Comments on: U.K. Travel Log - Part 1: London

By: juanzelada » Blog Archive » London Town

juanzelada » Blog Archive » London Town — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 08:25:34 +0000

[...] town” songs but I guess it holds a special place in my…… liver. Sean Dwyer says in his travelog: “We started to notice that almost every street or location in London has been immortalized [...]

By: Henrik

Henrik — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:44:28 +0000

Snow is romantic, but only good when you’re on the inside looking out. I always hated snowfights, and I hate being uncomfortable. Any type of downpour makes me uncomfortable - but I will admit it is romantic to look out a window and see snow falling, while holding a cup of hot cocoa.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:33:19 +0000

Thanks Mick, much appreciated. Greg will be very pleased to hear this as well.

I do feel like I`d miss snow without it, but then when it comes around every year I can`t wait for it to be gone again.

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:57:18 +0000

And just to say that FilmJunk is my favourite of the 50 podcasts that I currently subscribe to. But only when Greg is there. Or perhaps when Reid Farrington isn’t (although the episodes when he is do make for an amusing divertissment)

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:52:58 +0000

Ah, snow! I really miss snow, living in the south of England but being a northerner. It seems like global warming has bollocksed the chance of us ever getting it again.
I watched “Sicko” recently and the portrait of our health service made me feel smug until I saw the French setup.
It also made me really really certain that I never want to work in the US.
Ever.
Ever.
We nearly moved to Canada on a couple of occasions, but family ties kept getting itn the way.
Of course the grass is always greener…..

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:30:45 +0000

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this on here before, but I was watching an episode of 20/20 a while back that talked about the concept happiness, and apparently in one particular study, Denmark was found to be the happiest nation in the world. They speculated that the socialist government was part of it, and also the fact that the population is not very diverse culturally (seems like kind of an non-PC thing to suggest, but I can see what they mean by it).

I’d be curious to find out where Canada fit into that study. We do have free health care, but not free education. Plus the winter weather here can be depressing too.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:00:19 +0000

The lowest tax rate here is 38%, and if you earn enough, you pay 60% tax of your last earned cash. A little tricky to explain, but basically untill you earn 10 you par 38%, 10 to 30 you pay 49% or so, everything over 30 you pay 60% of. Make sense? Also all products have a 25% toll on their original prize. In return, you get stuff like free healthcare, you get paid to educate yourself etc.

We are a very progressive society, but of course there is a backlash, and regressive ideals have been on the rise for the past decade or so. Taxes are being cut, the rich are getting richer etc. Hopefully we will soon return to our northern ways of rationality and common sense.

By: Sean

Sean — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 18:27:01 +0000

Henrik: Thanks buddy. I guess part of the appeal of a blog is the voyeurism aspect, but I try to only write about stuff in my life that I think other people would find interesting anyway.

Mick: That’s a good point, I guess you get accustomed to whatever the prices are like where you live. I remember hearing that Scandinavia is really expensive too (their taxes are really high too, right?), and it makes sense that London would be more expensive than less touristy areas of England. In fact, I’m pretty sure every other place we stopped on our trip was indeed cheaper than London. New York City is really expensive too… so what can you do?

By: Mick

Mick — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 14:01:54 +0000

Having lived in London for a few years (and visited Niagara Falls on my honeymoon - well we had to really), it is interesting to see your views on Blighty.
I don’t think the majority of Brits think the UK is expensive, just that North America is cheap. It is much more expensive in Scandinavia for example. It is also much more expensive in the tourist traps of London and Bath etc. than in the rest of the country. I am originally from Northern England and am still astounded at the differences in prices when I go and visit my relatives “Up North”

By: Henrik

Henrik — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 07:28:08 +0000

Great stuff Sean. Even though I feel like I know wayyyy too much about you and your family affairs by reading stuff like this (I think voyeuristic is the term for how it feels?), I still read it and enjoy myself.