@dragon - Thanks Matt, it's been tough but I'd do most of it again. Sweden is a beautiful country (especially the further North you go) and I've made some wonderful new friends which is why I'm keen to stress that I'm to blame for the failure, it'd be arrogant to go to another country and expect them to change to suit me.
We also got to see Northern Lights on an almost nightly basis which was pretty special.
@pred - We think alike on many things, I'm watching my twenty-five year old son and his girlfriend looking for their first house together at the moment and seeing them priced out of the market because of property developers is frustrating. If people want to make money, why not invest in small businesses that will produce jobs and help grow the economy rather than houses which drives the price of renting or buying a house that no one has any money left to spend by the time they've paid their rent or mortgage.
I think where the UK has gone wrong is that we've allowed our national pride to be eroded by labelling it racism. We've tricked our youngsters into continuing in education rather than creating real jobs for them. We've allowed people to become lazy and feckless and happy to sit on their arse while the state pays them dole and housing benefit. We think that cleaning a toilet is below us and a job for a Polish immigrant.
I could go on but even though I say all of this, there's something about the British that you can't describe, we care and that seems to be missing in much of Europe.
This whole experience has left me feeling ultra British and I sincerely hope that the Scots don't vote for independence because while we've many differences, we're brothers at heart and we've too much shared history to throw away because of politics. The Scots, English and Welsh aren't Europeans, they're British.
