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If you've got mould in your house there's a problem with heat and ventilation. I've never suffered mould, although without correct ventilation condensation on windows can be commonplace. It's a sign you've not got a decent airflow through your house if it's damp or mouldy. London is extremely expensive, go north and costs significantly reduce, and friendliness and helpfulness increases.
@@samhall3569 I grew up in Yorkshire, and I would bet that my English is far more easy to understand than yours, for anyone from anywhere in the UK, or around the world!
@@briantitchener4829 Why are you "Naying" like a horse? It's "by ecky thump," and that is a parody. I have two things to reply, there are whole swathes of Yorkshire that speak correctly pronounced English, but for the Queens English spoken as it should be you need to go to a small town in Ayrshire. There they speak the queen's English in exactly the way the queen does. One tiny thing, Balmoral is no where near Ayrshire before you make that erroneous assumption.
I've watched a few of these USA V UK vlogs and one thing that stands out. Americans are always shocked that other Countries are often better in many ways and USA isn't the best at anything.
It's because they are indoctrinated to think so from primary school onwards. Biggest psyop ever right next to North Korea. Imagine standing in class to pledge allegiance everyday, and reprimanded if you don't.
@@arunphillips6977 space exploration I'll grant you - most of the UK's dabbling in space has been with esa and a lot of the early space innovations were either from the usa or the soviet union. I beg to differ on computing, however. I know Britain wasn't the only contributor to the development of computers - not by a long shot, but it's difficult to ignore figures like turing and babbage as well as things like the manchester baby.
As per a few other comments - if you have mould then you are getting something wrong. I've never known anyone to have actual mould in their house. Our house was built 180 years ago with a cellar which drops 20 feet underground - guess what - no mould. Keep your house well ventilated and well heated and you should never have problems with mould or damp.
Yep, usually the problem is turning the heating up without increasing the ventilation or air movement. Warm air holds more moisture than cold and when it hits a colder surface - windows, walls etc it will condense. Drying clothes on radiators is a big no no unless you have air flow. UK houses were always leaky in terms of heat because fuel was fairly cheap - look how old houses had so many chimneys, a fire per room.
Mould - if your house is mouldy there is a problem with your ventilation or heating system, I have never lived in a mouldy house (I have lived in early and mid 1900’s and now 2010s new build houses) in the U.K. Yes, we do get rain in the U.K. but actually we also get a lot of dry weather and warm/sunny weather in the Spring/Summer months. I live in the North East so I am very used to months of colder, wetter, darker days in the Autumn/Winter but I also enjoy gorgeous sunny bright Spring/Summer.
If you are drying wet laundry in the house i can imagine damp . Most people have dryers or combined washer dryers and dont have such problems, sometimes clothes dried in them might be finished off in 'airing' cupboards associated with the heating system machine. A good heating system should see off any damp in the house. If you dont have heating on in a house and allow it to keep chilling off it will give you a sense of damp after a while. Incidentally your washing machine in the other video looked like it might have drying capability.
but then apparently we only get 'two weeks' of sun all year! Some of the comments in this section are pathetic. Americans will now believe that we all live in mouldy houses because of apparently we get 11 months of rain!!!
I live in the north-west, a region with a fair amount of rain, or so we're supposed to believe, and I've never lived in a mouldy house; in fact, we've had a blissful summer this year. Preconceptions can be so annoying.
Dehumidifier if you live in a damp climate (I do) and unfortunately a concrete block built and/ or rendered house (also me) is a lifesaver. Otherwise you have to heat the heck out of the house which costs a fortune if you don't yet have great insulation. Not a greatly eco situation.
There may be an issue with rental properties in areas with a high demand - fairly often you get converted houses with extra bathrooms built in, and they never vent particularly well, while also lacking any good place to dry clothes for example. In addition, there have been periods when they've tried to build a lot of property quickly so some of that is quite shoddy. For someone in the rental market in SE England, then yes, I can see why they'd see a lot of properties with damp issues, but I'd agree with your point that their experience is not necessarily representative of the bulk of the country
One thing about taxes in the UK when it comes to income tax: people often see that it comes out to about 25% on the lowest bracket with the national insurance included, but they forget that the first £12,000 you earn every year is completely tax free. Until you earn over £12,000, you won't spend a penny in taxes, which lowers that 25% a lot, especially when you're not earning much, because the 25% will only ever apply on money earned after the frst £12,000. When it comes to the NHS, if we take into account a low wage employee, say they're earning about £18,000 per year (I know that's not exactly minimum but minimum wage is increasing all the time). The first £12,000 of that annual wage is tax free, so you're paying tax on £6,000 per year. 25% income + NI means £1,500 tax per year. Healthcare accounts for approximately 20% of government spending, so for the NHS, as a very rough estimate, you'd be paying £300 per year for full coverage. People make out that we pay a lot for our healthcare, but it's really very affordable.
Do you have any ideia of how expensive it is to live in the UK? Rents are unbelievably high and so is utilities(just search for energy poverty in the UK), etc. If you make only 12k a year, you're probably about to become homeless.
@@Brandon_letsgo They weren't talking about people ONLY earning 12k a year. They were pointing out that everyone in the UK can earn 12k a year tax free. You're only taxed after you've earned 12k. It totally dispells the myth that UK citizens pay high tax when most of us don't pay a lot.
@@Brandon_letsgo I live ok on £11k per year, rent small one bed house, no car, live within walking distance to work, £430 per month. Def not about to be homeless. It depends where you live and the costs of working.
How strange. 99% of us dont live in damp mouldy houses! Why on earth would you compare rural Kentucky with London for house prices - compare New York with London - thats valid.
The UK is super damp. Like, horrendously damp. And pretty much every house I've ever lived in has at some point had some issue related to damp whether it's full blown damp in the walls, or just mould growth on the bathroom seals.
Look you're spoiling it for me. Dont tell them that we're not as classy as they think. If i meet an American girl i want her to have visions of prince charming not addidas tracksuit bottoms and bottles of cheap cider
Omg. You shouldn't have mould in your house in the UK!! Where are you living??!!! Most British houses are NOT damp and mouldy unless you are renting and have a really bad landlord! Cycling in villages is absolutely fine and safe. Country lanes are pretty tricky for cyclists yes. I agree about having to make a bit of effort to make friends. Brits are generally very warm and friendly but we arent very forward, so we are relieved when someone else makes the first move.
The country lanes were established hundreds of years ago by carts and horses. They provide valuable hedges, trees etc for birds and animals. Should we tear them all up and provide motorways to suit American sensibilities?
@@pennylane9133 It's not just Americans, all foreign visitors complain about our country lanes and the high hedges. They think driving in the UK countryside is scary af.
"Most British houses are not damp and mouldy" might be true, if you have a British idea of what "damp and mouldy" means. But even a British house that is not, by British standards, "damp and mouldy", will be damp and mouldy by the standards of people who live in drier climates. Every house in Britain is damper and mouldier - even if it is not what the British would call "damp and mouldy" - than houses in dry countries.
Definitely got a problem in your house. I have lived in the UK for 75 years in several different towns and never had a mould issue. Get a builder in to sort out your damp course and ventilation.
Nearly every case of mould is because of poor house management, most often caused by poor air circulation and or poor heating. 58 years old and never had mould in any property I’ve lived in.
The biggest difference I observe between the UK and USA for a family is that in most British towns everything is within walking distance for a mother with young children. For those things that are not immediately on hand, they are accessible by train or a short car ride. My US family in Myrtle Beach live in a gated community and they even need a golf cart to get to the community recreation centre. In our town in Southern England the great majority of places and services, such as schools and clinics are a ten minute walk along well maintained sidewalks. For my family in SC absolutely everything they want to do involves a 20 minute car ride and there are no sidewalks. UK towns are also generally very relaxed places, when I pick up my grandchildren from preschool in SC it is like a military operation, nothing like the young mothers here who congregate outside the school and just chat away for ten minutes before the children are released from class en masse. I miss British farmers markets in South Carolina, they don't really exist. At home in Sussex we eat a wide range of meat and vegetables that are not readily available in Sc, like game birds, lamb and venison which are inexpensive and all come from local farms. I know that there are farmers markets in the USA, but none that I could find in SC. We grow most of our soft fruit and vegetables on an allotment, not to save money (even though the rents are very low) but because they taste much better than commercially grown varieties. We produce way more than we need and give 80% away to neighbours. The American members of our family, for the most part, think the concept of allotments is downright weird.
For 'gated community' read 'exclusive ghetto' to get away with any contact with the poor. We had several built in Liverpool in the 19th century, locked gates with a gate keeper. The gates probably disappeared 100+ years ago. In London the well off live right alongside the poor without freaking out. The Yanks criticise the British class system without realising we're willing to live and let live.
Opposite to you live in Florida but from the UK. Have lived in a few countries and find the US gets all tied up with taxes. UK and Europe as well accept that if you benefit from living in a society that you should contribute to that society. In the US it is about me and mine on the whole forgetting another key point of while I pay less tax living in the US my additional monthly costs actually means I pay more to get a less than average experience. For example I am married with a couple of kids so healthcare has to be catered for. This costs just over $700 a month and does not come close to providing the same level of services that I would have in the UK. I have seen time after time here that any serious illness leads to debt unless you are financially independent. So I have come to the conclusion that taxes and supplementary costs are actually far higher in the US than not only the UK but Europe as well and consider in Germany I was paying 49% tax !
A good point: taxes in the UK are relatively low compared with most other civilized countries. If you want high taxes, look at Scandinavia, where people are, on average, happier in spite of this.
It all depends on what kind of coverage you have in the US. My wife is a public school teacher and her coverage is incredible. Very, very little out of pocket expenses and the absolute most my wife or me would spend is $1500 each in a year if something catastrophic would happen. Paid 37 cents for a prescription recently. I should also mention that most American were very happy with their healthcare before the 2000s. When "Obamacare" kicked in is when the middle class really started paying through the nose for healthcare and had their choices taken away from them.
Worth noting that the US government spends more on healthcare per capita than the UK. So you are actually paying more taxes towards healthcare in the US just to cover a smaller amount of your population and if you aren't one of those people that gets government coverage you ALSO (in addition to more taxes) have to pay for private coverage (which the insurance compny will then make you pay copays and deductibles on assuming they can't just wriggle out of paying completely). How's that healthcare for profit going for you?
