Things you rather like about this country

[Blue Hills]

I've lived and worked in a great many places in the world and have found something - often very many things - beautiful in every single one of them.

Then I retired and went to visit a friend who lived in the Ribble Valley. As I turned off the main A59 just before Clitheroe, the valley laid itself out before me like an intricate carpet, the Bowland Fells rose beyond and I thought 'THIS is where I want to be ...'

I've not changed my mind in the past 12+ years, even though I do have moments where I want to get away from the grey clouds and the rain, and return to the French Polynesian beaches I have known, the Alpine village I lived in or the magical deserts I've loved.

I was deeply, deeply disappointed when this country voted for Brexit - but what's done is done and I just have to cope with it as bet I can.

a pic for you.
my screenshot.
Looks like rain.

 

[Archie_tect]

How green it is... love green.

 

[Accy cyclist]

a pic for you.
my screenshot.
Looks like rain.
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That looks like a familiar view from Clitheroe Castle.

 

[FrankCrank]

Plus the beer of course.

 

[cookiemonster]

Speyside.

 

[Salty seadog]

I thought the French were streets ahead on the cheese race.

For the record, I love English cheese as well as French ones. BTW, does the US make any other than a tasteless, anaemic slice inside a Subway sandwich? There must be southern folk with a French background who brew up some pretty good stuff.

I'll tell you this for nothing. A trade deal with the good old US of A would see them trying to wipe out the origin of provenance of our produce.

I'd not want to "enjoy" their Stilton or Cornish pasties.

 

[Dave7]

Pubs.

Pubs and Dirk ?? Do they really go together?????????
Nah

 

[Saluki]

How green it is... love green.
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The green-ness is one of the reasons that I decided not to emigrate to Australia, Darwin, NT actually, when ex hubs and I were both offered sponsorship for jobs and a home. It was given much thought and debate but ultimately we decided that we missed the green too much.

 

[Blue Hills]

That looks like a familiar view from Clitheroe Castle.

yep, you strutting your stuff the other side of the hill.

 

[slowmotion]

A Subway Stilton could be interesting.

 

[stoatsngroats]

Whilst we have some serious issues across this country, with poor and needy people, who often seem not to be able to make the best of things, overall, it’s quite lovely to be here.
I enjoy the seaside and countryside, which is all easily accessible.
And the freedom to make choices without stressing about personal safety, or invading someone else’s space.
Some other European countries which I have hastily visited equally support such freedoms, but in Eastern Europe in the 80s were quite different. Arriving by train into Berlin was an eye opener, Czechoslovakia and Hungary was similar in some respects.
I think we run the risk of losing some of these freedoms though, as we seem to become less a community, and more an ‘individual rights outweigh community’ kind of place, which it appears is much more than in the early part of my lifetime.

 

[IaninSheffield]

When route finding as a (p)leisure cyclist, I find the wealth of choice in our near inexhaustible network of quiet back roads and lanes an absolute joy.

 

[slowmotion]

Quite a lot of people in this place don't bother to lock their doors. In other countries, the citizens feel the need to have assault rifles for "Home Defence" that fire 800 rounds a minute. What exactly do they expect is going to come over the garden fence?

 

[IaninSheffield]

Though at times it can be unbelievably frustrating, it's far from consistent across the whole country, and it could be soooo much better, I'm grateful for our public transport network. Getting from any one place to another by bus, train and on foot is relatively easy compared with many other places. Of course you might have to wait for a bit, have a tolerance for tardiness, and be not too far off the beaten track. Perhaps that's another thing to be grateful for? You're never ridiculously far off the beaten track ... though i appreciate for some that might be a negative.

 

[Andy in Germany]

A rather random list, not in any order after the first entry:



My parents


York


Drystone walls


Peak district


The coast


Seaside resorts


Bike shops with cafes.


Sharing humour with random strangers


Brooks saddles


Beautiful and functional Victorian industrial engineering


Tweed rides


Pacers


Fish and Chips


Mountains, especially in Wales and Scotland


Hadrians wall


Narrow gauge railways


Smallish canals


Cathedrals


Country lanes


Wensleydale


Wensleydale cheese


Really remote places


Islands


Low tech solutions to things


Traction engines


Red post boxes


Marmite


Treacle


The Pennines


The lake district


Lots of art and theatre everywhere


Community responses to difficulty


The readiness of people and charities to jump into situations


Fishing boats


Life boats


West Highland Terriers


Eccentric ideas like mazes made of corn, penny farthing races or “Best dress Brompton rider” competitions.


Villages


Humour even in “professional” situations like train announcements.


People’s response to perceived injustice.


Second hand bookshops that don’t mind you browsing.


Being surrounded by little bits of history wherever you are


An ancient and diverse history of different people groups


Diverse and compact landscapes that change suddenly.


Small craft based businesses


Craft fairs


Forestry commission forests


National parks.


Model shops that sell interesting and obscure model making bits, and second hand models.


Model railway exhibitions


Landscapes that look “right” in the rain.


Openness to villages like Lammas and similar ideas.


Puffins