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It felt more and more absurd. Large parts of the country definitely had severe problems. Industrial production was only present in the odd well restored monument of late 19th, early 20th century coal mining, iron – not steel – manufacturing and heritage steam railways plus numerous abandoned industrial estates. Thatcher has done a complete job.
The infrastructure couldn´t even handle some stronger rain and flooded streets and houses had become a regular occurrence. A couple of hours with temperatures below zero result in failing heating (in 4 star hotels!) and blasting water pipes. British plumbing probably represents the general development status of the country best: outdated materials and very little expertise of the craftsmen. Even the highly promoted service sector suffers from a mixture of inexperience, low wages and little motivation.
So what are they doing here, to lessen their homemade problems? They overprotect and subsidise the financial industry, lower the taxes for large companies and blame the EU for everything that goes wrong.
At least the motorway south was in good condition and there was not too much traffic and I reached the exit for the Gower in the early evening. This was still too late to search for a B&B and I knew it would be difficult to just park the van and sleep in it. In contrary to Scotland Wales has already been infected by the “no overnight parking” sign disease. But right beside the exit there was a service station with a large parking lot. I decided to spend the night here and parked my van.
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