In the uk i get full coverage irrespective of pre conditions or ongoing lillnesses. I earn 24k and so for healthcare, education for both children and many adults for skill shortgage sectors or who have no specialism(im Currently doing a mortgage course which privately costs £2k), heavily subsidised public transport, a lot more basic public services and some elderly care i am paying £110 a month in taxes. I earn the average salary for working for my council (public sector wages are low but are offset by exceptional pensions i pay 6% of my pay cheque for 2/3rds of my average salary for 40yrs service). Lower and middle income are better off in uk. My mrs gets 35k as a teacher plus a good pension (she does do 60hr weeks around 46 to 48 weeks a yearvwith 30hrs of that termtime in the classroom). Covid made me realise just how hard she works
I'd say American taxes include things like health insurance costs. Add those in,and the costs of treatment top-up and you'll find that America costs far more.
I hang washing out to dry throughout the year - surprisingly, it comes in dry enough to just air off in the tumble dryer. Maybe drying your clothes indoors all the time is contributing to condensation, which results in mould, especially around the windows.
that's a deffo, Gillian. ya need to dry ya clobber, ya need to keep warm, ya need to ventilate....itsssssssss double jumper time. hey, what we do without the vagaries of the British weather , to keep us on our toes ?
@@Delboy2727 is that what we call it in America? Because I live in america and ive been calling them both preservatives and chemicals. Mainly preservatives lol
Your mould issue is because you're not opening you're windows, allow a little bit of fresh air to circulate in your home as often as is possible and practical. There are thousands of villages (and elsewhere) where it is perfectly safe AND pleasurable to cycle along with a national cycling network with NO cars whatsoever.
Actually, it is required by law that ventilation is required in a property, usually through small vents usually in the top half of a room that air can pass in and out of (without affecting your heating too much!).
Or, my system, buy a dehumidifier. My house was unoccupied for months before I bought it, so had no heating. I do get mould in the corners if I don’t keep my dehumidifier drained.
@@2eleven48 It may be that the heating system is timed so that it off while the house is unoccupied so the house walls then chill and get condensation. Some people do this thinking they save heating bills but its actually more efficient to keep your house warm throughout than continually have to reheat the house from a cold start. The air in winter is going to be moisture laden if any comes in - as it has to to allow breathing, it shouldnt be allowed to condense before it changes
@@andysutcliffe3915 this is probably due to insufficient air circulation, check your air bricks, you might have a damaged damp course so that needs to be checked as well (your walls will have a high water content reading).
@@graveperil2169 - I live on the South coast and we can go months without rain sometimes. It most certainly doesn't rain all the time here. When I lived in Wales - totally different story. Anywhere South of London you'll find the weather, generally, quite pleasant.
When adding up the Cost of living, people should include how much time off a person gets per year, In America the average vacation time is ten days, surely that has a monetary value as well as the time off to rest, less stress etc. Its so hard to compare The USA and UK, here in the states all states vary just like places in the UK, its not just the cost of housing, its the local taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and the cost of license plates for your cars, some states can cost ten times more.
If you're in London like you are then this rain thing is a trope. London is one of the driest capital cities in Europe and has fewer rainy days and less rainfall than, say, Paris.
Yes! I’m not saying that England is like Spain but I’m constantly moaning because it’s too hot here. The weather is often really nice. Yes, it rains and sometimes it can rain for days but that’s good for the plants etc. It’s glorious weather right this second!
And yes like a lot of us ppl in the UK say to Americans and any1 else not from the UK, London is NOT a representation OF the UK...... It has been said many times now do not judge the UK based of London and if your book says that in the title which looked like it did erm should be changed to London and not UK. We wouldn't judge the entire of the US based of life in NYC pmsl as it would not be nice haha
Just a note on prescriptions, it's £9 per item so if you are on regular medication of more than one item you can save a lot of money by buying a prepayment certificate, 3 months cost £30 and 12 months costs £108.
I have lived in the UK for 73 years and never lived in a damp house. Never seen mold either. And my parents were very simple working class people. They never had central heating until after I left home aged 16 (and no it wasn't connected!). Damp and mold comes from bad ventilation not necessarily from the ambient weather.. Yes if you come from some dry State in the USA the UK will seem 'damp'. Its an island that gets it weather from the Atlantic Gulf Stream (second hand US airflow). Its why it is such a lush, green and beautiful place to live.
The assumption in the UK is that the newcomer makes the effort. If you don't you will probably be ignored. Brits naturally take their time in getting to know each other. It can take a few years to commit to a close friendship.
When I was a kid (many years ago) I remember my mother hanging out the bed sheets on the line in the winter. When she got them in I had to help her because they had got stiff and solid!
Its an Island! We get clean winds from the Atlantic, as for damp in houses it must be the way you live, as we don't get extreme weather as in the U.S airing your home helps.
You're correct; British villages are NOT laid out for cycling! This is because most, if not all, of them were laid out hundreds of years before bicycles were invented!
My argument with americans is that they think the only place to be is london ? If this blog makes americans think twice about coming thats great. Im sure if push came to shove most brits would much prefer the uk then america. Am i wrong ?
Around 750,000 Brits now call the USA home and are spread across this vast country from east to west coast and from the borders of Mexico in the south to Canada in the North. According to the 2011 UK Census, there were 173,470 US-born residents in England, 3,715 in Wales, 15,919 in Scotland, and 4,251 in Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics estimates that 197,000 US-born immigrants were resident in the UK in 2013
The weather issue, rain, dampness, is very dependant on where you live in the UK. If you're further North, then yes, it's wetter generally than the South. But not damp, and if you're suffering from mould in your house, then that's an issue with the house, probably bad windows, ventilation, and old style loft insulation (glass fibre etc.) which has issues, best to get that checked. I've never had issues with mould in a house, but I know it happens in cheap or old housing. Although, we have a 600 year old house, and dampness is not ever a problem.
I live in a cottage built in 1675 and we have never had mould. I once lived in a new build that had poor ventilation and we got some mould and condensation around the double glazing. But in my lovely old house - none at all. If you have mould then you have an issue with drains/guttering and ventilation probably.
Yes, in the UK some badly ventilated houses have mould. In the same way in the US some houses have termites or cockroaches if they're not kept up well. In both cases it's not every house, or even most houses, and if you do have it there are usually ways to get rid of it. As a reverse example, I was really surprised when I lived in Florida that you could smell how rich your neighborhood was. Everyone had lawns, which are not native to Florida and therefore needed sprinklers. The rich houses used tap water, the poorer neighborhoods used pond or river water, and you could smell the difference! You see, it's all just what you're used to.
Country drivers are far more considerate. I live in the back of beyond, but I know when I am getting close to London because everyone drives like arseholes.
The Gulf Stream means that the temperature in the UK is quite a lot higher than many other places at the same latitude. However, the price we pay is that the warm air collects a lot of water vapour as it passes over the Atlantic and this falls as rain or drizzle when it reaches land.
We don't as an average person pay "much higher taxes" than an American. People really need to learn the difference between higher tax bands & how much is actually paid. 1st of all, 12.5k is tax free (America doesn't have this) and you only pay tax on earnings past that allowance. For example, the average earnings in the UK is £31,000 which works out at $43,000. In the UK, you pay 20% on £18,500 which works out at £3,700 per annum. In the US, you would pay 10% on the 1st $9,800, 12% on the $31,000 between $9,800 & $40,000 & 22% on the other $3,000 which is for a total of around $5,260 compared to the £3,700 we pay. Now yes, we also have NI, but on a 31k wage, that works out at £2,570 but that is still only a combined taxation of £6,200. Whilst that is more than the &5,300 federal tax, it is not "much higher" & the average American also has to pay separate State taxes as well (not to mention health costs/insurance). Also, the 20% VAT is not applied to all goods & some are 5% or none at all. America has their own version of this (sales tax) but it is not included in the ticket price & different states have different sales tax rates. Overall, the average Brit pays less than the average American.
Most British rain is like drizzly mountain rain, meaning it's fine to go out in and you won't get soaked through. London's climate is very similar to Paris and Amsterdam. Not rainy, not foggy. Nothing like as sweltering in summer as most places in America, with dark but mild winters. It's not even December yet but already it's dark around 4pm in London. But in June and July it gets light around 4am with actual sunrise happening around 5am. Which I would really miss if I moved south of here.
If a stranger is shouting abuse at you, it is abuse, but if you know them and it sounds abusive but non-threatening chances are it's banter. The trick is are you comfortable with this person? The more comfortable you are the more likely banter will occur - it's not meant to offend or hurt feelings. A Brit that's is not sharing banter is either unsure of you, considers you a stranger or an enemy, banter is a sign of friendship.
If you want a fairer comparison for house prices compare rural Kentucky with rural mid Wales, not with London, which is a lunatic asylum where prices are concerned.
With the humour thing, I think one of the other big differences is in pacing - US humour seems to be a lot more quickfire, whereas a UK sitcom will take it's time to ensure a proper setup (often with smaller laughs along the way) to have a much bigger payoff at the end of an episode.. I guess this might in part be due to there being fewer ad breaks on UK TV too (with no commercial ads at all on the BBC & even in-network stuff limited to between programmes) which can disrupt the pacing. Part of the tax thing is that we also have PAYE (Pay As You Earn) which will be handled by the employer, so the whole "time to do my taxes" thing is simply not something many of us have to think about.
On the NHS, the US has historically spent slightly more taxes on healthcare (yes public spending) than the UK. Looking at the OECD data from 1990 . Since the ACA, it's now harder to compare as the OECD changed the definition to public/compulsory instead of public.
I'd argue that Americans see humour very differently to us. It's quite true that we do use sarcasm, although it can be disapproved of, because it can be deemed to be unkind or just plain unpleasant. Far more common is irony, which is an entirely different thing, and observations about the hopelessness of things, and puns, play-on-words, and wit (although not too much of it if you don't want to be termed a 'show-off' or a 'clever-clogs'). Humour can be very subtle in Britain.
As a Brit living in the US, I would say most Brits don't like when you compare Britain to America (especially Florida/the weather, etc). I live in Minnesota, it's cold in the winter but I do not go around complaining all the time, because hey, it's MN, what do you expect, Minnesotans know, they don't need to be reminded all the time. Equal to Brits, don't keep comparing and you'll make some lovely friends.
I used to attend meetings regularly in Minneapolis, but always in the winter. I remarked to some locals that I met in a restaurant that it must be nice in the summer. "If you like midges and mosquitoes, it's great!", they replied.
If you are having condensation or black mould issues in your house in the UK you need to have either really good AUTOMATIC extractor fans in both the bathroom and kitchen or have a positive pressure unit installed which will completely stop all condensation problems.
Speaking of the price difference: living and working in big east coast cities in the USA, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, my cost of living in the UK as a single person at 30 is about 39% lower- because I’ve been living in Peterborough. In London, it would be pretty close, but the NHS is a major win for me. Also the public transport is beautiful in comparison.
