English are depressed and depressing
I was just pondering over the hugely complicated matter of why am I feeling bad on this Island, while I’m pretty well adjusted to the goings on. Why am I stimulated after talking to Poles, Germans & Portuguese but I feel timid after talking to the English (most of the English, there are exceptions), even if it’s in France.
And it hit me: it’s a real emotion that I’m feeling. It’s nothing external: It’s too late to be culture shock because I’ve been here for 4.5 years already. It’s not personal because I don’t know most people with whom I have small talk. It’s not me because I’m an outgoing person with lots of friends and a go-getter.
What then??
So today in the last three hours I’ve spoken to a Polish business owner, a hugely successful guy and and English woman currently buying a flat.
The first conversation was:
‘Oh, dobry! (Good day).
Dobry!
What’s going on?
Need this and that.
Ok. It’s found there and there.
Ok, dzięki (thanks). And you can get that cheaper from those guys.
Ok, that’s useful. Which city are you from?
Lodz, you?
Warsaw village.
Nice
Nice
Come again. Bye.’
The conversation with the English woman:
‘oh it’s all lovely, lovely, and I love everything and my boyfriend is Portuguese and my niece has a Polish boyfriend and wow fantastic and I love your Polish dishes and all about everything and yeah I was just looking for a job… am i talking too much, sorry, he’s looking for a job, can do anything.’
All this loving everything was just smoke and mirrors, because that’s the way people are used to taking. They don’t speak straight for fear of losing something or other, some chance. This kind of speech does not carry any useful information, other than how stressed out, frightened, timid they are.
And since your poor Polka is an empath, that is trouble.
I get your mood on me. It stays with me. Anytime I’m in England, I take over your being frightened all the time, not feeling secure, wasting chances. And I proceed as you do – I took some accounting qualification training, even though I hold a degree. I took Assistant jobs. I live in a small town.
It’s good that I finally realized this. I can now do something about it. Avoiding English people on an Island full of English people is not a viable option, but maybe I can learn to disregard them.
Then my small talk will be truly English, because I now think that small talk is a shield English people raise against other people’s worries. That’s why you don’t tolerate negative comments about anything at all, that’s why to you it’s ‘whining’ and needs to be shouted at.
That’s also why people eat so much comfort food and drink wine and get out to Barcelona if they can only afford it.
But don’t worry too much – in Iceland they have it so much worse that they commit suicides.
The plan is now to buy a full spectrum lamp to get some UV, ignore people at all cost, and spend more time with foreigners.
Sorry, English. I’ll get back to you if you promise to stop worrying inside.
Wow! I think you are right – lots of depressed English people, but it is hardly surprising…so many people crammed into the Island, and always more people coming. That’s why so many leave and go to other countries…for more space or sunshine. However, there are some great English people…the eccentrics. Those are the kind of English people I like.
According to statistics England is the most overcrowded country in Europe and has been for many years. To cope with this the people create defences of the kind you describe.