So much of this rings true for me, and I&#x27;m a few years away from 40.<p>As an expat living in the Netherlands who has never really believed in &quot;formal speech&quot;, it really takes some getting used to when people (usually a lot younger than me) call me &quot;u&quot;. I always think &quot;wow, this kid is so polite, how bizarre!&quot;. I still haven&#x27;t really gotten the hang of when <i>I</i> should use the formal you, and constantly call strangers &quot;je&quot;. I&#x27;ve only ever had one Dutch person actually state explicitly that I should call him &quot;u&quot;. It is maybe not a coincidence that he was a bit of a jerk in general.<p>At least living in the Netherlands, our creaking knees will always be able to bicycle where we want to! No big annoying hills like there seems to be everywhere back in the UK, or in other countries. ;)<p>Gefeliciteerd. :)