Rules are only for Brits

Nostrodamus

Nostrodamus

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www.cygnus3.com
We Brits like a good winge and it shows especially when we are abroad.

We pussy foot around like a cat on a pillow finding the exact place where we want to anchor and then set up our exclusion zone which we patrol with vigour. (after we have set our anchor ball of course and spent three hours observing every mark available to make sure we are not dragging).Should another boat dare to anchor within that zone then you will hear the call of "Too close, can't anchor there". This is usually done over the radio as the boat it question is too far away to be heard audibly.

Once we get to sailing or motoring it is wonderful. We can moan about every other boat out there not displaying a the Ensign (and of course the ones displaying the wrong one) as no other boat apart from the Brits know the rules of the road.

What has become apparent to me is that these "foreign" boat probably do know the rules but choose to ignore them. It is only us Brits who like rules and who love to quote and stick to them. We would like more rules so we have something else to winge about but we would still stick to them.

I don't know why we are the only ones following them but being abroad you can always tell the Brits, not by the ensign but by the way he shouts these rules at "Billy foreigner who must love it and be giggling himself to death as he anchors a ants cock hair away from your boat and then proceeds to pee over the side.

We Brits really do need to lighten up a bit.
 
If you are complaining about Brits and their way to stick to the rules you can't have any experiance with Germans.
In Germany there is a rule for virtually everything and theese rules are sacred. Nobody will ever dare to ignore one of them. And you must have at least some sort of official certificate. Even for peeing over the side.
BTW: being German, I know what im talking about.

So maybe it's a good idea to join efforts in getting a bit more relaxed.

See you in the next anchorage when i'm dropping my hook just across your chain :-)
 
Agree with Skipp C

Was in Germany many pints of beer ago.. walked up to a road with a pelican crossing... there was no .. repeat no traffic anywhere so we walked across the road...
The locals on t'other side gave us looks that could kill for ignoring the traffic signal....
 
A while ago, in Spain, I was berthed next to an Austrian couple who were cruising the Med in their catamaran. He told me they were once threatened with eviction from their flat in Vienna because he had mounted homemade window boxes which were just slightly larger than the manufactured ones available. Apparently the boxes failed to conform with the regulation for that building because they were 10 Centimetres too long...:p....;)
 
Nostrodamus said:
We Brits like a good winge and it shows especially when we are abroad.

We pussy foot around like a cat on a pillow finding the exact place where we want to anchor and then set up our exclusion zone which we patrol with vigour. (after we have set our anchor ball of course and spent three hours observing every mark available to make sure we are not dragging).Should another boat dare to anchor within that zone then you will hear the call of "Too close, can't anchor there". This is usually done over the radio as the boat it question is too far away to be heard audibly.

Once we get to sailing or motoring it is wonderful. We can moan about every other boat out there not displaying a the Ensign (and of course the ones displaying the wrong one) as no other boat apart from the Brits know the rules of the road.

What has become apparent to me is that these "foreign" boat probably do know the rules but choose to ignore them. It is only us Brits who like rules and who love to quote and stick to them. We would like more rules so we have something else to winge about but we would still stick to them.

I don't know why we are the only ones following them but being abroad you can always tell the Brits, not by the ensign but by the way he shouts these rules at "Billy foreigner who must love it and be giggling himself to death as he anchors a ants cock hair away from your boat and then proceeds to pee over the side.

We Brits really do need to lighten up a bit.
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There is extensive research that shows exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Suggest you get a copy of "Cultures and Organisations" by Geert Hofstede (happens to be Dutch). You will find that British as a group (not necessarily individuals) are high on pragmatism - that is going with the flow, which perhaps explains international success and why Brits can be found living working and playing all round the world. Contrast (as noted by others) with the characteristics of Germans.

Lots of interesting reasoning behind the findings of the research and very well accepted by organisations that operate international businesses. One of the few "theories" of human behaviour that is found to be very robust.
 
Tranona said:
There is extensive research that shows exactly the opposite of what you are saying. Suggest you get a copy of "Cultures and Organisations" by Geert Hofstede (happens to be Dutch). You will find that British as a group (not necessarily individuals) are high on pragmatism - that is going with the flow, which perhaps explains international success and why Brits can be found living working and playing all round the world. Contrast (as noted by others) with the characteristics of Germans.

Lots of interesting reasoning behind the findings of the research and very well accepted by organisations that operate international businesses. One of the few "theories" of human behaviour that is found to be very robust.
Click to expand...

Could it be that the tiny minority who live abroad do so because they don't like the attitude of the majority ?
 
Interesting, nothing to do with rules, but do foreigners have a different idea of "personal space"?
Yesterday I was sitting in a corridor at a museum trying to read documents and people kept brushing by very close. A quiet and wide corridor, no need to squeeze by.
Later sitting on a bench in Rotten Row eating an ice cream and the same thing happened.
How do I know they were foreigners? They were in London in July.:D

BTW if we wanted everything to be the same abroad as at home, why go there?
 
