Let me just give the stats:
My car here has about a 12 gallon tank.
I filled it up with 45 litres of gas at about £1 per litre. So that was about £45 - or $90. So do some math and you see that is about $8.50 a gallon!
So stop whining Americans.
Start walking or biking.
One innovation I like is that in restaurants, there is no need for the waiter to take your credit card away. They bring a portable card charger with them to the table and charge your card right there and allow you to sign or add tip or whatever right there on the machine which is the size of a small shoe.
As we got here, the University of Plymouth has a process whereby they check all the electricity on everyone's computers. They just need your plug and the adapter you are using to plug into their plugs. They plug it into some machine that looks like an old cash register and/or a large volt meter and then numbers fly across the screen. Did I mention that two men are manning this process? So then they put a handwritten little sticker on the computer's electrical power adapter plug and the plug adapter. When I ask them what this does, they say it makes sure everyone's plugs are working. I have not had either of my computers tested because one is at the house and I haven't brought it in and my other one had the short 2-prong plug which didn't fit into their approved adapters because it was made for a 3-prong and was indented so the Apple plug didn't fit. I had to bring in the longer version of my plug that has the 3-prong end and by that time, the 2 men who test were gone.
Not that I think what they did really does ANYTHING but creates a job for 2 men.
Seriously, they do this for all their students? Or is it just because we are all from a bunch of different countries? But why then, do the computer companies make the plug transformers to accommodate 120-240 volt electricity? The issue has already been nipped in the bud.
I have very strong views about sinks and faucets. For example, I am a big fan of the one sink kitchen sink (I have no use for divided sinks). But this is not really about sinks, it is about faucets.
Throughout the UK (it was this way when I lived in Scotland, too, in 1990-91), all the sinks have two spigots - one for hot and one for cold. Some older homes in the U.S. have these separate water spigots but most updated bathrooms have one spigot - they might have two handles, but one spigot.
I just don't know and have never learned the best way to wash one's face when you have the 2 spigot faucet. The hot water is coming out of one while the cold water out the other. So here are my approaches:
1. Try to use just the hot water before it turns really hot. [this usually does not work so then I must move on.]
2. Cup my hands under the cold water and then under the hot for mixing and then splash on face. Usually I still burn my hands a bit with this method.
3. The third and least clean is to put the sink plug in, let the water join in the basin and then just rinse with increasingly soapy water.
One of the great things about the UK is their fondness for tea and hot chocolate, two of my favorite beverages. I do not drink coffee and therefore often have hot chocolate as a replacement. On the local flight from London to Plymouth, as we sat on the tarmac for an hour they came by offering us beverages, including hot chocolate. I was so happy and I even had another one when they came by in flight for more beverages.
One word: Smoking. In London Gatwick, I was aghast to see a Smoking Section. It is such a joke as it is a square area in the middle of a concourse with plexiglass that goes about 3 ft. high above the walls. At least in Thailand and other airports, the smoking room is completely enclosed and you can barely see in with all the cancer-causing smoke within it shrouding the windows. Instead, in Gatwick, we all get to breathe it – like when I was taking my 3 hour nap. The positive side to this is that for 7 hours, I kept hearing an announcement that on July 1st, there is no smoking anywhere in Gatwick per new government regulations. Thank goodness!!!
Now, they just need to work on bars and restaurants.
A couple things I really like so far…. If we are talking innovation.
Well, I saw “Boots,� my favorite drug store – it is kind of like Walgreens. It is close to my heart because in 2000, a couple of us hiked the West Highland Way in Scotland – a 10 day trek from Glasgow to Ft. William. I got a really, really bad blister during the hike and a fellow hiker gave me this most innovative gel-filled band-aid – much better than anything I’d ever seen in the U.S. I even went to Boots to pick up a few more to bring home with me.
The other item is the hand-dryer. In the bathrooms in Gatwick, they have air-hand-dryers that if I had my notes I could tell you the name but their slogan is “Feel the power.� These dryers blew air with such force that I could see an indentation in my skin on my hands and, more important, my hands were dry in an instant.