Everything - well nearly everything - is right in this country

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crystal your posts are nearly always negative ones, on many different threads.I wonder why.
This is a ‘what you enjoy about life here’ thread, don’t come on it if you don’t enjoy it.

Crystaltipps I didn't. it just suits you to think I did.

Great thread. There are so many marvellous things to be thankful for. The NHS has done wonderful things for my two children and my sister. My sister was ill from 14 to 58 years before she died with 2 very serious illnesses and the NHS enabled her to live way longer than she should have done. I love that our weather is so changeable. The frost in the sunshine at the crack of dawn a few days last week was stunning. Oxford is amazing and London is amazing. Although everyone is whinging about politics, the Houses ofParliament when you see them up close are gob-smacking.

Opal The kitten is my little Phoebe.

Agree incog. If anyone points out the “not everything” that’s not right it is taken to imply a lack of empathy with those on hard times or being a moaner. If you want a “feel good thread“ there are plenty of those,

Sparklefizz that kitten is absolutely adorable !!

Totally agree "Pantglas2*

I’m sure most posters on here have problems/concerns in their lives at this very moment but are still able to think that NEARLY everything is right in this country. And that’s the word that the moaners skimmed past in their haste to drag everyone down to their level of misery!

There are a few posters on the Good Morning thread who are going through terribly tough times with personal/family health problems and without fail, they wish others who are having outings, jollies and holidays a lovely time.

Their generosity of spirit does them credit and I wish there was more of it on GN and in this thread in particular.

Maybe there is a difference between a personal " count your blessings" mentality which is commendable, making the best of it, wearing a smile in times of adversity and so on and the bigger picture ( the UK)

A feel-good fluffy kitten

But crystaltipps You haven't read the title of the post either, because she qualifies it by saying "nearly everything", which is completely different.

And I am wondering if you are feeling a bit insecure because you seem to assume that people are "smug and superior" in describing what they like about the UK.

We all know nothing is perfect. I am juggling 10 different illnesses and I am stuck with them for the rest of my life. I have had cancer twice but have been one of the lucky ones to survive. Another thing to be incredibly thankful for. I do voluntary work - online because of fatigue and pain - and try not to dwell on my own stuff, and I feel grateful when I hear how challenging some people's lives are. There is always someone worse off than oneself.

This doesn't make me "smug and superior" because I enjoy what I can manage in my life. It also doesn't make me unaware that I would have died aged 6 if I had lived in a country without antibiotics..... another thing to be immensely grateful for.

When people watch "feel good" movies, they come out ...er, feeling good. It's the same with reading "feel good" posts on here or anywhere .... they make us feel good. Just for a few seconds/minutes we can forget all the rotten things, all the bad stuff, all the pain.

Ooh yeah, fluffy kittens, that's another one, thanks crystaltipps.

Thanks wicklowwinnie and Doodle.

monica up you are assuming this was a vehicle for those with problems to make pleasant chit chat and that anyone who challenging this “ lacks empathy”.- where is the evidence for that in the OP? We all sympathise with those experiencing hard times, but when this was pointed out in this thread it was shouted down. You have strayed so far off the point there is little point in reiterating the original argument - title wasn’t “what makes me happy” Was it? It was “everything being fine” with this country - when challenged it resulted in tirades of abuse. Yes, we like freedom and our familiar surroundings, doesn’t mean everyone’s lives are hunky dory.

I agree M0nica.
When the chips are down,
all I want is to be home close to my family in my own house, village and in what is one of the most tolerant country in the world.

I don't doubt that the Nordic countries also have a good standard of living, health and education, but they are by no means perfect.

and at the moment, its bloomin' darker and colder than it is in most of the UK

Crystaltipps How do you know that everybody on this thread is as happy as Larry, that nothing is wrong in their lives, that no one has any long term pains and unhappiness and that speaking about the aspects of their lives in this country that are good and enjoyable are the things that make life bearable.

This thread is not a travelogue about the beauties of the world, it is individuals attesting to the things about lifefor which they are truly thankful. To do that they must write about what they know.

I am sure I could get pleasure raking leaves in Outer Mongolia, but as I have never been there, I can offer no opinion. I do know that I enjoy raking leaves in Great Britain, on a cold misty day and think that experience dfferent form doing it in any other country with different vegetation and dfferent weather.

