@@williamwilkes9873 Glamorous it certainly isn’t, however it’s also anything but boring. Always enjoy my visits there (providing of course the weather is good)
Council tax only pays for the services provided by your local authority, such as waste collection, street maintenance, housing provision, public parks and cemeteries plus social services, local education provision etc. It does not pay for health care as that comes from your general income tax and national insurance, which also pays towards your retirement pension.
@@peterc.1618 All money collected goes to the treasury but NHI contributions are at least allocated to an individual. That payment but, strangely, not the amount paid, counts towards your state pension. If you miss enough of them then your pension will be reduced.
The "council tax" is actually based on the value of the property you live in...NOT how many people live there. The "switch" on a socket is there for safety purposes.
The council tax IS partly based on how many people live in a property where those people are over 18. My guess is that the narrator lives in an apartment with several other adults in which case council tax will be higher than it would be where there are one or two occupants.
In the medical world body weight is measured in kilograms but otherwise people still tend to refer to their weight in stones. It's just a hangover from pre-metric UK.
@captaintorch983 you're a boring fucker aren't you, wanting an sole, unchanging language to be stuck for time immemorial. Luckily, life doesn't work out like that. Tell the dictionary people who add to the English language every year, often acknowledging American isms etc I'll think you'll find foreigners have their own languages - they're probably saying things about you behind your back that you will never understand. You may be referring to English speaking people bringing the English language outside the UK.. Those people in these other countries, often of UK origin, can do what what they want with the language. It's not as if there's one form of English in the UK ffs.
The British domestic electrical system is far safer than the US one - or indeed pretty well anywhere else that does not use the British system. Some will tell you it reflects the UK "ring main" system, used for power circuits although not lights or large appliances which are radial as in the US, but this is not the reason for most of the differences other than the integral fuses. Some will tell you it reflects the higher and therefore more dangerous voltage of 230V compared with 110V in the US, which is true to a point but most of Europe and Australasia etc use similar plugs to the US and they have 230-340V. The real reason is safety. There are loads of videos which explain all about this, but just to list a few of the safety features: the earth (ground) pin is longer and enters the socket first, so the ground connection is made before any live connection (I think three-pin US plugs do similar?); the earth pin opens two shutters, which otherwise cover and protect the live and neutral connections, so unlike the US you cannot insert anything into a UK plug and get a shock; each plug has its own integral and replaceable fuse; each socket can be switched off (as you can see) - NOT to save power (although it does, when you switch off electronic appliances that are always drawing some power) but as an additional safety (an d convenience) feature to disconnect an appliance whilst leaving it plugged in (no having to go round pulling out all the plugs before going off on vacation!); the cable leaves the plug at the bottom, so you cannot pull the plug out by pulling the cord; Indeed, it takes some effort to pull the plug out at all, although the plug is shaped to allow a firm grip to help this; the live and neutral pins are insulated for the first part of their length, so once you have pushed the plug part way into the socket and the earth pin has opened the shutters, there is no bare metal you can touch; most UK plugs can be rewired, rather than just being moulded on like in the us, making thinks much easier if the cable is damaged; the three wires inside the plug are all different lengths, deliberately, so if the cable is tugged out (which is very hard, since another feature is a cable grip in the plug) the live wire disconnects first, then neutral and only at the end the earth; and it is impossible to insert a UK plug into a socket "the wrong way", mixing up live and neutral (unless you use a cheap, foreign, uncertified extension lead that is not wide enough). There IS one huge downside to the UK plug, though - it hurts like hell if you accidentally stand on an upturned one when wandering around in the night! Think standing on lego, and move on up several orders of magnitude!
I don't know.............l live in England cos that's who l am......but Spurs have a break so l may sod off a bit to France.........añyway........love your flippant remarks, though never sussed "shorts",........all or nothing........'bye.........
Council tax does not go to pay for the NHS that's National Insurance (NI) it is taken out of wages either weekly or monthly before you receive your pay simply
Plus National Insurance comes out of your pay even if you earn below the Income Tax threshold. Maggie Thatcher tried to make council tax based on numbers instead of property value and had a revolt. People called the Poll Tax and went to prison because of it.
good video, only thing I'd say is when you were talking about housing sizes. this is just a London/ big city thing I think. Similar to somewhere like New York where square footage is important. Out in the country side there are a lot of bigger houses for cheap with large kitchen, etc like in the US.
Yeah definitely! Cities are always smaller houses. I’d also argue though that average house sizes outside of the cities are bigger in the US as well, as I’ve looked into buying some UK properties and a lot of houses still share a wall with others and are smaller than I’d expect! But of course it depends on the area :)
A really important thing to remember, especially as you're saying 'Everything' is like this, is that you're experiencing Britain in a particular price bracket, ie, lower. 'The kitchens are all tiny with no counter space' because of the price bracket you're in or seeing, go to higher value properties and you'll see everything you're used to, even dishwashers!!
Very true!! But just in general I’m in an apartment that’s half the size and double the price of my apartment back in the US. And I’m from an expensive city in the US! So I just want to set expectations of what size you’ll get for the price!!
@@SheRunTheWorld The price difference must be terrible for your, but do remember, Britain pretty much fits inside the state of California. So when you have that much space in one country, the value of it will be much lower. You could just state that 'in my price bracket which is X, it's like this'. A great idea for a video, go online & look at property for sale at different price points around the country, very interesting. Britain's not what it was, but hope you have a good time.
@@SheRunTheWorld Solely depends on where yóu live........l live in London.......pricey, but expected............supply & demand economics........surely understood by now...........
We are way ahead of you in America and have been using GFCI switches for a long time. GFCI i has the switch designed to turn off itself It's called a : Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter; it's a switch within a switch , and has been the code for new building and renovations for many years.
Hmm, as an American that has been in England for the last four months, albeit in the countryside, I have found people quite chatty. People are very friendly and regularly engage in small talk with me when I am on a walk or shopping etc. I think it might depend on where you are.
"But I think you would be surprised at how often it does happen in England, Scotland and Ireland" 00:59 in video. You missed what is known as Gods country. Popular areas of Wales like the Isle of Anglesey, the Brecon Beacons National Park, Carmarthenshire, Dyfed, the (Eryri National Park) Snowdonia the coastal county of Ceredigion, West Wales, Powys County in Mid Wales, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the stunningly beautiful Llŷn Peninsula, the North Wales Coast, the Valleys and coast of South Wales and the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire. In my humble opinion the most beautiful country in the UK with Scotland a very close 2nd. Other opinions are available. Enjoy the UK as a whole.@@SheRunTheWorld
@@mrzacc recently I was looking up the size of Britain compared to Hawaii on Google and the island of Wales was 6.35 per cent of the size of Hawaii!? According to one site ?!
Hawaii is 1,932 sq miles and Great Britain is 94,100 sq miles. Wales is not an island, but Great Britain is. Just for clarification Wales is 8,020 sq miles. Information as provided by Alexa@@charlesloukas1946
The switch is for safety. You can’t get a shock if there’s no power going through to the plug. It’s also very useful to switch off plugged in appliances at night (tv for example) without having to pull the plug from the wall.
There's simple reason the UK plug and sockets are designed as such because they are the safest by design. You will notice the top pin (earth) is slightly longer. This to prevent you from getting electrocuted because it provides a ground before opening the access points for neutral and live. The safety feature is particularly useful to prevent little fingers playing poking in and getting an electric shock. Most of the rest of the world aren't as safe. As long as an item is plugged in it will use a tiny amount on electric whatever country you are in. That's science for you. By having switches you can cut the circuit rather than having to physically unplug it. This stops any trickle of electricity but also makes things safer. Not all sockets have them built in. You will find more modern ones also have a USB charging socket so that you don't need to have separate power supplies for modern devices with you. As for shopping most people do it weekly at supermarket and if you live in a market town fresher produce is on the market. If you want to experience a proper market town go to one like Bury near Manchester. Mention the weather to try and break the ice, it's the 'British disease', we can have four seasons in one day and people are more likely to talk. Ask a British how they are then they will say they are alright even if they are really ill. Not all roads are narrow and you will find many defined by size and priority as A and B roads. A lot comes from historically they were designed for a horse and cart. Celcius just makes more sense in UK weather forecasts because 0C is the freezing point of water (rain)... And if you are making a brew it's the boiling point of water is 100C. Starting at an arbitary figure like 32 just isn't logical. You'd be surprised to know English people speak English😊
i grew up in an old Edwardian house and the electricity sockets were round holes for two pins.. and i remember with the tv and his shaver he would poke a match stick in to hold the wires in place! Llol
4:33 A switch that is ON in the UK plug sockets will draw a metered cost even if the device is switched OFF. So switching the socket OFF will stop the meter count for the socket that bis ON. I used to read meters at home and commercial premises. It does save money over the long run. SO switch OFF sockets on plugged items that are not in use, like a microwave, kettle and maybe other devices on standby even thougt its NOT being used BUT is drawing a current to a socket.
Two corrections when you're talking at 2:30 about Council Tax. The amount of tax payable is based on the value of the property sorted into bands i.e. £200-£300,000. It's got nothing to do with how many people occupy the property. Also It's nothing to do with paying towards the National Health Service. That's paid for out of general taxation (income tax, etc.) and National Insurance (deducted from your pay). The largest amount of Council Tax goes towards education (up to age 18).
There is in fact a single occupancy discount for council tax, of 25% of the standard rate. It is also generally means-tested so people with low incomes can get some reductions.
Hi.Just got recommended your video. There are a few misconceptions you have. Council tax is per property not per person. It's based on house values decades ago as to the band of your property and the amount you pay. Garbage disposals are illegal in many areas as they clog the drain pipes. Dishwashers are normal in most larger homes. You don't need a TV license to watch tv. You need a TV license to watch any live tv broadcasts and/or iplayer. The UK used imperial measurements like the US but when the UK joined the EU in the 70's the UK had to move to metric. There was a backlash so now you have both in some cases.
@@RonSeymour1 For those of us who remember the switch from the Community Charge to the Council Tax, the Council Tax was supposed to be a combination of the old Rates system and the Community Charge, i.e. half of what you pay is based on the property, the other half is based on the number of occupiers but only up to a maximum of two people, hence the 25% (half of that half) discount if you live alone. It was also supposed to be a temporary measure until something better could be devised but some 30 years later it is still there.
