Fuck Off

jon_b

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I have been back in the UK for a few months. Recently I was out walking in the countryside – and heard someone shouting. I was approached by a very angry, red-faced gentleman who very loudly asked why I was trespassing on his land? I was a little flustered and greeted him with a friendly 'Bonjour' (I work a lot in France). I apologized and explained I was simply out walking. With a very red face – he shouted at me to fuck off and get back to where I came from!!!

I am based in the UK and grew up and was educated here – but often work on continental Europe. I tend to view myself as British – but something in the UK has gone wrong.

I found myself asking where do I belong? And if I were to 'fuck-off' where would I go? What has gone wrong?..and do I really want to continue to live here???

So .. is England really such a good place to be any more?? - or should I move on???

hmmmm....... :dunno:
 
That really seems harsh. Some people are just angry all the time.

This is from the US code, but I would bet that land use law is quite similar in Europe, the UK, and the US.

Laws for Posting No Trespass Signs

"The Penal Code requires that land owners post conspicuous signs near the primary entry points of the area to be closed to the public."

"The law tries to keep a balance between the rights of regular people to enjoy land and the rights of land owners. If there is no fence, the land has not been improved, looks unoccupied and has no posted sign, then someone can assume the land is public for the use of anyone. Under the natural squatter law, land should be used by the community for productive purposes. Unused land returns to communal ownership.

Trespassing is officially illegal on unposted property that has been improved, used and fenced in. If a land owner or occupant requests a trespasser to leave verbally or with a written letter, the trespasser must leave. Generally, the Keep Out sign is basically the same as the No Trespassing sign.

The land owner, legal occupant or an authorized representative can post the No Trespassing or Keep Out sign on any portion of the land and identify any activity that is prohibited. Even if you post a No Trespassing sign, you can grant permission to designated individuals. That is your right as a property owner. Trespassing laws vary by state."

Law Dictionary: Laws For Posting No Trespassing Signs


If there was no Keep Out / No Trespassing sign, and no improvements, no fences, then an angry exhortation that you should have known not to be there is unreasonable. How could you have known?

Peace.
Logic absolves you.
-------
This is why I love logic.
 
Every country has got some ignorant and nasty people and you appear to have found one whilst walking. He is probably the sort who supports hunting, capital punishment and banning immigrants, and feels entitled to drive after a convivial evening at the pub. But he is not typical of this country or the guys who live here and it is a little unfair to blame us all for him.
And it would be nice to think that he could star on this site, hopefully caught in a man trap since he seems the sort who would cheerfully put one on his land.
 
I am based in the UK and grew up and was educated here – but often work on continental Europe. I tend to view myself as British – but something in the UK has gone wrong. I found myself asking where do I belong? And if I were to 'fuck-off' where would I go? What has gone wrong?..and do I really want to continue to live here??? So .. is England really such a good place to be any more?? - or should I move on???

Well, you could start by shaving that long beard off, wear a bowler hat instead of a turban, substitute your jellaba for a tweed jacket and replace that Kalashnikov with a black umbrella.

Otherwise, please don't tell me Britain isn't the only country in the world without grumpy old men anymore, I like to cherish my delusions.
 
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Your experience sounds frightening, Jon. It leaves me feeling sad too, that people are so ugly and rude. I wish you COULD move to wherever you'd feel safer, someplace where the populace is friendlier. Have you experienced such a place during your travels on the Continent? Life is too short to be spent taking abuse from maniacal cretins. Try to settle where you can be happy.
 
Forget it. There are jerks in every country. Don't let one experience cause you to leave. If it happens a lot, that's another story.
 
Forget it. There are jerks in every country. Don't let one experience cause you to leave. If it happens a lot, that's another story. Meanwhile, Jon, aren't you supposed to be concentrating on developing fetishes?
 
ab-fab-.jpg


Lie back and think of England, Sweetie!
 
Jon, since you're British you belong here - but you can also belong anywhere else that you choose to and can get residence rights (which of course includes the whole EU, at least assuming we stay in it).
Actually in terms of attitudes nothing has changed - if you were trespassing (which you probably were, however unintentionally) you've always been liable to meet an angry person telling you to get off their land with varying levels of rudeness. Legally they're in the right, though it's a shame they're often unpleasant about it - of course they aren't always unpleasant, sometimes they will ask you politely to leave, or give you permission to continue if you ask them politely. If anything I'd say they are less likely to be rude than they used to be. I've sometimes asked permission to go across private land, normally for a specific reason rather than just going for a walk - the answer has more often been yes than no, and i think it's always been at least minimally polite.
Replying to Badtom: Actually English law (and I do mean English not British - Scottish access law is closer to Continental than to English) IS very different from US and I think most Continental European, though less so than it used to be. In England and Wales, until about ten years ago there was no official legal right of land access, though if the land was not fenced off from the public roads it was often (but not always!) open-acess in practice. Even common land was not officially open-access - theoretically the access rights were confined to the commoners (residents of specific houses or farms nearby, or of the whole manor) for specific purposes such as 'housebote' (The right to take wood from the commons to repair houses) or to graze speficied numbers of cattle, sheep etc, often between specified dates in the year - though in practice common land was normally open-access. What we did , and still do, have though is Public Rights of Way (footpaths for people on foot only, and bridleways for people on horseback as well). On a Public Right of Way there is an automatic and absolute right of access which can only be terminated by court order - so if the path is obstructed you are legally entitled to trample a crop planted across it, cut fences, even barge straight through someone's garden - but only if you are on the exact line of the path so you'd better be a good map-reader!
What changed about ten years ago is that we now have access land on more or less the US model as well. Broadly, any unenclosed land, other rough ground and unimproved grazing (even if it's fenced, though of course you have to use the gates not climb the fences or walls), some woodland. But the precise areas have been defined, and are shown on the larger-scale mas, so you know exactly where you do and don't have the right to go.
 
I lived in the UK in the 1960s but last two times I have visited, it is NOT the same country I knew.
 
It has changed a lot since the 1960s, in all sorts of ways - as has every country I imagine. Overall I'd say the changes are definitely for the better (gay sex illegal until late 60s, gay marriage now legal and prejudice vastly less than it used to be, for example), but of course the changes aren't all for the good. Certainly I'm very glad I'm living here now rather than in the 1960s.
 
I' was born in and have lived in Great Britain all my life. And during those years I think the country has probably improved. We have become more multi cultural, more tolerant of the beliefs of others, more diverse. And more liberal. As dead dirty has pointed out we have accepted homosexuality and permitted gay marriage. We have allowed abortion, excluding Northern Ireland,we abolished capital punishment. Sure there have been changes not all of us approve. As a beneficiary of the old grammar school system I regret their demise but accept that far more people have had a good education due to the replacement of the dump secondary modern schools by comprehensives. As one whose grandfather was an immigrant who integrated into British society I regret that it seems to be taking longer for more recent immigrants to follow a similar route but genuinely believe that such integration will eventually take place for the vast majority.
And yes I am far happier living today than I suspect I would have been in the sixties.
 
Used to go to the pub around the corner from the residence I lived in (near Russel Square) but went back and it is now an Indian Restaurant. The old english pub with the pickled eggs and food at noon is something I missed on my return.
 
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