Quote:
Originally Posted by Fat Charlie
I swear I posted this this morning, but somehow it didn't stick. I'll summarize.
Arragonis- I know places where you can wander all day without seeing anyone. We call that normal here. Over your way, the land was developed before transportation existed, and the land is quite finite. The US grew with the idea that land was cheap, and everything since the 1940s was with the idea that not only was land cheap, but gas was cheaper- so the scattered towns became scattered themselves. Every small town doesn't have everything you need anymore, and delivery doesn't exist.
|
The UK is kind of small in terms of land mass but there are places which have not been developed. When I used to think of Japan I used to visualise a landscape of buildings, factories and large populations. I've looked more and its more complicated than that - it has mountains, quiet forests, shoreline - all the things we have here. The UK is the same - visit London or the South East and it is mostly concrete which some (very expensive) green bits. Here in Scotland once you get out of the central belt (the bit between Edinburgh on the East and Glasgow in the West) it is open countryside. Go 50 miles north it is almost wilderness.
England is the same - divided east to west by the penines and the peak district. Travel 30 minutes out of Leeds (large city) or Manchester on the other side and it is a wild and beautiful mountain landscape.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf
...After all, very few of us try to cut boards or drive screws with a hammer, we use a tool suited to the job.
|
This kind of links back to my original point. I have had the requirement for a truck like vehicle 2 times in the last 10 years. If I had to pay an expensive price for a tool (e.g. > £200 ~ $320) I would probably look towards buying or hiring it instead - e.g. I didn't buy a chainsaw the one time I needed it when I moved house I rented one and I've never needed one since. A truck would set me back probably £2-3K at the least and then I have the cost of tax and insurance for something I don't really need.
I have quite a few American based friends and 2 have SUVs and trucks. One uses it every day and bought it because she thinks its safe (gets 17 MPG on a good day and it spends weeks at a time getting it's gearbox rebuilt) and the other does 190 miles a year towing a boat in and out of the water.
The latter I would suspect falls under the title of "useful tool", the former not so much.