I often get into discussions (or frequently HEATED discussions) with Americans about how their taxes are far less than the taxes I pay. But they never see that the comparision can't just be "US Taxes vs My Taxes" the comparison has to be "US Federal Taxes PLUS Health insurance, PLUS Health copays, PLUS Prescription medicines PLUS State taxes PLUS City taxes PLUS Property taxes PLUS Sales taxes vs MY taxes PLUS Sales tax' . Invariably when you do it alike that, we end up WELL in front.
Only recently found your videos. A couple of observations. Weather in the United Kingdom is very variable, because we are an island surrounded by seas/ocean just off Europe land mass. Overall it is wetter on the west side of the country. That rain is what keeps so much of this country green and lovely. Retail prices always show the price you will pay, while I believe in USA states that have a sales tax that is added to the price shown. Those people working and paying tax contribute to services like the National Health Service, the roads network, etc. With health care most of it is freely available to everyone. We have historical buildings that have been around before the original 13 States even existed.
The east Norfolk coast gets less rain than the Sahara. That's a bit of trivia for you As for historical buildings built before the 13 States, that's considered new. My Village pub was built in 1214. The Bakey oven is older than the USA!
@@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming I worked in America and people there were slightly freaked out when I told them a building in my village was recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) :)
To make friends, don't wait for people to contact you. Join in some activities, hobbies or sports which are good ways to meet people and make friends. You are more likely to find friends among people with shared interests. The more local these are, the easier it will be to keep in touch.
I am from the lake district, one of the rainiest parts of the UK and never had or knew of mould issues, however most people use heating - this is key to preventing mould. and maybe open the windows occasionally.
Regarding taxes, everyone has a 'personal tax allowance' that is an amount you can earn without paying any tax. At the moment it is £12500, so earn less than that per year and you won't pay any tax. If you earned say £20,000 you only pay tax on £7500, and so 20% on £7500. 20% is the basic rate of tax for amounts under any income £50,000 per year. Any amount over £50,000 and it increases to 40%, and 45% over £150,000. Also many people at the moment who are working from home will get an extra £312 per year tax allowance (to heat your home while working). National insurance is 12% of your weekly earnings between £183 and £962 per week (2020-21) and then12% of your weekly earnings between £183 and £962 (2020-21) 2% of your weekly earnings above £962. There will be in many cases a work based pension contribution as well. Great video.
When Julius Caesar first landed in Britain in 55 BC with a view to invading ,he left again pretty quickly, citing the cool and damp climate is being horrible. The Romans didn’t try again for almost another 100 years. It seems that the climate is like a protective cloak around our islands.
Expenses in rural Kentucky (I'm from there and still live there) make it really difficult to even fathom how living in cities bigger than Lexington or Louisville is even feasible. Also, it's really area specific how easy it is to make friends. I'm very introverted but lemme tell you, folks in Glasgow will turn around just start talking to complete strangers. You might not know their name, but it's like everyone around you is a friend.
@@marieparker3822 that was probably one of my favorite parts. I love the rain and the big bonus was even when the sun came out, I didn’t have to worry about burning without SPF70 lol
It depends on where you are in the UK. Londoners tend to be less friendly while I have waved at complete strangers in a nearby town and they have waved back.
I've lived in a couple of damp and mouldy properties, an hour north of London. Do you know what they had in common? Bad landlords who didn't take care of their properties. Unfortunately, that's all too common nowadays.
The cost of living can't really be compared between the UK and US because we can't even compare it properly between one place in the UK to another place in the UK. My partners son lives in Loughborough and pays £800 rent per month but has access to good public transportation, is not far from the big city lights of Leicester, where I live out in the wilds of rural North Lincolnshire where we have less population in the whole county than his town. My mortgage is only £250 per month. This area is good if you love living in a rural area where your amongst the farmland and you don't mind being cut off in winter when the snowfall blocks the narrow country roads and there is very little crime of any sort around here. But if you want the bright lights of city life, then it costs a lot more and your going to get more crime but there's plenty of nightlife. Basically, you pay your money and take your choice. I couldn't live in a city. I'm a country boy born and bred. I've lived virtually all my life either living in thd countryside or living a couple of minutes drive from the countryside in a small town. I like the sound of going out my front door and hearing the birds in my garden hedge and the lack of any traffic noise with the few vehicles that pass by the house. But if I want anything, then I have to use my own car and drive everywhere.
I found this very interesting, but comparing taxes and cost of living would make more sense if you compared salaries/income for various jobs, too. Just like here in the US, the amount of money you make influences what you consider expensive or what you think you can afford.
British taxes are not much difference to US. If you ignore healthcare, you have income tax at 25% for most people, and VAT on most goods at 20%. There are other special ones for various things, plus duty on fuel, alcohol and tobacco. In the US you will have Federal income tax, state income tax, and then state, county and city taxes on goods. When it comes to healthcare, most Americans pay a lot more in insurance, copays and the like, and it can go on for years. UK NHS is around 15% (pre tax) and that's it. Everything is "free" from then on. Now after all that I'm going to have a cup of tea. ;)
I'm sorry, are we the only Country where living expenses change depending on where you live?? So, living in New York carries the same expenses as living in Kentucky does it??
I'm British. One day, I visited Buckingham Palace with my mother, and we bought a tacky golden tea tray as a souvenir. On the way out, we passed an American woman who asked me what it was made of. I told her it was solid gold. I was being ironic, of course ,but sadly she thought I was being sarcastic. No, but I felt sorry about it ever since. Now I'm more careful about what I say to Americans!
Cycling depends on where you live, some cities are massively designed for pedestrians and cycles. My step dad lives in a tiny village, but is a massive cyclist, he cycles everywhere, for fun, most days. You just need to keep an eye out for hilltops with poor visibility, drains, and horses.
I would describe the British sense of humour as more sardonic than sarcastic. We use a lot of irony and facete and almost always deliberately set ourselves up for a witty put-down (assuming that the object of our humour will be witty enough to take the opportunity). What we find funniest is ourselves and we delight in self-deprecation or allowing others to do it for us. Because of this our sitcoms tend to be more situational with the characters playing second fiddle to the situation.
When talking about weather in the UK..Canada is considered a cold snowy country on the whole...but most folks don't realise the southernmost point of Britain is further north than the northernmost part of the contiguous United States (the 48 adjoining states, so this does not include Alaska or Hawaii), while London lies further north than almost all major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto. Hence the weather is not like the med...which would be nice.....but can be rather damp.
Love your honest and frank views on living here. About the damp, yes it is damp outside a lot during the seasons but if you open your windows you can let fresh air circulate and this will make a big difference. Alternatively, you could of course buy a low energy de-himidifier. These work great at preventing damp when it's too cold to leave windows open. Also, where I live in the Midlands, we have had drier seasons over the past couple of years. So much so that summer now lasts from July 1 to the 11th! ... Only joking, summer still only lasts for one weekend. As for cost of living, I've grown up with it here so don't notice it as much. I think that the major difference in cost is value for money. I used to go to Pittsburgh once a year in a previous role and noticed that your food had a lot more additives than here. Also, there wasn't the same access to diverse fresh products. They were there but you had to travel further to get them. I don't know if this is just big cities or not in the US. Interesting to see your viewpoint look forward to seeing more.
If you have mould your house is not properly ventilated. You must open windows more often that lets out damp air even from your breathing and from your bodies. That’s what causes mould
My great grandmother used to make afternoon tea (with open sandwiches, victoria sponge and scones) every Sunday afternoon - and any members of her extended family who were free would pop by. Great grandma died when I was a teenager, and my great aunt Rose took over as hostess until her death. After that the family teas became monthly with rotating host (untl lockdown began).
To a lot us Brits there is no such thing as bad weather , just inappropriate clothing 🙂 . House prices .... have a look on the Rightmove website and see what you can purchase in beautiful northern countryside in comparison to the cost of a 2 bed apartment in London , you will be pleasantly shocked . Cycling in the countryside.... there are many dedicated cycle trails through stunning scenery around the country , many where you can hire a cycle for a day . Have a look at the National Parks ... Peak District , Lake District, Snowdonia , Dartmouth, Pembrokeshire , North York Moors , North Yorkshire , Exmoor , Northumberland , Brecon Beacons , The Broads , Loch Lomond and The Trossachs , Cairngorms , New Forest and The South Downs ... 🙂 . Northern Ireland is also stunning .
I’m from Northern Ireland, UK. My answers to all these questions/assumptions: 1. Some people cycle, I certainly don’t. 2. Rain just sort of happens, can be for like 5 minutes, maybe even hours, just depends on the time of the year but it could rain anytime of the year. 3. Stirling (£) is the most expensive currency, in saying that it depends which country in the UK you go to. I’d say it’s more expensive in England or Scotland than in Northern Ireland. 4. I’m an introvert but in the UK most people just culturally mind their own business, if we don’t know someone we don’t care enough to worry about talking to them; we’re too busy worrying about things in our own lives, than about others unless it’s life threatening. 5. I’m not too familiar with getting trains, most people I know drive when they need to so there’s no thought of “can I get to the countryside by train?” It’s not something I’ve thought of but you probably can, it would just be silly because it’s not used for that specific purpose. 6. I personally haven’t drank tea in years, I’m not a fan of scones (too dry), and I don’t really eat biscuits. My parents drink tea all the time though. 7. Most people don’t believe in ghosts, they don’t care enough to worry about things like that. 8. Sarcastic humour is 100% my existence, if you’re American I’d probably end up making you part of the joke, but it’s only a bit of crack/banter; I don’t hate you, as an American you would just culturally by very easy to wind up. 9. I don’t often spend time walking through “gardens”. Sounds more like a rich person thing if it’s their own luxurious looking garden. Some places have public parks which would be sort of similar. 10. Definitely not easy to get a job here, it also depends on which job as some are more demanding than others. 11. Taxes are high, but we don’t have to pay tax when buying goods. We see something for £10 we pay £10. We also don’t pay for healthcare, that’s done through taxes naturally. We get a doctor/GP appointment then we go home if it’s just a check up or whatever.
Yes we have super high tax generally, here's a break we pay as we earn.. so rate tax 20p in every pound earned, unless your a high earner which I believe comes into effect at 51 thousand pa.. At this point you pay double 40p in the pound.. Then we National Insurance ( health care ) this is tax at 7% approximately of your earnings ( regardless of how much you earn ) so if earn more you pay more into the system hense the term soilcal health care. Then we have council tax ( with this our local council pays for our rubbish collection, upkeep of local roads, streets lights & policing ) this tax is based on the size of your house so again you pay more if live in a posh areas with large houses. Then we have car parking tax & fuel tax these are often missed but they are expensive like fuel tax is I believe 68p a litre but we pay around 109 p a litre so mostly it's tax & parking tax is again expensive although sometimes in small villages it's still free but more generally it from 1.5 pound each hour but London it's more like 7 pounds an hour.. London is very expensive. & then there VAT at 20% so if you spend £20 on fuel say 2 pound of that is tax so yes we pay tax on tax when we buy fuel for our cars So basically we pay alot but we get alot in return & we don't worry about big bills because we don't get them
Wow, you’ve had some bad luck with mould! As a native of the UK, I can say that this has not been an issue for me. Maybe it’s to do with where you live, mould can become a problem when your property is located near to the coast.
