quote:HAPPINESS TOP FIVE 1.Denmark 2.Finland 3.Ireland 4.Sweden 5.Netherlands Source: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Economics
OK, I kind of understand the Netherlands. There's a few esteemed TMO posters that live there and seem... well, no more depressed than us in the UK and maybe even quite a bit happier than those in the US, and Botswana.
But Denmark, Finland, Ireland and Sweden? I've only been to Ireland out of that lot. It was quite nice at the time, but that was in the 80s when it was still all dirt tracks five miles out of Dublin. Now they've got Trans-European Highway Number One going all the way to Dingle, which must be very useful. And Dublin seems to be like Docklands, but without London next to it.
Yes, that's right, I haven't a clue what I'm talking about again. Are these places really nice then? Should I move there?
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The Netherlands? Well it's not bad, if 10 years is anything to go by, but I doubt I would rate it that highly - depends what in life makes you happy - if its tolerated drugs, neanderthal drinking, having a 'can't-do' attitude in the workplace and the fun of your local being invaded by the drunken arseholes you left the mothercountry for in the first place, then yeah, it's great!
Denmark - now I could live there quite happily, well Copenhagen anyway. All the women are supermodels just about, you can get English ale on tap there, it is beautiful and clean. But that's because I have only been there once - I'm sure after it all, once you look beneath the surface, its probably as depressing as hell.
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Sweden and Finland are the two best places I visited over the last ten years or so. Interesting that they show up in the top five for 'happiness' because they are the absolute world beaters for alcoholism and suicide. Still. You can't argue with the results of a survey. If it says they're happy, then they must be happy. Perhaps there is some other explanation for why a disproportionate number of Swedes and Finns seek oblivion in the bottle and end they're own lives. Perhaps these are actually the symptoms of extreme satisfaction with life.
-------------------- Now that you've called me by name? Posts: 2007
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Perhaps it's a self-selecting sample - the only Scandinavians out and about answering surveys are the ones not holed up in their chalets with a bottle of aquvit.
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I've been to all of these countries and liked them all. I have worked for extended periods in Ireland and Sweden, and have spent enough time in the other three to get a good enough flavour.
I'd plump for Sverige: I was posted for a three-week period to Uppsala, a neat and clean city which is large by Swedish standards but not much larger than a medium-sized town in England. It was a stone's throw away from Stockholm: I did have a car provided but hardly used it given that the public transport system was so good. Basic living was expensive, but given that dinner and drinks were provided by my bosses on a regular basis I didn't really feel the pinch. And the women were mighty hott.
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quote:Originally posted by mart: Did you do any cheese shopping while you there, Rick?
Lol, no. Uppsala was very much about work, work and more work - I had little time to do more than observe the multitudes of very attractive Svensk students while sipping a cold one under the shadow of the Domkyrka. Moreover I was attached at the time so any impromptu 'cheese shopping' would have been very, very, very bad.
Top marks, Mart - you genuinely made me laugh out loud with that carefully crafted one-liner. Picking out a disc of Camembert will never be the same again.
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