Small Things that Britain does well

[Lighthouse]

Motorway service stations. Being able to pull in and have a p*ss for free, then choose between any four from McDonald’s, BK, Pizza Express, KFC, Road Chef, M&S, Smiths, Waitrose, Starbucks or Costa is absolute paradise compared to anything I’ve seen on the continent. Usually €0.50 in a machine which only takes loose change, not card, followed by a p*ss into a urinal which is hanging off the wall and leaking everywhere. Then onto the food court, which normally just involves a choice of 5 different stale, dried out chicken sandwiches from a vending machine in a Relay. 

[cloggy saint]

Stabbing.

[whelk]

Fancy dress at the cricket

[The Left Back]

Large scale sporting events, and connected

Crowds to watch sport encounters, no matter how obscure 

[trousers]

Internet football forums

[trousers]

Chocolate Brazils

[buctootim]

  On 13/09/2022 at 13:43, Lighthouse said:

Motorway service stations. Being able to pull in and have a p*ss for free, then choose between any four from McDonald’s, BK, Pizza Express, KFC, Road Chef, M&S, Smiths, Waitrose, Starbucks or Costa is absolute paradise compared to anything I’ve seen on the continent. Usually €0.50 in a machine which only takes loose change, not card, followed by a p*ss into a urinal which is hanging off the wall and leaking everywhere. Then onto the food court, which normally just involves a choice of 5 different stale, dried out chicken sandwiches from a vending machine in a Relay. 

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Have you been to any countries apart from Albania? 

[Manuel]

Politeness.  Fried breakfasts.  Fish and chips.  Real ale.  Royalty.  

[badgerx16]

Wet Bank Holidays.

[cloggy saint]

Obesity.

[badgerx16]

  On 13/09/2022 at 16:13, cloggy saint said:

Obesity.

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The USA does it better.

[Jimmy_D]

The bad guy in American films.

[whelk]

Soldiering

[egg]

Queues. We're good at them. 

[Colinjb]

Motor sport

[Kingsland Codger]

Afternoon tea

[saint1977]

Cask ale, especially Porter, Milds and bitters

British pubs and pub quizzes

Worcestershire Sauce/Henderson’s Relish

HP Sauce - when it was still made here

Cream tea with scones and jam

Regional accents and their variation across segments of the country with modest difference in mileage

Fish and Chips

Bank Holidays

Queues

Detective Fiction - books and TV eg Morse, Sherlock Holmes, PD James or Ruth Rendall

Cornish pasties

Roast Dinner

Red phone boxes

Lower and non league sport, with the crowds they get

Roast Dinners

Crisps

Edited 13 September, 2022 by saint1977
HP Sauce

[The Cat]

  On 13/09/2022 at 13:43, Lighthouse said:

Motorway service stations. Being able to pull in and have a p*ss for free, then choose between any four from McDonald’s, BK, Pizza Express, KFC, Road Chef, M&S, Smiths, Waitrose, Starbucks or Costa is absolute paradise compared to anything I’ve seen on the continent. Usually €0.50 in a machine which only takes loose change, not card, followed by a p*ss into a urinal which is hanging off the wall and leaking everywhere. Then onto the food court, which normally just involves a choice of 5 different stale, dried out chicken sandwiches from a vending machine in a Relay. 

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It's no surprise we can have a piss for free when they charge you £36 for a small bottle of water.

[The Cat]

Festivals. The sheer volume of them we have every summer is astounding, and while some of the generic ones are a bit shit there's some incredible ones too.

[Manuel]

  On 13/09/2022 at 16:41, whelk said:

Soldiering

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I would have thought China would have the edge, with all that electronic component manufacturing they do. 

[kyle04]

Talking about the weather.

Panic buying at the merest whiff of a shortage of something.

Appologizing for things our ancestors did 300 years ago.

Allowing burglars carte blanche to go about their business unmolested by the police.

Encouraging often ruinous gambling addiction.