A dehumidifier might help. UK houses try to keep the heat in, but they also retain the moisture from showers, cooking, breathing etc. We got one late last year and it's made such a difference and the house seems warmer too. It shocks me how much water it's collected when I empty it after a couple of days. Side note - I guess the person could ride a bike actually in the countryside... along trails and such.
@@andylane247 how many cyclists are at fault for that? As a Cambridge lad in can assure you that they cycle the wrong way down one-way streets, jump red lights, ride across PEDESTRIAN crossings and ride without lights at night.
Mould is caused by condensation of moisture in the air. The solution is basically ventilation. I live in a late Victorian house in London and I have no problem with mould, but with some 8 fireplaces I suppose the ventilation is already built in ? The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold. Dryers which are not properly ventilated to outside will cause condensation, as will drying clothes on radiators. Indeed even showering with the door closed is certain to cause damp.
@@Trebor74 “There is no such thing as a train station - except in baby talk. It is railway station.” “We don't have train stations in this country.” ... But the thing about 'train station' - that unambiguous little phrase - is that it is already in very common usage in this country.
@@Sol3UK And to my mind, even the word “railway” is superfluous - if you asked a native British person where the nearest station was, they would know, without further explanation, that you wanted to catch a train. The only times that such clarification is required would be in such cases as bus station, petrol station, coach station etc.
Most, if not all houses in the UK have some mould somewhere. Most people only notice it if there's a lot. This is due to the humidity in the air. The most common places for mould are the kitchen and bathroom. Go to Italy and you'll find there's no mould because the air is less humid for much of the year. If there's a lot of mould, however, there's a problem with ventilation or heating.
Hey I think a lot of your answers are based on London and the South. Growing up in York everyone knew everyone in my street and normal for people will sit next to you on public transport and want your life story. You can get very cheap property in some northern places.
Yeah I agree, returning home from travelling the world I was on the train from Manchester airport to Wigan and had a couple old ladies ask me about my bag etc and then a group chat with half a dozen people was nice to be home. Also you can get a decent 3 bed house here for 75k.
75k m8 don't tell anyone but further into the North East of England I've seen and know of 2 bedroom terraced houses for 20 to 30k 3 bed ones for under 50k christ I k ow a fella who bought a row of terraced houses in a old mining town for less than a 100k and we are talking 3+ houses and on the dearer ended there was some seaside houses and these were big mfos for less than 900k and these were old houses the sorta that would be millions down south lol And yes b4 u say owt yes some of these house prices were in places that aren't the most affluent places but it's how you change the street by getting good ppl as this can have an effect on others lol
For what people pay for a 2 bed property in London or it’s commuter belt you can get a small mansion in some parts of Yorkshire. I have a 3 bed semi detached house in suburban Sheffield and it’s valued at £115k. Not the biggest garden but it is in a quiet cup-de-sac with plenty of local amenities and lots of public transport links to the city centre. From here I could easily get to London in less than 3 hours and when quarantine isn’t on and Eurostar works properly be in Paris and back in the same day.
@richt71, you've hit the nail on the head there. I had a girlfriend here in the UK who came from Georgia. People couldn't get enough of her accent. She was always the centre of attention whenever we went somewhere. People appeared to just want to talk to her. She brought out the stereotypical British reserve.
I'm not so sure it's even a North/South thing. I'm 32 and grew up in Reading, we knew virtually everyone in our close, all the kids played together and we'd always take turns hosting barbecues or having everyone round for big events like world cups etc. We were always in and out of each others houses. I live in Rotherham now with my native partner and in the 3 years since I moved in I've spoken to about 4 neighbours... I approached all of them. No one's interested anymore, just how times change
I think the thing that would shock most Americans, and most likely put them off hiring a car, would be the huge taxes on gasoline. Currently it's about $9 a gallon and I know there's fears that it might reach $3 in the US. It's one of the reasons many cars here have engines sizes of between 1 & 2 litres, rather than 5 to 7.
@ARUclips User speaking as s Londoner, before Covid Wetherspoons was the only place I could go to and get a pint for less than 5 or 6 quid. So I’ll have to disagree.
@ARUclips User okay, I was willing to walk away just disagreeing but can you explain why avoiding Wetherspoons is empirical? I genuinely want to know your reasons.
This is the second of your videos that I have watched today; the first was the NHS v USA medical care. Your explanation of the differences in our cultures and behaviours is very good.
One difference I noticed there… when it’s your birthday the people in your office give you a cake. In England it’s customary to bring a cake in yourself for your birthday.. and ask people to celebrate with you
Regarding the dampness (not rainfall) of the UK, I have this: I worked with a woman from Moscow. When it snowed, she complained about being cold. When we laughingly called her out on this, she pointed out ... it was a different kind of cold. In Russia, it's usually a 'dry' cold, the atmosphere is dry. In the UK, it's cold and moist. The reason why we Brits talk about the weather is because we get a lot of it, in varied amounts and different qualities. Tea: it's not the beverage but the time you can take drinking it. Doesn't matter the flavour or brew (each to their taste), are you angry? Something's gone wrong? Work is getting you down? You need a break? Time for a brew! :) Ghosts: plenty around, and there's a lot of competition between sites to pull in attention ... to tourists. The thing is, we Brits live in very old buildings. We're used to the idea. Brit humour: we're best at what we call "taking the mickey" i.e. sarcasm, satire etc. We have, I think, an indirect sense of humour. As opposed to just telling a joke, dropping the catchphrase, and getting the laugh, our comedians tell of a situation, the outcome sounding funny, the misunderstanding etc. and expecting the audience to join the dots ... then laugh! Oh, and a bonus misinformation point: we Brits don't drink warm beer! As opposed to American 'beer' which is usually lager, British ale and beer is served at room temperature. Which (it being the UK) isn't particularly warm. Our lagers, however, and many ciders are served chilled. To preserve the atmosphere ... *ahem* Have a nice day, y'all! ;-)
Of a salary you can expect taxes and deductions to total about 30%-35% of total income. But remember that includes health insurance, state pension contributions, unemployment contributions and child support. So don't forget to deduct that from your side too. The welfare state and NHS have been around since 1948, I think it's doing pretty well. No one goes bankrupt through illness or serious injury. I think make a pretty powerful statement. VAT (Value Added Tax - what you call Sales Tax) was raised to fit the EEC requirement. So it may become a political issue to reduce it now we're out of the EU?
30-35% deductions is about right - total deductions on my last payslip were 32%. That covered my pension contributions (occupational pension - voluntary), National Insurance, Income Tax and union dues. National Insurance goes to cover the NHS, state pensions, unemployment and other benefits etc. The EU specifies a standard VAT system and says it must be at least 15%; anything above that is at the discretion of individual countries, so the UK could have reduced its rate from 20% to 15% if it chose to without leaving the EU. Can Sales Tax be reclaimed? If I buy some materials that I use to make something that I then sell, I'll charge VAT on the final object but will be able to reclaim the VAT I paid on the source materials. If I'm, for example, a plumber, I'll charge my client VAT and claim back the VAT on the plumbing supplies I've bought. This is simplifying things a bit, but I think the basic idea is accurate.
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If you've got mould in your house there's a problem with heat and ventilation. I've never suffered mould, although without correct ventilation condensation on windows can be commonplace. It's a sign you've not got a decent airflow through your house if it's damp or mouldy.
London is extremely expensive, go north and costs significantly reduce, and friendliness and helpfulness increases.
You forgot, the language also become harder to understand.
@@samhall3569 only if you don't make the effort to listen carefully and very simply transpose certain vowels.
@@samhall3569 I grew up in Yorkshire, and I would bet that my English is far more easy to understand than yours, for anyone from anywhere in the UK, or around the world!
@@thehammer7711 Nay lad, ecky thump!
@@briantitchener4829 Why are you "Naying" like a horse? It's "by ecky thump," and that is a parody. I have two things to reply, there are whole swathes of Yorkshire that speak correctly pronounced English, but for the Queens English spoken as it should be you need to go to a small town in Ayrshire. There they speak the queen's English in exactly the way the queen does. One tiny thing, Balmoral is no where near Ayrshire before you make that erroneous assumption.
I've watched a few of these USA V UK vlogs and one thing that stands out. Americans are always shocked that other Countries are often better in many ways and USA isn't the best at anything.
It's because they are indoctrinated to think so from primary school onwards. Biggest psyop ever right next to North Korea.
Imagine standing in class to pledge allegiance everyday, and reprimanded if you don't.
So true 🙂🙃
Really...what about space exploration, computing...I suppose you think that little Britain invented all these things too?
@@arunphillips6977 space exploration I'll grant you - most of the UK's dabbling in space has been with esa and a lot of the early space innovations were either from the usa or the soviet union.
I beg to differ on computing, however. I know Britain wasn't the only contributor to the development of computers - not by a long shot, but it's difficult to ignore figures like turing and babbage as well as things like the manchester baby.
@@arunphillips6977right on cue the American arrives to cry and grasp for something they're "better" at. Keep seething lmao
As per a few other comments - if you have mould then you are getting something wrong. I've never known anyone to have actual mould in their house. Our house was built 180 years ago with a cellar which drops 20 feet underground - guess what - no mould. Keep your house well ventilated and well heated and you should never have problems with mould or damp.
Yep, usually the problem is turning the heating up without increasing the ventilation or air movement. Warm air holds more moisture than cold and when it hits a colder surface - windows, walls etc it will condense. Drying clothes on radiators is a big no no unless you have air flow. UK houses were always leaky in terms of heat because fuel was fairly cheap - look how old houses had so many chimneys, a fire per room.
Mould - if your house is mouldy there is a problem with your ventilation or heating system, I have never lived in a mouldy house (I have lived in early and mid 1900’s and now 2010s new build houses) in the U.K. Yes, we do get rain in the U.K. but actually we also get a lot of dry weather and warm/sunny weather in the Spring/Summer months. I live in the North East so I am very used to months of colder, wetter, darker days in the Autumn/Winter but I also enjoy gorgeous sunny bright Spring/Summer.
If you are drying wet laundry in the house i can imagine damp . Most people have dryers or combined washer dryers and dont have such problems, sometimes clothes dried in them might be finished off in 'airing' cupboards associated with the heating system machine. A good heating system should see off any damp in the house. If you dont have heating on in a house and allow it to keep chilling off it will give you a sense of damp after a while. Incidentally your washing machine in the other video looked like it might have drying capability.
but then apparently we only get 'two weeks' of sun all year! Some of the comments in this section are pathetic. Americans will now believe that we all live in mouldy houses because of apparently we get 11 months of rain!!!