Britain was never metric pre 1965, imperial measurements had been used for hundreds of years, before any explorer landed in North America, so too in much of the empire, Canada/Australia/NZ/South Africa/Rhodesia. The UK also changed to decimal currency in 1971, I think visitors would have found our old currency confusing.
We changed to metric on entering the Common Market . You can blame Napoleon ,it was all his idea, we would have used it longer if he had successfully invaded England.😂
It's good to be aware of both, while 70% prefer the imperial measures: easier to visualise it. Happily, all public officials are trained in both, so can keep us all content. Did email the BBC once, to enquire, and a weather forecaster wrote back that Celsius is the standard, yet any day there is an unseasonal temperature it would likely be given also in Fahrenheit. How quaint of them.
@@Colin-to1nv Education in the Metric system started for primary age kids in the 1960s it makes science and engineering much much easier. With Temperature you only need to know zero is freezing and and 21 or 22c is 70f room temperature.
The road I go on was built in AD 43 by the Romans, take if it was in America you would alter it and make it straight and wide, all are cars have a steering wheel.
Public transport works well to travel between towns and cities. However reaching rural areas is difficult, not enough passengers to run buses and make a profit.
@@johnrhodez6829 We have the same problem here in Canada. People from the States will come up here, than Ask if we speak American. We just say Canada and the States speak the same language. Some of Our words are still, linked up to the British form of speaking. Yes We have the U, in colour/labour's.
$80 per month was a pretty reasonable electricity bill. Most people that I know are paying more like $200, especially during the summer. While Brits pay council tax, you forgot to mention that homeowners in America have to pay property tax. In Austin I'm paying around $4K per year for a 1500 sq ft home.
Ya no complaints about the $80 it was a new building in Austin so very well insulated which kept costs down. And true Texas has insane property taxes!!
❤️😌It would be remiss not to note that while you are being pedantic Spurs, that when you can name all 50 US States (by memory), only than will grievances be taken to heart😌❤️
❤️😌It would appear that you in the UK absolutely do. In America people know that sentences begin with capital letters and that the differences betwixt American and British English are so minute it’s irrelevant (unless being pedantic)😌❤️
Sockets with switches is more for safety as we use a ring main system, invented in ww2 to save on coper, all sockets are connected together in a ring, on the ground floor and 2nd ring for upstairs, and even all lights on each floor will be on a ring, so the wire in the wall is always live, rather than each socket going back to the circuit braker.
All cables on all circuits, whether ring or radial, have a live, neutral and earth wire. Some, such as multi-switching lighting, have more than one live wire. All cables are live all the time, whether ring or radial. The only real design difference between a ring and a radial circuit is that in the former all three wires form a loop back to the consumer unit, so the current can flow in either direction. This means you can have more load (and more sockets) on a ring circuit than a radial for the same amount of copper (as you say), although you DO have to be careful to balance the load and not have most of the load on just one part of the ring. Lighting circuits, being much lower wattage, are always radial, using either the loop-in or the junction box system. There is no need for a ring circuit for lighting.
Everything about plugs and sockets in the UK revolves around safety. This is because our electrical supply is 240V, double that in the US. This is vitally important as we need to boil water in a kettle fast when we’re dying for a cup of tea! 😂 Have you seen how long it takes to make a brew in the States?
There are a few misconceptions in this video. Property/room sizes depends on budget and that also depends on where you are living: London is excruciatingly expensive. You don't see garbage disposal units attached to UK sinks as they're not legal in this country. I've never encountered a UK house without an oven. Dishwashers are fairly common, but not in very small houses/apartments. Roads are not 'small' they're old. In many towns and cities, the roads can be medieval in origin, or even older (Roman in some cases). Many more 'recent' ones are Georgian or Victorian, all of which pre-dates the existence of the car. Metric has been taught as standard in schools since the 1960s and is used throughout all maths and science. The only things which are not 'officially' metric are speed limits, which are are in mph and not kph, and distances on road signs, which are in miles. You would have to be over 70 to not have been taught to use metric. Most people can switch between metric/Imperial units if they need to
National Insurance was covered in my Council tax all these years ! Who knew . I am going to send this video to HM Revenue and customs and DEMAND over FORTY YEARS of duplicated NI payments . So glad I watched this , with this impending rebate I will have a great retirement with 40 years of contributions refunded ( index linked)
I am 70 and was never taught the metric system - either in school during the '60's or since. I have a ground floor (purpose-built) flat and have never had an oven, neither a built-in nor a freestanding cooker have ever been installed or included in our kitchen. (Instead, I've had to buy microwave ovens, toaster ovens, halogen ovens, and recently, my daughter purchased an air fryer. These have been / are our only means by which to cook / make hot meals, other than by using (ordinary) toasters, or the electric kettle. I continue to use the Imperial system - "as and when" required but the metric system only _If_ required.
I watch a lot of UK v US culture shock videos. I have to say it surprises me how few Americans mention our lack of a gun obsession here as a culture shock. If Americans think, as they seem to, that the more guns the better, then surely that has to be a huge shock to visit a country that does not have, or at least has VERY FEW gun deaths. I would assume that would always be the number one shock 🤔
Council tax is based on your property value, which then gets put into different groups (or bands as they’re called) depending on the value of your house. Ie band A will pay 1200 per year, band B will pay 1500, Band C 1750 etc. also, it does not pay for health care. That is paid from a ‘national insurance’ tax which is taken from pay at source.
We use a mixture of metric and imperial measures. For instance, 'draught' beers in pubs, and fresh milk are still sold in pints, but for the milk, the metric equivalent is given as well.
Partly true. Only draught beer can be sold as a pint. Any drinks, including beers, in containers must be in millilitres or litres. That includes pints of milk, which must also have the metric volume displayed on the container in addition to its Imperial volume
Commonwealth countries use left hand side driving and weight by stones etc if you choose.Also Celsius. In New Zealand we also use kilometres now and mostly metric.
I was building a fence years ago and I bought some wood. I picked out some that was labelled as 3mtrs long. When I asked how much I was quoted £xx per foot!
Always good to do some research before making a video as so many errors. The switch on a plug is a safety feature and will save you money as stops a trickle feed to any device. Not sure what you have against wales as you totally ignored it. Also you don’t need a licence unless you watch the bbc.Most channels are free unless you subscribe. In the Uk we just want to get things done and not looking for small chat when needing service.
@@kenvoysey8222 that’s incorrect. The licence fee funds the BBC but is required to watch any live tv. It’s not optional, you have to have a licence unless you only watch programmes on catch up.
@@timelord5920 you just answered your own question dude ! It’s live events on the BBC or iplayer so I can watch everything else. More my point is when someone does a blog here and fails to research what they are saying. Highlighted the council tax but ignored the abuse of sick people in the states who have to pay massively over the odds for basic live saving drugs. Not to mention live in a police state that’s so corrupt it’s accepted.
Try buying cloth you will buy 2 yards of cloth with a width of 1 metre. I am sure that the government changed petrol from gallons to litres so that we did not notice how much the price went up.
UK domestic power is 240v and US is a puny 120v, hence, UK plugs earthed and fused and insulated. When your average US house gets hit by lightening, you can blow any and everything electrical and it happens a lot! I know a bloke in Milwaukee who has got hit twice, in two houses, i.e. 4 times! There is a vidro of our plugs/electric, which believe it or not, is quite interesting!
US voltage is 110 . In the UK it's 230. It used to be 240, In some parts of Europe it was 220v so a regulation was introduced requiring appliances to work with both, while electricity grids were standardized at 230v over time. Voltage does vary, depending on the load anyway.
@@SheRunTheWorld really? that goes against everything i was always told, the bbc had no adverts due to the license fee paying for it whereas everyone else was funded by advertising, i don't know because i'm only pretending to be an adult
One other point about measurements UK pints are larger than their US equivalent Garbage disposals are not allowed as these would block our sewage system
Someone else just commented about the pint sizes- I never knew that!!🍻 and ok wow good to know. It would probably be too hard and inconvenient to change the system now!
Power outlets have on off switches to prevent kids sticking things in the socket! In the US all your outlets are permanently live which is INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS
Interesting! Everyone here thinks our outlets are dangerous back in the US but I’ve never heard of any problems or dangerous situations with them from anyone lol!!
The difference between American English and UK English can be likened to the difference between painting-by-numbers and the Mona Lisa. The richness of colloquial English in its apparently endless variety is a delight. 6:05 What struck me about driving in Chicago (it may be an isolated example) was a multi-lane off-ramp in the middle of the umpteen-wide freeway which dumped me into an area where my immediate concerns were how I could keep moving without having to stop and how I could get back on a freeway - any freeway...
I live by myself, get paid monthly and don't drive. Therefore I get the bulk of my shopping on a monthly basis, and generally fill up the fridge and freezer. It also enables me to buy larger packets of stuff, or 2 for the price of one, and split them into individual meal size packages when I get home and, as I said, stick them in the freezer until I'm ready.
Interesting! Couple of things you missed out on: The police do not carry guns, the vast majority of officers in London patrol with batons and pepper spray. Those who do carry a gun require a special license to do so and are deployed only in limited situations. Doctor, Ambulance, and Hospital care are all "free" in our "socialized" Health Care system, the best in the world, miles better than anything in the USA... Mount and horse on the left (since 95BC), mount a bike on the left (1818 commonly called a velocipede, and nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse) so by the time the car went on the road in 1900 guess which side of the road they were going to use? Council Tax will pay for Police and Fire services too. One thing that really won't change anywhere in the world that the metric system doesn't even bother to challenge is the dozen (12), the most convenient number ever! which brings me to the name "stone", it derives from the use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity and the use of agreed upon weights, one of which was the hundredweight 112, the stone is an eighth of 112. 14 pounds. Same for the currency that was established, 240 silver pennies to the Pound. The milestone! Not so visible nowadays, but still out there!
Because we have a 230 volt electrical supply , we have are able to have electric kettles that quickly boil enough water for 3 people to each have a large hot mug of whatever they want in around 3 minutes .
