I do love London. Thriving metropolis where you really can watch the world go by if you stand still long enough.
Great for business, great for fun, and fantastic for cultural enrichment.
They caught a break (so the thinking goes) with the double whammy of 911 and Sarbanes-Oxley.
But they do have some strange habits there don't they? I have moved around quite a bit now, and you see some of this elsewhere. But only mother England has ever perfected it.
You have to wonder whether London can continue to be the business hub they have evolved into if they keep this up.
1. You have to pay for a "license" to have a TV! (Which they then use on the BBC to give away houses as prizes and to pick fights with the Government of the day)
2. You have to pay $60 just to drive downtown!!
3. Good service is something you have to provide to shopkeepers. (Or you don't get anything)
4. They have decided to act positively on global warming...by taxing their citizens into the dark ages.
5. They put a lot of effort into ruining even the most basic culinary delights.
6. They spend billions to outsource a large part of their rail network, then run the contractor out of business.
7. They make sure that every time you deal with anybody official, Government, Utilities, Rail, Banks - it is a memorable experience.
(My entire banking experience there consisted of numerous letters and statements telling me how I was failing to live up to their expectations)
8. Generations of developing a handout culture has succesfully created a permanent underclass. (And well done with that one, they see this as a positive)
9. They have diversified their society so much they have a significant segment wanting to impose a different set of laws for a certain part of the nation. (They see this as a positive also strangely)
10. Renting a place there attracts around $2000 a year for local services (apparently) Yet they are more than happy to continue charging this while reducing services like garbage collection.
Ah London, I do love you. But I don't think this is going to work out.
Its not you, its me.
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