A request from my father

To start, if anyone would like to know more about anything specific about the opinions or topics involving the UK or England, let me know and I will gladly write about them. My father has asked a question about the lifestyle of the Ol' Brits! So, here goes my best attempt:

First and easily the most notable difference is the transportation used in London.  This won't be true everywhere in England, but in a city of almost 8 million people, you need a lot of transportation.  The Tube, or underground, is easily the best in the world.  It can literally get you anywhere in the city and does it very efficiently.  If you do not like the tube, double decker buses are the city buses and those are very nice as well because they let you see what is above ground.  However, they stop 10x more frequently so it will take a bit longer.  Other than that, there are taxi's(the famous black ones) that are great as well, but cost a little bit.  Unlike the taxi drivers at home, here they are knowledgeable and efficient.  In fact, in order to be a taxi driver, you have to take a rigorous test about the city of London.  The only problem with taxis are, they think they own the road.  Get out of there way, because often times they will speed up at you when you cross the road.  Speaking of cars, there is no place to park here.  I haven't seen one parking lot.    The streets are poorly marked with signs and the road system here is awful.  America learned from there mistake with the grid system because here it is just a mess.  The pace of the city is so fast compared to the US.  Everyone is get up and go kind of lifestyle.

Secondly, the language.  Although true in any foreign country to the US, the language is different here.  I make this a key point because we speak the same language in the US, but there is still a barrier.  Lots of words they use are words we use in US, but mean different things here.  Best examples are toilet which refers to the until bathroom, and straight away which cane me right now or "i'm on it" or phrases like that.

Third thing I have noticed is the living space.  True with any large city, the city of London is built up not out.  For example, I live 63 stairs straight up from the ground level with no elevator.  Average in most buildings of London.  There is no "house" within "central London".  Everyone lives in "flats" or apartments.  Because of this, there is no lawn or grass in London other than Hyde Park or other public parks.  No cutting the grass every week! Complimenting this is the small portions of everything here.  Clothes and food most notably different.  It is hard to find a shirt that can fit me.  Sizes usually run to about an XL which is maybe a Large in the states.

Because there is no houses people drink!!!  Just kidding....but not really.  In the states, you would have people over for a party or get together to drink.  Here, because every flat is smaller than the average house, they go to the pub.  And they drink, and they drink, and they drink.  

The culture here is so diverse.  The city has so much to offer culturally.  If you come it is just really easy to see how diverse any part of London is by walking down any given street and observing the people you pass.

The weather.  If, and I mean a big if, you see the sun you better embrace it because it happens maybe once a week.  It doesn't always rain, but it is overcast and wet the majority of the days.  Sometimes it is nice, but rarely.

The clothes here are a lot different than the US.  They dress very proper in suits with over coats for men and women dress proper as well.

Finally, sports.  They are die hard soccer fans.  They haven't heard of hockey and they hate basketball.  American football is looked down upon and they disregard baseball with cricket.  Apparently they like track and field as well.  


This is all my observations of people in central London.  I have traveled outside London into rural England but it is hard to bias people based off a day or two.  So, I'm sure there are people with large backyards that do in fact have to cut there grass, but none that I have seen.

Hope this helps paint a little bit of a picture for everyone.


Cheers

Jimmy