Just remember, it's you that pronounce words differently, English is our language, so we pronounce words correctly......😉😏 Great observations though. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
The big difference with the electrical outlets is not the switch, it's the voltage. UK outlets (sockets) are 220 to 240 volt 50 Hz whereas the USA uses 110 volt 60 Hz.
That is true! But it’s also the switch cuz in the US we don’t have switches on our outlets, so any Americans traveling here will think that’s very different!
If you leave the switch on which is by the way a safety thing, but also if it's left switched on a trickle of electricity happens which adds to the bill
Council Tax is NOT based on the number of people who live in a property. Each property has an amount to pay however you DO get a 25% reduction if only one adult is resident. Children under 16 or under 21 and still in full time education do not count towards residency. The switches on sockets {"outlets") are there so you can switch off the appliance without the need to do that on the appliance if you wish. It's up to you. Our roads are narrow because they started many hundreds of years ago when the only vehicles were farm carts and most folk travelled either on foot or, if wealthy, on horse. Therefore they didn't need to be wide. There is only one country in the world that uses Month/Day/Year as against Day/Month/Year. That country is the USA. 🤣
Out of the 15 apartments in viewed in zone 1-2 London in my price range, very small places without dishwashers lol if you have a high budget, you can have it all- but most of us don’t fit in that category. And didn’t say all tv stations need the license
You're most likely to be caught out by things that have the same name but mean entirely different things: - Everyone probably knows about 'pavement' = sidewalk in the UK but road in US - There's also 'ghrill' = heat from top in UK and heat from the bottom in the US - Frown = lowering of eyebrows (and generally scrunching up of your forehead) in the UK and a downturned mouth in the US (incidentally this explains the American phrase 'turn that frown upsaide down' which makes abolutely no sense in the UK!) - Pint = 20 fl. oz. in the UK and 16 fl. oz. in the US (which also means a UK gallon is 25% larger than a US gallon and so on)
The roads in the UK are often narrow because they are ancient and once meant for horses and carts, then just had tarmac applied to make them suitable for cars. The reason we drive on the left is related and just as ancient; it’s because it was easier to draw your sword with your right hand when on horseback.
You said “they drive on the opposite side of the road” it depends who you’re speaking to, around 70 countries drive on the same side as Britain, many of these have historic connections with Britain Aus/NZ/HK/Singapore/ India/ some countries like Japan are on the left but don’t have historic connections.
Yeah definitely agree! I was targeting Americans in this video and what they might find shocking if they came here as a first time traveler - so it would be opposite for them! :)
Sweden only converted to driving on the right in 1967. Historically everyone passed on the left, until cars, even parts of US. Cars being left or right hand drive cemented it.. and.. France..
Jousting sports and horse and cart traditions, are the reason we stuck to the left side. (Whipping hand/Sword/Weapon hands-free) as most of the population are right handed... So history would trump who is right or wrong, manual cars and licences (stick driving) are still most popular here, unlike the USA, which has mostly automatic cars.
I used to visit California on a regular basis, usually staying for around 4 weeks each time. I rented an apartment as it was both less expensive and more practical than hotels. Interestingly I didn’t find the culture shock was any big deal at all, in most instances I felt quite at home. In those days, I’m talking late 80’s/early 90’s I found service was overall much better than in the U.K. and often food was better. However those things appear to have gone into reverse and now I much prefer U.K. food and service is overall every bit as good without the obligatory tipping at up to 20% or more.
One point is getting an adapter for US electrical devices is not the most important thing to notice... we (UK) use ~240V mains compared to the US ~110V; so if you plug a device with an internal transformer (like a monitor) directly in without switching it to 240V setting (some have a switch) then it'll go bang and blow the fuses! I've literally 'heard' this happen. Talking of fuses, the switch is just another way we stop people accidently killing themselves by isolating the supply. The US is a bigger, less densly populated country so big houses and roads became the norm. It's a shock to us how big a 'normal' house is in the US. Diving, major point: we have roadabouts and lots more giveway rules... we try to keep driving polite (we fail, but at least we try).
Great information thanks for commenting! I will say that I have noticed so many cars stopping for me to cross the road which many wouldn’t do back in LA! So I agree - very polite driving :)
We changed our Highway Code regulations at the start of 2022 to pass a greater responsibility to drivers for the safety of more vulnerable road users, and to clarify the priority of pedestrians waiting or crossing roads near junctions and at zebra (spelt with a 'zed' and pronounced like Deborah) crossings ;0).
America didn't experience food & material deprivation during both world wars.Their homeland wasn't blockaded & bombed like europe & Britain.The smallness & quaintness of cultural Britain they see, was due to the post war rationing of everything into the mid 1950s.Sections of society didn't recover at all.If you look you'll find them.And it's not 'quaint'.
The part you talked about small talk is a very southern and London thing, I'm from the north and we are very friendly up here and like to start conversations with strangers!
The smaller cars apart from the roads is the fuel economy - check the fuel prices and then you will understand (it is usually double or more that of the US) - Things are smaller as we simply don't have the room and because of that this makes property more expensive for what it is. A lot of people do have dishwashers - I don't as there isn't the space or plumbing in my kitchen. The UK invented the imperial system - as a child my teachers referred to feet and inches for height (my first passport had my height like that) as did woodyards, pounds and ounces for cookery or sale of goods eg fruit and veg on a market -Due to our links with the EU I was actually taught both - so had an idea what Fahrenheit was - we would have thermometers with both on - especially in workplaces as in offices it couldn't be colder than 16C (60F) after the first hour or staff had to be sent home. (Other workplaces were different) Our cars speedometers (anologue) have MPH on the outside and KPH on the inside (Mine is digital - surprising for an 18 year old car, but I can just change it with a few button presses - useful when driving in Europe. We buy our petrol (gas) by the litre which is how it is priced, but measure the fuel economy in MPG (Miles Per Gallon) - We also insist on Pints for milk - but as it has to be stated in litres the figures can be quite odd - as they are a multiple of 568ml. I've lived in other countries too - and noticed who had built department stores - if they were UK companies the escalators would go up on the left hand side - (the country I was in drove in the left too), but if a US company had built it the would be the opposite way round.
To be fair having lived in the States. I get it. On my return to the UK I had a few close shaves because I got used to cars coming the other way. On your other point. Why look both ways? If you're used to a road system you'll know which way the cars are coming. If said car/bike or whatever is going the wrong direction it's the moron in the car/bike who shouldn't be allowed out without adult supervision!
Where to start? The USA got its measurements from the UK - inches, feet, yards, miles, pounds, ounces etc. Even early American currency used by the colonists was Pounds, Shillings and Pence. “The United States Customary System of weights and measures is derived from the British Imperial System” (online Britannica). Even early ‘American’ literature was imported British literature (Emerson in one of his essays mentions this). The UK went metric round about 1985, but started using decimal currency in 1971, when Shillings were dropped and instead of 240 pennies to the pound there were 100. Metric measurements have never been popular with older people, and miles are still standard. I personally still think in feet and inches, although I have accepted grams and kilos when shopping. We always used to use Fahrenheit until the ‘Powers That Be’ decided to switch to Celsius. I still prefer Fahrenheit.
With regard to ‘floors,’ Americans use the ‘elevator’ whereas we use the ‘lift,’ and we call ‘braces’ what Americans call ‘suspenders’ for keeping ‘trousers’ up (which Americans call ‘pants’). One final point, you moved from Texas to Brighton? Brighton is the left-wing woke capital of the UK. You aren’t allowed to have traditional views there. Anyway, welcome to Britain.
British Imperial system is divergent. The US retained 16 fluid ounces = 1 pint, and weighs 1 pound, while we changed to a new imperial pint of 20 fluid ounces/568 mL in 1826.
Good vid but think you need to get around the uk a bit more most cars are small in the uk..I see big SUVs n range rovers ect everywhere in the uk and kitchens are small well you need to visit other bigger properties more too oh and also council tax does not fund healthcare it’s national insurance that funds that from wages
This is the most expensive apartment I’ve ever had so I’m definitely not on a budget! I wish I was able to stick to my budget here😂 but yeah I’m sure if I could afford it, the apartment could be bigger. Right now I’m living in something that’s half the size but double the price of my apartment back in the US! Lol
But all motorway roadside markings are in km, with posts 100 m apart. Motorways also have road locator signs in blue every 500 m, to help with Breakdowns etc, giving the name of the road, the direction (A or B), and the distance in kilometres from a given location eg the start of the motorway. You also find them on major A roads.
Ya I’ve lived outside the US for the last 5 years, so I don’t find non-American things “weird” it’s just different! Makes living and traveling abroad fun to find the differences ☺️
Yes we still use miles, have speedometers in MPH but buy petrol by the litre, go figure! What surprises me is the US has had a decimal based cuurency for a long time but not the metric system for anything else. The UK only adopted decimal currency in 1970.
In Prague it wasn§t common to have an oven in the kitchen?? Then, it probably depends on where you lived, because a huge majority of houses in the Czech Rep. have ovens. I would be really surprised to come somewhere where they do not bake in it.... :-))))
@@SheRunTheWorld That is what I thought. Prague small flats might be those for students or short tourist stays so they do not have all what we usually have at home. :-)
So its only england, scotland and the little bit of ireland thats in the uk that have accent variations? Theres another country in the uk you obviously have ignored called Wales. Cymru am byth.
Some interesting observations. I have friends who visit from Boston and they are always amused I have a washer in the kitchen. They also didn’t get the idea of walking places, however I took them on a little hike in the Lakes and when they come over they want to go on a walk! They love the countryside here.
Ya the washing machine in the kitchen is an odd one for Americans!! Lol I love that they come here and love walking. That’s how I feel about being here too. And I love the countryside here as well :)
@@SheRunTheWorld - It’s funny how the little differences make you think! They seemed surprised that I have really hot water and a kettle. My friend Dana (we met in the forces) is a very generous guy and in a pub he likes to get a round in. I have to explain to him that people should buy him a drink back, which he finds a little odd. Over here I would be suspicious of someone who didn’t buy a drink back. It’s a good job we walk, as he loves Indian food and he’s quite an aficionado now! Ironically I prefer Thai which is much more common in the US. Next walk is the Weavers Way in Norfolk for us.
