US Expat Describes The Best And Worst Things About England

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For HSR to work though you really need population densities that are going to give you catchments of at least 5 to 10 million people at the termini of the lines or an ability to serve a lot of medium size cities en-route.

I don't think that's achievable in Australia. You could have something like a HSR link from Melbourne to Sydney via Canberra but, it's highly unlikely you'd even be able to justify connecting Brisbane and absolutely no way it would make sense to other parts of Australia which are very sparsely populated really apart from the area immediately around Perth.

I mean the total Aussi population's only 22.6 million vs the EU population of 507 million.

The EU's pretty geographically large, but HSR doesn't cover most of it and the majority of HSR journeys would be under 400km even if the network allows you to go much further it stops making time-sense after that kind of distance as the journey times are too long.

Spain's quite an exception to this as it's gone off and build billions upon billions of Euro worth of ultra high tech HSR some of which isn't really justifiable at all and some new lines are seeing very little use or are even being moth-balled!! They definitely do need it in areas which get huge volumes of tourists though. Spain has almost 60m tourists / year, that's just short of the total number of people who visit the entire USA in a year. It's a hugely popular place.

I think though HSR would make a huge amount of sense in the USA but, just not covering the entire USA.
It would make absolute sense covering the entire Northeastern US and the great lakes area linking in Boston, New York, Chicago, and maybe reaching into some of the bigger cities in the Midwest and all the smaller ones en route.

You could also definitely have a Californian HSR doing a single long line from San Diego to LA to San Fran and taking in all the communities between.

From a huge tourism visit point of view Miami - Tampa - Orlando would be another obvious network.

Probably Dallas-Huston and somehow connecting Austin would make sense too.

I think though realistically the NE and California would be the most likely places it would make sense. You could easily imagine a French-style TGV or German style ICE network across those cities in the NE linking everything within 3 hours max. It would be a huge competitor for the airlines and would cut a lot of need for endless short haul flights.

I think the Boston - New York - Chicago - Washington DC general area is quite comparable to Paris - London - Brussels - Frankfurt - Amsterdam area in Europe which is the area most densely served by HSR.

...

I think you have to use the right tools for the right job though. HSR works across high-volume shorter distances. It should be used to compete with frequent short hop flights, not long-haul transcontinental ones.
Nobody's going to take a train across the entire USA as an alternative to an aircraft, even at 350km/h it's still going to be quite a long trip.

At present nobody really takes HSR across long distances in Europe either. You don't typically take a train from say London to Madrid unless you've a lot of time on your hands and really want to see the countryside!

Public transport usage in Europe varies enormously though depending on where you are. It makes sense in bigger cities but you get somewhere like here in Cork and only 8% of the population regularly use public transport with the vast majority of people commuting by car.[this post was last edited: 11/8/2013-10:06]
 
What really pisses me off is that Bombardier, a Canadian company, is one of the world leaders in hi speed rail and we don't have one anywhere in the country. For 30 years all we hear is talk and studies followed by more talk and studies. There's only one maybe two real corridors that it would work.. Toronto to Montreal, perhaps with extensions down to Windsor/Detroit and north to Quebec City.. the other being between Calgary and Edmonton but I'm beginning to think I'm never going to see them in my lifetime. When I moved back here in 06 there were two trains a day.. one from Sarnia to Toronto and the 2nd was the Amtrak from Chicago to Toronto which stopped here.. Amtrak discontinued it a few years ago. Harken back to when I was a kid in the early 60's etc and there was probably about 5 trains a day in both directions.
 
Bombardier acquired a few European companies over the years, including BREL, British Rail Engineering Limited which was the company that manufactured much of the UK's rolling stock including the HST "High Speed Train" which is the UK's 1970s Diesel-powered 125mph service that has way outlived its intended life span.

Irish Rail used a version of BREL's Mark 3 rolling stock as the core of their intercity fleet until a few years ago. They're all now awaiting the scrap yard because apparently it was cheaper to replace them with more energy-efficient DMUs than refurbish them and make them compliant with disability legislation. So they only lasted 1983 - 2010 or so.

But, yeah, I agree - it seems a bit daft that they didn't do any between some of the closer-together Canadian and maybe even US/Canadian cities.

They did do the Alcela Express in a joint venture with Alstom though. OK, it's not near TGV speeds, but for North American rail it's fast.

Speaking of HSR - The French TGV still holds a world speed record, beating even maglev systems!

It managed 574.8km/h on normal rails (no magnets!)
(357.1 mph)

It would take you from New York to Washington DC in 39 minutes!

