Putting out Fires

Alright, so other than the obvious (driving on the left-hand side of the road), there really are a LOT of things that are different here in England than they are in the US.

1)  Not only do Brits drive on the left side, everything is opposite:  walking up and down stairs on the other side, entering stores on the other side, entrance doors on the other side…  I’m constantly running into people and doors here.

2)  The weather completely controls people here.  I may be overly sensitive because my testing fully depends on sunny days, but I’m telling you, the weather is so wacky here that people are talking about it constantly.  For 2 days last week I was freezing in a sweater and my leather jacket.  This weekend it was so hot that I left Bath earlier than I’d planned just so I could fight heat stroke with the a/c in the car.  There is absolutely no a/c anywhere, so everyone is left dripping in the humid heat.  I’ve already spent about $35 on fans for my hotel room.  And on the hottest day of the year, a town in Northern England was flooded so badly that the whole town was destroyed.  In this rainy country, it takes a hot sunny day to create a flood.

3)  The language is so completely different from American English that I can barely understand people half the time.  An example:  “Oye Colin, sort out some skittles.”  Translation:  “Hey Colin, could you organize a game of skittles (an English bar game like bowling).”    They also use the word ‘bits’ a lot in place of ‘pieces’.  “We’re missing some bits.”  I’ve been called ‘luv’ and ‘luvey’ like a million times.  I try my hardest not to giggle, but I’m telling you, its HARD. 

4)  Shopping is completely different (aside from the fact that I also run into people with my cart as I’m on the wrong side of the isle).  I wanted some sleeping pills and I had to go to the pharmacy, justify to the pharmacist why I needed them, prove that I wasn’t taking anything else, then I got a tutorial on how to use them and we had to look through all the choices before I could buy one.  Oh, and when you check-out, you are expected to bag all of your own groceries. 

5)  Everything here (shops) closes at 4pm.  You’re S.O.L. if you get out of work at 5pm and you need to get something.  Then, not a single place is open for dinner until 6pm, and even then they are only open for a few hours.  In fact, everything is wacky here.  People go to work at about 8 or 9 (I’m used to 6am!), the cafeteria and restaurants absolutely don’t open until noon, and sometimes stores and restaurants just close whenever they want to, despite their posted hours. 

Anyway, who knew people w/ the same language could be so incredibly different?