Date formats are a constant bugbear - I mean, smallest to largest just makes sense, and it's actually only the US that does it differently. btw the ISO datetime format (that all sql servers use) is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss, so largest to smallest. e.g. if you type dates into MS Excel as yyyy/mm/dd it will automatically know what you mean, but if you type dates with the year at the end, it depends on your region settings...
@@SheRunTheWorld It makes it harder on the rest of us when many US software companies use the US format specially when they do quick security updates which they fail to test properly.
I was told 'Stones' were originally a butchers measurement for animal carcasses and butchers were generally the only people with scales large enough the weigh a person. So you got weighed by the butcher and
Stónes & Hackney...............l was born there...........what is going on..........the Stones in the Empire.........too small for a gig.............or is it?............
The switches on UK plugs is for safety. The UK electrical system is by far safer than in the US plus we dont need to pull out plugs , all we need to do in use the switch
Most people in UK care about the environment and drive smaller , less polluting vehicles to have a smaller carbon footprint. In UK 99.99%of people know the difference between seasons and weather .
I see three reasons for the switches. 1) We have a thing called a ring main with many more sockets on a breaker so having a switch helps isolate a socket for safety. 2) British plugs are much harder to put in our take out so a switch makes it easier to switch things on and off without unplugging 3) Unswitched sockets were much more common in the past as we're single sockets but companies like MK promoted double switched outlets and they became popular. It depends on the appliance if switching off at the socket will save power. A toaster or kettle will use no power when not in use but a TV, Charger and many other devices do use power in standby so there is power to be saved. It is also safer to only have devices energised when you need to use them.
Actually that’s so true! I’m just used to that cuz every other country I’ve lived in does this too. I think the US might be the only one who refrigerates eggs
We interchange a lot of imperial and metric measurements, don't forget we sell beer in pints. And I think UK pints are slightly bigger! (It's 568ml BTW, or 20 fluid ounces). Milk is also in pints but with the metric alongside it.
I started using Apple in 1987, when they were a small and nice company. Anything else is so clunky, like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time: you can just about do it, but why would you?
We switched to Metric mainly because it makes science and engineering much easier. The mile and MPH are only really still used on the roads The old Imperial gallon was considerably bigger than the US Gallon For a culure shock on the size of roads take a trip to the ancient towns in the North of Italy
Lots of people in UK do have dishwashers. Roads are narrower ss they were built originally as cart tracks, which became carriages, then cars. Some roads date back to Roman times.
The reason we use miles but also use metric is because we switched over to metric relatively recently (1970s I think?). So you’re right, we use metric for foreign imports and exports, but many people (especially older people) are still used to imperial since that is what is traditional and what was taught in school until not too long ago. Some people (often people who voted for brexit) feel quite passionate about using imperial instead of metric because it is traditional, and what they did in the ‘good old days’. The relatively recent switch means there is loads of mix and match: many (younger) people use cm, m, kg, g, but when people are talking about distance, or personal measurements like height or weight, many use feet or stone and lbs. Metric vs imperial can often be a big generational divide in the UK!
Wow that is seriously so interesting! I didn’t know about the correlation of imperial with Brexit voters or the generational divide. Thank you so much for sharing!! :)
The switch to metric ie metres and kilos instead of feet and inches and pounds and ounces was dictated by the EU when we were a member. It is also worth remembering that an Imperial mile or gallon is actually more than a US gallon or mile
@@peterc.1618 have to disagree with that. I seriously don't know anyone u under 70 who understands Fahrenheit except when it's hot. Try it out, ask anyone if they need a coat, jacket or t shirt weather when is 52 Fahrenheit. I'm 62 and haven't got a clue
@@duncanmacpherson2013 No it was not. We started to go metric in the early 70s. Absolutely. nothing to do with the EU. On top of with the EU does not dictate, name one policy that was forced upon the UK against the wishes of our government.
Regarding the dates. In British English it is usual tp say "Fourth of July and write "04.07.xx" In American English it is usual to say "July the Fourth" and write "07.04.xx"
![How I See the UK as an American Abroad [CULTURE SHOCK]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qaZmoCPLCs8/mqdefault.jpg)
welcome to Brighton
Thank you!!
A boring little seaside town that thinks it is the epitome of glam' style...........lt ain't..........
@@williamwilkes9873 Glamorous it certainly isn’t, however it’s also anything but boring. Always enjoy my visits there (providing of course the weather is good)
@@williamwilkes9873 So many people have a Gay,happy and joyful time there...
What is the capital of
Council tax does not pay for the NHS.
Thanks for watching!
Council tax only pays for the services provided by your local authority, such as waste collection, street maintenance, housing provision, public parks and cemeteries plus social services, local education provision etc. It does not pay for health care as that comes from your general income tax and national insurance, which also pays towards your retirement pension.
@@littleannie390 National insurance pays for the state pension. At least, it is supposed to.
@@RonSeymour1 National Insurance is just another form of income tax; very few taxes - if any - are earmarked for specific purposes.
@@peterc.1618 All money collected goes to the treasury but NHI contributions are at least allocated to an individual. That payment but, strangely, not the amount paid, counts towards your state pension. If you miss enough of them then your pension will be reduced.
The "council tax" is actually based on the value of the property you live in...NOT how many people live there. The "switch" on a socket is there for safety purposes.
Thanks for watching
@@SheRunTheWorld There is a discount of 25% for people who live alone.
The council tax IS partly based on how many people live in a property where those people are over 18.
My guess is that the narrator lives in an apartment with several other adults in which case council tax will be higher than it would be where there are one or two occupants.
England, Scotland and Ireland? What about Wales?
In the medical world body weight is measured in kilograms but otherwise people still tend to refer to their weight in stones. It's just a hangover from pre-metric UK.
As someone once said: "There is no such thing as American English". There is English and there are mistakes. Couldn't agree more!
Lol
Rubbish - English has forever evolved and adapted to different times and places
I thoroughly agree. There is English, and a totally screwed up version used in America.
@@robinj6137 And totally abominated by foreigners who should develop their own language.
@captaintorch983 you're a boring fucker aren't you, wanting an sole, unchanging language to be stuck for time immemorial. Luckily, life doesn't work out like that. Tell the dictionary people who add to the English language every year, often acknowledging American isms etc
I'll think you'll find foreigners have their own languages - they're probably saying things about you behind your back that you will never understand.
You may be referring to English speaking people bringing the English language outside the UK.. Those people in these other countries, often of UK origin, can do what what they want with the language. It's not as if there's one form of English in the UK ffs.
English people speak English in England? Who would have thought?
It wasn’t said in any negative way?! Haha
Wait....what? The English speak English? That can't be right surely!
We also have the nerve to pronounce English words the English way!
Yup the English speak English!
The American stereotype lives strong in this one 😂😂
@@101steel4 An image most yanks seem to enjoy?........Dunno why?........
English spelling is better too.
@@fionagregory9376 English spelling is the correct spelling 😉
The British domestic electrical system is far safer than the US one - or indeed pretty well anywhere else that does not use the British system. Some will tell you it reflects the UK "ring main" system, used for power circuits although not lights or large appliances which are radial as in the US, but this is not the reason for most of the differences other than the integral fuses. Some will tell you it reflects the higher and therefore more dangerous voltage of 230V compared with 110V in the US, which is true to a point but most of Europe and Australasia etc use similar plugs to the US and they have 230-340V. The real reason is safety. There are loads of videos which explain all about this, but just to list a few of the safety features: the earth (ground) pin is longer and enters the socket first, so the ground connection is made before any live connection (I think three-pin US plugs do similar?); the earth pin opens two shutters, which otherwise cover and protect the live and neutral connections, so unlike the US you cannot insert anything into a UK plug and get a shock; each plug has its own integral and replaceable fuse; each socket can be switched off (as you can see) - NOT to save power (although it does, when you switch off electronic appliances that are always drawing some power) but as an additional safety (an d convenience) feature to disconnect an appliance whilst leaving it plugged in (no having to go round pulling out all the plugs before going off on vacation!); the cable leaves the plug at the bottom, so you cannot pull the plug out by pulling the cord; Indeed, it takes some effort to pull the plug out at all, although the plug is shaped to allow a firm grip to help this; the live and neutral pins are insulated for the first part of their length, so once you have pushed the plug part way into the socket and the earth pin has opened the shutters, there is no bare metal you can touch; most UK plugs can be rewired, rather than just being moulded on like in the us, making thinks much easier if the cable is damaged; the three wires inside the plug are all different lengths, deliberately, so if the cable is tugged out (which is very hard, since another feature is a cable grip in the plug) the live wire disconnects first, then neutral and only at the end the earth; and it is impossible to insert a UK plug into a socket "the wrong way", mixing up live and neutral (unless you use a cheap, foreign, uncertified extension lead that is not wide enough). There IS one huge downside to the UK plug, though - it hurts like hell if you accidentally stand on an upturned one when wandering around in the night! Think standing on lego, and move on up several orders of magnitude!
This was so in depth and helpful for understanding the switch information!! Thank you!! :)
@@SheRunTheWorld A bit too deep..............
Can't wait for the sequel................
I don't know.............l live in England cos that's who l am......but Spurs have a break so l may sod off a bit to France.........añyway........love your flippant remarks, though never sussed "shorts",........all or nothing........'bye.........
No sockets allowed in bathrooms and only cord pull switches for the lights and showers. Wet hands and electricity don't mix.
Council tax does not go to pay for the NHS that's National Insurance (NI) it is taken out of wages either weekly or monthly
before you receive your pay simply
Thanks for clarifying!!
Plus National Insurance comes out of your pay even if you earn below the Income Tax threshold.
Maggie Thatcher tried to make council tax based on numbers instead of property value and had a revolt. People called the Poll Tax and went to prison because of it.
good video, only thing I'd say is when you were talking about housing sizes. this is just a London/ big city thing I think. Similar to somewhere like New York where square footage is important. Out in the country side there are a lot of bigger houses for cheap with large kitchen, etc like in the US.
