1. Supermarkets all come stocked with fifteen different varieties of vanilla ice cream in hundreds of different brands, as the British haven't realised that chocolate tastes much better and maybe we could do with some different flavours, Hmmm?
2. Milkshakes aren't made with ice cream, what?? Ordered one at a restaurant and all I got was some lousy shaken milk that wasn't even cold . . . gross!
3. People at the till say thank you dozens of times during the checkout process. Put the products on the counter, "thank you." "That will be £10.95, thank you." Hand over money, "Thank you." Finally escape the grotesquely overdone "politeness" and she'll say it one more time as you leave . . . and the British think we Americans are excessive???
4. The British are apparently trying to starve their citizens, else gain profit by making people buy in bulk . . . resaurant sized portions leave a lot to be desired and everything in the grocery store is incredibly miniature. Anybody heard of a gallon of milk or a head of lettuce bigger than a baseball? Vanilla and almond extract bottles are good for one recipe, and their bananas are five inches long. Everything is on a smaller scale! The roads, the houses, the cars, the food! Wanted to make chocolate chip cookies, only I had to buy 8 miniature sized bags . . .
5. I'm glad the fact that my husband strangely does not rinse dishes doesn't mean he's mutated . . . seems it must be a common thing here! What if the water is slightly dirty and there's some stuff on the dishes and you don't rinse it off? I don't want soap on my dishes! Needless to say, I always wash the dishes now.
6. If Americans think McDonald's french fries are greasy and fattening, they obviously haven't had thick-cut, deep-fried in fat chips from the local chippy . . . is there anything so unhealthy and terribly delicious?
7. What's with potato chips in tiny little packages? I have to eat three or four to have a "normal" portion, but it looks like I've been a pig! And "roast chicken" flavoured crisps? Good grief!
8. Butter on EVERYTHING. It doesn't matter how "wet" your sandwich is going to be, it won't be "wet enough" if butter isn't smeared on both slices of bread liberally.
9. My husband refuses to let me ask for some sort of container to take food home in when we're finished at a restaurant because it's "low class," he claims. I paid for my food and the right to eat it . . . at home or elsewhere! What the heck is low class about that?
10. For people who seem so proper and worried about taking food home from a restaurant, they have no problem asking where the toilet or the loo is, even in a high-class place. I prefer to keep the toilet in the restroom and use the restroom for whatever purpose I have to use it, whether that includes the toilet or not. I am constantly surprised to see garish signs with arrows that proudly announce "toilets" in very classy style . . .
11. Amazing toilets that don't overflow!! They'll retain some things for future flushes, but they don't overflow! When I first saw a British toilet I thought it was broken because there was so little water in it, like a puddle instead of a lavatory. Found out that was normal . . .
12. I really don't mean to be gross, but feminine products are regularly flushed down the toilet. Ummmmm . . .? David informed me that putting those things in the waste basket is "unheard of" in England, but . . . "it certainly won't flush down the toilet, will it?" In America, the products clearly state, "do not flush!" and I still can't bring myself to do it . . . I'm afraid it will overflow!
13. All the lemonade is fizzy . . . grrr! Next time I visit America, I'm bringing back one suitcase dedicated entirely to Country Time Lemonade.
14. I want TWO sheets on my bed, one below and one on top!
15. I guess I'll shut up now.
P.S. It was fun venting like that!
