Interesting/ annoying things about the UK

Not to turn this topic into something completely different, but the most horrifying examples of public transport accidents in my ”orderly” city happened in 2013 when a local train crashed into a residental building in the middle of the night.

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All this happened while the poor cleaner was cleaning the driver cabin and accidently started the train, drove from depot to neighbouring end station and into the building.
:o Holy shit! Was anyone hurt?
 
I don’t think this is uniquely British, but asking someone how they are and getting anything more involved than ‘not bad, thanks’ is something I’m never mentally prepared for.
 
Do other countries have the same problem that we do with ending phone calls?
We have to say every possible version of ‘bye’ and then, as we’re ending the call, do that sort of goodbye quack where you chant ‘byebyebyebyebye’ until you disconnect. I’ve actually felt quite abrupt in the past for hanging up after only saying bye four or five times.

bye! Bye! Love you bye!
 
This even happens on Teams chats with my project lead :D "Thanks then. Bye. Have a good weekend. ThanksByebyethanksbye"
 
Not to turn this topic into something completely different, but the most horrifying examples of public transport accidents in my ”orderly” city happened in 2013 when a local train crashed into a residental building in the middle of the night.

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All this happened while the poor cleaner was cleaning the driver cabin and accidently started the train, drove from depot to neighbouring end station and into the building.

oh no, not a poor funkis building :(
 
Rarely has a previously unread thread thrilled me more.

Or made me simultaneously feel completely jingoistic and utterly ashamed of my homeland.
 
Actually I liked marmite most, when I thought it might be gross before
 
We need carpets because it's COLD :angry:
This would be the second thing. I generally prefer rugs cause you can change them and have them cleaned more easily plus I thought it was a little unhygienic, especially for bathrooms.
But then I realized this wasn't in every house but more like a thing of personal choice, some houses had wall-to-wall carpet everywhere, and some didn't.
 
The lack of proper shutters (blinds?) in every single window is something I can't understand. When you stay in a hotel anywhere in Europe with thin courtains and you wake up early in the morning because of the daylight, wtf? I understand is not THAT sunny over there and we would die without them, but still, what if you want to sleep during the day? I don't get it.

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Good one. I never found shutters in any of the homes I stayed in or visited. I couldn't understand why though, cause they are not really meant to be used for the sun. I mean I never have them shut down during the day, but I shut them down for safety when I leave the house, or at night when it's freezing to help to maintain the inner temperature.

Oh another thing that struck me as sth missing for no obvious reason was the lack of intercom and doorbells. When someone knocked on the door he had to actually knock instead of pressing the button, and you had to physically go to the door. You couldn't just pick up the intercom and talk to whoever it is or open the door with a button.
 
The flat I lived in Leeds at university had external shutters, so they do exist. That was for security.

I hadn't considered that they might keep the heat in.
 
This would be the second thing. I generally prefer rugs cause you can change them and have them cleaned more easily plus I thought it was a little unhygienic, especially for bathrooms.
But then I realized this wasn't in every house but more like a thing of personal choice, some houses had wall-to-wall carpet everywhere, and some didn't.
Oh carpets in the bathroom are disgusting and wrong.
 
Another thing that I've found interesting was that businesses were employing people regardless of their age and regardless of their looks and body shape in jobs that require face-to-face customer interaction. This hasn't always been a given here so it was a sharp contrast that I admired.
 
Good one. I never found shutters in any of the homes I stayed in or visited. I couldn't understand why though, cause they are not really meant to be used for the sun. I mean I never have them shut down during the day, but I shut them down for safety when I leave the house, or at night when it's freezing to help to maintain the inner temperature.

Oh another thing that struck me as sth missing for no obvious reason was the lack of intercom and doorbells. When someone knocked on the door he had to actually knock instead of pressing the button, and you had to physically go to the door. You couldn't just pick up the intercom and talk to whoever it is or open the door with a button.

I think most people have doorbells at least? But yes it’s something they have to add.

Do you have PEEPHOLES in Greek front doors?
:tisch:
 
It depends on where you live, ie in the cities most people live in apartments and all apartments have peepholes on their front doors. The intercom is usually audiovisual too so most of the time you already know who's there. Am trying to remember if I've seen one in the UK, probably not, I remember there was that opening for the letters on the door that could have served the purpose, but it wasn't at the right height.
 

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