Pro & Con between life in UK & US

This tacky hotel with a kiddies theme in Blackpool wanted £400 a night.

Yes, and you noticed, they had no bookings.

True.

I am an American teacher with over twenty yeas of experience in various schools in Los Angeles, Ca and the New England states, where I have resided for most of my life (including the present time).
I have had a desire to move to the UK for several years. I have several British friends who now live in the States. I have asked one of my best Brit pals why she is here and what was wrong with England that so many Brits have moved here.
Her answer was obvious in that her husband's career brought them here in the early eighties, and now that her children are grown and have lives here she wants to be near them. Her other reasons are the climate (she's in southern California), the life style and some other things that are personal preferences and do not reflect positively or negatively on either country.
The point is that any of the positives or negatives stated by posters to this topic are only important considerations if they will have an impact on your own life. More people in the States live away from beaches than near them, stores open 24/7 are in much fewer places than store that close at nine PM or earlier, and so on.
Not the main reasons that I want to reside in the UK but my personal preferences include: train service that goes everywhere, not having to own a car but able to rent one for trips, a more serious consideration for education, a government system that though probably not perfect is better than the US where we keep our president in office for a number of years regardless who which party controls congress, so that each branch of the government fights anything the other wants and very little gets accomplished.
Disregarding the blatant negative comeents, I feel this was a good topic thread

I was thinking of some things todays.
UK-Pros
Living in a culture that excepts walking each day.
Liberal holidays/vacations.
Lots of water.
Mail delivery in the front door letterbox.
Trains and buses that run frequently
Mild climate.
UK-Cons
Poor and confusing hot water systems.

UK-Cons
Poor and confusing hot water systems.

Wot? (As they say here) I'm not a fan of mixer taps, but they aren't "confusing." And the hot water system is simple, if you're on a hot water heater you just switch it on.  If you're like us it's an electric shower and it heats itself.  Not poor or confusing at all. 

Yeah, obviously this is one of those threads that is completely subjective based on experience. The hot water thing was confusing in the first house I lived in here, but not in the one I currently live in. It depends on the age of the house and what you were used to before, etc.

For me, a few cons of living in the UK, though I love it here, is just the high cost of petrol and driving directions feel harder for me to navigate, but of course, that's based on what I'm used to. I miss the ease of driving in Texas and taking road trips, etc. It felt easier to find my way around, no matter what city I was in, if you know what I mean. I could go to a new city and have a fairly easy time of navigating it in the car, whereas here, if I were to end up in a new place and have to drive around, I'd probably have a panic attack!  But yeah, that's just my own experience. And while other people talk about how great public transport is here, I live in the middle of nowhere, so it isn't always that convenient for me. There are places within 20 miles of here that I can't take a bus or train to, which doesn't make it easy to commute anywhere else to work without paying extremely high prices for petrol. But I do realise other places in the UK have more elaborate and cost effective systems in place for this sort of thing, so it's just based on where I live. Which, by the way, is gorgeous, so I can't complain all that much. 

It depends on where you are for public transportation and trains.  My in-laws live in Colchester, so I can get a train that takes 2 1/2 hours to get there since I have to go through London, or drive which takes 45 mins.

My in laws have to drive 45 minutes to get a train and the bus comes twice a day to the village to get school kids.  And they do live in a village. 

Buses are great in my village, every ten minutes.  But in the next village over they don't run on weekends and only go every 45 minutes. 

I suppose we already discussed the fact that I have never lived anywhere in the US where my mail didn't go through my door, but I have lived places in the UK where it is deposited in the lobby.  Although, where I live now has the mail through the door. 

As for politics and getting things done that remains to be seen.   

I was thinking of some things todays.
UK-Pros
Living in a culture that excepts walking each day.

And even though in my experience, it's true that Americans don't walk as much as English people do (I'm from Texas and its too hot to walk everywhere year round, plus places tend to be very spread out), many New Yorkers would disagree with this statement! There are plenty of places in the US where people walk more than in other places, so its hard to judge that.

Lots of water.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Drinking water, rain water or seaside water? One's probably a pro, one's probably a con, and I'm not sure there's much difference in the availability of drinking water between the UK and the US. 

I was thinking of some things todays.
UK-Pros
Living in a culture that excepts walking each day.
Liberal holidays/vacations.
Lots of water.
Mail delivery in the front door letterbox.
Trains and buses that run frequently
Mild climate.
UK-Cons
Poor and confusing hot water systems.

All of which are things which have come up on the forum recently, why don't you discuss some of the things you felt were better/worse when you were living in the uk?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Drinking water, rain water or seaside water? One's probably a pro, one's probably a con, and I'm not sure there's much difference in the availability of drinking water between the UK and the US.  

When you stay in hotels in Las Vegas or Los Angeles there are notices to use the water sparingly.
In Las Vegas there is a law that prevents you from putting in a lawn on new builds so as to preserve the water.
Don't even think about washing your car in your driveway.

Wot? (As they say here) I'm not a fan of mixer taps, but they aren't "confusing." And the hot water system is simple, if you're on a hot water heater you just switch it on.  If you're like us it's an electric shower and it heats itself.  Not poor or confusing at all. 

I was referencing the recent threads on here about confusing UK hot water systems.

When you stay in hotels in Las Vegas or Los Angeles there are notices to use the water sparingly.
In Las Vegas there is a law that prevents you from putting in a lawn on new builds so as to preserve the water.
Don't even think about washing your car in your driveway.

There are often hose pipe bans in parts of the UK.

discuss some of the things you felt were better/worse when you were living in the uk?

Horse droppings in the street. (my point is that horses were quite common for transportation when I was growing up. Milkmen, coal men and various haulage companies used horses. Not forgetting the farmers)

No home telephones available unless you knew someone politically. Probably one person in a thousand had a telephone.

Since I was born in 1938 (ewe) I felt it was unsafe that there were bombs falling from the sky.

Strange that I liked food rationing. Food was reasonably priced and the rations were enough.

Since I was born in 1938 (ewe) I felt it was unsafe that there were bombs falling from the sky.

HiYa Jim!  My parents were born in '38 & '39 and moved to the US in '61.  One of the things they talk about is lack of refrigeration.  When I first got here and had a moan about my tiny fridge (it's not that small), they were quick to point out that I should be happy to have one, period. 

Sometimes when I get my weekly phone call from them, they spend more time talking to each other about 'those days' than they do talking to me - but it's very sweet and I love to hear it.