The company I work for often sends people (not me though) around the world. On our intranet, there used to be a guide to manners and customs in other countries which made occasionally-hilarious reading. It seems to have disappeared now, replaced by an outsourced "orientation service" which is probably more accurate - the old guide, for instance, reckoned that Brits were likely to get offended by an incorrect choice of tie, and gossip about our secretaries' private lives (we don't even have secretaries any more!). However, one of the things it said about the Americans, which hadn't occurred to me until then but is probably correct, is that they can be very rule-bound, following the letter of the law even when it's clearly unnecessary or pointless to do so.

Pete
 
DanTribe said:
Interesting, nothing to do with rules, but do foreigners have a different idea of "personal space"?
Click to expand...

Some nationalities certainly do, yes. Not all - you can't take the entire world population, subtract the inhabitants of the British Isles, and lump them all together as "foreigners" all with identical manners and customs!

Pete
 
25931 said:
Could it be that the tiny minority who live abroad do so because they don't like the attitude of the majority ?
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No, don't think it is anything to do with that at a population level, although you could argue that certain individual types prefer to live abroad and are very obvious by their individual behaviour patterns as described by Nostro. The problem with extrapolating from individuals to populations is that your views are formed on the basis of non typical individuals.

The strength of the British "character" as identified in the research I quoted is the ability to live and work with other cultures without necessarily going "native". Suggest you join a multinational class of business students or managers in an international organisation and watch the stereotypes being played out. Highly repeatable results - Hofstede's "sample" was 80000 people across about 30 national/cultural groups.

Don't think it is a tiny minority in numerical terms as literally millions of Brits do not live in the UK, but could well be a tiny minority of individual types prefer to live abroad - and often seem fond of telling others why!
 
In the quiet suburbs of Copenhagen, in the dead of night, people wait patiently for a green light before crossing the road. In Nairobi nobody smokes in the street, outside of the designated zones, and nobody takes pictures near government buildings. We Brits are anarchists by comparison.
 
prv said:
However, one of the things it said about the Americans, which hadn't occurred to me until then but is probably correct, is that they can be very rule-bound, following the letter of the law even when it's clearly unnecessary or pointless to do so.

Pete
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That's interesting, as that is the opposite of the generally accepted findings. The construct used to test this is called "uncertainty avoidance" - the way people deal with unfamiliar situations. A high level indicates a heavy reliance on rules and is also associated with cultures with strong catholic type religions and the Roman Law. So of the 53 countries surveyed, top was Greece followed by most of the Latino countries, Germany at 29, USA at 43 and UK at 48. Lowest was Singapore. The last is interesting as it is a highly rule bound society, but the rules seem to be in tune with individual values, so are not seen as rules! - Anyway that is the explanation my Singapore colleagues gave me.

In organisational terms it is common for US corporations to be heavily rules bound as a way of standardising behaviour, but the original research I referred to came about primarily because US multinationals were having difficulty managing their overseas operations as they seemed unable to adapt to local cultures, believing that their organisational (US style) culture was universal.

Inevitably it is all much more complex which is why it can be fascinating if you have the time and opportunity to dig deeper.
 
prv said:
...However, one of the things it said about the Americans, which hadn't occurred to me until then but is probably correct, is that they can be very rule-bound, following the letter of the law even when it's clearly unnecessary or pointless to do so.
Click to expand...

Same company, same experience - American bureaucracy has to be experienced to be believed (tried getting a US visa?). I also learned, through experience, that one question, one email was a good rule when dealing with US staff.
 
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Downsman said:
A while ago, in Spain, I was berthed next to an Austrian couple who were cruising the Med in their catamaran. He told me they were once threatened with eviction from their flat in Vienna because he had mounted homemade window boxes which were just slightly larger than the manufactured ones available. Apparently the boxes failed to conform with the regulation for that building because they were 10 Centimetres too long...:p....;)
Click to expand...
Well speaking of window boxes my daughter dared to leave a cooler bag on her balcony in her flat down on Vulture street next to the river in Brisbane-what horror! what threats!
Now do the Norwegians obey the rules?-well no not to go by what I obseved at Aberchalder Bridge on the Caley Canal a few days ago.
I was number two car at the bridge which controls both road traffic and canal traffic by traffic lights.
It began when the car in front of me appeared to only see the lights,the barrier and an opening bridge at the last minute.
This was soon forgotten as everyone had an amusing 15 minutes or so watching the boats queing in both directions-remember there are traffic lights.
First there were the hire cruisers who were intent on doing anything else than obey the signals and the frantic waving of the Bridge operator.As the last cruiser disappeared into the bridge cut he didnt reappear for some 5 minutes-perhaps he was having a pee?
By this time north bound boats were getting impatient.The two leading boats had tied to an adjascent pontoon to wait.
Next minute a convoy of three Bavarians flying the Norwegian flag I think steamrollered up from the rear and headed through the bridge and up the Canal flat out towards Fort Augustus.
I again saw them next day literally bumper to bumper traveling up Loch Ness! reminding me of typical motorhome drivers.
 
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