I live in the north-west, a region with a fair amount of rain, or so we're supposed to believe, and I've never lived in a mouldy house; in fact, we've had a blissful summer this year.
Preconceptions can be so annoying.
I have lived in various types of homes in my lifetime but have never lived in a mouldy house.
Dehumidifier if you live in a damp climate (I do) and unfortunately a concrete block built and/ or rendered house (also me) is a lifesaver. Otherwise you have to heat the heck out of the house which costs a fortune if you don't yet have great insulation. Not a greatly eco situation.
It's really not the case the most UK houses are damp and mouldy.
122 year old four in a block flat in Scotland is what I live in and it is absolutely not damp or mouldy .
If you have damp or mould you are doing something wrong..........As for bike riding I guess you haven’t been out driving on a Sunday...
There may be an issue with rental properties in areas with a high demand - fairly often you get converted houses with extra bathrooms built in, and they never vent particularly well, while also lacking any good place to dry clothes for example. In addition, there have been periods when they've tried to build a lot of property quickly so some of that is quite shoddy. For someone in the rental market in SE England, then yes, I can see why they'd see a lot of properties with damp issues, but I'd agree with your point that their experience is not necessarily representative of the bulk of the country
@James Paterson You need to move, mate.
Almost all the houses I've lived in have had a mould issue. Not serious, but present
One thing about taxes in the UK when it comes to income tax: people often see that it comes out to about 25% on the lowest bracket with the national insurance included, but they forget that the first £12,000 you earn every year is completely tax free. Until you earn over £12,000, you won't spend a penny in taxes, which lowers that 25% a lot, especially when you're not earning much, because the 25% will only ever apply on money earned after the frst £12,000.
When it comes to the NHS, if we take into account a low wage employee, say they're earning about £18,000 per year (I know that's not exactly minimum but minimum wage is increasing all the time). The first £12,000 of that annual wage is tax free, so you're paying tax on £6,000 per year. 25% income + NI means £1,500 tax per year. Healthcare accounts for approximately 20% of government spending, so for the NHS, as a very rough estimate, you'd be paying £300 per year for full coverage. People make out that we pay a lot for our healthcare, but it's really very affordable.
Do you have any ideia of how expensive it is to live in the UK? Rents are unbelievably high and so is utilities(just search for energy poverty in the UK), etc. If you make only 12k a year, you're probably about to become homeless.
@@Brandon_letsgo They weren't talking about people ONLY earning 12k a year. They were pointing out that everyone in the UK can earn 12k a year tax free. You're only taxed after you've earned 12k. It totally dispells the myth that UK citizens pay high tax when most of us don't pay a lot.
@@Brandon_letsgo I live ok on £11k per year, rent small one bed house, no car, live within walking distance to work, £430 per month. Def not about to be homeless. It depends where you live and the costs of working.
@@Brandon_letsgo Regardless, he's talking about taxes specifically, not about the costs of living.
Dionius your estimation of 25% P.A.Y.E. is too high. As a Basic Rate tax payer, my salary outtakes are 21.5% N.I. included.
Its not that we're a country of introverts. We just mind our own business and expect others to do the same.
You are reserved
Shh!
The local pub is one of the best places to make friends. People will soon warm to you if they see you there regularly. No need to drink much either.
Especially as we live on top of each other! With just under 9 million living in London in just over 600 sq miles.
How strange. 99% of us dont live in damp mouldy houses!
Why on earth would you compare rural Kentucky with London for house prices - compare New York with London - thats valid.
The UK is super damp. Like, horrendously damp. And pretty much every house I've ever lived in has at some point had some issue related to damp whether it's full blown damp in the walls, or just mould growth on the bathroom seals.
@@lameplanet You've been very unlucky. I have lived in about ten different houses in the UK have never had mould in one of them.
Full of negatively time to go home
@@austinsouthward8007 "negativity"
@@erichalfbee503 you've never done that? When I lived in London I was always looking at rural Portuguese house prices lol
Look you're spoiling it for me. Dont tell them that we're not as classy as they think.
If i meet an American girl i want her to have visions of prince charming not addidas tracksuit bottoms and bottles of cheap cider
Will that vision live up to expectations?
😆😆😆
Lol
Omg. You shouldn't have mould in your house in the UK!! Where are you living??!!! Most British houses are NOT damp and mouldy unless you are renting and have a really bad landlord! Cycling in villages is absolutely fine and safe. Country lanes are pretty tricky for cyclists yes. I agree about having to make a bit of effort to make friends. Brits are generally very warm and friendly but we arent very forward, so we are relieved when someone else makes the first move.
The country lanes were established hundreds of years ago by carts and horses. They provide valuable hedges, trees etc for birds and animals. Should we tear them all up and provide motorways to suit American sensibilities?
@@pennylane9133 well said
@@pennylane9133 It's not just Americans, all foreign visitors complain about our country lanes and the high hedges. They think driving in the UK countryside is scary af.
@@pennylane9133 No! 👏 To be fair, this is a minute percentage of British roads!
"Most British houses are not damp and mouldy" might be true, if you have a British idea of what "damp and mouldy" means. But even a British house that is not, by British standards, "damp and mouldy", will be damp and mouldy by the standards of people who live in drier climates. Every house in Britain is damper and mouldier - even if it is not what the British would call "damp and mouldy" - than houses in dry countries.
Definitely got a problem in your house. I have lived in the UK for 75 years in several different towns and never had a mould issue. Get a builder in to sort out your damp course and ventilation.
Nearly every case of mould is because of poor house management, most often caused by poor air circulation and or poor heating. 58 years old and never had mould in any property I’ve lived in.
The biggest difference I observe between the UK and USA for a family is that in most British towns everything is within walking distance for a mother with young children. For those things that are not immediately on hand, they are accessible by train or a short car ride.
My US family in Myrtle Beach live in a gated community and they even need a golf cart to get to the community recreation centre. In our town in Southern England the great majority of places and services, such as schools and clinics are a ten minute walk along well maintained sidewalks. For my family in SC absolutely everything they want to do involves a 20 minute car ride and there are no sidewalks.
UK towns are also generally very relaxed places, when I pick up my grandchildren from preschool in SC it is like a military operation, nothing like the young mothers here who congregate outside the school and just chat away for ten minutes before the children are released from class en masse.
I miss British farmers markets in South Carolina, they don't really exist. At home in Sussex we eat a wide range of meat and vegetables that are not readily available in Sc, like game birds, lamb and venison which are inexpensive and all come from local farms. I know that there are farmers markets in the USA, but none that I could find in SC. We grow most of our soft fruit and vegetables on an allotment, not to save money (even though the rents are very low) but because they taste much better than commercially grown varieties. We produce way more than we need and give 80% away to neighbours. The American members of our family, for the most part, think the concept of allotments is downright weird.
For 'gated community' read 'exclusive ghetto' to get away with any contact with the poor.
We had several built in Liverpool in the 19th century, locked gates with a gate keeper. The gates probably disappeared 100+ years ago. In London the well off live right alongside the poor without freaking out. The Yanks criticise the British class system without realising we're willing to live and let live.
Opposite to you live in Florida but from the UK. Have lived in a few countries and find the US gets all tied up with taxes. UK and Europe as well accept that if you benefit from living in a society that you should contribute to that society. In the US it is about me and mine on the whole forgetting another key point of while I pay less tax living in the US my additional monthly costs actually means I pay more to get a less than average experience. For example I am married with a couple of kids so healthcare has to be catered for. This costs just over $700 a month and does not come close to providing the same level of services that I would have in the UK. I have seen time after time here that any serious illness leads to debt unless you are financially independent. So I have come to the conclusion that taxes and supplementary costs are actually far higher in the US than not only the UK but Europe as well and consider in Germany I was paying 49% tax !
A good point: taxes in the UK are relatively low compared with most other civilized countries. If you want high taxes, look at Scandinavia, where people are, on average, happier in spite of this.
It all depends on what kind of coverage you have in the US. My wife is a public school teacher and her coverage is incredible. Very, very little out of pocket expenses and the absolute most my wife or me would spend is $1500 each in a year if something catastrophic would happen. Paid 37 cents for a prescription recently. I should also mention that most American were very happy with their healthcare before the 2000s. When "Obamacare" kicked in is when the middle class really started paying through the nose for healthcare and had their choices taken away from them.
Worth noting that the US government spends more on healthcare per capita than the UK. So you are actually paying more taxes towards healthcare in the US just to cover a smaller amount of your population and if you aren't one of those people that gets government coverage you ALSO (in addition to more taxes) have to pay for private coverage (which the insurance compny will then make you pay copays and deductibles on assuming they can't just wriggle out of paying completely).
How's that healthcare for profit going for you?
In the uk i get full coverage irrespective of pre conditions or ongoing lillnesses. I earn 24k and so for healthcare, education for both children and many adults for skill shortgage sectors or who have no specialism(im Currently doing a mortgage course which privately costs £2k), heavily subsidised public transport, a lot more basic public services and some elderly care i am paying £110 a month in taxes. I earn the average salary for working for my council (public sector wages are low but are offset by exceptional pensions i pay 6% of my pay cheque for 2/3rds of my average salary for 40yrs service). Lower and middle income are better off in uk. My mrs gets 35k as a teacher plus a good pension (she does do 60hr weeks around 46 to 48 weeks a yearvwith 30hrs of that termtime in the classroom). Covid made me realise just how hard she works
I'd say American taxes include things like health insurance costs. Add those in,and the costs of treatment top-up and you'll find that America costs far more.
I hang washing out to dry throughout the year - surprisingly, it comes in dry enough to just air off in the tumble dryer. Maybe drying your clothes indoors all the time is contributing to condensation, which results in mould, especially around the windows.
that's a deffo, Gillian. ya need to dry ya clobber, ya need to keep warm, ya need to ventilate....itsssssssss double jumper time. hey, what we do without the vagaries of the British weather , to keep us on our toes ?
Cycling is massively popular in the countryside .
Yeah, MiL's riding two abreast on narrow country roads while some of us are trying to get on with our day. Arseholes
@@howardchambers9679 Read your highway code, cyclists are instructed to take up the full width of the road by cycling 2 a breast.
@@rmayfield8224 No cars around, then 2 abreast by all means.
i carnet drive so i cycle every where and i live in the countryside .
Plus our food is fresher and doesn't have as many preservatives
Chemicals* 😂
@@Delboy2727 is that what we call it in America? Because I live in america and ive been calling them both preservatives and chemicals. Mainly preservatives lol
@@Lonestar_racer no I’m saying Americans put shit tons of chemicals in their food
As long as the chemicals give it a crunchy texture and great flavor!