See youtube linked below:[this post was last edited: 11/8/2013-13:01]

 
there was probably about 5 trains a day in both directions

Picture my jaw dropping... (very few trains!)
here Trenitalia (the national railways company) has a high speed train every 15 or 20 minutes from Rome to Milan and its competitor NTV has trains every half an hour or so every day and this is not counting local, night and intercity trains that might connect the two cities and those in between!
Of course this is valid in both directions.
Trenitalia trains were made by Fiat Ferroviaria and AnsaldoBrera, now FiatFerroviaria is part of Alstom and the newest ones are from a joint venture of AnsaldoBrera and Bombardier while the NTV trains are totally from Alstom, both operate with 300+ km/h design speed while the new generation of Frecciarossa 1000, the latest train from Trenitalia will get up to 360 km/h and 400+ design speed, further decreasing travel times making Rome to Milan in under 1:50 hours and total interoperability with French, German, Spanish, Swiss, etc... trains
 
I agree with a lot of the article. I'm pleased that she now realises how much Americans are squandering the planets limited resources, compared with the Brits. It is clear that she is living in Sussex, one of the most expensive parts of England for house prices, so her comments in that respect are gross generalisations.
The part about education seemed to just be factual, not giving an opinion so I don't know whether she regards this as better or worse than USA.
It is interesting that she makes no mention of guns (or the absence of them) in UK.
 
HSR & United States

Since we've been hijacked already! *LOL*

True HSR in the United States is a different apple than Europe due to differences mandated in locomotive and rolling stock construction.

Trains in the USA must be built to withstand impact with among all things other (freight) trains. This is because the two (passenger and freight) often share same tracks. This results in locomotives and cars that are often very heavy, so as with anything else such as cars or planes there are penalties for hauling around all that extra weight. Even the Acela had to be beefed up to meet USA standards.

Being as all this may, the USA prior to WWII had the most modern and fastest passenger rail service in the world. Indeed much of the early work for HSR came from American railroads. You had trains like the PRR's GG1 that could hit speeds of 100mph or more but were limited often by federal safety laws. Even back in the days of steam the Hiawatha service could hit speeds of 100mph (or higher, equipment wasn't around to obtain exact readings).

For HSR to work you need a dedicated ROW with few or no grade crossings. You also need (by USA law) in cab signaling versus track side). But the most important you must have a ROW that is pretty much straight. This is where the Acela from Washington D.C. to Boston runs into trouble.

There are stretches where the Acela could hit speeds over 100mph, however much of the ROW has curves, grade crossings, shared with other trains and so forth that limit speed. No point in reaching maximum speed only to have to slow down in a few minutes for this or that "problem".

Sadly railroads are very infrastructure intensive which involves vast sums. Unlike airplanes and airlines that only need airports trains need ROW, stations, terminals, yards, etc... All of which cost money to build, maintain and often are taxed.

Post WWII when Americans fell in love with the automobile (with lots of help from federal and local governments), railroads began their decline and eventually death gasps.

During WWII the federal government relied very much on Untied States RR companies and they rose to the challenge. IIRC something like 75% of troops and a higher number of material was moved by railroads. Due to all that heavy work plus war time restrictions on purchasing/building new equipment after the war RRs saw their stock literally beaten up and worn out from use. Some did order new trains( the switch from steam to diesel) and roll out new services (the California Zephyr) it became clear that for long haul routes, cars, buses and later air travel was going to win. Inter-city service was killed by the cars and the mass move out of cities to the country. Persons no longer went "down town" to shop or whatever, but drove to the new malls and what not located near where they lived.

Problem in creating HSR in the United States now is much ROW has been abandoned and or torn up. It is one thing to realign or whatever existing tracks, but to start from scratch...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiawatha_Service
 
The Americans are not really squandering the world's resources - I know that's what we are told all the time, but America actually puts a lot of money and resources back into the world economy, which is why everyone worries when the US economy catches cold. The US has enough resources to be completely self-sufficient and a net exporter of energy as well. It's just proselytising from the left, who have turned bitching about the US into an art form.

As for HSR in Oz, there is some merit if it ran along a corridor from Melbourne to Surfers/Brisbane. That is Australia's most heavily populated region, but as I said, flying is cheap and quick and fulfills our needs. I reckon developing heavy rail is much more important to take the pressure off our trucking industry, which is the life-line of our nation. So, in essence we should actually build better freeways to facilitate safer and speedier goods transport by road, since that is and will continue to be a growing area of transportation.

Now, all we need is to separate ourselves from the Singapore oil exchange and start pricing our own oil and gas to facilitate cheaper energy for domestic use. That would be the right way to go forward.
 