Yeah definitely! Cities are always smaller houses. I’d also argue though that average house sizes outside of the cities are bigger in the US as well, as I’ve looked into buying some UK properties and a lot of houses still share a wall with others and are smaller than I’d expect! But of course it depends on the area :)
A really important thing to remember, especially as you're saying 'Everything' is like this, is that you're experiencing Britain in a particular price bracket, ie, lower. 'The kitchens are all tiny with no counter space' because of the price bracket you're in or seeing, go to higher value properties and you'll see everything you're used to, even dishwashers!!
Very true!! But just in general I’m in an apartment that’s half the size and double the price of my apartment back in the US. And I’m from an expensive city in the US! So I just want to set expectations of what size you’ll get for the price!!
@@SheRunTheWorld The price difference must be terrible for your, but do remember, Britain pretty much fits inside the state of California. So when you have that much space in one country, the value of it will be much lower. You could just state that 'in my price bracket which is X, it's like this'. A great idea for a video, go online & look at property for sale at different price points around the country, very interesting. Britain's not what it was, but hope you have a good time.
Even dishwashers 😂😂
@@SheRunTheWorld Solely depends on where yóu live........l live in London.......pricey, but expected............supply & demand economics........surely understood by now...........
@@phoenix-xu9xj Whatever turns you on...,......
The socket switch is there so you don't need to unplug the device. Simple!
Haha ya I guess! I don’t unplug them in the states either tho!! Lol
We are way ahead of you in America and have been using GFCI switches for a long time. GFCI i has the switch designed to turn off itself It's called a : Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter; it's a switch within a switch , and has been the code for new building and renovations for many years.
Hmm, as an American that has been in England for the last four months, albeit in the countryside, I have found people quite chatty. People are very friendly and regularly engage in small talk with me when I am on a walk or shopping etc. I think it might depend on where you are.
Definitely depends!
do Americans have a habit of just putting the phone down when they've said enough, or finished what they want to say?
so they just go/vanish... ?
You have been to the UK a few times and have a British dad, but you have never heard of Wales (Cymru)
When did I say I’ve never heard of wales?😂
"But I think you would be surprised at how often it does happen in England, Scotland and Ireland" 00:59 in video. You missed what is known as Gods country. Popular areas of Wales like the Isle of Anglesey, the Brecon Beacons National Park, Carmarthenshire, Dyfed, the (Eryri National Park) Snowdonia the coastal county of Ceredigion, West Wales, Powys County in Mid Wales, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, the stunningly beautiful Llŷn Peninsula, the North Wales Coast, the Valleys and coast of South Wales and the Wye Valley in Monmouthshire. In my humble opinion the most beautiful country in the UK with Scotland a very close 2nd. Other opinions are available. Enjoy the UK as a whole.@@SheRunTheWorld
@@mrzacc recently I was looking up the size of Britain compared to Hawaii on Google and the island of Wales was 6.35 per cent of the size of Hawaii!? According to one site ?!
Hawaii is 1,932 sq miles and Great Britain is 94,100 sq miles. Wales is not an island, but Great Britain is. Just for clarification Wales is 8,020 sq miles. Information as provided by Alexa@@charlesloukas1946
By British I assume she means English?
Many Americans don't seem to know the difference.
The switch is for safety. You can’t get a shock if there’s no power going through to the plug. It’s also very useful to switch off plugged in appliances at night (tv for example) without having to pull the plug from the wall.
Thanks for sharing!
There's simple reason the UK plug and sockets are designed as such because they are the safest by design. You will notice the top pin (earth) is slightly longer. This to prevent you from getting electrocuted because it provides a ground before opening the access points for neutral and live. The safety feature is particularly useful to prevent little fingers playing poking in and getting an electric shock. Most of the rest of the world aren't as safe. As long as an item is plugged in it will use a tiny amount on electric whatever country you are in. That's science for you. By having switches you can cut the circuit rather than having to physically unplug it. This stops any trickle of electricity but also makes things safer. Not all sockets have them built in. You will find more modern ones also have a USB charging socket so that you don't need to have separate power supplies for modern devices with you. As for shopping most people do it weekly at supermarket and if you live in a market town fresher produce is on the market. If you want to experience a proper market town go to one like Bury near Manchester. Mention the weather to try and break the ice, it's the 'British disease', we can have four seasons in one day and people are more likely to talk. Ask a British how they are then they will say they are alright even if they are really ill. Not all roads are narrow and you will find many defined by size and priority as A and B roads. A lot comes from historically they were designed for a horse and cart. Celcius just makes more sense in UK weather forecasts because 0C is the freezing point of water (rain)... And if you are making a brew it's the boiling point of water is 100C. Starting at an arbitary figure like 32 just isn't logical. You'd be surprised to know English people speak English😊
Thanks for watching!!
@@SheRunTheWorld "English people speak English" he says! but apparently has no idea what a bloody paragraph is!! Lol x
Part of the reason they have to be that safe is that mains electricity in the UK is a whopping 240 Volts ie easily enough to kill you.
i grew up in an old Edwardian house and the electricity sockets were round holes for two pins..
and i remember with the tv and his shaver he would poke a match stick in to hold the wires in place! Llol
4:33 A switch that is ON in the UK plug sockets will draw a metered cost even if the device is switched OFF. So switching the socket OFF will stop the meter count for the socket that bis ON. I used to read meters at home and commercial premises. It does save money over the long run. SO switch OFF sockets on plugged items that are not in use, like a microwave, kettle and maybe other devices on standby even thougt its NOT being used BUT is drawing a current to a socket.
Thanks for commenting
Two corrections when you're talking at 2:30 about Council Tax. The amount of tax payable is based on the value of the property sorted into bands i.e. £200-£300,000. It's got nothing to do with how many people occupy the property. Also It's nothing to do with paying towards the National Health Service. That's paid for out of general taxation (income tax, etc.) and National Insurance (deducted from your pay). The largest amount of Council Tax goes towards education (up to age 18).
Thanks for watching
There is in fact a single occupancy discount for council tax, of 25% of the standard rate. It is also generally means-tested so people with low incomes can get some reductions.
A switch on the mains socket, it's for safety obviously.
Thanks for watching
Hi.Just got recommended your video.
There are a few misconceptions you have.
Council tax is per property not per person. It's based on house values decades ago as to the band of your property and the amount you pay.
Garbage disposals are illegal in many areas as they clog the drain pipes. Dishwashers are normal in most larger homes.
You don't need a TV license to watch tv. You need a TV license to watch any live tv broadcasts and/or iplayer.
The UK used imperial measurements like the US but when the UK joined the EU in the 70's the UK had to move to metric. There was a backlash so now you have both in some cases.
Thanks for watching!!
You do get a discount for 1 person occupancy but there is no upper limit to the number of people provided that the house is suitable.@@SheRunTheWorld
@@RonSeymour1 For those of us who remember the switch from the Community Charge to the Council Tax, the Council Tax was supposed to be a combination of the old Rates system and the Community Charge, i.e. half of what you pay is based on the property, the other half is based on the number of occupiers but only up to a maximum of two people, hence the 25% (half of that half) discount if you live alone. It was also supposed to be a temporary measure until something better could be devised but some 30 years later it is still there.
the UK moved to metric longer before the EU. It did not 'have to" any backlash is due to how it was handled in this country.
@@SheRunTheWorldWell you DID say let you know in the comments , and people are letting you know .
And BTW you forgot about the country of Wales .
Britain was never metric pre 1965, imperial measurements had been used for hundreds of years, before any explorer landed in North America, so too in much of the empire, Canada/Australia/NZ/South Africa/Rhodesia. The UK also changed to decimal currency in 1971, I think visitors would have found our old currency confusing.
Yeah it’s very interesting how the two systems are kind of mixed in the present day!
But we are getting there Inch by Inch!
We changed to metric on entering the Common Market .
You can blame Napoleon ,it was all his idea, we would have used it longer if he had successfully invaded England.😂
It's good to be aware of both, while 70% prefer the imperial measures: easier to visualise it. Happily, all public officials are trained in both, so can keep us all content.
Did email the BBC once, to enquire, and a weather forecaster wrote back that Celsius is the standard, yet any day there is an unseasonal temperature it would likely be given also in Fahrenheit. How quaint of them.
@@Colin-to1nv Education in the Metric system started for primary age kids in the 1960s it makes science and engineering much much easier.
With Temperature you only need to know zero is freezing and and 21 or 22c is 70f room temperature.
The road I go on was built in AD 43 by the Romans, take if it was in America you would alter it and make it straight and wide, all are cars have a steering wheel.
Wow AD43, that’s crazy!! I love the history there
The date is written shortest to longest, i.e day , month, year, makes sense!
I agree! Not sure why America does everything different - makes it hard on us when we go abroad!
Public transport works well to travel between towns and cities. However reaching rural areas is difficult, not enough passengers to run buses and make a profit.
That actually makes a lot of sense!! Thanks for sharing :)
Also get out of the big cities and there's not public transport later in the evening which makes going out expensive due to taxi fares.
Yes, yet now and again it's reported how volunteer drivers sustain certain key bus routes in places across the country.
England, Scotland an Ireland,...... what about Wales?
Them too!
Never heard of it what shire is that in England?
@@rogermoore-gd9donever heard of what?
I met an American who did know Ireland is not connected to Scotland by road. It's called the British ISLES for a reason!
@@rogermoore-gd9doWhat? 😭😭 Please don't tell me you're serious. Wales is a country. Deary me..
We have a saying, "I speak English and I understand American".
😂😂
But less and less over time....
@@johnrhodez6829 We have the same problem here in Canada. People from the States will come up here, than Ask if we speak American. We just say Canada and the States speak the same language. Some of Our words are still, linked up to the British form of speaking. Yes We have the U, in colour/labour's.
$80 per month was a pretty reasonable electricity bill. Most people that I know are paying more like $200, especially during the summer. While Brits pay council tax, you forgot to mention that homeowners in America have to pay property tax. In Austin I'm paying around $4K per year for a 1500 sq ft home.
Ya no complaints about the $80 it was a new building in Austin so very well insulated which kept costs down. And true Texas has insane property taxes!!
You mentioned England, Scotland and Ireland. Wales exists by the way.
