MISCELLANEOUS

    Initially, we were surprised to note that renovation is a thriving business over here.  There are always scaffolds on some buildings (even in some of our pictures) - at least one or two buildings on our street are being renovated at one time.  However, our U.S.A.'s history goes back only a fraction of the Britain's history, so our buildings are not very old compared with the age of the structures here.

     Several common words are spelled differently here in the UK, e.g. "dialing" is spelled with two "l's" (dialling).  The Brits place the accent on different syllables than we do; therefore, the pronunciation of several words is different than ours.  For example, we pronounce vitamin as "vie-tah-min"; whereas, here it is pronounced "vit-a-min" (makes sense!). 

    We have seen only one small fly, one weak bee, and one small crawling insect.  I'm not sure it is a good sign environmentally, but it does allow us to keep our windows open without screens (haven't seen a flat yet with screens, but I'm sure they're out there!).

    The "dustmen" pick-up the trash/refuse/garbage/ in this area occurs almost nightly between  11:15 and 11:30 (there is less traffic).  It is also interesting to note that the trash is put out in plastic bags, not containers, on the pavement.

    Television here is different than in the States; there are fewer channels, but also fewer and shorter commercials.   We added pictures (below) of a couple of things on the television we doubt you'd see in the States.  One channel is following the life of a gerbil for one year and show it's progress before commercials in the evening...his name is Warren.
 

  The other item Tim captured from the television is a 17th century cottage supposedly worth £200,000 (~ $290,000)...it certainly looks more expensive than that, but they don't show the inside or the plumbing...

We've had to eat out often because of limited cooking appliances right now.  Although we've eaten Brit, Swedish, Italian, American, and Vegetarian food...our favorite place is the Cafe Rouge (French).  Tim took a couple of pictures last night...there were minstrels out on the pavement...we'll get better pictures next time.

Whereas we in the U.S.A. dial 9-1-1 for emergencies, the Brits have made it easier...they dial 9-9-9!