Thailand, Bali and Malaysia (although a bit harder to drink with the locals) for me and the better half. Love going to the local hawker markets, kicking a football with the kids and getting to know people. The family in Bali, our family has funded their daughter through her Nursing degree and now she's able to give back to the community.
The former Mrs Flanders was a Jock and I can say with a deal of certainty, they can't stand Southerners....I never had an issue coming from the North East with the Scots, but I dread to think if I came from the South, they hate them with a passion.
I lived and worked in France in the 90's and agree totally with this. I also came across a certain envy that we were still a monarchy, I encountered a despise of the Germans amongst many,mainly older folk. Mind you, we sometimes don't help ourselves. I remember being in a country restaurant for dinner and an English couple....both relatively young... being on the next table,where the lady had ordered a steak. When it arrived it had been flipped on both sides only...as they do...she promptly sent it back to be cooked more,it wasn't much better when it was returned,so she sent it back again. You could feel the seething atmosphere....spoilt the whole evening for everyone. It didn't match up to her expectations and she never did eat any of it. I did cringe and couldn't wait to leave.
It would be nice if things were so easily forgotten but WW2 still affects us. I was born a decade after the war but my Dad was still fighting it when he died which affected us as a family. He was plucked from a Durham pit village and thrown into a trench in France. When he was blown up they brought him back to a UK hospital where he was patched up and sent to Sicily as a stretcher bearer to bring corpses and wounded off the battlefield. When he eventually came back he was unable to shake off his experiences and struggled his was through life until pit lung finally got him. It doesn't feel like the war was a thousand years ago for me tbh.
I’m a very very proud Englishman but in a lot of cases I can understand why we are despised. Oddly the country who should hate us most I’ve found have the friendliest people (Ireland). There are some groups of people where we get a lot of hate and it really riles me though. Some Scots for example claiming they’re colonised… it’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. They were probably the most enthusiastic empire builders in the 19th century and they are free to leave the UK whenever they like.
Pretty much this. As a nation we aren't great at learning new languages or accepting the cultures of others. I've spoken Spanish for as long as I can remember, but on one of my first holidays as a young adult found that almost none of the ex-pats in the town I stayed in bothered to speak the language - "don't need to mate" was the response I got from most. Every country I go to I try to learn a few words of their language - hello, please and thank you - and it goes a long way. Sadly I've seen many British people shouting at waiters, maids, bar staff etc because they can't get across what they are trying to say. Add in the John Smiths, English Fry-up & Emmerdale brigade that go to Greek Islands/Balearics etc every year and it's not a great look
The Scots (and I speak as a native of the country) are a very insular bunch. There is, in many parts real resentment and bitterness towards the English. I live in the North East but work in Edinburgh (or at least I did until this covid nonsense started) and whilst the joking is all good natured there is a definite undertone of "we don't like the English" in their humour
I have lived in France now for over 25 years, and worked in Switzerland with multi-national colleagues. I don't think the British are hated, certainly my family and me have found things to be very friendly. Note I live in Alsace, which was part of old Germany until the end of WW1 and was "liberated" at the start of WW2 with locals who could not escape being conscripted into the German army to fight against their own families and friends. The result was that the allies caused most of the war damage round here, but still no evidence of animosity. In fact , given the closeness of the border, many Germans live round here and there is no trouble Don't go believing the type of xenophobic rubbish as published in the likes of the Daily Express
Well as previously stated we did have a 100 years war with the French and legend has it the two finger salute originated from that time. That being said, I do not think we are hated any more than any other nation... and yes some Welsh, Scottish and Irish have a dislike of the English...the feeling is at times mutual, it is a Hatfield McCoy close neighbour thing.
I took two of my sons to the German World Cup, for a month, and used the 'Staying with friends' scheme whereby we lodged with various families. It was great although we always felt like our hosts were ever so slightly overdoing the hospitality. Our only really weird experience was staying at the ground of an amateur football club near Nuremberg. They had a full size pitch with floodlights, a practice pitch, indoor 5 a side court, shooting gallery and a fabulous subsidised bar restaurant. They'd put camp beds up in the gym and accommodated various nationalities of football fans. The seated terrace had been screened off and a big projector put in for the matches. There were German flags pinned on the plywood screening as well as Mexicans, etc. When we put our St George flag up the table of old men went silent then starting muttering then got louder until the barman went over and asked them to quieten down. We tried to talk to them but they weren't having any of it. We got the impression that the majority there were sorry about the war ... ... but these lads just seemed sorry they'd lost
I'm afraid later generations are far too interested in their self to look that far back. Every day that passes there's more of those who can't see beyond the tiktok app on their phone, and less people with a sense of the past. It's ****ing **** but people are breeding ****ing rotters
I find it hard to believe the war is relevant to anyone under the age of 50. Yes it's a huge part of our history and the sacrifices should never be forgotten, but as we are approaching 80 years since the conflict ended do people really still judge other nations by the actions of their great grandparent's generation?
I'm not sure but I wouldn't bet against it tbh. Countries and nationalities have their characters and traits which have endured centuries not just a few decades. I'm not suggesting people's opinions are on a 'Likely Lads' level but I'd say it's still there. Russia and China are the most obvious examples and I'd say they're much the same as they were a hundred years ago. The attitude of the French nation, as a whole, towards England seems to have remained the same for centuries ... ... strangely, when I lived there, I was always welcomed better if I said I was Scottish rather than English, which I usually did
Yeah, fair enough. I know growing up it was always "we hate the Germans" and they are viewed with suspicion by many, but I can only speak form personal experience and I've never met one I don't like (apart from the one who tried to jump the omelette queue in Turkey all those years ago). My cousin lives in Germany (ironically with her French husband) and they have been well accepted into the community There's definitely a narrative where the French seem to dislike the Brits, but is that at more of a Governmental level? I haven't been to France in years but never heard of friends/family having bad experiences en France
There are also plenty of lazy stereotypes that are perpetuated through humour - it wasn't that long ago my FIL mentioned the faux ebay listing that had "Genuine WW2 French Rifle - never fired, dropped once"
That's quite true. From memory I think France had two thirds of the WW2 military casualties compared to Italy who are often regarded as 'war shy'. Perhaps fighting on two sides didn't help.
