Is chivalry dead , are we an unfreindly nation?

[Evans Electric]

This was on the radio , pregnant woman standing on a train , feeling the strain asks if someone would give up their seat,  everyone ignores her .

This was of course , darn sarf.

Just wondering .

My widowed cousin came up from Hemel Hempstead , stopped overnight in Brum  so she could travel with me to Wales for a funeral .   Although born here she has lived her whole life down south but said there is a huge difference with people's attitudes and friendliness .

Most Brummies for instance  ( if you can find one) will just start chatting to you about anything , having never met you before in their lives.

This is a generalisation of course .

I've worked around the country and found people in London say, to be unfriendly , sometimes ignorant and downright rude  .

Then as you move North it changes ,  Midlands, Derby,  Sheffield , Liverpool , etc no problems,  Geordies great ,  South Wales great

Just wondering how others see it ?

 

[Essex1]

Could not disagree more. Everyone seems to say that London is an unfriendly place and base it on a short period of time when they have travelled there for a day or a weekend. I actually consider myself a Londoner. Romford is actually in London and not Essex as my namesake might suggest. London is a wonderful place full of great people. I have also been to Birmingham and while there no one said anything to me. Would I generalise people from Birmingham because of this short trip?  Of course not. 

I will always give my seat up for anyone who needs it more than me. It has nothing to do with where I am from but more the respect for others that is instilled in me by my upbringing. 

The irony is that anyone that actually knows London at all knows that real Londoners are few and far between and London is now mainly made up of people from all over The UK. 

 

[leesparkykent]

Could not disagree more. Everyone seems to say that London is an unfriendly place and base it on a short period of time when they have travelled there for a day or a weekend. I actually consider myself a Londoner. Romford is actually in London and not Essex as my namesake might suggest. London is a wonderful place full of great people. I have also been to Birmingham and while there no one said anything to me. Would I generalise people from Birmingham because of this short trip?  Of course not. 

I will always give my seat up for anyone who needs it more than me. It has nothing to do with where I am from but more the respect for others that is instilled in me by my upbringing. 

The irony is that anyone that actually knows London at all knows that real Londoners are few and far between and London is now mainly made up of people from all over The UK. 

 agreed :Salute

 

[misssweden]

I don't think chivalry is dead, and I find brits in general very polite, just a bit reserved at times. 

 

[ProDave]

My Mrs was a Geordie. When she moved to the south, she couldn't believe that people standing in a queue at a bus stop didn't even talk to each other.

You need to get yourself up here Deke, you would love it, most people are white and friendly. I know a nice house for sale and I promise to retire so you won't have any competition.

They might have trouble with your accent.....

 

[Essex1]

My Mrs was a Geordie. When she moved to the south, she couldn't believe that people standing in a queue at a bus stop didn't even talk to each other.

Where in the south?

 

[ProDave]

Where in the south?

Oxfordshire

 

[sprocketflup]

Leeds :slap

 

[ProDave]

Leeds :slap

:red card

Leeds might be "down south" to me now, but not then.

 

[Andy™]

Leeds :slap

anywhere past scotch corner is south

 

[NozSpark]

TBH.... I find the people in most cities quite unfriendly

 

[ProDave]

anywhere past scotch corner is south

Anywhere past Inverness is South.

 

[Murdoch]

I find that if you are friendly, most people respond accordingly.....

 

[revjames]

smile at people and they smile back. Talk to people and they will talk back. Agree with the post about Brummies and S Wales particularly friendly. I think people (even Londoners) feel awkward in social situations and don't know how to react accordingly. Throw in a code of PC ness and most people feel its safer to just pretend they are looking at something really important on their phone.

 

[OnOff]

I frequently travel by train to and from London and will always give my seat up to a woman, elderly person etc. Because I usually start early/finish early being a big chap I'll often get a "4" (two seats facing two opposite) as I don't really fit the normal cattle class seating. If a mum gets on with a couple of kids I'll move to let them sit together. I always approach blind people too to see if they need help.

So although I'm a soft, southern shandy drinker I was a least brought up properly!

EDIT: I was in London on 7/7. Luckily I managed to walk to Blackfriars and got straight on a train stopping at all stations including mine. Seems the railways just wanted to get people out of the City. EVERYBODY that day was making eye contact and talking to each other, even complete strangers. There was a young girl (in here 20's) talking to her mum on the phone as she needed to get home but there were no trains going to her usual station. She just got on one going in the rough general direction. I offered and gave her a lift home. Must admit though I still felt a bit uneasy etc like I was going to be accused of being a perv!  :lol:

 

[Evans Electric]

I frequently travel by train to and from London and will always give my seat up to a woman, elderly person etc. Because I usually start early/finish early being a big chap I'll often get a "4" (two seats facing two opposite) as I don't really fit the normal cattle class seating. If a mum gets on with a couple of kids I'll move to let them sit together. I always approach blind people too to see if they need help.

So although I'm a soft, southern shandy drinker I was a least brought up properly!

EDIT: I was in London on 7/7. Luckily I managed to walk to Blackfriars and got straight on a train stopping at all stations including mine. Seems the railways just wanted to get people out of the City. EVERYBODY that day was making eye contact and talking to each other, even complete strangers. There was a young girl (in here 20's) talking to her mum on the phone as she needed to get home but there were no trains going to her usual station. She just got on one going in the rough general direction. I offered and gave her a lift home. Must admit though I still felt a bit uneasy etc like I was going to be accused of being a perv!  :lol:

Ah!   OnOff raises another social problem .   Driving round in the van , looking for an address say,  what you can't do is pull over to ask some kids the way  or even approach them in any way really .

As you say , in the face of adversity, people do connect.  

There were a couple of things that stuck with me after the Birmingham Pub Bombings .   There was dreadful carnage in both pubs and services were stretched.   Without any prompting all the off duty NHS staff from the city hospitals were travelling in to their respective hospitals.

And dozens of black taxi cabs were queuing up to ferry the injured to hospitals.

 

[Evans Electric]

My Mrs was a Geordie. When she moved to the south, she couldn't believe that people standing in a queue at a bus stop didn't even talk to each other.

You need to get yourself up here Deke, you would love it, most people are white and friendly. I know a nice house for sale and I promise to retire so you won't have any competition.

They might have trouble with your accent.....

He never gives up trying to flog that house does he ?

I've been to Scotland a few times and you're right, they do have trouble with the accent ,  I had to adopt my " Posh" voice to be understood I'm afraid.

 

[Sharpend]

I find that the biggest problem in London nowadays is you never know to whom you are trying to communicate with and seeing as I only speak queens English it can be hard sometimes. 

 

[Andy™]

learn another language and you will be fine. bit daft living in london and only speaking english...