Soon to be Smokefree

Very soon England will be smokefree...the last country within the UK to do so. Bans in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland all went into effect within the past two years. It's a much more comprehensive ban than the one implemented in Madison back in July 2005. There are very few areas that smoking will be allowed. Even smoking in your home is now regulated in the sense that you are not allowed to smoke before someone like a repairman visits or a baby sitter comes over.


All of the bus shelters have recently been decorated with no smoking signs, which is a lovely idea but how in the world is that going to be enforced? Today, a co-worker who smokes was complaining that all of the outdoor ashtrays have been removed and "it's not even July 1st yet." There are now only two areas outside that people can smoke at work and that is inside ventilated smoking shelters, which are also required by the new law.

My New Favorite Website

Not having a TV here is very tolerable because we simply watch DVDs on our laptop instead. However there's an annoying delay between when shows are aired in the U.S. and when they are available on DVD here. So I was very excited when someone shared a website that allows me to watch any TV show at any time! Especially because I've recently become quite addicted to the show Grey's Anatomy.

The quality varies depending on what format the show is shared in and not every episode is available, but I still think it's a fantastic way to be able to watch TV without owning one :)

http://www3.alluc.org/alluc/tv-shows.html?letterselect=A

The Big Issue

I had never heard of The Big Issue until arriving here, but once I was here it didn't take long for me to be asked to buy one, as there are people everywhere thoughout the UK selling them.


According to the website...
"The Big Issue is an international organisation that works with homeless people all over the world, from the United Kingdom to South Africa and Japan. At the centre of our work is The Big Issue magazine, an award-winning news, arts and current affairs magazine that is produced by professional journalists and sold on the streets by homeless people. They buy the magazine from us and sell it on at a profit, which they keep. Although financial exclusion is one of the key reasons people remain homeless - and one of the core aims of The Big Issue is to give people a legal way of making a living - there are other benefits of becoming a vendor."

They are only allowed to sell them in certain areas and they aren't very aggressive, but it's still annoying to frequently be asked to buy one when shopping downtown. We've never bought one of their "award winning magazines" but people who have say it's a crap magazine and they'd rather just donate the money.

Another American's Perspective

I love reading blogs and one that I frequently read is called The Madison Packard. I don't actually know the author, he's the uncle of a former co-worker, however I enjoy his blog because he often writes about very familiar Madison places and events such as Rhythm and Booms, Taste of Madison, Farmer's Market and Badger games. His latest post intrigued me because he blogged about a recent trip to the UK! It was very interesting to read another American's perspective on the country that I'm living in.

I was particularly interested in 10 observations he posted at the end of his blog entry...below are those observations in blue and my comments about his observations in white. If anyone is really bored and wants to read all about his trip, here's the link to the full blog post...
http://themadisonpackard.blogspot.com/2007/05/julie-and-i-returned-on-friday-from-8.html

Before closing, I want to add a few comments and observations about our adventure and life in the UK.

1. People in the UK appear to be MUCH healthier than us Americans. We hardly saw any significantly overweight persons. Obesity is simply not an issue over there, probably because mass transit is so prevalent that persons actually get out and walk once in awhile.

While it’s true that they are not nearly as many obese people, there are still quite a few overweight people. Both men and women have beer bellies here.

2. While we were hiking in the Lake District - on some rather challenging trails - Julie and I figure that at least half of the hikers we saw were persons in their 60's, 70's, and 80's. I guess you're only as old as you feel and as old as you let yourself think you are.

I’ve noticed this as well. Older people do seem to be more active here.

3. TV in the UK sucks!! It's channel after channel of PBS-like documentaries about things like gardening and cooking. No wonder everyone is out walking and staying fit!

This is an interesting comment because of the five BBC channels one shows nothing but American programming. Also, I certainly wouldn’t say that people are out walking instead of watching TV. My co-workers talk at length about the shows they watch each night. In fact, TV series on DVD are very popular here as well. My co-workers are currently watching Ally McBeal, 24, Sex & the City and Friends on DVD.

4. People in the UK eat some pretty big and wild breakfasts. Here is the typical menu we encountered: toast, eggs, broiled tomatoes, mushrooms, Cumberland sausage, back bacon, and baked beans. And we saw a LOT of people eating this, all piled up on one freakin' plate. You know, I've heard many times that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and the British take that seriously.

This is like saying that Americans eat pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage everyday for breakfast. The Brits I talk to eat cereal and toast just like us. When eating out I’m sure Brits are more likely to order the “English breakfast, “ just as we would order cooked breakfast fare.

5. Folks in the UK generally don't seem to cook very well, say compared to the French, Italians, or even the McDonalds. While we had some tasty meat pies, most of the breakfasts we ate were only so-so. And the best meals we had were at Italian restaurants. If you go to Britain, don't go for the food!

This is SO true, but I think everyone already knows this fact :)

6. The UK is a lot farther north than I realized. We had daylight until 10 pm and the sun was coming up well before 5 am. I did some checking, and it turns out that the UK hovers around the 55th parallel of latitude. That puts it in-line with the middle of Canada. Wild, eh?

7. Gas in the UK is the exact same price as it was when we visited 7 years ago!!! It is 95 p (pence) a liter. Don't get me wrong -- it's expensive. When we visited in 2000, that 95 p equalled nearly 6 dollars a gallon. And with the weak US dollar, that 95 p now means that us Americans would be paying nearly 8 dollars per gallon. But for all of those UK-ers, it's the exact same 95 p that it's always been. Doesn't that make you wonder why the heck US gas prices fluctuate all over the place? Just who exactly is playing with us and why?

8. English people who speak English are somewhat difficult to understand. Scottish persons speaking English are nearly impossible to understand!!

Very, very true!

9. If you give soccer a chance, it can actually be a pretty exciting game. Julie and I watched the European Cup championship match between AC Milan and Liverpool, and found it to be quite enjoyable -- although we don't have a clue what some of the commentators said!

We haven’t been to a live game yet and we’ve only seen one match in the pub, but it sure doesn’t excite Chris or I.

10. Virtually everyone we encountered was very friendly and helpful. It was so nice to feel welcome in a foreign country.

This is true in general, however the one big exception is the service industry. Tipping is rare here, so people don’t need to be nearly as nice. I’ve found that hairdressers make small talk with each other instead of the client and service in restaurants can be very slow!