Someone asked people not originally from the UK what British people take for granted – 23 things we don’t appreciate enough

Overfamiliarity with anything tends to deaden our appreciation of it, from small things like TV shows that we’ve watched too many times, to big things like marriages. But what about things that we forget to value because we’ve grown up with them?

Over on the AskUK subreddit, user sergeantjake asked:

Those not originally from the UK: what is one thing that Brits take for granted?

And people who were born in other countries had plenty of thoughts about the stuff we should remember to be thankful for.

1.

‘Being able to love someone of the same sex without getting jailed or flogged to death. Yep. I have been married to my British husband for six years now. Going back to my country is out of the question at this point.’
–adav123123

2.

‘From the US side of things, I won’t bang on about the usual stuff., but be glad UK driving tests are difficult. The idiot teens who can barely read and can get a driving license in the US scared the hell out of me. Also, my great-aunt was driving a massive Chevie into her 90s. She was so tiny, she had a stack of 1980s telephone books that she sat on just to see over the wheel. Perfectly street legal in her state.’
–TwistMeTwice

3.

‘I’m a motorcycle rider and it takes more training here to be allowed to ride with L plates than it did for me to get my full motorcycle endorsement back home.’
–Whisky_Delta

4.

‘Coming from an American import, despite both of their flaws, the rail system and the NHS.

My daughter was in NICU for three weeks after she was born and her hospital bill for, you know, keeping her alive was a cool half million dollars (not an exaggeration) and thank fuck I had insurance. Her mother’s bill was ten thousand dollars AFTER insurance because her insurance didn’t cover the emergency c-section because the pregnancy was a surprise and we didn’t add ‘pregnancy insurance’ before the pregnancy.

For trains, my home town was a seven hour drive from my university. The train took two days.’
–Whisky_Delta

5.

‘The village corner shop. Growing up in your bog standard US suburb the nearest store of any description was two miles away. Living in my little village here I have two different corner shops within a ten minute walk.’
–Whisky_Delta

6.

‘How good the gov.uk site it and the fact that it’s all online. In many countries you have to physically go to government buildings and join long queues, sometimes multiple ones just to get simple things done, like to renew your passport.’
–Money_Afternoon6533

7.

‘Our tap water. It’s clean, and in some places it even tastes good.’
–h00dman

8.

‘The NHS. I wish I could take every single native born Brits to see the state of government hospitals in my country of origin just so everyone would realise that, although not perfect, how good British citizens have it.’
–Sad_Cryptographer745

9.

‘How cool and practical is the packaging of milk (the see-through, with a handle)!’
–margaritaohwell

10.

‘I’m from the UK but lived around the world for almost 20 years, so can make the comparison. Brits definitely take the weather for granted. It might not be exciting for a lot of the year, but at least we don’t have 50C+ searing, parched desert heat like Iraq, Oman, Qatar, or sauna-like sweltering like they have in Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia. I know a lot of Brits go to hot countries for 1-2 week holidays, but it’s a lot different having to live in that weather year-round.’
–No_Salamander4095

11.

‘The availability of non-prescription drugs and how cheap they are. Like paracetamol for 20p and I can just grab two of them off the shelf and buy them at the self service till.

I’ve lived abroad where the only place to get any kind of drug is at the pharmacy and you often have to go through the staff/pharmacist questioning for something basic like painkillers. They’re often really expensive brand name products too.’
–Ok-Sandwich-364

12.

‘How beautiful your country is, the amount there is to do and explore in such a small area, the climate (though I’ve been warned that this last year I’ve been here has been unusually lovely so maybe I’ll have a different opinion in a few years).

But honestly, this country is so green. Everything is lush and vibrant and covered in flowers. Yes there are some annoying bugs but damn I had no idea people lived without mosquitos and black flies bitting them from April-November. I love being outside here!’
–little_odd_me