@@Delboy2727 oh, true true.
Your mould issue is because you're not opening you're windows, allow a little bit of fresh air to circulate in your home as often as is possible and practical.
There are thousands of villages (and elsewhere) where it is perfectly safe AND pleasurable to cycle along with a national cycling network with NO cars whatsoever.
Actually, it is required by law that ventilation is required in a property, usually through small vents usually in the top half of a room that air can pass in and out of (without affecting your heating too much!).
Or, my system, buy a dehumidifier. My house was unoccupied for months before I bought it, so had no heating. I do get mould in the corners if I don’t keep my dehumidifier drained.
@@2eleven48 It may be that the heating system is timed so that it off while the house is unoccupied so the house walls then chill and get condensation. Some people do this thinking they save heating bills but its actually more efficient to keep your house warm throughout than continually have to reheat the house from a cold start. The air in winter is going to be moisture laden if any comes in - as it has to to allow breathing, it shouldnt be allowed to condense before it changes
@@andysutcliffe3915 this is probably due to insufficient air circulation, check your air bricks, you might have a damaged damp course so that needs to be checked as well (your walls will have a high water content reading).
We have had droughts in the UK that have gone on for months.
You should change UK to London for a lot of your comments.
@ARUclips User who rattled your cage?
its rained for the last 6 months
@@graveperil2169 - I live on the South coast and we can go months without rain sometimes. It most certainly doesn't rain all the time here. When I lived in Wales - totally different story. Anywhere South of London you'll find the weather, generally, quite pleasant.
@@leolare South East London been putting off cutting up a fallen tree in the garden as its always been wet
Absolutely, she is describing a place I don’t live...
When adding up the Cost of living, people should include how much time off a person gets per year, In America the average vacation time is ten days, surely that has a monetary value as well as the time off to rest, less stress etc.
Its so hard to compare The USA and UK, here in the states all states vary just like places in the UK, its not just the cost of housing, its the local taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes and the cost of license plates for your cars, some states can cost ten times more.
If you're in London like you are then this rain thing is a trope. London is one of the driest capital cities in Europe and has fewer rainy days and less rainfall than, say, Paris.
True. Ipswich is the driest town in UK. The further east the drier it is. NW Britain is wetter.
Yes! I’m not saying that England is like Spain but I’m constantly moaning because it’s too hot here. The weather is often really nice. Yes, it rains and sometimes it can rain for days but that’s good for the plants etc. It’s glorious weather right this second!
Yup. London has less rainfall than Sydney Australia!
Yeah if London has a bad climate so does Paris, so does Amsterdam.
House prices are high because building space in a small country like England is not easy to come by
And yes like a lot of us ppl in the UK say to Americans and any1 else not from the UK, London is NOT a representation OF the UK...... It has been said many times now do not judge the UK based of London and if your book says that in the title which looked like it did erm should be changed to London and not UK.
We wouldn't judge the entire of the US based of life in NYC pmsl as it would not be nice haha
Just a note on prescriptions, it's £9 per item so if you are on regular medication of more than one item you can save a lot of money by buying a prepayment certificate, 3 months cost £30 and 12 months costs £108.
In Scotland prescriptions are freee
You need to get your house looked at my house has no mould and the last 5 houses I’ve lived in didn’t have mould
I have lived in the UK for 73 years and never lived in a damp house. Never seen mold either. And my parents were very simple working class people. They never had central heating until after I left home aged 16 (and no it wasn't connected!).
Damp and mold comes from bad ventilation not necessarily from the ambient weather..
Yes if you come from some dry State in the USA the UK will seem 'damp'. Its an island that gets it weather from the Atlantic Gulf Stream (second hand US airflow). Its why it is such a lush, green and beautiful place to live.
The assumption in the UK is that the newcomer makes the effort. If you don't you will probably be ignored. Brits naturally take their time in getting to know each other. It can take a few years to commit to a close friendship.
When I was a kid (many years ago) I remember my mother hanging out the bed sheets on the line in the winter. When she got them in I had to help her because they had got stiff and solid!
Its an Island! We get clean winds from the Atlantic, as for damp in houses it must be the way you live, as we don't get extreme weather as in the U.S airing your home helps.
You're correct; British villages are NOT laid out for cycling! This is because most, if not all, of them were laid out hundreds of years before bicycles were invented!
My argument with americans is that they think the only place to be is london ? If this blog makes americans think twice about coming thats great. Im sure if push came to shove most brits would much prefer the uk then america. Am i wrong ?
Your not wrong!
Around 750,000 Brits now call the USA home and are spread across this vast country from east to west coast and from the borders of Mexico in the south to Canada in the North.
According to the 2011 UK Census, there were 173,470 US-born residents in England, 3,715 in Wales, 15,919 in Scotland, and 4,251 in Northern Ireland. The Office for National Statistics estimates that 197,000 US-born immigrants were resident in the UK in 2013
I know ! It would be interesting to know how many of the 173ooo Americans live in London.
The weather issue, rain, dampness, is very dependant on where you live in the UK. If you're further North, then yes, it's wetter generally than the South. But not damp, and if you're suffering from mould in your house, then that's an issue with the house, probably bad windows, ventilation, and old style loft insulation (glass fibre etc.) which has issues, best to get that checked. I've never had issues with mould in a house, but I know it happens in cheap or old housing. Although, we have a 600 year old house, and dampness is not ever a problem.
I live in a cottage built in 1675 and we have never had mould. I once lived in a new build that had poor ventilation and we got some mould and condensation around the double glazing. But in my lovely old house - none at all. If you have mould then you have an issue with drains/guttering and ventilation probably.
Yes, in the UK some badly ventilated houses have mould. In the same way in the US some houses have termites or cockroaches if they're not kept up well.
In both cases it's not every house, or even most houses, and if you do have it there are usually ways to get rid of it.
As a reverse example, I was really surprised when I lived in Florida that you could smell how rich your neighborhood was. Everyone had lawns, which are not native to Florida and therefore needed sprinklers. The rich houses used tap water, the poorer neighborhoods used pond or river water, and you could smell the difference!
You see, it's all just what you're used to.
Cycling in the countryside is something I love, you just need to be aware on country roads as it can get a bit hairy when cars are flying past!
Country drivers are far more considerate.
I live in the back of beyond, but I know when I am getting close to London because everyone drives like arseholes.
The Gulf Stream means that the temperature in the UK is quite a lot higher than many other places at the same latitude. However, the price we pay is that the warm air collects a lot of water vapour as it passes over the Atlantic and this falls as rain or drizzle when it reaches land.
We don't as an average person pay "much higher taxes" than an American. People really need to learn the difference between higher tax bands & how much is actually paid. 1st of all, 12.5k is tax free (America doesn't have this) and you only pay tax on earnings past that allowance. For example, the average earnings in the UK is £31,000 which works out at $43,000. In the UK, you pay 20% on £18,500 which works out at £3,700 per annum. In the US, you would pay 10% on the 1st $9,800, 12% on the $31,000 between $9,800 & $40,000 & 22% on the other $3,000 which is for a total of around $5,260 compared to the £3,700 we pay. Now yes, we also have NI, but on a 31k wage, that works out at £2,570 but that is still only a combined taxation of £6,200. Whilst that is more than the &5,300 federal tax, it is not "much higher" & the average American also has to pay separate State taxes as well (not to mention health costs/insurance). Also, the 20% VAT is not applied to all goods & some are 5% or none at all. America has their own version of this (sales tax) but it is not included in the ticket price & different states have different sales tax rates. Overall, the average Brit pays less than the average American.
Most British rain is like drizzly mountain rain, meaning it's fine to go out in and you won't get soaked through. London's climate is very similar to Paris and Amsterdam. Not rainy, not foggy. Nothing like as sweltering in summer as most places in America, with dark but mild winters. It's not even December yet but already it's dark around 4pm in London. But in June and July it gets light around 4am with actual sunrise happening around 5am. Which I would really miss if I moved south of here.
If a stranger is shouting abuse at you, it is abuse, but if you know them and it sounds abusive but non-threatening chances are it's banter. The trick is are you comfortable with this person? The more comfortable you are the more likely banter will occur - it's not meant to offend or hurt feelings. A Brit that's is not sharing banter is either unsure of you, considers you a stranger or an enemy, banter is a sign of friendship.
Feel like enemy is a bit of a string word. We're not generally at war in our day to day life.
If you want a fairer comparison for house prices compare rural Kentucky with rural mid Wales, not with London, which is a lunatic asylum where prices are concerned.
No, it's just generally a lunatic asylum.....
With the humour thing, I think one of the other big differences is in pacing - US humour seems to be a lot more quickfire, whereas a UK sitcom will take it's time to ensure a proper setup (often with smaller laughs along the way) to have a much bigger payoff at the end of an episode.. I guess this might in part be due to there being fewer ad breaks on UK TV too (with no commercial ads at all on the BBC & even in-network stuff limited to between programmes) which can disrupt the pacing.
Part of the tax thing is that we also have PAYE (Pay As You Earn) which will be handled by the employer, so the whole "time to do my taxes" thing is simply not something many of us have to think about.
On the NHS, the US has historically spent slightly more taxes on healthcare (yes public spending) than the UK. Looking at the OECD data from 1990 . Since the ACA, it's now harder to compare as the OECD changed the definition to public/compulsory instead of public.
I'd argue that Americans see humour very differently to us. It's quite true that we do use sarcasm, although it can be disapproved of, because it can be deemed to be unkind or just plain unpleasant. Far more common is irony, which is an entirely different thing, and observations about the hopelessness of things, and puns, play-on-words, and wit (although not too much of it if you don't want to be termed a 'show-off' or a 'clever-clogs'). Humour can be very subtle in Britain.
In Australia we use humour ( even in workplaces) and migrants think we are insulting then.It's just banter.
I live in a tiny village and cycling around is verging on suicidal - so many narrow roads and everyone tearing around in SUVs at high speed.
As a Brit living in the US, I would say most Brits don't like when you compare Britain to America (especially Florida/the weather, etc). I live in Minnesota, it's cold in the winter but I do not go around complaining all the time, because hey, it's MN, what do you expect, Minnesotans know, they don't need to be reminded all the time. Equal to Brits, don't keep comparing and you'll make some lovely friends.
British people love complaining about the weather, it's a national passtime.
I used to attend meetings regularly in Minneapolis, but always in the winter. I remarked to some locals that I met in a restaurant that it must be nice in the summer. "If you like midges and mosquitoes, it's great!", they replied.
@@grahamtravers4522 it's not so bad in the cities, it's the country/lakes/forests you have to be very careful. It is lovely in the summer though.
