No where is a utopia, but I consider myself lucky to be born in a country that has a democracy and freedoms, just to read about how harsh some regimes are often brings that into focus.
I remember years ago having an extended stay in Australia, when my then husband was considering working there and we both thought it would be a good place to settle, it suddenly hit me how much I took for granted about England as far as history, particularly old buildings in a country that is so new, an ancient building was something built in the 19th century. Somehow, and it sounds ridiculous, but waking up to constant blue skies and sunshine made me long for the seasons. That's not to say Australia isn't a great place, but of late it does seem to be right at the front line of adverse changing weather patterns.
All that aside, I love the beauty of the countryside here I think I have a heightened appreciation of the natural world as I've got older far too busy to stand still and appreciate that in my younger days.
I think for a relatively small place we punch well above our weight in many fields we've given the world so many diverse innovations we are at the fore of music, fashion and the arts. Amazing inventors, heavens Tim Berners- Lee The World Wide Web doesn't get much bigger than that!
We are cosmopolitan and diverse.
I think I read somewhere we as individuals and as a country are one of the largest contributors to aid overseas particularly when a disaster such as the devastating Tsunami occurred.
When we staged the Olympics it was a real tour de force starting with Danny Boyle's highly original, quirky opening sequence. I think many of us were dreading it, maybe anticipating a pig's ear, but it turned out really well and bearing in mind how small we are as a nation, ranked 2nd in our medal count, amazing! I found myself really enthused about it all at the time and I don't even like sport usually.
Our NHS of course, it has it's problems, probably always will, but one only have to look to the unaffordable health system for most people the US, to appreciate what we have is special.
Our humour is unique, often quirky and self deprecating but I think that is a British characteristic it envelopes new waves of immigrants who also buy into that "lets poke fun at our culture" I'm, thinking of shows such as Goodness Gracious Me, I suspect many different ethnicities feel comfortable doing that here, because it's what we do and have a long tradition in showcasing our foibles and quirks and seeing the ridiculous side of certain behaviours. Many cultures don't have the luxury of being able to self ridicule.