For All Railroads One Thing Is Constant

Passenger service is fine, but freight pays the bills.

It was that way back in the day and still is so for the most part today. This is why passenger rail requires often heavy government subsidies or RRs will cease offering. Even as railroads were abandoning passenger service back in the 1950's and such, many kept or wanted to keep freight service. Mind you much was cut back because of trucks especially short haul routes, but for long haul train is still often the number one choice especially if goods are not time sensitive.
 
As for transportation- the way forward is drone carriers. This will be much faster, and will eliminate the very expensive and environmentally damaging roadway networks that's are in constant need of repair or widening.

As for the use of dryers in the UK. I'm no expert, or Ex-Pat, but I do love the Brits.
Are we really to believe that Hyacinth Bucket did not have a perfectly matched washer-dryer tucked away in her single story suburban abode. If she could afford Royal Doulton with hand-painted periwinkles, by God, she wouldn't let Richard leave her to be caught going to the local laudry. What would Mrs.Counselor Nugent think? And Violet, Oh yes. Violets Country cottage? Tough call. It did have double glazing, though.
Daisy and Anslo, with sister Rose in toe? Oh, I laugh. Who ever heard of a Counsel flat with laundry machines, much less one with a dryer. They really could have used a dishwasher, yeah?

Yes its true that most Eastenders all use the launderette.

However, in the movie Educating Rita which is, blimey, going on 30 years, Julie Roberts character had an unmatched, front load washer and dryer, right in the middle of her shabby kitchen. Plugs exposed, sloppily attached and all.

Seriously, though. Americans are NOT an example of how to live. The lifestyle here is propped to encourage the usage of precious natural resources, and to eviscerate from the society, any ration thoughts responsibility for those very actions.
As a result we have idiots looking to contaminate large swaths of ground water in an effort to extract natural gas to heat the behemoth structures. Fracking is not acceptable as people in the UK and other rational countries have stated.

Though the U.S. has a small portion of the worlds 6 billion plus population, we use 25% of the energy, and create the pollution that goes along with that.
not acceptable.

If the best a person a ex US citizen can do is complain about a lack of closet space, or basement space... be grateful it keeps one from becoming a HOARDER. Have you seen that show? NO ONE can hoard like an American. Yes there are a few Brits that have tried, but no one can look and be as pathetic as an American hoarder. You don't want to end up like that.

Unlike Canada, Australia, and other countries, which are still actually a part of England, albeit at more than arms length, the U.S. is the bastard, ADD afflicted, step child that had to break away. As a result, we've ended up with some "interesting characters" and thus some predictable simple minded policies here.

Have you seen our elections and our health care? Yes, its getting better but my God, the ONLY industrialized country that does NOT have free health care for all. That is inferior and embarrassing. There is no rational excuse.

We can do better.

America is NOT an example to be replicated. There are giant holes in its policies, one being its 20-something attitude of unquestionable supremacy.
 
Another board, another subject, I said the same. The US is no paragon of civilization. The 'free' country with more people in jail than any other anywhere. Roughly half of whom only questionably harmed themselves with recreational plant extracts. But we've got a sprawling bureaucracy specifically for that, so it must continue to be a sprawling problem in the public mind to justify continuance of a sprawling budget producing absolutely nothing. Just one of the stark examples that doesn't require much backstory to become apparent.
 
The Bucket's Home

We see Hyacinth loading and unloading the dishwasher often enough, and or course the under counter fridge, but do not recall ever seeing a washing machine much less dryer. We know Hyacinth does have an automatic washing machine; she reminds Richard of it in an episode where he speaks about sailing solo around the world.

Still cannot imagine Mrs. Bucket not having every mod con so a W&D must have been somewhere. Indeed Elizabeth does not seem to be one to peg out her washing either, so there you are.

Violet of course would have all the mod cons in her at her country cottage and main residence. Don't know if they owned a holiday home in Tenerife or rented.

Daisy may or may not have had a washer. I mean she would have taken whatever Onslow could scrounge from local tip or throw-aways. Onslow's Rafe was always giving away second hands as did Hyacinth. Still it being a council estate there probably was a launderette in the area.

As for East Enders, Peggy has her own washer as did probably a few more of the long standing residents of the area. The rest yes, probably went off to the launderette to have to contend with Dot's ciggie fumes. Many seem to drop in and leave bundles with either Dot or Pauline for service washes so guess there was enough of that business.

http://uk-comedy.net/HouseMapHyacinth.htm
 
Everyone focusses on the US. What about the Chinese, Indians, Russians et al, who are all developing a fast-growing middle-class with a rapacious appetite for non-renewables? Germany too. They've commissioned 26 new coal powered electricity plants only this year. Admittedly it is part of their anti-nuclear power program, but even though they are supposedly the ones with the most renewable energy generation, they still can't do without coal. Their appetite for non-renewables is rapacious.

