Some thing you may not know......

Moving to the UK from Southern California was a bit of a culture shock.  I knew it would be different, but never realized how different it would actually be.  Part of the culture shock was probably due to the fact that I married a man in the Royal Air Force and, never before having ANY experience with military life, was subjected to a realm of existence beyond anything I knew.  Even without military life thrown into the batter here are some things that you may or may not know about (my) life in Britain.

1. The post office does EVERYTHING - aside from delivering your mail half the time.  I just love spending my lunchtime standing in line for what seems like an eternity waiting for people to:

• Exchange money for their travels
• Pay their Gas and Electricity bills
• Cash their pension checks
• Get their car taxed and registered
• Have their nails done (okay I'm going a bit far now)

2. Many/Most retail stores shut at 5 pm.  Except on Thursday.  Apparently it is shopping day for all of Britain and stores may stay open until 7 or even 8.  Many stores do not open on Sunday at all.

3.  Grocery stores only seem to re-stock once a week.  I am guessing that it is on a Monday, cause if you want to go to the store on a Sunday to buy food - they will most likely be out of what you need.  Also grocery stores shut at 4 pm on Sunday.  Even more odd - the stores open at 10 am on a Sunday, but you cannot pay for anything until 11 am.  That one was sorely unappreciated one Sunday morning when we realized that baby Maddie was out of diapers....and had the trots....and did I mention no diapers?!  Drove to the store and arrived at 9:55.  Waited the 5 agonizing minutes for the store to open.  Ran in to buy said diapers and go to the checkout at 10:05.  Was told I would have to wait 55 minutes before purchase.  One of the few times in my life that I actually almost rationalized shoplifting. Still trying to work the Sunday opening hours over here.

4. Until very recently pubs shut at 11 o'clock - including weekends.  I always found this astounding since their is such a long standing tradition of pub-going over here, but I guess everyone is too pissed (that is drunk to my American friends) to carry on any later.

5. More people over here follow more soap operas than politics.  That well may be true for Americans as well, but not where I come from.  I do not watch soaps and so am blocked from many 'water cooler' conversations revolving around one of the 32 soaps that permeate the airwaves.

6. Many households still do a Sunday roast.  This is basically a full Thanksgiving dinner every Sunday at about 2 o'clock.  If you don't have one you may be considered unsavory and neighbors may cross the street to avoid you.

7.  Many women I know over here don't drive.  I would say at least 50%.  That is not an exact figure, and again my figures are only a reflection of my small pocket of life.   I could not live without a car.  I got my license the week of my 16th birthday and have not looked back since.  I am not going to tell you how many years I have been driving - if you know me you can do the math.  Maybe they are put off by the tests.  I had to re-take a theory and a practical test to get licensed and I flunked both of them the first time around.  The theory questions I actually got 100% on and finished 30 questions in under 3 minutes.  The 'let us play a video game of things you could possible hit' simulator was not so good.  Apparently I pressed the mouse button too quickly.  So spotting things well in advance is not so good over here.  After slowing down my response time to what seemed like a near-death experience - I passed!  I flunked my practical test because while reversing around a corner - more on that one later.  Thankfully I finally got myself passed - life here would suck without wheels!

8.  Grocery stores do not pack your bags for you.  And the check out help gets very cranky if you don't pack fast enough to keep them moving.  This usually means many squashed things in the very flimsy plastic bags (I will NEVER remember to bring my own) that will eventually break on the way to the car, in the rain, while your child is screaming for a cookie.

These are just a few things - and believe me - there are many, many, many more to come!