Hats off to Scott Waters
After a recent visit to England, the American visitor, Scott Waters had a number of informed observations. Scott’s Facebook post was shared 50,000 times and counting and is both funny, informative and accurate!
I was in England again a few weeks ago, mostly in small towns, but here’s some of what I learned:
- Almost everyone is very polite
- The food is generally outstanding
- There are no guns
- There are too many narrow stairs
- Everything is just a little bit different
- The pubs close too early
- The reason they drive on the left is because all their cars are built backwards
- Pubs are not bars, they are community living rooms
- You’d better like peas, potatoes and sausage
- Refrigerators and washing machines are very small
- Everything is generally older, smaller and shorter
- People don’t seem to be afraid of their neighbours or the government
- Their paper money makes sense, the coins don’t
- Everyone has a washing machine but driers are rare
- Hot and cold water faucets. Remember them?
- Pants are called “trousers”, underwear are “pants” and sweaters are “jumpers”
- The bathroom light is a string hanging from the ceiling
- “Fanny” is a naughty word, as is “shag”
- All the signs are well designed with beautiful typography and written in full sentences with proper grammar
- There’s no dress code
- Doors close by themselves, but they don’t always open
- They eat with their forks upside down
- The English are as crazy about their gardens as Americans are about cars
- They don’t seem to use face cloths or napkins or maybe they’re just neater than we are
- The wall outlets all have switches, some don’t do anything
- There are hardly any cops or police cars
- 5,000 year ago, someone arranged a lot of rocks all over, but no one is sure why
- When you do see police they seem to be in male & female pairs and often smiling
- Black people are just people: they didn’t quite do slavery here
- Everything comes with chips, which are French fries. You put vinegar on them
- Cookies are “biscuits” and potato chips are “crisps”
- HP sauce is better than catsup
- Obama is considered a hero, Bush is considered an idiot
- After fish and chips, curry is the most popular food
- The water controls in showers need detailed instructions
- They can boil anything
- Folks don’t always lock their bikes