Well I've been gone a while, just flew home to the freedom on Indiana and the good old USA and all I can say is that while Great Briton is a beautiful place to visit, I would not want to live there. I took the family there for a month+ long vacation and stayed in England, Wales and Scotland.
Almost every day there were news reports of murders, virtually every one by knife attack.
As we did not stay in hotels, but rather in rental homes, B&Bs and cottages we were in close contact with residents of the UK. We also visited some friends I have over there and there was one thing that seemed to be a universal complaint . . . people there seem to feel they are living under an oppressive government. One homeowner showed me 4 guns she had. All were illegal. 3 of them were "movie prop" guns and completely inert. Of those 3 inert non-guns, 2 of them were single action style handguns and mere possession of either of those could have landed this woman in prison! The final gun was a beautiful old side by side shotgun. When I say old, it was at least 100 years old and clearly marked not to be used with ball powders, so I presume it required blackpowder cartridges (but that is just my guess). That is a family heirloom and it was not "registered" by the now dead father, so that gun is now and forever illegal in England. Such a sad commentary on the subjects!
Honestly the subjects NEED to have their own tea party and overthrow some of their oppressive laws. One woman was in trouble with he town because she had a garden pond in an 'unauthorized' place in her yard. It was out of the designated area of her allowed garden. Another family had to get permission to change the wall color of the walls INSIDE their home.
Yup, we think our government is intrusive, we have a lot to learn from the subjects who submit to the government of the UK.
There there is a guy who is considered by some to be an embarrassment and by others to be a hero. Guy Fawkes is sort of a legend in York, we saw plaques on walls proclaiming the spot of where he was born as well as taverns named in his honor. He was hanged in Westminster. Near as I can tell, Guy Fawkes was planning his very own revolt against the king of England in much the same way that we had a Boston Tea Party. . . only Mr Fawkes planted some powder kegs under the government offices and intended to blow up the King and his cronies.
There is also a Guy Fawkes Day that is celebrated annually in England. Apparently it does no good! They seem to remember Guy Fawkes as a cooky folk hero, but they seemingly have forgotten the message he was trying to send. Sad really.
They have fireworks on Guy Fawkes day, much like we do on our 4th of July. We are celebrating our freedom and the overthrow of the oppressive monarchy, they are seemingly celebrating their lost freedom and the continuation of an oppressive monarchy!
Almost every day there were news reports of murders, virtually every one by knife attack.
As we did not stay in hotels, but rather in rental homes, B&Bs and cottages we were in close contact with residents of the UK. We also visited some friends I have over there and there was one thing that seemed to be a universal complaint . . . people there seem to feel they are living under an oppressive government. One homeowner showed me 4 guns she had. All were illegal. 3 of them were "movie prop" guns and completely inert. Of those 3 inert non-guns, 2 of them were single action style handguns and mere possession of either of those could have landed this woman in prison! The final gun was a beautiful old side by side shotgun. When I say old, it was at least 100 years old and clearly marked not to be used with ball powders, so I presume it required blackpowder cartridges (but that is just my guess). That is a family heirloom and it was not "registered" by the now dead father, so that gun is now and forever illegal in England. Such a sad commentary on the subjects!
Honestly the subjects NEED to have their own tea party and overthrow some of their oppressive laws. One woman was in trouble with he town because she had a garden pond in an 'unauthorized' place in her yard. It was out of the designated area of her allowed garden. Another family had to get permission to change the wall color of the walls INSIDE their home.
Yup, we think our government is intrusive, we have a lot to learn from the subjects who submit to the government of the UK.
There there is a guy who is considered by some to be an embarrassment and by others to be a hero. Guy Fawkes is sort of a legend in York, we saw plaques on walls proclaiming the spot of where he was born as well as taverns named in his honor. He was hanged in Westminster. Near as I can tell, Guy Fawkes was planning his very own revolt against the king of England in much the same way that we had a Boston Tea Party. . . only Mr Fawkes planted some powder kegs under the government offices and intended to blow up the King and his cronies.
There is also a Guy Fawkes Day that is celebrated annually in England. Apparently it does no good! They seem to remember Guy Fawkes as a cooky folk hero, but they seemingly have forgotten the message he was trying to send. Sad really.
They have fireworks on Guy Fawkes day, much like we do on our 4th of July. We are celebrating our freedom and the overthrow of the oppressive monarchy, they are seemingly celebrating their lost freedom and the continuation of an oppressive monarchy!