What's annoying me today

No such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. (And old drafty houses, and shitty heating and ventilation systems.)

Neighbouring countries?

Lack of lots of great European destinations within a few hours flight.

Car culture.

Soulless new build cities.

That's a challenge, not much we can do about that. Counter argument: Wales and Scotland.

We're only a few hours flight from lots of great European destinations, but I wouldn't say that "it's really easy to go somewhere better" is a ringing endorsement of your home country.

Car culture is in part a function of the size of the country. We could definitely do with better transit, our inter-city links are decent enough but we don't have enough regional or inner city transit. I'll grant you this one.

As for "soulless new build cities", where are you thinking of? Of course we don't have the architectural heritage of Europe because it's a newer country, but the flipside is that we have much better buildings designed for modern living and modern technology. Like good HVAC, for example. I'm not having soulless though, the soul of a city is derived from its people. If you just turned up for a few days to look at the big concrete spike and the baseball stadium in the tourist plaza surrounded by tourist hotels, I don't think you've really made the right effort to understand the city. Having lived in several English towns and cities over the years I'll take Ottawa and Toronto every day of the week over your rain soaked high streets filled with betting shops and shitty chain bakers. So much soul.

Reykjavik doesn't count as a great European destination.

Being convenient for visiting lots of great places is a good thing too.

Sure. There are lots of great places within an easy flight from here as well. I've got ski resorts, beaches, multiple cities ranging from the modern to the historic, you name it. All without leaving the country.

A week in Torremolinos isn't moving the needle.

I'm going to Barcelona at the start of December I think. £150 return flight takes a few hours. Enjoy your Christmas break in Boston.

I’d be going to Boston in this instance.

Maybe not the 3-toed one in the fens.

It wasn't a great example I used to be honest. I quite like Boston. Though I can imagine after 2-3 visits you'd be bored. Unlike Barcelona where I'm very much looking forward to going for the 6th time.

Apart from Canadians...

Sadly, I'll probably be spending it in England. I'd prefer Boston.