pro:
- Old things. I love things that are old and falling apart, and frankly, the United Kingdom is riddled with ’em.
- The tube. I know, it’s just as bad as the CTA when it’s bad, but when it’s good, it’s so much better.
- Bike lanes separated by curbs! (er, kerbs.)
- Red Nose Day!
- Easy access to wool. And department stores like John Lewis that actually still have knitting departments!
- Bank holidays plus cheap getaway fares to the Continent. ‘Nuff said.
- NHS. Yes, it has…erm…issues. I use an HMO. Same difference.
- BBC Radio 1. I know it’s pop, but i love it anyways. Also, don’t sneer at John Peel’s home ground.
- Actually, pretty much everything BBC. <3 BBC. Also, I am totally okay with paying for television licenses, even if it’s hard to say te-lu-VI-shon instead of TEH-li-vi-shin.
- Going down the pub for a pint with my mates.
- Television which understands that it’s okay for a story to wrap up in six episodes, without dragging it out long past its sell-by date.
- Proper tea.
- Sharing my chips with strange blokes in Soho.
- People who basically understand basic French and who won’t act like it’s something super special I’ve learned a bit about it.
- Getting to wear a scarf to accessorize and having it make me look cool.
- “Indefinite leave to remain” sounds so much nicer than “green card.”
- <3 coalitions and parliamentary procedure. Hate two-party nonsense. Coalition yay! (Also, I am convinced this is the only way to eliminate bullshit like white supremacy in the United States. Without exposure, reasonable folk aren’t convinced they’re there. If Matt Hale et al. were running for office, people would be forced to confront it, and would subsequently be “omg yuk” and “eugenics sucks” about it, and it would eventually die out. Now, these things fester. Tell me how that’s better?)
- CURRY.
- Crazy-ass streets that make no sense without a map.
con:
- Gotta earn a baccalaureate first. I’ve mentioned the bit where I don’t actually like school, right?
- Spelling changes. Emigration looks like a nicer word but I’m pretty sure I’m going to get tripped up on the details.
- CCTV.
- The realization that without actually changing my views on anything I might actually become a de facto conservative. *shudder* Or at least Labour!
- The whole creepy privacy-invading police state thing I’m pretty sure George Orwell wrote a whole novel decrying. The fact that bitching about it on the Internet may come back to haunt me when I go to apply for a visa. Come on, you guys. It may be trite but don’t let the terrorists win, mmmkay?
- The prospect of having to have flatmates in order to live there. I’m too old for bickering over whose turn it is to scrub the hob, okay?
- Having to translate English-to-English. (cf. “sticky pad.”)
- Do they have TiVo in the UK? Seriously, this makes me fret.
- Crazy-ass streets that make no sense without a map.
