Scotland and Wales

Originally Posted by DarrenSV650S

Why did you start the thread?

Its xmas, families all over the country are getting p***ed up and having rows, why would here be any different?

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Isn't it funny how this thread has switched from "why do Scots all live down here", to all the English suddenly proclaiming "I'm partially Scottish you know"

Not me, I'd rather be ghey

I'm kidding, I cant and won't do anything that makes me bleed!

I would rather be Irish than a Englishman.

I love you really Dave.

Originally Posted by Sally

I don't make a thread saying I don't want to be associated with people from the wrong side of the divide.

Even though I don't support the idea of a UK, I don't have a problem with people from England, well not all of them.

OP seems to be thinking rather narrow minded in my opinion.

+1

I am pro UK though.

Originally Posted by instigator

I'm Scots, living in London.

I can't quite describe why I despise Scotland and never want to return. There must be some deeper meaning to my hatred of the place. I'm here right now and I'm champin' at the bit to get back down South. Probably to get away from the Scots themselves. I don't like people with no ambition. People who are happy to sit in the same place, with the same people, for all of their lives. I cannot understand that mindset. That and the scumbag NEDS or any of the youngsters in general.

So I can remain 'content' in the fact that most of the Londoners I come across don't share that same mindset. Probably because they're foreign themselves. And if not, it's probably because I don't realise it as they don't speak English.

Originally Posted by instigator

Bleurgh no, I'm a west coaster, eh.

Maybe we are getting towards answering Lozzo's original question?

Where on the west coast are you? From what you are saying I'm going to take a guess at Dumbarton/Greenock down to Irvine/Prestwick?

The entire Central Belt (by that I mean draw a big X from Perth to Prestwick and Greenock to Galashiels) has taken a massive downturn in the past 10 years, if you ask me morale is at an all time low. The majority are not happy, and this shows in negativity, pessimism and aggression.

I don't know what has caused this downturn, but the Central Belt is no longer a part of the Scotland I used to know and love. Maybe it's the weather.

I've recently moved to England myself. I lived in Harthill, slap bang in the middle of this depression, and before moving I felt a bit disheartened with Scotland too.

I went back recently and rediscovered the Scotland and the people I used to love, having been away for nearly a year, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Drove from Denny over to see family in Scotlandwell, via the Kincardine Bridge and cross country via Crook of Devon and along Loch Leven and was taken away by the countryside. Also walking the dog in the evening away in the lanes on the on the Carron Valley side of Denny, I realised I hadn't seen the stars properly all year, as you do through an unpolluted Scottish sky.

The people I saw there were only the people I wanted to see, close family and friends. I didn't have to deal with road rage on the M8, or an aggressive drunk in Scotmid in Harthill, or a Ned hurling unprovoked abuse across the street.

People are not bad people just because they are "content" to stay near home, and that "ambition" for them does not mean going to London and forging a career, or travelling the world. Scotland contains some of the best, most kind hearted people in the world, but I find in the Central Belt that those people are getting a bit lost in the crowd. The problem occurs IMO when people stay near home, but they are not content, and they are not fulfilling their ambitions.

The grass is not always greener either, Scotland has Neds, England has Chavs. In Birmingham or London, if you talk to someone in a shop or on a train, they shift uncomfortably and look at you like a potential murderer. If your car or house alarm goes off, your neighbour is more likely to turn up the telly, than take a look out of the window. The majority of people in the Central Belt are kind hearted and giving too, but nowadays you just need to dig a bit harder to find them and to pull it out. The problem is actually that they are becoming more like the English and wear their hearts on their sleeves less than they used to.

Sounds to me like you need a Scottish holiday. Don't go anywhere near home, or near those people who are frustrating you with their narrow mindedness and lack of ambition. Either stay in the Borders, or drive up the M74 to Glasgow and keep going until you hit the hills again. Find a beautiful country and, without the crowds and clouds of unhappy folk in the central belt, find those beautiful people, and remind yourself that Scotland contains many more square miles of the good stuff, than it does the bad.

There's a weekend ride-out coming up called the GM3?

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Maybe we are getting towards answering Lozzo's original question?

Where on the west coast are you? From what you are saying I'm going to take a guess at Dumbarton/Greenock down to Irvine/Prestwick?

The entire Central Belt (by that I mean draw a big X from Perth to Prestwick and Greenock to Galashiels) has taken a massive downturn in the past 10 years, if you ask me morale is at an all time low. The majority are not happy, and this shows in negativity, pessimism and aggression.