I’m fully aware! Thank you!
we even have a different language! 🙂 x
..by the wayside.
❤️😌It would be remiss not to note that while you are being pedantic Spurs, that when you can name all 50 US States (by memory), only than will grievances be taken to heart😌❤️
❤️😌It would appear that you in the UK absolutely do. In America people know that sentences begin with capital letters and that the differences betwixt American and British English are so minute it’s irrelevant (unless being pedantic)😌❤️
Sockets with switches is more for safety as we use a ring main system, invented in ww2 to save on coper, all sockets are connected together in a ring, on the ground floor and 2nd ring for upstairs, and even all lights on each floor will be on a ring, so the wire in the wall is always live, rather than each socket going back to the circuit braker.
All cables on all circuits, whether ring or radial, have a live, neutral and earth wire. Some, such as multi-switching lighting, have more than one live wire. All cables are live all the time, whether ring or radial. The only real design difference between a ring and a radial circuit is that in the former all three wires form a loop back to the consumer unit, so the current can flow in either direction. This means you can have more load (and more sockets) on a ring circuit than a radial for the same amount of copper (as you say), although you DO have to be careful to balance the load and not have most of the load on just one part of the ring. Lighting circuits, being much lower wattage, are always radial, using either the loop-in or the junction box system. There is no need for a ring circuit for lighting.
Very helpful information thank you!!
Super helpful!! That makes more sense to me now, thanks :)
Also UK sockets run on a much higher voltage than the US so the extra safety feature is helpful.
Everything about plugs and sockets in the UK revolves around safety. This is because our electrical supply is 240V, double that in the US. This is vitally important as we need to boil water in a kettle fast when we’re dying for a cup of tea! 😂 Have you seen how long it takes to make a brew in the States?
The switch on electric sockets gives a little more isolation from the power when a plugged-in device is switched off.
Thanks for sharing!
@@SheRunTheWorld
You’re welcome.
@@SheRunTheWorld
You’re most welcome.
There are a few misconceptions in this video. Property/room sizes depends on budget and that also depends on where you are living: London is excruciatingly expensive. You don't see garbage disposal units attached to UK sinks as they're not legal in this country. I've never encountered a UK house without an oven. Dishwashers are fairly common, but not in very small houses/apartments.
Roads are not 'small' they're old. In many towns and cities, the roads can be medieval in origin, or even older (Roman in some cases). Many more 'recent' ones are Georgian or Victorian, all of which pre-dates the existence of the car.
Metric has been taught as standard in schools since the 1960s and is used throughout all maths and science. The only things which are not 'officially' metric are speed limits, which are are in mph and not kph, and distances on road signs, which are in miles. You would have to be over 70 to not have been taught to use metric. Most people can switch between metric/Imperial units if they need to
Thanks for watching!!
National Insurance was covered in my Council tax all these years ! Who knew .
I am going to send this video to HM Revenue and customs and DEMAND over FORTY YEARS of duplicated NI payments .
So glad I watched this , with this impending rebate I will have a great retirement with 40 years of contributions refunded ( index linked)
I am 70 and was never taught the metric system - either in school during the '60's or since. I have a ground floor (purpose-built) flat and have never had an oven, neither a built-in nor a freestanding cooker have ever been installed or included in our kitchen.
(Instead, I've had to buy microwave ovens, toaster ovens, halogen ovens, and recently, my daughter purchased an air fryer. These have been / are our only means by which to cook / make hot meals, other than by using (ordinary) toasters, or the electric kettle.
I continue to use the Imperial system -
"as and when" required but the metric system only _If_ required.
"Even though they speak English", Genius.
Thanks for watching!!
That's strange. The people of England speak English 😁😀
Even after 14 years living in The USA, people ask me why my English is so good. It can only be ignorance.
I watch a lot of UK v US culture shock videos. I have to say it surprises me how few Americans mention our lack of a gun obsession here as a culture shock. If Americans think, as they seem to, that the more guns the better, then surely that has to be a huge shock to visit a country that does not have, or at least has VERY FEW gun deaths. I would assume that would always be the number one shock 🤔
Maybe if I was from a different part of the US, but I’m from LA so we’re definitely not the part of the US that thinks the more guns the better!!😅
@@SheRunTheWorld 🙂👍
Tottenham Hotspur AFC...........CÓYS...........
THE CÚRE............I have everything .........set to go..........will call, 'byezebye..........x.........tell Sharron & Mags'.............ta.........
Switzerland has high gun ownership, but no issue with gun crime, Britain might have fewer guns but has high knife crime including use of a machete.
Council tax is based on your property value, which then gets put into different groups (or bands as they’re called) depending on the value of your house. Ie band A will pay 1200 per year, band B will pay 1500, Band C 1750 etc. also, it does not pay for health care. That is paid from a ‘national insurance’ tax which is taken from pay at source.
Yes! Thanks so much for watching! :)
Council tax has nothing to do with national healthcare. 🙄
Thanks for watching!!☺️
She;s wrong about no free TV. The ITV channels are free of charge as they get their revenue from advertising roughly every fifteen minutes.
Thanks for watching
We use a mixture of metric and imperial measures. For instance, 'draught' beers in pubs, and fresh milk are still sold in pints, but for the milk, the metric equivalent is given as well.
Yeah a few people have commented that! Very interesting to combine the two!
Partly true. Only draught beer can be sold as a pint. Any drinks, including beers, in containers must be in millilitres or litres. That includes pints of milk, which must also have the metric volume displayed on the container in addition to its Imperial volume
US pint 16 fl.oz in the UK it's 20
Commonwealth countries use left hand side driving and weight by stones etc if you choose.Also Celsius.
In New Zealand we also use kilometres now and mostly metric.
Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!!
I was building a fence years ago and I bought some wood. I picked out some that was labelled as 3mtrs long. When I asked how much I was quoted £xx per foot!
Hahaha how funny!!
Ñot a metric fan?.........
thankyou for sharing this 🙂 x
come to Wales!
innit
You’re welcome!! I’m trying to plan a trip to wales soon, hopefully sometime this summer :)
@@SheRunTheWorld thankyou for replying.. 🙂 x
wales is a beautiful place with lovely people but some things might seem small..
roads, houses etc..
Council tax is based on the the value of the building, not the number of people. That was tried, and dropped.
Good to know, thank you!
However, you do get a 25% discount if you live alone
Always good to do some research before making a video as so many errors. The switch on a plug is a safety feature and will save you money as stops a trickle feed to any device. Not sure what you have against wales as you totally ignored it. Also you don’t need a licence unless you watch the bbc.Most channels are free unless you subscribe. In the Uk we just want to get things done and not looking for small chat when needing service.
@@kenvoysey8222 that’s incorrect. The licence fee funds the BBC but is required to watch any live tv. It’s not optional, you have to have a licence unless you only watch programmes on catch up.
@@timelord5920 you just answered your own question dude ! It’s live events on the BBC or iplayer so I can watch everything else. More my point is when someone does a blog here and fails to research what they are saying. Highlighted the council tax but ignored the abuse of sick people in the states who have to pay massively over the odds for basic live saving drugs. Not to mention live in a police state that’s so corrupt it’s accepted.
Try buying cloth you will buy 2 yards of cloth with a width of 1 metre.
I am sure that the government changed petrol from gallons to litres so that we did not notice how much the price went up.
Thanks for commenting
UK domestic power is 240v and US is a puny 120v, hence, UK plugs earthed and fused and insulated. When your average US house gets hit by lightening, you can blow any and everything electrical and it happens a lot!
I know a bloke in Milwaukee who has got hit twice, in two houses, i.e. 4 times!
There is a vidro of our plugs/electric, which believe it or not, is quite interesting!
I actually might have to check that out because it does interest me!! Thanks for sharing!
US voltage is 110 . In the UK it's 230. It used to be 240, In some parts of Europe it was 220v so a regulation was introduced requiring appliances to work with both, while electricity grids were standardized at 230v over time. Voltage does vary, depending on the load anyway.
the TV license is for the BBC only, other channels have advertising
When you fill out the “no tv license needed” form online, it says any form of live TV requires a TV license- even RUclips TV! So crazy
@@SheRunTheWorld really? that goes against everything i was always told, the bbc had no adverts due to the license fee paying for it whereas everyone else was funded by advertising, i don't know because i'm only pretending to be an adult
One other point about measurements UK pints are larger than their US equivalent
Garbage disposals are not allowed as these would block our sewage system
Someone else just commented about the pint sizes- I never knew that!!🍻 and ok wow good to know. It would probably be too hard and inconvenient to change the system now!
The point of the on/off switches on sockets is that you can switch that point on the socket, OFF, if you wish to; it gives you more options!
Definitely!! Thanks for watching :)
Power outlets have on off switches to prevent kids sticking things in the socket! In the US all your outlets are permanently live which is INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS
Interesting! Everyone here thinks our outlets are dangerous back in the US but I’ve never heard of any problems or dangerous situations with them from anyone lol!!
The difference between American English and UK English can be likened to the difference between
painting-by-numbers and the Mona Lisa.
The richness of colloquial English in its apparently endless variety is a delight.
6:05 What struck me about driving in Chicago (it may be an isolated example) was a multi-lane off-ramp in the middle of the umpteen-wide freeway which dumped me into an area where my immediate concerns were how I could keep moving without having to stop and how I could get back on a freeway - any freeway...
Yikes that’s harsh
@@SheRunTheWorld I'd accept 'blunt' rather than 'harsh' which has overtones of malice.
I met an American couple in the UK who said they were surprised how fast and how close the brits drive on their narrow streets and lanes.
Actually yes! That really does shock me! Especially the double deckers, sometimes I close my eyes when I’m on one😂
So do the drivers@@SheRunTheWorld
@@SheRunTheWorldhave you driven at 60mph down a country lane yet?
@@CollectiveWest1😂😂
I live by myself, get paid monthly and don't drive. Therefore I get the bulk of my shopping on a monthly basis, and generally fill up the fridge and freezer. It also enables me to buy larger packets of stuff, or 2 for the price of one, and split them into individual meal size packages when I get home and, as I said, stick them in the freezer until I'm ready.
Thanks for sharing!