If you are having condensation or black mould issues in your house in the UK you need to have either really good AUTOMATIC extractor fans in both the bathroom and kitchen or have a positive pressure unit installed which will completely stop all condensation problems.
Speaking of the price difference: living and working in big east coast cities in the USA, such as Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York, my cost of living in the UK as a single person at 30 is about 39% lower- because I’ve been living in Peterborough. In London, it would be pretty close, but the NHS is a major win for me. Also the public transport is beautiful in comparison.
If you have mould in your house you have a heating/ventilation/condensation problem. I suggest you open the windows and let some fresh air in
I often get into discussions (or frequently HEATED discussions) with Americans about how their taxes are far less than the taxes I pay. But they never see that the comparision can't just be "US Taxes vs My Taxes" the comparison has to be "US Federal Taxes PLUS Health insurance, PLUS Health copays, PLUS Prescription medicines PLUS State taxes PLUS City taxes PLUS Property taxes PLUS Sales taxes vs MY taxes PLUS Sales tax' . Invariably when you do it alike that, we end up WELL in front.
It depends. When I moved to my current and previous houses, my new neighbours brought us gifts of wine, chocolates and cards!
The average Brit is to Downton Abbey as
The average Yank is to The West Wing
Only recently found your videos. A couple of observations.
Weather in the United Kingdom is very variable, because we are an island surrounded by seas/ocean just off Europe land mass. Overall it is wetter on the west side of the country. That rain is what keeps so much of this country green and lovely.
Retail prices always show the price you will pay, while I believe in USA states that have a sales tax that is added to the price shown.
Those people working and paying tax contribute to services like the National Health Service, the roads network, etc.
With health care most of it is freely available to everyone.
We have historical buildings that have been around before the original 13 States even existed.
The east Norfolk coast gets less rain than the Sahara. That's a bit of trivia for you
As for historical buildings built before the 13 States, that's considered new. My Village pub was built in 1214. The Bakey oven is older than the USA!
@@Cdr_Mansfield_Cumming I worked in America and people there were slightly freaked out when I told them a building in my village was recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) :)
@@dominicg11 That is awesomely cool!
To make friends, don't wait for people to contact you. Join in some activities, hobbies or sports which are good ways to meet people and make friends. You are more likely to find friends among people with shared interests. The more local these are, the easier it will be to keep in touch.
I am from the lake district, one of the rainiest parts of the UK and never had or knew of mould issues, however most people use heating - this is key to preventing mould. and maybe open the windows occasionally.
Regarding taxes, everyone has a 'personal tax allowance' that is an amount you can earn without paying any tax. At the moment it is £12500, so earn less than that per year and you won't pay any tax. If you earned say £20,000 you only pay tax on £7500, and so 20% on £7500. 20% is the basic rate of tax for amounts under any income £50,000 per year. Any amount over £50,000 and it increases to 40%, and 45% over £150,000. Also many people at the moment who are working from home will get an extra £312 per year tax allowance (to heat your home while working). National insurance is 12% of your weekly earnings between £183 and £962 per week (2020-21) and then12% of your weekly earnings between £183 and £962 (2020-21)
2% of your weekly earnings above £962. There will be in many cases a work based pension contribution as well. Great video.
When Julius Caesar first landed in Britain in 55 BC with a view to invading ,he left again pretty quickly, citing the cool and damp climate is being horrible. The Romans didn’t try again for almost another 100 years. It seems that the climate is like a protective cloak around our islands.
Expenses in rural Kentucky (I'm from there and still live there) make it really difficult to even fathom how living in cities bigger than Lexington or Louisville is even feasible. Also, it's really area specific how easy it is to make friends. I'm very introverted but lemme tell you, folks in Glasgow will turn around just start talking to complete strangers. You might not know their name, but it's like everyone around you is a friend.
Yes, but it is wet!
@@marieparker3822 that was probably one of my favorite parts. I love the rain and the big bonus was even when the sun came out, I didn’t have to worry about burning without SPF70 lol
It depends on where you are in the UK. Londoners tend to be less friendly while I have waved at complete strangers in a nearby town and they have waved back.
The mountains of North Wales are accessible by thee Welsh Highland Mountain Railway, The Talyllyn, Snowdon Mountain Railway
I've lived in a couple of damp and mouldy properties, an hour north of London. Do you know what they had in common? Bad landlords who didn't take care of their properties.
Unfortunately, that's all too common nowadays.
The cost of living can't really be compared between the UK and US because we can't even compare it properly between one place in the UK to another place in the UK.
My partners son lives in Loughborough and pays £800 rent per month but has access to good public transportation, is not far from the big city lights of Leicester, where I live out in the wilds of rural North Lincolnshire where we have less population in the whole county than his town. My mortgage is only £250 per month.
This area is good if you love living in a rural area where your amongst the farmland and you don't mind being cut off in winter when the snowfall blocks the narrow country roads and there is very little crime of any sort around here. But if you want the bright lights of city life, then it costs a lot more and your going to get more crime but there's plenty of nightlife.
Basically, you pay your money and take your choice.
I couldn't live in a city. I'm a country boy born and bred. I've lived virtually all my life either living in thd countryside or living a couple of minutes drive from the countryside in a small town. I like the sound of going out my front door and hearing the birds in my garden hedge and the lack of any traffic noise with the few vehicles that pass by the house. But if I want anything, then I have to use my own car and drive everywhere.
I found this very interesting, but comparing taxes and cost of living would make more sense if you compared salaries/income for various jobs, too. Just like here in the US, the amount of money you make influences what you consider expensive or what you think you can afford.
British taxes are not much difference to US. If you ignore healthcare, you have income tax at 25% for most people, and VAT on most goods at 20%. There are other special ones for various things, plus duty on fuel, alcohol and tobacco. In the US you will have Federal income tax, state income tax, and then state, county and city taxes on goods.
When it comes to healthcare, most Americans pay a lot more in insurance, copays and the like, and it can go on for years. UK NHS is around 15% (pre tax) and that's it. Everything is "free" from then on.
Now after all that I'm going to have a cup of tea. ;)
House prices around London are horrendous Treat London as a tourist area and live in the North.
I'm sorry, are we the only Country where living expenses change depending on where you live?? So, living in New York carries the same expenses as living in Kentucky does it??
Small villages are set out perfectly for cycling - they just aren’t set out for cars as well ;)
I'm British. One day, I visited Buckingham Palace with my mother, and we bought a tacky golden tea tray as a souvenir. On the way out, we passed an American woman who asked me what it was made of. I told her it was solid gold. I was being ironic, of course ,but sadly she thought I was being sarcastic. No, but I felt sorry about it ever since. Now I'm more careful about what I say to Americans!
Cycling depends on where you live, some cities are massively designed for pedestrians and cycles. My step dad lives in a tiny village, but is a massive cyclist, he cycles everywhere, for fun, most days. You just need to keep an eye out for hilltops with poor visibility, drains, and horses.
If it's one thing the Brits did right in Ireland, it was tea.
I would describe the British sense of humour as more sardonic than sarcastic. We use a lot of irony and facete and almost always deliberately set ourselves up for a witty put-down (assuming that the object of our humour will be witty enough to take the opportunity). What we find funniest is ourselves and we delight in self-deprecation or allowing others to do it for us. Because of this our sitcoms tend to be more situational with the characters playing second fiddle to the situation.
Thank you for your insights Grahame, very interesting!
When talking about weather in the UK..Canada is considered a cold snowy country on the whole...but most folks don't realise the southernmost point of Britain is further north than the northernmost part of the contiguous United States (the 48 adjoining states, so this does not include Alaska or Hawaii), while London lies further north than almost all major Canadian cities, including Vancouver, Montreal, Quebec City, and Toronto. Hence the weather is not like the med...which would be nice.....but can be rather damp.
Love your honest and frank views on living here. About the damp, yes it is damp outside a lot during the seasons but if you open your windows you can let fresh air circulate and this will make a big difference. Alternatively, you could of course buy a low energy de-himidifier. These work great at preventing damp when it's too cold to leave windows open. Also, where I live in the Midlands, we have had drier seasons over the past couple of years. So much so that summer now lasts from July 1 to the 11th! ... Only joking, summer still only lasts for one weekend. As for cost of living, I've grown up with it here so don't notice it as much. I think that the major difference in cost is value for money.
I used to go to Pittsburgh once a year in a previous role and noticed that your food had a lot more additives than here. Also, there wasn't the same access to diverse fresh products. They were there but you had to travel further to get them. I don't know if this is just big cities or not in the US. Interesting to see your viewpoint look forward to seeing more.
If you have mould your house is not properly ventilated. You must open windows more often that lets out damp air even from your breathing and from your bodies. That’s what causes mould
Ok! watched all your videos and you now have a new subscriber from scotland! I like your honesty it's refreshing!
My great grandmother used to make afternoon tea (with open sandwiches, victoria sponge and scones) every Sunday afternoon - and any members of her extended family who were free would pop by. Great grandma died when I was a teenager, and my great aunt Rose took over as hostess until her death. After that the family teas became monthly with rotating host (untl lockdown began).
To a lot us Brits there is no such thing as bad weather , just inappropriate clothing 🙂 .
House prices .... have a look on the Rightmove website and see what you can purchase in beautiful northern countryside in comparison to the cost of a 2 bed apartment in London , you will be pleasantly shocked .
Cycling in the countryside.... there are many dedicated cycle trails through stunning scenery around the country , many where you can hire a cycle for a day .
Have a look at the National Parks ... Peak District , Lake District, Snowdonia , Dartmouth, Pembrokeshire , North York Moors , North Yorkshire , Exmoor , Northumberland , Brecon Beacons , The Broads , Loch Lomond and The Trossachs , Cairngorms , New Forest and The South Downs ... 🙂 . Northern Ireland is also stunning .
I’m from Northern Ireland, UK. My answers to all these questions/assumptions:
1. Some people cycle, I certainly don’t.
2. Rain just sort of happens, can be for like 5 minutes, maybe even hours, just depends on the time of the year but it could rain anytime of the year.
3. Stirling (£) is the most expensive currency, in saying that it depends which country in the UK you go to. I’d say it’s more expensive in England or Scotland than in Northern Ireland.
4. I’m an introvert but in the UK most people just culturally mind their own business, if we don’t know someone we don’t care enough to worry about talking to them; we’re too busy worrying about things in our own lives, than about others unless it’s life threatening.
5. I’m not too familiar with getting trains, most people I know drive when they need to so there’s no thought of “can I get to the countryside by train?” It’s not something I’ve thought of but you probably can, it would just be silly because it’s not used for that specific purpose.
6. I personally haven’t drank tea in years, I’m not a fan of scones (too dry), and I don’t really eat biscuits. My parents drink tea all the time though.
