Jensmate

I thought I'd never say this but.....I'm beginning to get a little homesick for the US. Not to live there, mind.....but fot the orderliness and efficiency of systems: spot on delivery services, excellent customer service, professionalism and courtesy etc.
it just ain't ain't happening here. Service with a scowl seems to be the order of the day particularly from package and freight delivery companies.
A huge exception is Ikea. But it's Scandinavian and they do customer service like they invented it!
Elsewhere, not so much.

I haven't eaten so much fruit and vegetables since forever. It is a joy to buy a kilo of apricots for $2.00!! A watermelon for the same. A punnet of strawberries for $1.25. I'm making up for 40 years of bacon deprivation by having it for breakfast with grilled tomatoes every morning. A quart of pure unhomogenized Guernsey milk for $1.25.
A walk around Asda is an adventure!

A negative: this country is drowning in packaging. So much bloody packaging! I'm tempted to rip each and every plastic bag and box off the fruit and veg after purchase and leave it for the store to get rid of. What's wrong with the old greengrocer method of choosing your own items and theiir beong put in a paper bag or simply put straight into a shopping bag?

Street trash. Some British are...pigs. So very much litter and much thrown on the ground within striking distance of a trash can. Keep Britain Tidy...Again.

Busybodying. Folk here like to get into other folks business. Gossip gossip gossip. An entire spiteful lconversation can ensure from an observation that the neighbours hedge hasn't been clipped. Small mindedness. It's a hobby.
Island mentality?

Buses. How much do I love thee? Let me count the ways!!!!!
No car and don't miss it. For a £7.00 Dayrider ticket, iiI can bus into Hythe, enjoy a morning antique shop crawling, bus from there through the picturesque Elham Valley to Canterbury for an afternoon of department store shopping and a turn around the Cathedral predict and bus home to Folkestone. My flat is five mins from the bus station. No parking fees and no stress. The buses are comfortable and have free WiFi. I get to be chauffeured and to sightsee for a whole day for one price...about 10 bucks.

Fast food. Despite there being a KFC, a Burger King and a McDonalds all within walking distance from my apartment, I haven't succumbed. These days my idea of fast food is coffee and a cream donut in a cafe, fish and chip supper in town, a pot of cockles drowning in vinegar at the Harbour or a strawberry and clotted cream ice cream on the Leas. Even Subway which, during my working years I considered a healthier choice for a quick bite is given a miss. Their bread is crap!

Financial (in)security. I don't like the fact that I have to transfer money from my US account to my UK account. If my device gets stolen, breaks or quits working I'm shafted. I'd feel a whole lot better if all my US pensions could just drop straight into my UK account. What happens if I become the victim of dementia, forget how to do the transfers, forget to transfer at all?
It feels like it could break down from the US end if problems occur at my bank. Very uncomfortable with that one degree of separation from my money.

Bad ideas: plastic banknotes.No more bleeding plastic please.
Good ideas: Battle of Britain Memorial sausages from Rooks the butchers. By God these are tasty! What is the secret spice? No, not the ground up remains of Spitfires but real ale.

Most poignant moment this far. Watching a flyby of a Lancaster bomber flanked by a Spitfire and a Hurricane last weekend followed by a display by the Red Arrows. I felt so patriotic. I've seen patriotism at its best and worst over my 40 years in the States and have been untouched and unmoved by it all.
Those three WWII planes reduced me to tears with a depth of pride in my country that I hadn't experienced in decades.

All well this far.........

NiHao

I really enjoy reading your updates, thank you for taking the time.

between two worlds

What an interesting update, Jensmate! I can relate to many of your observations...though re customer service, I have found shocking inefficiency in quite a few places, especially re paperwork, but usually I have encountered courtesy and helpfulness.

Like you, I really appreciate that (if near public transport) one can live easily without a car. I quite enjoy buses and trains!

The litter is very depressing...did you know the wonderful Bill Bryson ( Notes from a Small Island, etc) is campaigning against litter? It is a scourge on this beautiful country.

Thanks for the post!