Spending billions on motorway "improvements" that have resulted in hundreds of miles of death traps.

Cheese.

[whelk]

  On 13/09/2022 at 20:44, kyle04 said:

Talking about the weather.

Panic buying at the merest whiff of a shortage of something.

Appologizing for things our ancestors did 300 years ago.

Allowing burglars carte blanche to go about their business unmolested by the police.

Encouraging often ruinous gambling addiction.

Spending billions on motorway "improvements" that have resulted in hundreds of miles of death traps.

Cheese.

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Spelling words correctly and not using the zeeeeee

[Fan The Flames]

Our continued enjoyment of news footage of someone canoeing down a flooded high street.

[The Left Back]

Dry, sardonic humour

[whelk]

Queues already been mentioned but the queue to walk past The Queen’s coffin is going to be the mother of all queues. 

[whelk]

  On 13/09/2022 at 16:49, egg said:

Queues. We're good at them. 

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Earlier journalists were queuing to to interview people queuing 

[skintsaint]

Binge drinking

Banter

[Dark Munster]

Bangers. It's hard to get decent ones here in San Diego.

[Lord Duckhunter]

Ale house's

 

[trousers]

Putting apostrophe's (sic) in the wrong place.

Edited 14 September, 2022 by trousers

[cloggy saint]

Teenage pregnancies. 

[whelk]

  On 13/09/2022 at 13:54, cloggy saint said:

Stabbing.

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  On 14/09/2022 at 15:06, cloggy saint said:

Teenage pregnancies. 

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  On 13/09/2022 at 16:13, cloggy saint said:

Obesity.

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Not sure this was what Lighthouse envisaged when starting the thread

[The Left Back]

  On 14/09/2022 at 15:48, whelk said:

Not sure this was what Lighthouse envisaged when starting the thread

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Indeed.  You don't happen to live on the Island of Portsea @cloggy saint?

[farawaysaint]

Stealing monuments for the British Museum.

[Turkish]

Putting useless people in jobs they have no right to be in 

[farawaysaint]

  On 16/09/2022 at 22:52, Turkish said:

Putting useless people in jobs they have no right to be in 

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That is literally the only reason I am employed. Don’t ruin this for me 

[rallyboy]

Turning a blind eye to corruption, repeating pub rumours as facts, occupying two parking spaces with one car, training cats to shit in neighbours' gardens...the UK leads the world in many things.

[Lighthouse]

  On 17/09/2022 at 06:54, rallyboy said:

Turning a blind eye to corruption, repeating pub rumours as facts, occupying two parking spaces with one car, training cats to shit in neighbours' gardens...the UK leads the world in many things.

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You're joking right?I know hating the Tories is your thing but Britain is almost certainly in the 20 least corrupt nations on Earth.

[whelk]

  On 16/09/2022 at 22:52, Turkish said:

Putting useless people in jobs they have no right to be in 

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The new job?

[Winnersaint]

  On 13/09/2022 at 13:43, Lighthouse said:

Motorway service stations. Being able to pull in and have a p*ss for free, then choose between any four from McDonald’s, BK, Pizza Express, KFC, Road Chef, M&S, Smiths, Waitrose, Starbucks or Costa is absolute paradise compared to anything I’ve seen on the continent. Usually €0.50 in a machine which only takes loose change, not card, followed by a p*ss into a urinal which is hanging off the wall and leaking everywhere. Then onto the food court, which normally just involves a choice of 5 different stale, dried out chicken sandwiches from a vending machine in a Relay. 

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Funny. It wasn't always the case though at least food wise it wasn't. Sanitary arrangements? They're another matter altogether. You'd hear claims of people getting decent quality 3 course lunches/dinners with wine in French service stations not so long ago. 

[RedArmy]

Little cakes/bites for after lunch and dinner (or afternoon tea if you’re a bit of a ponce) 

French fancies, Battenberg, Cherry Bakewell even a bit of Victoria sponge etc 

 

Mr Kipling is the goat.