7. Most people don’t believe in ghosts, they don’t care enough to worry about things like that.
8. Sarcastic humour is 100% my existence, if you’re American I’d probably end up making you part of the joke, but it’s only a bit of crack/banter; I don’t hate you, as an American you would just culturally by very easy to wind up.
9. I don’t often spend time walking through “gardens”. Sounds more like a rich person thing if it’s their own luxurious looking garden. Some places have public parks which would be sort of similar.
10. Definitely not easy to get a job here, it also depends on which job as some are more demanding than others.
11. Taxes are high, but we don’t have to pay tax when buying goods. We see something for £10 we pay £10. We also don’t pay for healthcare, that’s done through taxes naturally. We get a doctor/GP appointment then we go home if it’s just a check up or whatever.
Hi If you think it's rainy in the southeast of UK, try, north west Scotland esp Fort William.
Yes we have super high tax generally, here's a break we pay as we earn.. so rate tax 20p in every pound earned, unless your a high earner which I believe comes into effect at 51 thousand pa..
At this point you pay double 40p in the pound..
Then we National Insurance ( health care ) this is tax at 7% approximately of your earnings ( regardless of how much you earn ) so if earn more you pay more into the system hense the term soilcal health care.
Then we have council tax ( with this our local council pays for our rubbish collection, upkeep of local roads, streets lights & policing ) this tax is based on the size of your house so again you pay more if live in a posh areas with large houses.
Then we have car parking tax & fuel tax these are often missed but they are expensive like fuel tax is I believe 68p a litre but we pay around 109 p a litre so mostly it's tax & parking tax is again expensive although sometimes in small villages it's still free but more generally it from 1.5 pound each hour but London it's more like 7 pounds an hour.. London is very expensive.
& then there VAT at 20% so if you spend £20 on fuel say 2 pound of that is tax so yes we pay tax on tax when we buy fuel for our cars
So basically we pay alot but we get alot in return & we don't worry about big bills because we don't get them
Wow, you’ve had some bad luck with mould! As a native of the UK, I can say that this has not been an issue for me. Maybe it’s to do with where you live, mould can become a problem when your property is located near to the coast.
A dehumidifier might help. UK houses try to keep the heat in, but they also retain the moisture from showers, cooking, breathing etc. We got one late last year and it's made such a difference and the house seems warmer too. It shocks me how much water it's collected when I empty it after a couple of days.
Side note - I guess the person could ride a bike actually in the countryside... along trails and such.
Brit drivers hate the Lycra lout cyclists.
So does this Brit pedestrian
How many car drivers do cyclists kill every year...?
@@andylane247 how many cyclists are at fault for that? As a Cambridge lad in can assure you that they cycle the wrong way down one-way streets, jump red lights, ride across PEDESTRIAN crossings and ride without lights at night.
@@orwellboy1958
Yes I saw a cyclist completely wreck a 38 tonne lorry last week. He just carried on riding as if nothing had happened...
I´m from Brazil and have lived in London for some time. Love the UK!
Open a window or two. The ancient network of footpaths and bridleways is a huge asset for leisure. Ordnance Survey maps are the best for such walks.
Mould is caused by condensation of moisture in the air. The solution is basically ventilation. I live in a late Victorian house in London and I have no problem with mould, but with some 8 fireplaces I suppose the ventilation is already built in ? The warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold. Dryers which are not properly ventilated to outside will cause condensation, as will drying clothes on radiators. Indeed even showering with the door closed is certain to cause damp.
Just to address my OCD they are Railway Stations not Train Stations 😄
They're train stations where I live.
@@Trebor74 “There is no such thing as a train station - except in baby talk. It is railway station.” “We don't have train stations in this country.” ... But the thing about 'train station' - that unambiguous little phrase - is that it is already in very common usage in this country.
@@Sol3UK And to my mind, even the word “railway” is superfluous - if you asked a native British person where the nearest station was, they would know, without further explanation, that you wanted to catch a train. The only times that such clarification is required would be in such cases as bus station, petrol station, coach station etc.
Most, if not all houses in the UK have some mould somewhere. Most people only notice it if there's a lot. This is due to the humidity in the air. The most common places for mould are the kitchen and bathroom. Go to Italy and you'll find there's no mould because the air is less humid for much of the year.
If there's a lot of mould, however, there's a problem with ventilation or heating.
Hey
I think a lot of your answers are based on London and the South. Growing up in York everyone knew everyone in my street and normal for people will sit next to you on public transport and want your life story.
You can get very cheap property in some northern places.
Yeah I agree, returning home from travelling the world I was on the train from Manchester airport to Wigan and had a couple old ladies ask me about my bag etc and then a group chat with half a dozen people was nice to be home.
Also you can get a decent 3 bed house here for 75k.
75k m8 don't tell anyone but further into the North East of England I've seen and know of 2 bedroom terraced houses for 20 to 30k 3 bed ones for under 50k christ I k ow a fella who bought a row of terraced houses in a old mining town for less than a 100k and we are talking 3+ houses and on the dearer ended there was some seaside houses and these were big mfos for less than 900k and these were old houses the sorta that would be millions down south lol
And yes b4 u say owt yes some of these house prices were in places that aren't the most affluent places but it's how you change the street by getting good ppl as this can have an effect on others lol
For what people pay for a 2 bed property in London or it’s commuter belt you can get a small mansion in some parts of Yorkshire. I have a 3 bed semi detached house in suburban Sheffield and it’s valued at £115k. Not the biggest garden but it is in a quiet cup-de-sac with plenty of local amenities and lots of public transport links to the city centre.
From here I could easily get to London in less than 3 hours and when quarantine isn’t on and Eurostar works properly be in Paris and back in the same day.
@richt71, you've hit the nail on the head there. I had a girlfriend here in the UK who came from Georgia. People couldn't get enough of her accent. She was always the centre of attention whenever we went somewhere. People appeared to just want to talk to her. She brought out the stereotypical British reserve.
I'm not so sure it's even a North/South thing. I'm 32 and grew up in Reading, we knew virtually everyone in our close, all the kids played together and we'd always take turns hosting barbecues or having everyone round for big events like world cups etc. We were always in and out of each others houses. I live in Rotherham now with my native partner and in the 3 years since I moved in I've spoken to about 4 neighbours... I approached all of them. No one's interested anymore, just how times change
I think the thing that would shock most Americans, and most likely put them off hiring a car, would be the huge taxes on gasoline. Currently it's about $9 a gallon and I know there's fears that it might reach $3 in the US. It's one of the reasons many cars here have engines sizes of between 1 & 2 litres, rather than 5 to 7.
16:50 you're bang on here, go to any Wetherspoons and you'll see how unsophisticated we all are, outside of this pandemic obviously.
@ARUclips User speaking as s Londoner, before Covid Wetherspoons was the only place I could go to and get a pint for less than 5 or 6 quid. So I’ll have to disagree.
@ARUclips User gosh. You have some very judgmental people in your circle.
@ARUclips User the same could be said of yourself. Like I said, not all of us have lots of money to spend.
@ARUclips User O...K You clearly have very strong feelings on this matter. Have a nice evening. Goodbye.
@ARUclips User okay, I was willing to walk away just disagreeing but can you explain why avoiding Wetherspoons is empirical? I genuinely want to know your reasons.
Lived in Florida for 12 years and almost every home we lived in had mould in, never had a mouldy house in the UK. So glad I’m now back.
We stop for tea every hour 🤣🤣🤣
I had a friend say it is much easier to speak to people and make friends the further north you go in the UK.
This is the second of your videos that I have watched today; the first was the NHS v USA medical care. Your explanation of the differences in our cultures and behaviours is very good.
Seriously? She’s wrong on an awful lot.
One difference I noticed there… when it’s your birthday the people in your office give you a cake. In England it’s customary to bring a cake in yourself for your birthday.. and ask people to celebrate with you
I live in Derbyshire now, I was born a Londoner come visit Eyam get out of that city you live in and bring your bike
Bretton clough. My favourite place!!!
Do you or people in general use dehumidifiers over there to soak up the moisture inside your home?
Housing, go look outside London or south east
Regarding the dampness (not rainfall) of the UK, I have this:
I worked with a woman from Moscow. When it snowed, she complained about being cold. When we laughingly called her out on this, she pointed out ... it was a different kind of cold. In Russia, it's usually a 'dry' cold, the atmosphere is dry. In the UK, it's cold and moist. The reason why we Brits talk about the weather is because we get a lot of it, in varied amounts and different qualities.
Tea: it's not the beverage but the time you can take drinking it. Doesn't matter the flavour or brew (each to their taste), are you angry? Something's gone wrong? Work is getting you down? You need a break? Time for a brew! :)
Ghosts: plenty around, and there's a lot of competition between sites to pull in attention ... to tourists. The thing is, we Brits live in very old buildings. We're used to the idea.
Brit humour: we're best at what we call "taking the mickey" i.e. sarcasm, satire etc. We have, I think, an indirect sense of humour. As opposed to just telling a joke, dropping the catchphrase, and getting the laugh, our comedians tell of a situation, the outcome sounding funny, the misunderstanding etc. and expecting the audience to join the dots ... then laugh!
Oh, and a bonus misinformation point: we Brits don't drink warm beer! As opposed to American 'beer' which is usually lager, British ale and beer is served at room temperature. Which (it being the UK) isn't particularly warm. Our lagers, however, and many ciders are served chilled.
To preserve the atmosphere ...
*ahem*
Have a nice day, y'all! ;-)
Ale is served at Cellar temperature and is a live natural product.
Of a salary you can expect taxes and deductions to total about 30%-35% of total income. But remember that includes health insurance, state pension contributions, unemployment contributions and child support. So don't forget to deduct that from your side too.
The welfare state and NHS have been around since 1948, I think it's doing pretty well. No one goes bankrupt through illness or serious injury. I think make a pretty powerful statement.
VAT (Value Added Tax - what you call Sales Tax) was raised to fit the EEC requirement. So it may become a political issue to reduce it now we're out of the EU?
30-35% deductions is about right - total deductions on my last payslip were 32%. That covered my pension contributions (occupational pension - voluntary), National Insurance, Income Tax and union dues. National Insurance goes to cover the NHS, state pensions, unemployment and other benefits etc.
The EU specifies a standard VAT system and says it must be at least 15%; anything above that is at the discretion of individual countries, so the UK could have reduced its rate from 20% to 15% if it chose to without leaving the EU. Can Sales Tax be reclaimed? If I buy some materials that I use to make something that I then sell, I'll charge VAT on the final object but will be able to reclaim the VAT I paid on the source materials. If I'm, for example, a plumber, I'll charge my client VAT and claim back the VAT on the plumbing supplies I've bought. This is simplifying things a bit, but I think the basic idea is accurate.