Why it's not so bad to be in England after all
The doom mongers are out in force constantly, scolding anyone who shows an inkling of returning to the UK as having some sort of weakness or sickness. When I lived in Thailand I only ever went back to England for three weeks maximum, just enough time to justify why I hated it, and just enough time to be away from nice hot weather instead of miserable drizzly days.
Why not spend a bit longer and see if the place really has gone tits up? I've had no choice but to do that myself and ok, I am in a very decent, scenic sane part of England but there are things that remind us of how lucky we are to have worked for the rewards we earned, travelling to all those countries, living it up in exotic climates etc.
Here's a local character in my town: His nickname is 'Tabs' and he's not worked since 1996. His days are spent trawling drinking buddies for small loans to get more booze, and he's been on long term sickness benefit most of his life. He has no intention of ever working and by his appearance, he doesn't wash that often.
Another character who saunts around town is 'Rachel' who isn't a woman but actually a man who's waiting for his NHS operation soon. He walks about often dressed as a woman, and looks as such: A bloke in womans clothes. That NHS op will have to be exensive to ever float my boat. Rachel has never worked, spent 6 years in prison and stinks of drink.
Another, 'Scottish' Arthur, is an ex heroin addict who fled to Cornwall when his bridges were all finally burnt again. He stayed in an ex-addicts hostel and has been housed by the local council. He hasn't worked for almost 20 years and spends his days lounging about at home or at the betting shop. He'll never work again, and has zero intention of, opting to spend his days collecting sickness benefit.
All these characters have never travelled abroad, never eaten at fancy places or partied at the best clubs, as they've had much of their adult lives drinking cheap booze and chasing drinking buddies for loans to see them through to benefit day.
This is a great intro to something I'm looking to study, social care etc. The oddballs will probably test my patience but should be interesting.
Makes me think when I'm missing warmer climates that maybe I'm not so badly off after all. At least I eat decent home made food, drink decent wine and smoke good grass.
And read the Daily Mail.