Interesting! Couple of things you missed out on:
The police do not carry guns, the vast majority of officers in London patrol with batons and pepper spray. Those who do carry a gun require a special license to do so and are deployed only in limited situations.
Doctor, Ambulance, and Hospital care are all "free" in our "socialized" Health Care system, the best in the world, miles better than anything in the USA...
Mount and horse on the left (since 95BC), mount a bike on the left (1818 commonly called a velocipede, and nicknamed hobby-horse or dandy horse) so by the time the car went on the road in 1900 guess which side of the road they were going to use?
Council Tax will pay for Police and Fire services too.
One thing that really won't change anywhere in the world that the metric system doesn't even bother to challenge is the dozen (12), the most convenient number ever! which brings me to the name "stone", it derives from the use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity and the use of agreed upon weights, one of which was the hundredweight 112, the stone is an eighth of 112. 14 pounds. Same for the currency that was established, 240 silver pennies to the Pound.
The milestone! Not so visible nowadays, but still out there!
Thanks so much for sharing!!
Because we have a 230 volt electrical supply , we have are able to have electric kettles that quickly boil enough water for 3 people to each have a large hot mug of whatever they want in around 3 minutes .
Very cool thanks for sharing
Just remember, it's you that pronounce words differently, English is our language, so we pronounce words correctly......😉😏
Great observations though. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Haha thanks! Yeah neither of us is right or wrong, just different English pronunciations ☺️
Some of the pronunciations and words they use are also old that have dropped out of usage here.
No such thing as British English English is our language full stop
@@austinsouthward8007 - totally agree with you. It really annoys me when people say British English!!!!
Agree with you - We say 'Butter' and Water, American's say budderrr and warderrr
The big difference with the electrical outlets is not the switch, it's the voltage. UK outlets (sockets) are 220 to 240 volt 50 Hz whereas the USA uses 110 volt 60 Hz.
That is true! But it’s also the switch cuz in the US we don’t have switches on our outlets, so any Americans traveling here will think that’s very different!
Language differences? Only on your part! It is OUR language after all so dont act as if its us who are different 🏴
All countries whose national language is English speak it a bit differently! Different isn’t bad or negative. It’s okay :)
If you leave the switch on which is by the way a safety thing, but also if it's left switched on a trickle of electricity happens which adds to the bill
Thanks for sharing!!
You do not need a TV licence for free TV only BBC....there are hundreds of free to air channels
Very cool!
You DO need a television licence if you watch live programmes, whether received through an aerial or internet.
@Brian3989 by law only BBC content
Council tax, is based on the property, not the number of people. There is also a discount for single person occupation if elderly.
Thanks for your comment
Council Tax is NOT based on the number of people who live in a property. Each property has an amount to pay however you DO get a 25% reduction if only one adult is resident. Children under 16 or under 21 and still in full time education do not count towards residency.
The switches on sockets {"outlets") are there so you can switch off the appliance without the need to do that on the appliance if you wish. It's up to you.
Our roads are narrow because they started many hundreds of years ago when the only vehicles were farm carts and most folk travelled either on foot or, if wealthy, on horse. Therefore they didn't need to be wide.
There is only one country in the world that uses Month/Day/Year as against Day/Month/Year. That country is the USA. 🤣
Thanks for watching!!
The switch on plug sockets is for safety mainly! 😂
Haha ya! People have let me know in the comments - very odd to me!😂
Council tax is based on the value of the property, not the number of people
Thanks for watching
Most kitchens are super small and dont have dishwashers!! What? All TV stations need a licence? What?
Out of the 15 apartments in viewed in zone 1-2 London in my price range, very small places without dishwashers lol if you have a high budget, you can have it all- but most of us don’t fit in that category. And didn’t say all tv stations need the license
"So NO channels come for free"... direct quote. Only the BBC need a license. All other channels are free and are paid for by adverising.
You're most likely to be caught out by things that have the same name but mean entirely different things:
- Everyone probably knows about 'pavement' = sidewalk in the UK but road in US
- There's also 'ghrill' = heat from top in UK and heat from the bottom in the US
- Frown = lowering of eyebrows (and generally scrunching up of your forehead) in the UK and a downturned mouth in the US (incidentally this explains the American phrase 'turn that frown upsaide down' which makes abolutely no sense in the UK!)
- Pint = 20 fl. oz. in the UK and 16 fl. oz. in the US (which also means a UK gallon is 25% larger than a US gallon and so on)
Thanks so much for sharing! I had no idea about the frown difference - how interesting!!
Enough boredom,,........you. want more?
I'm asleep..,......
Edit:
No "h" in _Grill_. ☺️🖖
The roads in the UK are often narrow because they are ancient and once meant for horses and carts, then just had tarmac applied to make them suitable for cars. The reason we drive on the left is related and just as ancient; it’s because it was easier to draw your sword with your right hand when on horseback.
Oh interesting I didn’t know that about the reason for driving on the left side! Thanks for sharing :)
You said “they drive on the opposite side of the road” it depends who you’re speaking to, around 70 countries drive on the same side as Britain, many of these have historic connections with Britain Aus/NZ/HK/Singapore/
India/ some countries like Japan are on the left but don’t have historic connections.
Yeah definitely agree! I was targeting Americans in this video and what they might find shocking if they came here as a first time traveler - so it would be opposite for them! :)
Sweden only converted to driving on the right in 1967. Historically everyone passed on the left, until cars, even parts of US. Cars being left or right hand drive cemented it.. and.. France..
Jousting sports and horse and cart traditions, are the reason we stuck to the left side. (Whipping hand/Sword/Weapon hands-free) as most of the population are right handed...
So history would trump who is right or wrong, manual cars and licences (stick driving) are still most popular here, unlike the USA, which has mostly automatic cars.
Additional tax? Most US states also have city and county taxes.
Thanks for watching :)
Exactly. I’m not sure if that was left out on purpose or because of ignorance.
I used to visit California on a regular basis, usually staying for around 4 weeks each time. I rented an apartment as it was both less expensive and more practical than hotels. Interestingly I didn’t find the culture shock was any big deal at all, in most instances I felt quite at home. In those days, I’m talking late 80’s/early 90’s I found service was overall much better than in the U.K. and often food was better. However those things appear to have gone into reverse and now I much prefer U.K. food and service is overall every bit as good without the obligatory tipping at up to 20% or more.
Interesting how things have changed! Thanks so much for sharing :) hope you enjoyed your time in my home state of california!!
One point is getting an adapter for US electrical devices is not the most important thing to notice... we (UK) use ~240V mains compared to the US ~110V; so if you plug a device with an internal transformer (like a monitor) directly in without switching it to 240V setting (some have a switch) then it'll go bang and blow the fuses! I've literally 'heard' this happen.
Talking of fuses, the switch is just another way we stop people accidently killing themselves by isolating the supply.
The US is a bigger, less densly populated country so big houses and roads became the norm. It's a shock to us how big a 'normal' house is in the US.
Diving, major point: we have roadabouts and lots more giveway rules... we try to keep driving polite (we fail, but at least we try).
Great information thanks for commenting! I will say that I have noticed so many cars stopping for me to cross the road which many wouldn’t do back in LA! So I agree - very polite driving :)
We changed our Highway Code regulations at the start of 2022 to pass a greater responsibility to drivers for the safety of more vulnerable road users, and to clarify the priority of pedestrians waiting or crossing roads near junctions and at zebra (spelt with a 'zed' and pronounced like Deborah) crossings ;0).
America didn't experience food & material deprivation during both world wars.Their homeland wasn't blockaded & bombed like europe & Britain.The smallness & quaintness of cultural Britain they see, was due to the post war rationing of everything into the mid 1950s.Sections of society didn't recover at all.If you look you'll find them.And it's not 'quaint'.
Thanks for watching
The part you talked about small talk is a very southern and London thing, I'm from the north and we are very friendly up here and like to start conversations with strangers!
Love that!!!
The smaller cars apart from the roads is the fuel economy - check the fuel prices and then you will understand (it is usually double or more that of the US) - Things are smaller as we simply don't have the room and because of that this makes property more expensive for what it is. A lot of people do have dishwashers - I don't as there isn't the space or plumbing in my kitchen. The UK invented the imperial system - as a child my teachers referred to feet and inches for height (my first passport had my height like that) as did woodyards, pounds and ounces for cookery or sale of goods eg fruit and veg on a market -Due to our links with the EU I was actually taught both - so had an idea what Fahrenheit was - we would have thermometers with both on - especially in workplaces as in offices it couldn't be colder than 16C (60F) after the first hour or staff had to be sent home. (Other workplaces were different) Our cars speedometers (anologue) have MPH on the outside and KPH on the inside (Mine is digital - surprising for an 18 year old car, but I can just change it with a few button presses - useful when driving in Europe. We buy our petrol (gas) by the litre which is how it is priced, but measure the fuel economy in MPG (Miles Per Gallon) - We also insist on Pints for milk - but as it has to be stated in litres the figures can be quite odd - as they are a multiple of 568ml. I've lived in other countries too - and noticed who had built department stores - if they were UK companies the escalators would go up on the left hand side - (the country I was in drove in the left too), but if a US company had built it the would be the opposite way round.
Thanks for watching!!
@@SheRunTheWorld Yoú attract people who write books, not replies.............
Yet another would be author............
Stop kissing arse. Replies need to be considered and properly explained, I’m bored is neither.
The 'Service charge' is basically the tip, never used to exist but they all add it, but you don't have to pay legally.
Oh very interesting!
@@SheRunTheWorld They'll come up with anything to try and scrape a few more pennies out of you. You can refuse it, but none does.
Anyone who crosses any road without looking both ways, shouldn’t be allowed out without adult supervision. 🤦🏻♂️
Yikes
We all learned the “Green cross code” in primary school. Look it up.
@@McGurk72 even if we hadn’t, crossing a road without looking is Darwinesque…..😂
To be fair having lived in the States. I get it. On my return to the UK I had a few close shaves because I got used to cars coming the other way. On your other point. Why look both ways? If you're used to a road system you'll know which way the cars are coming. If said car/bike or whatever is going the wrong direction it's the moron in the car/bike who shouldn't be allowed out without adult supervision!
