UK vs US

[rusty_halo]

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2722

Things I miss about the UK:

* Trains! That run on time! With clear, audible, and polite announcements! Explanations and apologies for delays! The food cart on the train to Edinburgh!

* The tube! More clear, audible announcements and explanations. Apologies when they fuck up. And they tell you when the next train is coming! And they run so much more frequently than the subway!

* People on escalators actually stand to the right so you can walk on the left if you're in a hurry.

* Courtesy! People who go out of their way to be nice. (Two examples: the guy at the British Museum who wrote me a voucher to use my audio guide two days later without paying again because I'd only had it for an hour before the museum closed, and the wonderful woman in Edinburgh who saved me and jaydk from having to pay £101 each to get back to London after our stupid tour bus got us to the train station too late to make our scheduled train. Not to mention the countless people who held doors or let me walk first instead of shoving their way in front of me.)

* They censor that hideous Saw ad that makes me gag every time I see it in NY. (In London it's just a blur with a "censored" mark over it. Here it's a guy wearing another guy's face as a mask. I don't think I should have to see this horrid thing every day on my way to work.)

* People actually know what Doctor Who is! You can walk into a toy store and buy Doctor Who stuff!

* Sooooo much history. Buildings and artifacts and ruins going back thousands of years instead of hundreds. Just a more thorough perspective on history and our place in the scale of things.

* You can get alcohol anywhere. And even bring it into the theater with you!

* Three words: Clean. Public. Restrooms.

* Cheaper theater tickets. So many good theater options.

* People just talk more quietly. Well, except the loud drunken assholes, who are apparently pretty much the same everywhere. But in restaurants or on the train, it's just quieter.

* Pretty much every single restaurant offers multiple clearly marked vegetarian options (with a little "V" sign on the menu). Unfortunately most contain dairy products, but it's still ahead of the US.

* Really good tea. Not that horrid stuff you usually get in the US. Even the cheap tea provided by our London B&B was superior to the bitter Lipton crap that you get here.

* FREE MUSEUMS. I'd go to the British Museum every week if I lived over there.

* David Tennant. Oh, you lucky people who don't have to fly over an ocean to get to Hamlet. I want to see it again!

* Sleeping the night through without being awoken by a cat.

* Not having to give Lucifer his insulin shots. I think that was my favorite part of the vacation, actually. *sigh*

Things I missed about the US:

* Lukewarm water. WHY DO THESE FAUCETS EXIST? No one wants entirely hot or entirely cold water! You want water that you can put your hands in without burning or freezing! If you combine the faucets into one you can have all three options! I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

* Long hot showers. The freezing-cold shower in Stratford was definitely the lowlight of my trip!

* Plumbing in general. How hard can it be to create a toilet that flushes correctly???

* Heat. I know, I know, global warming, spoiled Americans, but I freaking hate being cold.

* Air conditioning on the subway. Even in fall there were a couple of occasions in which we were sweltering in there.

* Things open late. How can the tube close at midnight??? I would never survive long-term in London.

* Being served tap water and having it refilled at restaurants. Especially spicy Indian and Thai restaurants.

* Comfortable mattresses. I think it's an insult to true mattresses everywhere to label that stabby, saggy thing I slept on in London a "mattress."

* Trash cans. Do British people just carry garbage around with them all day? I can't tell you how many times I had to hunt and hunt for somewhere to throw an empty water bottle or a wrapper that wouldn't fit into my jam-packed tourist bag before going into a no-food-or-drinks attraction. GRRRR.

* Internet. My cats. My own bed. You know, the usual. :)

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