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September 21, 2007
Final Observations: III
There are some things that caught my eye, were pointed out to me, or that I noticed and think are true (but may not hold up under close scrutiny), while I was in England.
This was, originally, one very long entry. Now it's three. Today:
Things that I noticed on my own:
Motorcyclists wear leathers and helmets. Most of them anyway. I believe I saw but one person on a motorcycle who wasn't wearing appropriate safety gear. It's worth noting, as well, that motorcyclist don't always feel inclined to follow the rules of the road and aren't above scootching around cars as space permits. I'm not just talking about lane splitting, and I don't know if it's legal in England or not, but other things like sneaking around a car at a light. British drivers didn't seem to mind.
Bicyclists don't seem to wear helmets. I saw more guys on bikes in London than I expected, and other bikes elsewhere, and I'm not sure anybody was wearing a helmet.
There aren't all that many insects. When we first arrived at Lady Penelope's she opened the back door. I stuck my head outside to pull the screen door shut only to find there wasn't one. None of the windows had screens either. This held true when we went to London to visit her folks and to the country to visit her sister. The doors were always open, there were never any screens, and there were hardly ever any bugs. I did see a couple of flys while I was there and the last night I caught and released a couple of moths. Generally speaking, however, there were just no insects. No flys, none of those little white bugs that fly around light bulbs, just a few moths. I have more flys in my home and I have screens in every window.
The Brits often drink beer cold. Or at least their version of cold. I'll bet I could have gotten a really cold beer had I been at the right place at the right time. One night I had something (Old Peculiar) that Lady P said is typically consumed at room temperature.
The whole accent thing is fake. And put on for tourists to bring in more tourism dollars. I overheard a group of guys talking — sounding just like me — around the corner from where I was. When I turned the corner and they saw my I *heart* Dubya T-shirt they got all cockney on me. This happened more than once and I eventually got pretty good at sneaking up on people. Once, at the Home Base (like a Home Depot) I overheard on of the employees say to a coworker, "Hey, Gary. Can you cover this register for me? I need to go to the bathroom." When he saw me he got a startled look on his face, developed an accent and said, "Uh, I mean… I say Nigel, could you watch my station for me? I need to go to the loo."
My superpower works across the Atlantic. My super power is that I never have to wait in line (or wait in line too terribly long). This doesn't sound all that impressive until you add to it that just moments after I take my place in line it will grow to many times its original length and often extends out the door. There were several times in England that I'd get in line one or two people back and then turn around to find a dozen or so people behind me. (It's handier than it sounds and even works at the Department of Motor Vehicles and Post Offices.)
British toilets can't be flushed until the tank fills. There's no way to do a partial flush and I think this might lead to fewer clogs. The water in home toilets, at least the five or six I had the opportunity to check out, doesn't come up as far as the water does in our toilets — it stays in the very bottom all puddle like. For a man this means less splashup on his legs if he's standing before it in shorts. I don't know what women get out of the arrangement. Due to the fact the water is so low it does lead to skid marks on the side of the bowl in instances of a high-fiber number two; the flushing doesn't always produce enough water to take care of this.
In McDonald's and the mall (and therefore, I'm thinking a lot of public toilets) the men's urinal is more funnel shaped so that a guy is peeing down and not so much forward. Again, splashing is reduced to nothing.
One bathroom I was in, at the mall, had a trough in it that reminded me of a college bar I used to go to. There were little little bullseyes on the back of the trough that made me think Target had sponsored the toilet until I realized what an odd idea that was.
You can still get milk delivered. I remember seeing metal boxes outside doors when I was younger that were for the milk man. Lady P didn't have the metal box, but she did get milk delivered (as well as groceries from Tesco… I'd pay for this,, why doesn't it work here) a couple times a week.
I'm sure there were other things I'd notice that I've forgotten. I'll pass those along as they occur to me.
Posted by delmer at September 21, 2007 10:45 PM
Comments
1)Try riding in snow, ice and rain on a motorbike. Chances are high that you will fall off at one moment. Then you will be glad to have the extra leather skin.
2)Riding a bicycle a normal way, less then 10 Mph no helmet is obliged by law in any european country. For kids (less skull, less experience) It is advised. So......why should I wear one?
3) When you have no watermeter, why use less water:-). Just wait till the watercompany starts puting a meter in....then England will learn to conserve water.
Posted by: Jack at September 22, 2007 12:18 PM