As for the US not serving as the best example - I don't know about that. America is always in some state of flux or reflux, but it is a dynamic democracy, even with big business and lobbyists highjacking Washington. I don't think the US is done by a long shot and I admire their enthusiasm, energy and inventiveness. No matter how wrong they get things, it is a real democracy at work and Americans do take it seriously; unlike us here in the 'lucky' country.

Yes, Australia was once an extension of Britain, but that is no longer the case. As a nation we are probably the most Americanized country in the world and that is how many non-Anglos see us. When asked about Oz it's usually something like 'it's like America, but better' - even the Pommie actress Liz Hurley, made such a noise only the other day.

Oh, by the way, I've attached a link to a paper that discusses the possibility of Australia becoming part of the US union. Is it inconceivabable, not by a long shot. I reckon there are serious and significant advantages to such a move and it will become an issue in the next 50 years. I may not live long enough to see it, but it makes sense.

Sorry for taking this thread in another direction, but isn't that what we love about open discussions like these? They offer such interesting possibilities and are unpredictable.

http://www.anzasa.arts.usyd.edu.au/a.j.a.s/Articles/1_04/Mosler.pdf
 
Renewable reschnewable. The masses don't care how they get it as long as they get it. PLEASE don't emulate the US model. It's incredibly corrupt on so many levels. We're just like Rome 2000 years ago except with more practical helmets and more antiquated plumbing (infrastructure).

Dallas, the city where I grew up in the 60s, is now a ghetto across its full extent. Detroit, the latter-day industrial hub, has been a ghetto for 40 years. Houston, Detroit, DC, NYC, Camden, Oakland, Milwaukee, Chicago take turns being the homicide capitals. THAT'S what you aspire to? I think your image of the US is about 60 years out of date.

In 1955 we might have been a model. Then we killed our president, 30 miles from where I am now. Then we killed Vietnamese and ourselves for no reason whatsoever. Then (fast forward) we killed the entire country of Iraq, again for no reason whatsoever. Meanwhile supporting every problematic dictator the latter world has known. Batista. Then Castro. The Shah. Marcos. Saddam. Mubarak. Whoever was running Israel at the time. A string of Columbian dictators. Fer gawdsake, IBM and the Bush family supported Hitler!

They all served our greedy purposes at the time. Tell me you don't want to emulate that.
 
I think people are somewhat underestimating both the USA and the EU as they're 'old world' developed economies that aren't seeing meteoric growth.

The reality is that the EU and US GDPs are still much bigger than China etc. They're not going to just disappear!

I think you have to remember that speculators like rapid growth more than long term stability.

EU GDP 16.8 trillion dollars.
USA GDP 15.68 trillion dollars.
China GDP 8.22 trillion dollars.

The US and Europe are also liberal democracies that function exceedingly well and stably. Where as China is an authoritarian state. India is growing rapidly and is the world's largest democracy in raw numbers but it's a social class disaster with grinding poverty for many of its citizens.

Many other rapidly developing countries aren't really very stable.

I don't think we need to worry that much about disappearing anytime soon!

As for the UK vs US differences in shopping : There are plenty of big out of town malls in Europe but people like downtown city centre shopping too and tend to expect and elect politicians who make policies to balance those things. We tend to be very strongly attached to city centre shopping districts and value them.

With regard to energy I think a large % of people are starting to see that they need to look at what they're consuming.

My biggest concern is that the the developed world has swept a lot of its most polluting industries and manufacturing to countries with little or no environmental regulations.

Our appliances, electronics, clothes and all sorts of consumables are cheaper than ever because the companies making them. Have bypasses our tough environmental regulations, labour laws and high wages.
That's not sustainable.

(Posted on a mobile. Excuse any weird typos!)
 
Laundrettes on TV

I've always pondered this one too.

In the UK we have 3 major soap opera TV shows.

We have "Eastenders" - Which is set and filmed in London's Eastend

Then Coronation Street - Set and filmed on the outskirts of Greater Manchester

And then "Emmerdale" - Set and filmed on the West Yorkshire dales.

Eastenders (The south of England) has always had a laundrette in the show, whereas Coronation St and Emmerdale (The north of England) don't have them at all.

