On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 20:37:33 +0000, Mike Mitchell
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 13:05:56 +0000, Andy Hall
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Feb 2004 09:34:38 -0000, "IMM" wrote:

[snip]

Britain is filthy. Travel around western Europe,: France: Germany, Holland,
etc.

I do. Extensively.

Britain is strewn with litter and fly tipping.

So are the other countries that you mention,

In the case of Germany and Holland, that is patently NOT the case!

I'm sorry, but it is. It depends on where you look.

There are parts of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Frankfurt, Munich,
cities of the Ruhrgebiet .... which have serious litter problems,
among others.



Countries that are held on a pedestal of apparent neatness and
civilisation have among the worst problems but sometimes manifest in
other ways. For example, Bern, the federal capital of Switzerland
has one of the highest incidences of hard drugs use in the western
world. The public park next to the parliament building is
permanently littered with used syringes and needles such that people
can't use it safely. Yet everybody believes that this is the epitome
of a well run society.



How
you can possibly suggest that those two countries have the same litter
problem as Britain, beats me!

I didn't say that it was necessarily as bad in other countries, (i.e.
I haven't counted the number of sweetie papers on the ground to three
decimal places), but the issue is there, nonetheless.

When I have spent a week in Germany,
then return to the UK, as soon as I emerge from the barriers at
Heathrow I notice how everything you look at looks tacky, cheap,
inferior, worn, badly maintained.

Around Heathrow that is arguably true, but is not representative of
all of the country. The immediate environs of airports like any
other port anywhere are not representative of the rest of a country.

Everywhere. You. Look. The buses,
the Tube, the restaurants, the streets, the dress-sense, the
grubbiness of the place is quite impressive. Take a GOOD look next
time you travel, okay?!!

On all of the things that you list, there are examples of better and
worse in every country. The grass always does look greener.
I travel to somewhere most weeks, often to multiple countries and I
see a great deal. There is no glamour in it, believe me. I talk
to a lot of people, both in business and socially and the same issues
are raised.

I would suggest that you take a look next time you travel. Things
are not what they seem.



..andy

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