Birmingham, UK - what a lovely place!
 

Oh my god what a fucking cesspool, half the people look like they are in Al-Qaeda, the other half looks like they were in the movie "Deliverance". They have dentists in this country? I am also pretty sure Osama Bin Laden was directing traffic just outside the airport.

ETO show is great though, got alot of business done already.

The second biggest city in the UK and noone outside of Birmingham ever goes there, it's just one huge shithole, they brought the world heavy metal though.... gotta give them that.

Why do you think we built our major motorway, the M6, to go right through it? So that you always arrive at your destination thinking: "Thank fuck I don't live in Birmingham".

...Unless of course you turned off at Birmingham, in which case, good fucking luck. :winkwink:

Haha yeah, I was in the city centre yesterday, and it is definitely one of the most depressing places I have ever been.

I dont LOVE London either, but it's a million times better than this place. They built the NEC right next to the airport though, and it has everything I need, so I will just stay here until I fly back tomorrow.

Go to a place just outside Birmingham called Hanworth. If that isnt the biggest piece of shit ever that you have seen then you must have visited a war zone.

Birmingham is a fucking joke of a place. It's been completely taken over from Al-Qaeda looking assholes, who no doubt hate everything about the UK, yet are happy to claim all our benefits.

Birmingham is just one place. There's many more like it, with more heading that way in the next few years...

I have noticed the signs in your posts recently, you need to get out of the UK ASAP before you end up killing someone, I did.

I'll second that...... Scott you need to sort it out.

Im Indian and i was born in the UK and I pay taxes and contribute to the economy. Now people who are coming to the UK, hating us (the minority) and living of benefits do it because they can.

So dont take a racist approach. Instead, blame the government for having such a fucked up immigration policy.

All the same, Birmingham is a fucking shitpit. Anyone whose ever driven on the M6 (and invariably got caught in the traffic) can tell you that.

Nice TIP :thumbsup

They actually do have dentists in Birmingham. Most of them probably are dentists. Main thing is that they spend most of their time punching each others teeth out.

I was at the ETO show today too !
Which was your booth ? / Companey name?

coming from the scots thats ironic :1orglaugh

When were in London, it amazed me that no one was British! All middle easterners. Rich ones. Bentleys, RR, Mercedes, etc. The Brits were all on the train, lol.

We even had our fish and chips in a store owned by a Pakistani woman who could barely speak English.

There are plenty of British people in London they just can't afford to live in the area that you guys were staying in. That is one the richest areas in the world where just about everybody is there because they have extreme oil riches.

I live in London (though granted I am an immigrant) and I am surrounded by 'British' people. Though, if those Pakistani people were born in the UK they too are British...heck..I am British.

Not to mention that Pakistan, etc are commonwealth countries.

But on the topic of Birmingham ..the best thing the NEC convention centre people did was put the train station in the actual building so you don't really have to go into Birmingham for anything.

Oh you hush - you know I just enjoy bitching about it :winkwink:

Now that I'm back I found a foodie forum that lists 100's of good places to eat, lol. I may need to come back just to see if I can really find good food there :)

You need to get into real London and not tourist land :) I have lived in London for about 11 years now and have been to the area you are in about once a year and usually because I am meeting somebody staying at one of the hotels :)

That said, when I was back home recently I did see a lady in a burka at a mall and is struck me how she stood out so much. Whereas here I would just not even blink. Not because they are all over the place - not in my part anyway - but just because they are seen more often. So, if you guys are from an area where to never see them I could see how it would strike you so much.

As far as the fish and chips shops..they are just the UK version of people buying 7-11s and most of them are kebab shops these days anyway :)

Now come back and slum it a bit and meet the folks that ride the train ;)

No booth, just here buying / looking at stuff for our toy business.
Lots of good deals.

I thought for a silly moment the thread title was serious :winkwink:

Agree - it's is *very* depressing and worth avoiding.

The only "feature element" is that there is no need to enter Birmingham if you are compelled to attend the NEC - tho that is ususally worth avoiding as well.

Birmingham is not the only UK location like this - and there are other Birmingham's in various other 'civilized' countries. It's amazing how anyone could remain in a rut and actually live in these cesspools - it sure is not healthy. Living in a relatively poor community in a third world country is healthier than living in these man-made gutters.

Solihull in Birmingham is actually very pleasant and quite expensive to live in.

that would be Handsworth :2 cents:

Doubt anyone could pay me enough to ever live in Solihull BP :) Tho may be pleasant enough for folks, depending on their tolerance levels.

Always remember the first evening after we moved out of the UK. The move was complete hassle and the usual problems with air flights and crap - and I was cussing everything around.

That evening we went out for dinner and sat under a thatched roof restaurant surrounded by palm trees and overlooking a beach and with an warm blue Caribbean sea lapping the white sands 15 feet from the table. The meal, drinks and service were excellent (found out later the restaurant rated in the Egon Ronay guide).

Anyways... I thought for a moment and stopped the whining and moaning. Where in the UK would you ever be able to have a meal like that??? Nowhere. And muttered to the guests.. "Well, maybe this place is not so bad after all - it beats Clacton-on-Sea and Solihull!" :1orglaugh

And I firmly believe that to this day :winkwink:

Errr - Yeah.
Right.

Am I bovvered?

Doubt anyone is "offending" the UK MrChips - it's nothing personal :winkwink:

Still have a yearning for fish and chips - UK style.

I'll proudly purchase them for you and microwave them at your house in exchange for a return flight. :thumbsup

That maybe easy for you to do, but what if you have kids? When they are over 18, fuck they are out on their own. However now I couldnt just up and leave permanently. I do have a retreat as it were in another country but full time I am just outside west London.

Sorry, when I went there one of the little thieves must have stole the 'd' in the sign for crack money.:pimp

Hehe... booked the flight! :thumbsup Some things can still be irresistable!! :)

Kids are now over 18 now BP and neither would ever dream of going back to the UK, tho they do fly back and hook up with old friends and do a lump of shopping etc. I did wonder about this and asked others who left UK, but not one has any wish to actually live there again. Even people assigned by the UK govt on a temp basis (diplomatic staff blah), don't really want to leave.

It's hard to pin down, but suspect it widens horizons when you either travel or live in other countries and it's an education. Anything becomes possible :)
It's also an "adventure" for kids - they learn stuff - some of it weird, like, what do you do when sharks are around when you are diving? Sink to the sea bed and watch em hovering above! *lol* There is also an education when you meet people from different backgrounds - there are a number of amazing characters and some elderly folks still talk about "men of war" :)

Other UK folks have done some more "extreme" stuff - one guy decided he was going to sail to Ozzieland with his family. Both kids were under 10 at the time. He sailed as far as the Bay of Biscay and met up with a trans Altantic boat race assembly. So.. instead of sailing south, he headed west across the Atlantic with the other boats towards the Caribbean.

For about 8-10 years they sailed all over the Caribbean, stopping for varying times on the islands. I know the kids (now adults) and they loved this stuff and are well-balanced and educated probably better than they would otherwise be. Neither has any wish to live in the UK - their lifestyle is seriously far healthier where they are - but they still like trips to the US and Europe :)

So no chance of bumping into you as you are moving into a 3 bedroom new build house in the home counties then?

You mean the one that cost $4.5 mill?? :1orglaugh The value of house prices in the UK is amazing.

Got a friend who lives in Surrey at the moment - he is selling up his "plot" and moving offshore. The sale price of this is silly - over a mill Sterling, but right now that means $2mill in dollar value and a portion of that money is more than enough to buy a substantial home here.

Can't remember the total people involved, but think around 20-30 UK families I know of are planning the same thing.