What is more while I have no pressing problems now, 8 years ago, in mid-September, my DD was seriously injured in a car accident. We knew she was going to be left wth a permanent disability but did not know how severe that would be. To see my beloved daughter, so unwell, having multiple operations, was horrible. As the months passed and we helped and encouraged her in every way we could, getting out into the garden raking leaves, walking through leaves, walking and looking at the beautiful autumn colours were what kept me going, able to help my DD and not collapse under the pressure. I might also add that I appreciated more than ever our NHS, we had nothing to think about but our DD and her health, no worries about paying for her care, worrying about any extras. We were grateful for the attitude of her employers, who, once they realised she would still be able to do her job after treatment did everything to make it easy for her to gradually come back to work, British employers, not employers in Namibia, Canada or Cambodia.

Many of us here are very thankful to live in this country and can see its joys and pleasures, as well as it pains and can do so despite personal pain and unhappiness.

I think your remark about fluffy kittens is both offensive and unbearably trivial.

Your views posted on this thread strike me as beng facile and showing a lack of empathy for the pain that often lies behind so many peoples eyes.

Have you actually read the thread? If you did you would find that this thread mainly reflects gratitude for benefits people have received. Pleople have expressed gratitude to the NHS, education system. freedom of religion, the progress made in equality of the sexes (how about living in Saudi Arabia or even India, the beauty of the landscape, the diversity of society and how wellpeople work together

wicklow, your mother sounds lovely.

Monica, swept ours up yesterday in preparation for the Handyperson to come and jet hose the paths and steps. Lovely being 72 and able to access this service run by the council. Is that light hearted enough for everyone.

Totally agree wicklowwinnie and Doodle.

Obviously if someone posted the above hypothetical comment others would soon come along to remind them that, whilst that may be the case, it does not detract from the sad feelings one might have at that moment. No one is saying you can’t discuss small pleasures , but that wasn’t the tone of the OP which was that everything is fine with this country. When someone mentioned that everything might be ok for some people but not for others it was greeted with howls of abuse, thus setting the tone . Maybe the thread should have been called something else like “things that make me happy” and you could have listed fluffy kittens and such like which would have been less goady.

A million thanks Opal, for your thread. Such a change from all the miserable rants and unpleasantness we get on Gransnet. I am so glad that some of them do not live next door to me.
My late mother was a very smiling and cheerful lady and she had a very hard life, but always felt happy to be alive. Thank you again Opal.

GGM3. those who have said that there are doom-mongers and naysayers on GN are not calling any individual member by those names.

I appreciate that they aren't M0nica but I am not sure it's relevant to the question I asked.

GGM3. those who have said that there are doom-mongers and naysayers on GN are not calling any individual member by those names. They are simply describing what always happens when someone starts a cheerful, or light-hearted thread. Soon after they post it someone always comes on and starts reminding us of all of the people who are sad, or ill;, or starving and can not participate in what ever pleasure we are celebrating. Why? None of us is unaware of these things, no one denigrates anyone whose life is les than pleasureable. Many of the pleasures described are described by people who are grasping at these simple pleasures to make otherwise unbearable lives bearable.

Earlier I posted on the joys of leaf raking- I have spent over 2 hours doing this today and I feel invigorated by the exercise.

What should I have done to make this innocent activity acceptable those who like raining on other peoples parades? Not done it at all? Yes, that would have made me miserable, gales are forecast for tonight and to see my neat piles of leaves blown round the garden again would have throughly p*ssed me off. Or perhaps I should have meditated on those less fortunate than me, or invited someone disabled to help me?

What would be gained by any of these alternaatives? A sense of smug self satisfaction, because I had removed all the pleasure from a simple action and done it while thinking of all those that cannot rake leaves? How would that have actually helped anyone who was unhappy?

How would you feel if there was a thread about some tragedy -a natural disaster or family loss, and someone posted that in the nature of life this is a very small disaster in a huge population so perhaps we should be cheerful because it didn't happen more often. Would that be acceptable. If not, why not?

Of course you can have a “little light hearted thread” but don’t expect everyone to agree with everything you say or call them unpleasant names when they don’t. Ignore those you don’t like if that’s the case. It’s all very well saying you love the freedoms but then complain when others exercise that freedom. Saying “everything is wonderful” when it blatantly isn’t is bound to cause controversy.

is it possible to spread joy via a thread on a forum? I dunno really?
Are people inpacted by reading about somebody in a garden or decorating a tree.....I have no idea.