Quote: Nowhereman said: Question #9: Being a Canadian who pretends he lives in America (and even provides an American forwarding address if you mail him), your love of British entertainment seems quite weird. Has this love of Brit culture made you ever think that you would move to this sceptered isle or do you just consider us a novelty? (I take it you have at least vistited)
Yeah, my fiance and I visited back in 2004. We rented one of those long boats and traveled the canals from Manchester up to Wales. All in all, we spent about two weeks tooling around the back country of your lands. Beautiful. Sure, there were the normal cow pastures, and sheep herds. But, there is a very unspoiled landscape to certain parts of England that you just cannot find here in America.
Real shops that serve real food. I'm certain there are the normal franchises. I even spotted a McDonalds in Chester (?is that the name?). But, all in all, it felt very un-commercialized. The pubs (especially in Wales) aren't like the ignorance-infested drunken crowd that you find in most bars here. There were people actually talking, and laughing, and just enjoying each other's company. And, above all, there wasn't this constant overlay of loud, obnoxious music drowning everything into a dull hum. That was more than refreshing.
And, to be honest, we discussed the possibilities of moving there. But, in the end, it would be extremely expensive to move across the ocean without the proper jobs to meet us. I'll never say never. But, if we did, we'd probably try and live up in the hills of Wales. And we'd invite you up every weekend to make fun of the locals.
Don't get me wrong. There are plenty of things I don't like about England, or its people. There's an unspoken arrogance in some that is extremely off-putting. Of course, I'm certain you could find that anywhere in America, too. Also, while one half of the people are sincerely friendly and jovial, the other half are withdrawn and cynical. Again, probably not that different from America.
Still, if I had to weigh it all out, yeah, I would love to go and live in England for awhile. Just to see if it brings me as much joy as it does now...
