watch Heartbeat, I was extremely saddened and disappointed in its disappearance. 

The Trains 
We've always been a bit awful with trains (a German friend of my brother's went ballistic when the trains were cancelled because it was windy when trains still run in Germany and Switzerland even in the worst mountain weather), but again... the prices beggar belief. 

Popping up to France from Barcelona in January, after prices went up, cost me €7. Seven whole freakin' Euros for a three-hour train journey to another country. To get to Leeds, which is just a little over there from Liverpool? £22. How can that be justified in any way whatsoever? Why does it cost me an arm and a leg to get from Huyton to Liverpool when the journey takes about ten minutes? Also, I am not happy at the scant opportunity this country presents for taking the Freedom Train. 

There's also the crazy tax thing, whereby cost of living has exceeded the rise in pay, but that's a whole other rant. It just means that I am determined not to work here and pay taxes to that grasping asshat Gordon Brown. >:

Comments

[mothergoddamn.livejournal.com]

Aww, leave Gordon Brown alone. He only has one eye. Although if he had one less and no hearing maybe he could sit through Coronation Street?

[keep-warm.livejournal.com]

One eye, a stern looking wife AND a sick child.

Huyton to Liverpool cost me one fifty the other day, have I got a special discount code printed on my head? Intrigue!

[airiddh1.livejournal.com]

and you wonder why us Scots want Independence!

BTW - you've not emailed me your addy yet so no CDs for you! jeaj@blueyonder.co.uk

[mothergoddamn.livejournal.com]

Oh, she doesn't complete assignments. Trust me.

Prices

[wiebke.livejournal.com]

I too, find many, many things to love about England, but prices of... well, everything... are rather beyond belief. It's not just that I'm there facing a bad exchange rate, it's just bad period. The worst offenders for pricing seem to be trains, clothes and restaurants. I've taken Virgin from London to Stafford many a time and each time I'm there are the ticket machine thinking, "No, wait, what's the real price?" (This is made even better by the face I'm taking the price and doubling the number into dollars.) I've also bought some great clothes in England, but eek, rather more expensive than they should have been! For restaurants, luckily I mainly eat with friends I'm visiting, who are very good goods, but the takeaway and sit-in prices are often a shock. Once I went to a fancy Chinese place in Stafford (imagine, fancy and Stafford together!) and when it came time for us all to divvy up the bill, it was about 40 quid each. For Chinese! In Stafford! I was rather put out. What's funny is, the English with me just shrugged, accepting it.

[zhonghua2000.livejournal.com]

There's also the crazy tax thing, whereby cost of living has exceeded the rise in pay

Welcome to America, Phase 2. ;p

[jaffacakequeen.livejournal.com]

dont get me started. This country is fast turning into an expensive debt ridden niche. Dont get nothin' for our taxes.

Problem greedy councils, greedy supermarkets, greedy banks, greedy upperclass society and a greedy government.

we are going to implode.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

Shyeah why do you think I'm going back to Australia

[pandorasblog]

Re: the price of things, I'm a total Lidl convert. Too bad there isn't one near home, but at Rem's it's been a revelation how cheap food etc. can be when you're not hung up on the brand. I can't get my head around the stupdity of English trout costing more in Spain...

Trains - I think prices have gone up here too. I'd check, but fooking Translink have suspended their fares lists, apparently in connection with having suspended online ticket-buying after they got hacked. Asshats didn't protect themselves very well, apparently...