Living in London; everyday differences

A large, global metropolitan city, London has a population of over 8,000,000 residents. Previously having lived in New York City, the fast-paced life of both cities convey similarities.

Culturally, however, there’s a few differences. None of these differences are life changing or really that important at all in the scope of things!  But when I do reflect on everyday life back in the U.S., these differences come to mind.

Fellow Americans:  If you’re new to London, these observations may provide a little advance insight on what to expect before your move abroad.  For those who already live here, I hope you can sympathize, appreciate and laugh about my observations below!

Washer/(Dryer?)

When we moved into our new flat, I was happy to learn that there was a washer/dryer combination already installed. Small and compact, and in the kitchen which seemed strange (but is typical for this country), but regardless I was satisfied – temporarily.

The first time I used the dry setting, I dried my clothes for an hour. When it stopped, the clothing was as wet as an hour before. I considered my options and realized it was probably my mistake – I was drying too many clothes at one time. Decreasing my wash load and starting it up again, another hour passed. No luck. A last resort attempt, I took everything out except for 3 pairs of socks and 3 pairs of undergarments. Two hours more, and I hoped for the best. Defeated,at the end I finally bought a drying rack where every piece of clothing including socks, underwear and t-shirts, hang to dry.

My way of making sense of all of this is that in Europe  the word “dryer” actually means “spinner”.

Like a salad spinner, the clothes spin, and spin, and spin some more, which may be eliminating some of the dampness, but from personal experience I can tell you that no form of heat ever comes out of my dryer!

Maneuvering as a London pedestrian…

In my previous post (One year living in London), I inquired as to which way was the proper way to walk down the street.

Logically, it would seem that walking on the left side of the sidewalk is correct considering the cars drive on the left hand side of the road. But no one follows this!

Busy Tooley street in London

London is a multi-cultural city, so at first I thought maybe this was due to outsiders’, other Americans or Europeans who are used to walking on the right side of the street in their home countries.  Wrong again as I’ve now taken a closer look and observed many British people also walking on the right, left or directly down the center of the sidewalk in no sense of order.

When I first moved here, I tried to be more respectful. I spent hours on a daily basis dodging oncoming pedestrian traffic, switching from the left to the right hand side of the sidewalk, even risking a quick walk onto the street where I was faced with bicyclists, double decker buses and cars, before I finally realized it’s not possible to live life like this…

Now, my aggressiveness has kicked in, and I always walk in a straight line on the right hand side of the walkway, but I am prepared for a possible collision at any time.

The subway (tube) stations are another form of madness. This was London Bridge station earlier today. Sometimes I feel like a human bumper car!

London Bridge station on a weekday morning

Cars have the right of way

Also in a previous post, this is probably one of my biggest frustrations in everyday London life.  Even in New York City, pedestrians have the right of way when crossing the street.  (Note – I’m not defending New York completely. Often an aggressive strategy is necessary and you have to start crossing first or else a taxi will definitely use the opportunity to its advantage.)

But in London, even the narrow alleyways or parking garage lanes are targets if you’re not focused on the road at all times.

This morning, the car in the picture below didn’t even stop as he came to the intersection of Tooley street. If the man to the right of the car wouldn’t have stopped and taken a defensive step backwards, the car would have plowed him over. No respect for the pedestrians…

Weather

I miss the consistency of the New York weather forecast. Simple and straightforward, we’d see a temperature number for each day, and then there’d be a nice big graphic symbol indicating whether there’d be clouds, sun or precipitation.

BBC Weather is slightly different. First, you see an entire map of the UK with temperatures in each region. Next, there’s another “important” measurement statistic shown – a wind speed forecast. Hmmm…

Finally technical terms are revealed (i.e. terms like  “sunny spells”), and usually you hear the words rain, sun, and clouds all jumbled together in one day’s report.

However, after watching the forecast I feel more confused and overwhelmed than ever. So instead, I’ve officially given up on it.

I find the best technique is to bring an umbrella – at all times!!

Service

Thousands of pubs everywhere, the pub culture is a spectacle in itself. Two words will prepare you to cope with the cultural differences of pubs in the U.K. vs. bars in the U.S.  – Patience and Queues.

The majority of London pubs do not have table service.  Instead, the proper process is to find a table, mark your space, then walk up to the bar to obtain a menu and order your drinks.  Your food will be delivered to your table after you provide either a location or table number to the bartender.

Queues are regularly formed and a part of everyday London life, so expect to spend some time waiting for your drinks on a busy Thursday or Friday night out after work.  After all, the bartender is making the same hourly rate whether or not he serves 10 people an hour or 100 people an hour.  See my previous post, Let’s talk about tipping for more of my observations on the service standards.

Water Heaters

On my search for flat rentals upon my move to London a year and a half ago, I often was surprised as I opened up closets to inspect what appeared to be a large, spacious closet. Alternatively, I found a huge hot water heater behind the closet door.

This is very typical of a European flat! Each flat has its own hot water heater.

In our apartment building, there are peak and off peak hours for hot water.  During the off peak hours, and if you’ve used a lot of water that day (for me that means a load of laundry, one dishwasher cycle, and showers for 2 people) , you generally will run out of hot water at night!

Luckily there’s a separate “booster switch” that I can turn on which will generate more hot water for the next hour or two that evening.

Conclusion

When you move to a new place, minor everyday differences are common. Adjustment time is a necessary part of the settling in period and frustration may creep up on occasion, even after you’ve settled in to your new life!

But the real truth of the matter is…the advantages of living in such a thriving, beautiful city as London outweigh any of the little aggravations I sometimes feel. I know that I will miss these quirky differences when I move back to the United States.