Carl Tyler's Blog :: More English observations...

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I promised a few more observations of things that have changed since I left England and also some differences between the US, so here they are:

Country pubs are slowly being changed into curry houses - I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing, I could quite happily spend a lifetime in a curry house or a country pub, but there are a number of curry houses around my parents that at one time used to be pubs. Hhhmm curry, supposedly curry is now the most popular food in Britain, even out doing the delicacy of Fish and Chips.
Gated communities - well these aren't really gated communities, but I have noticed in Bucks at least, that more and more towns and villages are putting big white gates on either side of the road when you enter, along with big speed limit signs, and the speed limit painted on the road. Apparently this has an effect on drivers and they slow down to the speed limit, I want to know why? Are the drivers thinking ooh gate, better be careful there might be stray cows and sheep on the other side, I wonder what the psychology is behind them?
Food seems to be cheaper - I think most food stuffs in the shops here are cheaper, especially vegetables, this is probably the only thing in England cheaper than the US. White goods, electrical goods, cars etc. are way cheaper in the US
Oh yeah Petrol is still bloody expensive - Could you imagine if the Americans were paying $5+ a gallon?
British humour is so different - This is like a shot of fresh air, English humour is so non PC that it is great. Those that know me really well, will know that even after attending Lotus diversity training, I am not particularly what you would call Politically Correct. English humour makes Bill Maher come across as an innocent priest (oxymoron?). TV commercials and come to that TV shows that are shown here, would be lucky to be aired once in the US, because as soon as they were shown activist groups would be working their hardest to have sponsors remove the shows or boycotting products, where as here we seem able to see the humour in the jokes, and realise they are just that jokes. There is a Carling Black label commercial over here that has a hhm, ugly girl with a bloke getting married, and the tagline is "It's what's inside that counts", now you can look at this a few ways, that Carling Black label makes great beer goggles or that we need to get the ugly activists together and boycott Carling Black label.
Brits really know how to drive on round-a-bouts (rotary) - For a long time I took it upon myself to try and teach Americans how to drive on round-a-bouts in Boston by timing my entry such that I could blow my horn just as they entered in front of me, this would always have the desired effect of scaring them shit less as they had never bothered to look if any other traffic was on the rotary already. Over here that is unnecessary, most of us enter round-a-bouts at a nice high speed, taking the apex and getting through it as if it didn't exist. It also saves a tonne of money in Electricity as there is no need for traffic lights.

More as I notice them.

Comments

1 - I'm curious how much electricity a set of traffic signals really takes... more to the point, though, how could you possibly retrofit rotaries into all those four-way intersections in the US? A rotary takes a lot more room.
Have a curry for me -- out here in the Chicago suburbs, there's only one Indian restaurant within a reasonable driving distance

Posted by Ed Brill At 09:10:16 AM On 12/28/2003 | - Website - |

2 - retrofitting rotaries would actually be very simple, as not all round-a-bouts are created equal. many round-a-bouts are nothing more than a 1metre diameter circle in the midle of what used ot be a crossroads, they don' thave to be full blown.

As for the electrocitity usage, it
s all to do with numbers, one traffic light may not use much, but I wonder how much all the traffic lights in the world are using? The traffic light was an English invention so we do accept responsibility for them. That along with bad teeth, BSE and sausage rolls.

Posted by Carl At 11:25:46 AM On 12/28/2003 | - Website - |

3 - I also heard that they got rid of all the pigeons at Trafalgar square? Say it ain't so! Or was that just a rumour?

Posted by Jess Stratton At 10:22:33 AM On 12/29/2003 | - Website - |

4 - I think that we here in the US have taken traffic lights to an (unhealthy?) extreme. the simple intersection outside my neighborhood now has 2 sets of lights pointing in all directions (probably overkill). And, being Americans, we have made them unbelievably complex. Now most lights (at least down here in Atlanta) are on sensors that change when a car comes - I like this, as our intersections can go awhile without getting a crossing car. But the problem arises when you get to our "mega" intersections - two 4-lane roads with turn lanes intersecting. Some of these are sequenced quite well; others, I believe, cause traffic to back up to unnaturally long lengths - probably longer than if the damned thing was a huge 4-way stop.

I definitely would love to see roundabouts, especially in smaller intersections where traffic lights are overkill.

Rock

Posted by Rock At 10:38:37 AM On 12/29/2003 | - Website - |

5 - Ah, Georgia traffic... you take me back, Rock, and not for the better.

There's a few choice mega-intercections up in Marietta and Roswell that always bemused me. I prefer the roundabouts to traffic lights, and a simple 4 way stop to anything else. Living in the Ohio wilds, a 4 way stop is usually considered overkill.