Thoughts About England

Random thoughts:

1. Already mentioned the odd restaurant hours--but grocery stores, even large chains, also have limited hours. For example, the Waitrose grocery store closest to us doesn't open until 8:30 a.m. and closes at 6:00 pm on Saturdays and 2:00 pm on Sundays. Now, I'm not opposed to limited hours so their employees don't have to work all the time, but I didn't realize how I took for granted that I could run to Safeway at 6:30 in the morning or 9:00 at night to grab a few things. Now I have to plan more carefully or go without more often.

2. The plus side? Grocery stores offer home delivery and a huge selection of items. I would never consider groceries delivered at home in the US, but here, a couple pounds delivery surcharge makes it well worth it to avoid spending $8.00 a gallon on gas and navigating the crowded roadways. Not to mention not having to drag whiny kids through the aisles.

3. Another plus? Along with handicapped parking spaces, stores have "child-friendly" parking spots. They are always close to the entrance and are extra big. Obviously, you have to have at least one kid with you to use them. It's pretty cool, though.

4. Cars can park wherever they want--on sidewalks, medians, even on the road itself. It is your own responsibility to drive around the parked car, usually by using the oncoming traffic lane. But do you wait for oncoming traffic to subside? No, no, my friends, you do not. You just cram your way through with mere centimeters to spare, and oncoming traffic moves over to the shoulder but doesn't slow down. And it's all done in a very polite, very British manner. There's no honking, no yelling, no raised fists. We all wave at each other as we barrell along, thanking each other for making extra room.

5. Forget being a pedestrian in this scenario. Just run away, because no one is looking out for you.

6. Interesting that hardly any people put up Christmas lights or decorations. Christmas is very mellow here as a holiday season...you can't even go shopping for two days after Christmas because everything, and I mean everything, is closed. They do, however, love their "Christmas Grotto", where you can visit Santa for anywhere from $20-$40 per child.

7. Everything in England is smaller--the appliances, cars, roads, shops, parking spaces. There's not a lot of open space, which you miss if you're from a state like Oregon. There's something something innately crowded about southeast England, which I find nerve-wracking.

8. British people are very polite, at least on the surface. I find that I often feel abrupt and abrasive in a peculiarly American way and I often find myself wondering what they're really thinking. There is a certain way of talking about things and of doing things which I don't seem to get--I get the feeling that flexibility and spontaneity are not highly valued. At the risk of sounding like an ethnocentric American, it seems to me that the culture of England does not embrace imagination or inventiveness. However, I do find Brits to be patient and kind during everyday life. No one drives rudely or carelessly, no one rushes to be first in line at a shop, in fact it seems like no one is ever in a rush. It's a refreshing change of pace.

9. Houses anywhere outside the inner London area have quaint little names, not numbered addresses. In my immediate neighborhood: Toad Hall, Park Cottage, Magpie Cottage, West End Hill, etc. However, once you find the street you are looking for, there is no way to know where the actual house is located because there is no numerical pattern to follow. It can be very frustrating, but generally you will ask for landmarks so you can narrow down the location...as in, Sandgate is two driveways before Claremont Avenue (coming from Cobham), right by the 40 mph speed sign and just after West End Lane.