Roadside and layby litter and dumping...

Yet again, no answer

Or "Expat Forum"?

I do hope it doesn't stand for 'English Forum'!

What is EF?
And is it in order to comment on one thread about something from another? Surely that constitutes threads about threads?

Oh for goodness sake! There are other members who have studied or lived in other countries you know. Or whose adult children have chosen to live and work in other parts of the world.
Some of us might (shock horror,) even be immigrants!
So this superior tone as you graciously educate us that it is very different to go on holiday or "back home" - echoes of the Raj - sounds suspiciously like teaching grannies to suck eggs.

There was a member here on EF called Soutra who lived here in my area. I wonder if she experienced littering and fly-tipping around here? But she seems to have gone, so ...

Alea- yes, on other threads, it was definitely suggested- hence...

Makes me sad and angry to see it- and hear of other abuses- particularly of the NHS and social services- because, as said, they were the best in the world, for a very long time, and still could be- if they were not attacked at both ends (abusers and destroyers- one feeding the other).

Lucky lucky you- apparently Porto is beautiful and is next on our list - enjoy. As said, very different when you go on holiday or 'back home' (which is what the UK is for us- as well, as 'back home' here - and yes, the contrast is so obvious re litter, fact).

I'm going to Portugal next week. Staying in Porto. Will definitely look for litter.

Oh just the main bit. We were only there for a few days. It was so nice.

Goodness this is going off at several tangents at once.
You are not uniquely qualified to comment on the UK just because you lived here for years. Everybody's experience is going to be different.
I do not argue with the existence of fly tipping, litter etc
What I do take issue with is your fallacious connection with your observation and being "anti-British" which of course you deny because of your declared affection for the UK.

. does that make us
anti-British
or sad that this beautiful countryside is spoilt by the dumpsters (sic) and litterers? because we love the UK so much
Well the answer to your first question is tout court NO, of course not. Nobody ever suggested it did.
Does it make you sad?
Probably.
It might make me angry.
So what.

Yes. There is a lot of graffiti in European cities. Perhaps more than in London. I wonder why that is.

Did you visit the popular suburbs - or stick to the touristy centre ;) ?

A lot of people begging, and sleeping rough.

Suppose I wasn't looking for litter.

I didn't notice a lot of litter in Rome.

Did you everf live in Rome, or around Paris? It's very different to comment on a country you've lived in for a very long time (in my case all my adult life)- or sowmewhere you go for a holiday, no?

How can you compare litter in the popular suburbs around Paris, with the linkecd deprivation, etc, and rural England???

Well Geneva has about 40% immigrants who come from countries where litter is part of everyday life- (as in Naples and Rome)- and it is only 'normal' that they find it more difficult to stick to the stringent rules and attitudes to litter, I'm afraid.

Nowhere near, actually, but if you are going to quote my post, I in fact said it was deplorable.
However I do not feel the need to cue violins and wax lyrical about this dear, dear country or what it has to do with "loving our English friends" (unless they are complicit in it)
Personally I like Italy a lot, but the graffiti in Rome is appalling and the stench of the rubbish heaps outside Naples a couple of years ago defied description but I am not going to shed crocodile tears over it. Nor would it stop me visiting it. Modern life has its ugly side. Look at Northern France or some of the industrial suburbs around Paris.
How reassuring though that the not inconsiderable problem in Switzerland as quoted in an earlier post Is down to immigrants and expats (!)

Posts crossed, the reality in some places and not others- that is the point.

ffinnochio - I meant all expats who live near me, in rural France or Switzerland- again and again after any return visit to the UK. As said, sad.

But one does not have to be accepting of a situation to know that it is reality.

That comes close:

'I find it overly sentimental and out of touch with reality, a common characteristic of some expats who retain a rose-tinted view of the "dear old country".'

Just cannot fathom how anyone can say that it is unrealistic to think fly-tipping is not acceptable, truly.
Has anyone actually said that,

The problem with litter in Switzerland is mainly with the few large urban centres (yes, those with a very large number of immigrants or expats) - and mainly with the Summer parties season. Large groups of youngsters head to the park or beach for a BBQ- then go on clubbing and leave the left overs, etc, behind.

Flytipping is honestly non-existent- and yes, people do have to pay to get rid some large items and building waste. In fact the cost is often built-in the price of purchase, like with all electrical goods.

Just cannot fathom how anyone can say that it is unrealistic to think fly-tipping is not acceptable, truly.

We came across a lot of fly tipping and rubbish dumping on our visits to Sicily over last few years- just as sad and upsetting- but then we knew this has been a problem for a very long time, sadly.

Litter on the A14, M11 and M20 was just shameful. Hardly any on the French Autoroutes. Fact.

As we began our drive home on Wednesday morning- first thing we came across on the Northampton Road on the way to the A14 Westbound was 4 field entrances full of fly tipping- rubble, old machines, carpets, barrels, concrete and even a wheelbarrow. It really gave me no pleasure whatesoever to be 'proven right' I can assure you.

BTW from where we live, we could be in the wonderful Jura in minutes, Burgundy in 1 hour, Provence or the Alps or the Italian lakes a a couple of hours. So would be really choose to keep a holiday apartment in the East Midlands, or to come for our holidays in England- if we hated it so much??? Really?

It is because we love England and our English friends and people in general- that we are saddened and really upset by litter and fly-tipping (or abuse of any of the best in the world health or social systems, etc- perperated by a small minority). We've met up with lots of friends and family over last couple of weeks- all of whom say 'you've done the right thing- can't understand why you keep coming back really' ... and that saddens us too- as a big part of our heart will always be in England.