I don't know what has caused this downturn, but the Central Belt is not part of the Scotland I used to know and love. Maybe it's the weather.

I've recently moved to England myself. I lived in Harthill, slap bang in the middle of this depression, and before moving I felt a bit disheartened with Scotland too.

I went back recently and rediscovered the Scotland and the people I used to love, having been away for nearly a year, absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. Drove from Denny over to see family in Scotlandwell, via the Kincardine Bridge and cross country via Crook of Devon and along Loch Leven and was taken away by the countryside. Also walking the dog in the evening away in the lanes on the on the Carron Valley side of Denny, I realised I hadn't seen the stars properly all year, as you do through an unpolluted Scottish sky.

The people I saw there were only the people I wanted to see, close family and friends. I didn't have to deal with road rage on the M8, or an aggressive drunk in Scotmid in Harthill, or a Ned hurling unprovoked abuse across the street.

People are not bad people just because they are "content" to stay near home, and that "ambition" for them does not mean going to London and forging a career, or travelling the world. Scotland contains some of the best, most kind hearted people in the world, but I find in the Central Belt that those people are getting a bit lost in the crowd. The problem occurs IMO when people stay near home, but they are not content, and they are not fulfilling their ambitions.

The grass is not always greener either, Scotland has Neds, England has Chavs. In Birmingham or London, if you talk to someone in a shop or on a train, they shift uncomfortably and look at you like a potential murderer. If your car or house alarm goes off, your neighbour is more likely to turn up the telly, than take a look out of the window. The majority of people in the Central Belt are kind hearted and giving too, but nowadays you just need to dig a bit harder to find them and to pull it out. The problem is actually that they are becoming more like the English and wear their hearts on their sleeves less than they used to.

Sounds to me like you need a Scottish holiday. Don't go anywhere near home, or near those people who are frustrating you with their narrow mindedness and lack of ambition. Either stay in the Borders, or drive up the M74 to Glasgow and keep going until you hit the hills again. Find a beautiful country and, without the crowds and clouds of unhappy folk in the central belt, find those beautiful people, and remind yourself that Scotland contains many more square miles of the good stuff, than it does the bad.

YAY!

Spot on Ralph re: the comments about the central belt. Greenock is more or less the area that I came from. Now don't get me wrong, I loved Scotland when I lived there - be it down the west coast or in Glasgow. It's just when I moved away, I realised how 'dreicht' it really was.

I do get to 'escape' to the countryside to where my father lives and yes, it certainly is a breath of fresh air. And I dislike those parts for different reasons altogether (limited local services and opening times, reliance on your own transport, crap weather) but ultimately the people are far nicer, I agree.

Oh and re: my comments with regards to the people and not udnerstanding their particular mindset. It's partly why I don't like Scotland (or perhaps, now a redefined 'central belt') but I do struggle to find out why I have this deep resentment towards the Country and am just taking a stab in the dark. It really annoys me too being that all my family and friends live up in Scotland.

Ralph, my brother( whom i dont speak to as our wives fell out, another story ) moved to scotland last year.
My sister has been to see him a few times and she told me he has racism directed towards him in a cafe of all places, so its good and bad everywhere.
Will find out where he went cos i forgot.

Originally Posted by specialone

Ralph, my brother( whom i dont speak to as our wives fell out, another story ) moved to scotland last year.
My sister has been to see him a few times and she told me he has racism directed towards him in a cafe of all places, so its good and bad everywhere.
Will find out where he went cos i forgot.

Yep, when this kind of thing happens http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5105452.stm it really makes me ashamed, but as you say there is good and bad anywhere, I'm sure there are plenty of articles on BBC news which point in the opposite direction.

I lived in a village with a reputation for seasonal orange marching and sectarian views. Now it's not as bad as some around the central belt would have you believe, but it is certainly a mentality that I don't claim to understand.

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

Yep, when this kind of thing happens http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/5105452.stm it really makes me ashamed, but as you say there is good and bad anywhere, I'm sure there are plenty of articles on BBC news which point in the opposite direction.

Trouble is though mate, you cant be responsible for all your countrymen, we have probably got 10x more bad people down here that would make us ashamed to be english.

Originally Posted by specialone

Trouble is though mate, you cant be responsible for all your countrymen, we have probably got 10x more bad people down here that would make us ashamed to be english.

Absolutely, a colleague of mine had a gun put in his stomach in Tesco petrol station at Notcutts in Shirley and they drove away with all his possessions and his Audi TT. It didn't even make the local news, but would have been national news in Scotland.