Where to start? The USA got its measurements from the UK - inches, feet, yards, miles, pounds, ounces etc. Even early American currency used by the colonists was Pounds, Shillings and Pence. “The United States Customary System of weights and measures is derived from the British Imperial System” (online Britannica). Even early ‘American’ literature was imported British literature (Emerson in one of his essays mentions this).
The UK went metric round about 1985, but started using decimal currency in 1971, when Shillings were dropped and instead of 240 pennies to the pound there were 100. Metric measurements have never been popular with older people, and miles are still standard. I personally still think in feet and inches, although I have accepted grams and kilos when shopping.
We always used to use Fahrenheit until the ‘Powers That Be’ decided to switch to Celsius. I still prefer Fahrenheit.
With regard to ‘floors,’ Americans use the ‘elevator’ whereas we use the ‘lift,’ and we call ‘braces’ what Americans call ‘suspenders’ for keeping ‘trousers’ up (which Americans call ‘pants’).
One final point, you moved from Texas to Brighton? Brighton is the left-wing woke capital of the UK. You aren’t allowed to have traditional views there.
Anyway, welcome to Britain.
Thanks for watching!!
British Imperial system is divergent. The US retained 16 fluid ounces = 1 pint, and weighs 1 pound, while we changed to a new imperial pint of 20 fluid ounces/568 mL in 1826.
@@colinlambert882 That doesn't alter the basic fact that America got its weights and measures from Britain.
Good vid but think you need to get around the uk a bit more most cars are small in the uk..I see big SUVs n range rovers ect everywhere in the uk and kitchens are small well you need to visit other bigger properties more too oh and also council tax does not fund healthcare it’s national insurance that funds that from wages
Thanks for watching
We do not "use the metric system." We are familiar with both. Avoirdupois came to America via us and we still use it.
👍🏻
Everything isn’t tiny. Somethings are. Plus you’re comparing your situation (seemingly on a budget) as being the U.K. standard.
This is the most expensive apartment I’ve ever had so I’m definitely not on a budget! I wish I was able to stick to my budget here😂 but yeah I’m sure if I could afford it, the apartment could be bigger.
Right now I’m living in something that’s half the size but double the price of my apartment back in the US! Lol
You will notice when driving we still use yards , so on the motorway they will say 300 yards to traffic lights.
Wow very interesting!!
But all motorway roadside markings are in km, with posts 100 m apart.
Motorways also have road locator signs in blue every 500 m, to help with Breakdowns etc, giving the name of the road, the direction (A or B), and the distance in kilometres from a given location eg the start of the motorway. You also find them on major A roads.
its the best plug system in the world
Haha I’m glad you love it!
Your Army (usa) writes the date the correct way day month year
Yes! And they use the 24 hour clock
Not once did you resort to using "weird" to describe something other than American. So many others fall into this trap.
Ya I’ve lived outside the US for the last 5 years, so I don’t find non-American things “weird” it’s just different! Makes living and traveling abroad fun to find the differences ☺️
So weird...............
Yes we still use miles, have speedometers in MPH but buy petrol by the litre, go figure!
What surprises me is the US has had a decimal based cuurency for a long time but not the metric system for anything else. The UK only adopted decimal currency in 1970.
Yeah it’s very interesting that we have the decimal system and in the UK the two systems are intertwined! But hey, it works!!!
In Prague it wasn§t common to have an oven in the kitchen?? Then, it probably depends on where you lived, because a huge majority of houses in the Czech Rep. have ovens. I would be really surprised to come somewhere where they do not bake in it.... :-))))
Hahaha lots of apartments we viewed when apartment hunting didn’t! But maybe just the smaller ones in city center we were looking at :)
@@SheRunTheWorld That is what I thought. Prague small flats might be those for students or short tourist stays so they do not have all what we usually have at home. :-)
So its only england, scotland and the little bit of ireland thats in the uk that have accent variations? Theres another country in the uk you obviously have ignored called Wales. Cymru am byth.
I’m fully aware that wales is apart of the UK! Thanks!
I wonder why she left out Wales.
Don't forget Americans don't speak English they speak American
???😂
Some interesting observations.
I have friends who visit from Boston and they are always amused I have a washer in the kitchen.
They also didn’t get the idea of walking places, however I took them on a little hike in the Lakes and when they come over they want to go on a walk! They love the countryside here.
Ya the washing machine in the kitchen is an odd one for Americans!! Lol
I love that they come here and love walking. That’s how I feel about being here too. And I love the countryside here as well :)
@@SheRunTheWorld - It’s funny how the little differences make you think!
They seemed surprised that I have really hot water and a kettle. My friend Dana (we met in the forces) is a very generous guy and in a pub he likes to get a round in. I have to explain to him that people should buy him a drink back, which he finds a little odd. Over here I would be suspicious of someone who didn’t buy a drink back.
It’s a good job we walk, as he loves Indian food and he’s quite an aficionado now! Ironically I prefer Thai which is much more common in the US. Next walk is the Weavers Way in Norfolk for us.
In regards to the small talk thing it all depends on the individual. Some people are very chatty (extrovert) and others more shy (introvert)
Very true!!
Date formats are a constant bugbear - I mean, smallest to largest just makes sense, and it's actually only the US that does it differently.
btw the ISO datetime format (that all sql servers use) is yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm:ss, so largest to smallest.
e.g. if you type dates into MS Excel as yyyy/mm/dd it will automatically know what you mean, but if you type dates with the year at the end, it depends on your region settings...
Yeah it makes it harder on us Americans when we leave the states & get confused😂 lol
@@SheRunTheWorld It makes it harder on the rest of us when many US software companies use the US format specially when they do quick security updates which they fail to test properly.
My husband, an American, recently had to renew his passport from the UK. Half of the form was mmddyyyy and half was ddmmyyyy.
@@Joanna-il2ur Exactly!
I was told 'Stones' were originally a butchers measurement for animal carcasses and butchers were generally the only people with scales large enough the weigh a person. So you got weighed by the butcher and
Wow really?! That is so fascinating!!!
Stónes & Hackney...............l was born there...........what is going on..........the Stones in the Empire.........too small for a gig.............or is it?............
The switches on UK plugs is for safety. The UK electrical system is by far safer than in the US plus we dont need to pull out plugs , all we need to do in use the switch
Yes!
Wales is apparently not in the U.K. 😮
Never said that lol
Most people in UK care about the environment and drive smaller , less polluting vehicles to have a smaller carbon footprint. In UK 99.99%of people know the difference between seasons and weather .
Thanks for your comment
I see three reasons for the switches. 1) We have a thing called a ring main with many more sockets on a breaker so having a switch helps isolate a socket for safety.
2) British plugs are much harder to put in our take out so a switch makes it easier to switch things on and off without unplugging
3) Unswitched sockets were much more common in the past as we're single sockets but companies like MK promoted double switched outlets and they became popular.
It depends on the appliance if switching off at the socket will save power. A toaster or kettle will use no power when not in use but a TV, Charger and many other devices do use power in standby so there is power to be saved. It is also safer to only have devices energised when you need to use them.
Thanks for sharing!!
Eggs are in the aisle and not the refridgerated section...
Actually that’s so true! I’m just used to that cuz every other country I’ve lived in does this too. I think the US might be the only one who refrigerates eggs
We interchange a lot of imperial and metric measurements, don't forget we sell beer in pints. And I think UK pints are slightly bigger! (It's 568ml BTW, or 20 fluid ounces). Milk is also in pints but with the metric alongside it.
Yeah I find that so interesting! Thanks for sharing :)
Fun fact, most mobiles (cellphones) here in the UK are Android. IPhones are the minority.
Same with most of the world besides the US!!
Fun fact 2 most people are using Linux and don't realise Android is built on a Linux kernel😅
I started using Apple in 1987, when they were a small and nice company. Anything else is so clunky, like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time: you can just about do it, but why would you?
@@Joanna-il2ur oh the irony. Jonathon Ive the person behind the iMac, Power Mac G4 Cube, iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook is English 🙃
We switched to Metric mainly because it makes science and engineering much easier.
The mile and MPH are only really still used on the roads
The old Imperial gallon was considerably bigger than the US Gallon
For a culure shock on the size of roads take a trip to the ancient towns in the North of Italy
Thanks for your comment!
Remember 3 quarters of europe have tv licenses
Very cool!!
Lots of people in UK do have dishwashers. Roads are narrower ss they were built originally as cart tracks, which became carriages, then cars. Some roads date back to Roman times.
Yup!
The reason we use miles but also use metric is because we switched over to metric relatively recently (1970s I think?). So you’re right, we use metric for foreign imports and exports, but many people (especially older people) are still used to imperial since that is what is traditional and what was taught in school until not too long ago. Some people (often people who voted for brexit) feel quite passionate about using imperial instead of metric because it is traditional, and what they did in the ‘good old days’. The relatively recent switch means there is loads of mix and match: many (younger) people use cm, m, kg, g, but when people are talking about distance, or personal measurements like height or weight, many use feet or stone and lbs. Metric vs imperial can often be a big generational divide in the UK!
Wow that is seriously so interesting! I didn’t know about the correlation of imperial with Brexit voters or the generational divide. Thank you so much for sharing!! :)
Fahrenheit and Celsius are also used interchangeably, even by relatively young people.
The switch to metric ie metres and kilos instead of feet and inches and pounds and ounces was dictated by the EU when we were a member. It is also worth remembering that an Imperial mile or gallon is actually more than a US gallon or mile
@@peterc.1618 have to disagree with that. I seriously don't know anyone u under 70 who understands Fahrenheit except when it's hot. Try it out, ask anyone if they need a coat, jacket or t shirt weather when is 52 Fahrenheit. I'm 62 and haven't got a clue
@@duncanmacpherson2013 No it was not. We started to go metric in the early 70s. Absolutely. nothing to do with the EU. On top of with the EU does not dictate, name one policy that was forced upon the UK against the wishes of our government.
Regarding the dates. In British English it is usual tp say "Fourth of July and write "04.07.xx" In American English it is usual to say "July the Fourth" and write "07.04.xx"
High as a flag on the Fourth of July. Blame Rogers and Hammerstein.
Very true!!
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