Friday 14 March 2008

odds and ends

I have nothing to say!

Yesterday we had pancakes for supper. Ooo, yummy. I had 3 pancakes. The children each had 3 pancakes (plus a half each for the boys), a whole boiled egg, and some applesauce. I was stuffed. They wanted more.

Bob will test again today, at 3 our time. I pray he makes it.
We will probably go get groceries this afternoon.

Some funny things about England:
The toilet flush handle is on the wrong side of the tank. (bothers some people more than others)
You have to pump the thing to get it to flush.
I have a double oven, but neither is big enough for a large cookie sheet, or a roaster with handles.
Known for being a very damp place, everyone hangs their clothes to dry outside.
My tumble dryer, instead of having a "more dry" to "less dry" setting, has the following options for auto dry: Bone, Extra, Cupboard, Iron.
Every electric outlet has an on/off switch.
Instead of a routing number, banks have a 'branch sort code.'
A one time event is called "one-off."
Mail is delivered to your door at least once a day, but to send anything you have to go to a box or the post office.
I get my local Thursday paper on Saturday.

That's about all I can think of for now.

7 comments:

CassieHumble said...

We don't have handles on our toilets here in Germany. We have two buttons, a big one and a small one. The smaller one is less water pressure (for #1! haha) because they are so big on not being wasteful here. Hope you're enjoying England!

MamaOlive said...

Hey, Cassie! Good to see you.

Some of the public toilets here have the buttons.

I am glad to be here. Don't care much for the base, but England is great.

Ganeida said...

Ok, now I'm confused. Are you telling me when your mail is delivered in the States you can give them a parcel to post as well as get your mail? And why wouldn't every electrical outlet have it's own on/off switch? Don't you need to turn each outlet on & off ~ at least sometimes?Help!

MamaOlive said...

LOL!

Of course you can post from your own home! Most Americans (in my experiance) have a box the get mail in, and if they want to send something they stick it in the box. When the mailman delivers your mail, he also picks up what you have put out. (Rural American mailmen will also sell books of stamps, take packages and bring you the bill the next day, and offer many other "post office" services.)
Oh, BTW, an American post office only sells postage, boxes, and stationary. You can't buy candy or newspapers or anything else there.

Outlets - why would you need to turn it off? Just unplug your appliance! As it is now, we can hardly get anything (cordless) to charge up, because one of the children will turn off the power, not realizing that it was on ON PURPOSE. But I do like the power-off switch on the stove (cooker). I don't have to worry about someone turning on a burner.

Ganeida said...

The strange things I learn. ( I was going to say something about the weirdness of Americans but that sounds rude, dontcha think?)

Um, we were taught not to unplug anything that isn't already turned off so you don't get electricuted. Maybe your electricity works differently...? I know you'll get zapped out here ot blow the safety switch sometimes if an appliance isn't off & you just pull the cord out.

I think we are more like the Brits ~ except their water swishes round the wrong way before it goes down the plughole.

Dawn said...

I thought since England is just north of Germany it would kind of be the same with somethings.
But then again, maybe it is. I live a very sheltered existence on base. :)
Cassie said she has 2 buttons on her toilet. Not ours...we just have one.
Each base here in Germany is different though. Some are more advanced while some are old.

You should see my oven...oh my. Like your oven, I can only get a cookie sheet in there. It's a tiny German oven.
All the other apartments here have new stoves with the flat top oven, but I guess they forgot our apartment...lol. It's alright though. This oven has met our needs.
It reminds me of a Suzy Home maker oven though...lol.
We have American washers and dryers here.
Ours our in the basement. Some places have them in the apartments on base.
We are the only ones left in our building now so I have the washers and dryers to myself. :-)

I enjoyed your list of the differences by you.
I am sure I would have more differences if we lived off base.

You have a good week now!

Dawn

Anonymous said...

That's the kind of stuff I find interesting Shari, LOVED it!

Our outlets do not have on off switches. Our appliances do.
I guess it's you guys that are weird, we Americans are just rude enough to point it out. haha (just kidding Ganeida!)

BTW- I'm Shari's american cousin by marriage.
Where are you located Ganeida?