It's not ALL glamorous.....

So, public transportation is great, when it's running. Because of the Olympics in 2012, the city is greatly expanding and improving the public transportation links. So, weekends mean sparse transport options. One of the only two tube lines in our area is down this weekend, and it's the main one that gets us anywhere we want to be. Add to that, there is a strike of the bus drivers in our area as well! So, my trip to the store for a few items took 2 hours! And, it's cold and rainy. (Of course...) And, I probably didn't travel more than a couple of miles.

So, grocery shopping. No car. Means no full grocery cart ("trolley"). You get a few things at at time, or you order on line and have them delivered (for 3-5 GBP). (Think about hauling luggage around!)

It takes 4-5 hours to do ONE load of laundry! No kidding! The machine in our flat (and the one in our house) does both washing and drying (figure that out, you engineers out there!) It takes 2-2.5 hours to wash (WHY?!?!?) And then, it takes about that amount of time to dry them, and then they come out totally wrinkled. My friend dries her clothes on the radiators, and it takes about 30 minutes and the aren't wrinkled. If only we could figure out how to work the radiators in this flat..... (And somehow, it is pretty warm in here.) Moral of the story: No more doing all of the laundry on Saturday...) And, let's not even start to talk about figuring out how to run the thing. The washing categories have to do with temperature-- in Celsius! We're just guessing. Things seem to be coming out cleaner than they went in.....

Computer keyboards are different. First of all, they had to find room for the sign that represents their money (Sterling Pound-- I don't have that symbol on my computer to show you, and I'm too lazy to figure out the trick to get to it). But, they kept the $ sign... So, the @ symbol is where our " is, and the " is where our @ is located. (They could have left those alone!) The $ sign is in the same place, but the Sterling pound sign is where the # is. I don't remember where the # is located. Additionally, the shift keys and the enter keys are smaller-- almost as small as the letter keys.

Toilets flush funny. On most toilets, the flusher is a button on the tank, or on the wall behind the toilet. Regardless, they all flush funny! Speaking of toilets, in most public restrooms we've visited, their are no stalls, but individual toilet rooms, where the door goes floor to ceiling. If not, there is not much air space above or below the door. Much more private!

Debit cards have a chip in them, and the magnetic strip is not magnetic, nor functional. We have been to a couple of places where we couldn't use our US debit cards because they don't have the chip. (We now have UK cards.)

This is wierd: When we stayed with my friend, and then in the hotel, neither had flat sheets. Just a fitted sheet and a duvet. (We bought sheets for the flat, and did get flat sheets.) I don't understand that.... I keep forgetting to ask my friend about it.

Electric kettles are everywhere! It's a tea-drinking country, and we must have our hot water at the ready! We have started making French press coffee-- mostly because the container is smaller to haul around, given that we are still only temporarily housed. (We do have the electric kettle, though.)

That's all the wierdness I can think of at the moment. Will write more later!