I find it amusing that in the South UK where people are generally more affluent (although to me there is no difference in the quality of life, and being a Northerner myself, of course I feel the North UK is better) they need to use the laundrettes in the Soap Operas and in the North Soap Operas, everyone has their own washers in the show - Especailly Emmerdale, where Yorkshire folk are considered "country bumkins" - My Mrs will love me for that being from Yorkshire ;P

IIRC "Keeping Up Appearances is set somewhere in the UK Midlands. You would assume it would have been the "Home Counties" but apparently not. I love Keeping Up Appearances. Along with "One foot in the grave" which was set in the Home Counties.
 
Rapunzel

I'd say the UK is referred more to as the 51st state than Australia?
 
Blimey!

That looks like too much bloody hard work. Paying thruppence to use the Bendix sounds like a good deal. In the second vid did he say that using the wash house costs 2 shillings? That's inflation for you.[this post was last edited: 11/9/2013-10:11]
 
I think EastEnders is a bit of a mythical place from another era though.

A lot of what was the east end of London has become quite gentrified.
 
"if you took Canada out of the picture"

That's a tough ask, since Canada is an integral part of North America. You can't get anymore North American than Canada, can you? Do you think that Canada will, one day, join the Union or is that utterly inconceivable? I know Canadians are very particular about not being called Americans, but if it was such a big deal, why don't they just change their accents so they don't sound so American? All they need do is speak the Queen's English or develop their own strine or properly enunciate their vowels and go easy on your Rs. It's not as if you have a lot of flies so it's okay to open your mouths when you speak.

The Quebecois are very particular about protecting their Canadian non-Anglo identity. They'll go so far as to pretend that English doesn't exist in their neck of the woods and they've bastardized French enough that they will never be confused with French people. Why do Canadians sound so American anyway?

Aussie strine is disappearing and certainly not so popular among our young ones. I've never really liked full-on strine, it sounds oafish and is annoying after a while. When you've been stuck on a plane for more than 20 hours or out in the country, having to listen to full-on Ozzie strine, you'll know what I'm talking about. It becomes a real strain - maybe that's why they call it strine - as in "Oi'm strining the English language because oi don't wanna sound loike a pommy baaast'd." Canadians could have done the same, or is all this posturing about Canadian identity nothing more than a front? I once heard somewhere that it is your secret dream to become Americans and fly the star spangled banner over your lands whilst singing America the beautiful.

Here in Oz we certainly do and we'll do it before you, I reckon. We don't want the Americans to know though. Not yet anyway. First we are changing our accents to sound more generic - that'll really confuse the yanks and make invasion easier. Hugh Jackman, Neomi Watts, Toni Collette, they are all Ozzie sleeper cells, sent over there to ready America for the big Aussie invasion. One day soon they'll pounce and America will wake up and find that it's been annexed to Australia. [this post was last edited: 11/9/2013-19:28]
 
"where is your sense of adventure"

I'm just trying to picture my mother having to go to a wash house. She is OCD and has always taken 'clean' to a next level. Plucking other peoples' hairs out of one of those sinks - yikes, she would have had conniptions. I bet my mother would have Dettoled and bleached the entire work area before doing any laundry.

I remember when I was very young, we lived on the second floor of an apartment building. There was a balcony off the kitche that we used to breakfast on in summer. One morning I was having my porridge and suddenly mom flew into a rage and started yelling at someone a couple of floors above us. At first I didn't know what had happened, but as it turned out a lady was clipping their toe nails and managed to land them in my mother's breakfast. She always hated communal anything and, before we had our own bathroom, we'd go to the public baths to use the showers, never the bath tubs and I wanted to so much. I was never allowed to run around barefoot there either and had to wear plastic shoes in case I'd pick up a fungus. I'm pretty sure that my mother used to Dettol the shower before we'd go in it.
 
"First we are changing our accents to sound more generic

A country full of men that look like this? Sign me up, I'm there!

Accents can be worked upon or completely ignored. Lord knows women for centuries have sat listening to endless palaver from men. It really doesn't matter what they are saying anyway, all that is expected of one is to smile and occasionally utter some form of agreement. *LOL*

 
I don't think 98% of Canadians would ever want to become another state of the USA. Why would we since there's no real benefit. Canadians already started infiltrating America back in the early 20th century by creating and controlling Hollywood and the studio system . LOL
 
Was that last bit from the interviewer about the 'hat' a Freudian slip or what?

You are right madame laundress, who cares about accents. I never did. A mouth can be useful for so many things other than talking and our tongues all work the same regardless of linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Talk is cheap and only leads to misunderstandings.
 
Block of houses

Don't know the exact place, but can guarantee this block of houses is in London.
 

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