Expectations VS Reality People Have Of The UK

People who haven’t lived in the UK have very high expectations of what it’s like to live here, most of these expectations are so far from the truth. Most of these expectations come from movies and TV shows set in the UK, needless to say you can’t trust everything you see on your TV screen. Here are a few expectations people have of the UK which need to be debunked, and if you live in the UK then you know exactly what I’m talking about.

1. People who live in the UK aren’t posh and rich

Everyone expects people who live in the UK to be like Benedict Cumberbatch or David Beckham but those kinds of people make up all of 1% of the population. In reality the men usually resemble Phil Mitchell (from Eastenders), angry, bold and usually drunk. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

2. People in the UK go to great schools

You can blame Harry Potter for this one, people usually think we go to a place like Hogwarts where everything is so prestige and everyone has so much fun. But in reality most schools need updating, they’re never enough resources to go around and we all hate it, don’t even get me started on school meals. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

3. Even the streets are not what people expect

If you go through Pinterest and look at places like London then you would usually see a nice street with cute houses, maybe an old style lamp post and a bus but the reality is so different. For one streets are usually dirty, the houses only look like that in the posh parts of London and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of those old style lamp posts like ever. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

4. We don’t all speak like the queen

Okay that’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but people do expect us Brits to be very polite have have a very formal accent like the people you’d see on BBC news. But the reality is so different, we all have very different accents, it goes from Scottish to Brummie, Scouse to Welsh, Cockney to West Country and so many more. And don’t even get me started on slang, “Hello good morning” is the expectation but the reality sounds a lot more like “what you saying fam”.

5. How people dress in the UK is far from what you see in the movies

Have you watched Downton Abby (or at least know what it is)? Have you seen how they dress? Yeah well that isn’t how people dress in the UK. I mean sure some people do wear suits but it’s not the kind of suits you’d think… they’re usually track suits they brought from JD sports. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

6. We don’t eat like the queen either

People have this mental image of a full on afternoon tea with small triangle sandwiches and tea or a crumpet or a muffin but we don’t eat like that. The reality is that we’d much rather have doner and a bag of chips from the chippy. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

7. British TV isn’t all that great either

People think all we watch are time soaps like Downton Abby and The Crown but in reality day time televishion looks a lot more like Flog It and The Jeremy Kyle Show. And if you really want a taste of the real Britain all you have to do is watch The Jeremy Kyle Show once, most of them are drug addicts with daddy issues who have all of four teeth. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

8. One of the biggest British icons isn’t as great as you might think

For some reason people from abroad always want to go on the iconic double decker bus, why on earth anyone would be willing to go if they have other options is beyond me. The buses smell so bad, are usually packed and apparently the designs on the seats are there to hide how dirty they actually are, this makes us question how often they’re cleaned or even if they ever are. This is the expectation:

This is the reality:

Can you think of any expectations vs reality for the UK? Let us know in the comments.

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