Odd things people say
 

Heard at work

Houses in Britain don't have yards/gardens.

Re: Odd things people say
 

About half of the places I lived in the UK didnt... mostly terraced houses though.

Its a generalisation I supppose, we would never do that around here would we:D

Re: Odd things people say
 

Did you not have an allotment with a shed in the UK? You must be posh.

Re: Odd things people say
 

Lots of places around were my grandparents lived had no yard/gardens.

Looked a lot like Coronation Street.:(

Re: Odd things people say
 

I thought you were posh.

No back yard, no garden, nothing??

My family comes from a mining village in the NE and even when we lived in a colliery cottage we had a back yard. It was much bigger than the ones on Corrie too. The only time I haven't had a back garden or yard was when I lived in a studio flat in Swiss Cottage.

The woman who said this to me thought that we had no outside space at all.

Re: Odd things people say
 

:rofl:

Nope, a small patch of concrete out back by the (no longer functional) outside lav, and a yard of grass out front. Plus bars at the windows. Nice. Student life in Leeds LS6:thumbup:

Even the nicer houses I lived in didnt have half the space around them I have now. Little need of a sit down lawnmower in the UK.

Re: Odd things people say
 

Someone commented recently that I do not wear hats on a regular basis. This someone has gained their knowledge of the UK by watching the Antiques Roadshow. They assume that people there wear a lot of hats.

Re: Odd things people say
 

Lived in terraces in Newcastle, W Yorks & Canterbury - all had a back yard or some sort.
Back to back terraces though might not - each side backing on to a street?
My terrace now has a back yard which backs on to a fabulous valley view (when not raining)!

When I worked in Finland, yrs ago they thought we did not have central heating or double glazing in the UK.

When I lived in Canterbury, they believed we lived off mushy peas in Yorkshire - not so far off then ;)

Re: Odd things people say
 

:rofl::rofl:

Re: Odd things people say
 

oh come on, half the space is still space. Lawns, flower beds, rockeries all seem pretty common in my humble experience.

Re: Odd things people say
 

Half the houses I lived had no yard or next to no yard, thats the point.

While I was in Leeds
House 1 was a back to back mid terrace, nothing but 6 ft of concrete in front

House 2 was end terrace with a tiny yard on one side, maybe 8 feet deep. It was right by the allotment though:)

House 3 was a regular terrace. concrete out back, narrow strip of grass out front

House 4 was a terraced, concrete out back, walk out on street in front.

On the other hand you could direct the naysayers to Chatsworth or Hampton Court, those sort of houses have very nice gardens:thumbsup:

Re: Odd things people say
 

Both grandparents lived in Coal Board terraced houses. The front straight out onto the street (with the obligatory shiny front step). At the back of the house was a paved yard - the width of the house and about 15 foot deep. This contained the coal house and the nettie. Both had allotments nearby.

When we went posh and moved to Durham we had garden front and back.

To me, a yard was an enclosed and paved space but a garden was not paved and so could be lawn as well as flower beds. I still sometimes get the terms confused in Canada.

Re: Odd things people say
 

I agree there are some strange preconceptions about the UK in North America. I know some people from the States that assume the British live in the world of a slightly updated Dickens novel.

No gardens at all? The average UK outside space is probably smaller than the average Canadian 'yard' maybe. A Google surf along satellite pictures of the average Canadian and UK town maybe in order for your colleagues...

Re: Odd things people say
 

Out of the four houses i lived in in the UK 3 had no real garden - one in Leeds was a real back to back, straight onto the street, no garden, no back yard no nothing. The other had a teeny patch of concrete out the front, but nothing I would call a real yard/garden as it was barely big enough to put your wheeliebin in. Both of those were terraced houses in Leeds.

Then we lived in a teeny cottage in a small village in Liecstershire - tiny patch of concrete out the back, but straight onto the road at the front, and to get to our tiny back yard you had to go through 2 other peoples yards.

The fourth one had a huge garden and was the only one we actually owned as apart from renting.

Re: Odd things people say
 

I always thought pease pudding was known as Yorkshire caviar or Geordie hummus?

Re: Odd things people say
 

Mushy peas are not the same thing as pease pudding if that's what you mean.

Re: Odd things people say
 

food of the gods, mushy peas :rofl:

..... being in god's own country ;)

pease pudding I had in newcastle, more geordie / north yorks perhaps

Re: Odd things people say
 

What about when you lived in Cheshire, and Bedfordshire?? We lived in a 2 up 2 down in Bedford and had back and front gardens. Compared to here they are tiny but that's not the point is it?

Re: Odd things people say
 

As I think I said, half the places had gardens, half didnt.

As generalisations about the UK go, its half right, many houses have no (or not much) yard, and residential space is at something of a premium (Compared to Canadian norms).

Did they say "ALL houses have no yard", or just "Houses have no yard", which is certainly true of some houses...

Re: Odd things people say
 

Generalisations are all too common.

Before she got posted to the UK, Souvette watched Corrie. She genuinely expected the UK to be like that.

My ex-boss when I worked at the CHC told me that Canadian diplomats being sent to London use Yes Minister as a training aid. Apparently, it is very close to reality.

Re: Odd things people say
 

My B-I-L thinks that it rains all the time in England, people walk around with umbrellas tucked under their arms, eat bland food all the time and all talk with an accent like the queen. He finds NASCAR interesting.....:eek:

Re: Odd things people say
 

They said that people in Britain had no yard, no outside space at all.

They also think that Copenhagen is a beer.

Re: Odd things people say
 

I have heard that too. Jonathan Lynn has said that he had inside sources and his family has polititians in it too.

Re: Odd things people say
 

You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment.

Re: Odd things people say
 

It is probably no different to the person in the UK I was speaking to who had no idea that we had summers in Canada... They thought we had snow all the time.

Or the parent on a home-ed board I was on many years back, who thought that UK stood for either Ukraine or Yukon :eek:

You get ignorant people all over...

Re: Odd things people say
 

We do have winter all year in Ontario and live in igloos. You know this to be true so why deny it?

Re: Odd things people say
 

Isn't that House of Cards rather than Yes, Minister?

Re: Odd things people say
 

I find people often confuse London with the UK in general. eg/ where in London are you from? erm, Manchester.

Have also been told numerous times that houses in the UK dont have central heating.

Re: Odd things people say
 

At least they are in the right hemisphere! I get pegged as an Australian eh!

Re: Odd things people say
 

Yes. Similar vein, though.

Re: Odd things people say
 

To flip things around a bit.....

My aged parents are visiting us next week for their first winter trip to Canada. Mother informed me a couple of weeks ago that she'd gone and bought thermal long-johns to stay warm. I reminded her that we do, indeed, have central heating in Canada. ;)

Re: Odd things people say
 

What, outside?

Its bloody freezing in Vancouver today. If I had long johns I'd be wearing them today.

Re: Odd things people say
 

It's -1 in Vancouver, you big girl's blouse.

Re: Odd things people say
 

If she's anything like my mum she will need them indoors too. My mum isn't comfortable unless the temp is around 80F. She can find a draft anywhere too.

Re: Odd things people say
 

Yes, it's called the Alberta tar-sands.;)

Re: Odd things people say
 

But its a damp cold:sneaky::lol:

Re: Odd things people say
 

Or, as it is also known, "poof cold".

Re: Odd things people say
 

I suppose for you lot out east, a poof is somebody who owns a coat.

Re: Odd things people say
 

You are mixing up your foibles.

Re: Odd things people say
 

well said. its -26, -30 with the windchill here at the moment. my girl has just walked home from school. so maybe a small girls blouse is more appropriate.