Fish n Chips 56

That would be a bummer Jackie...

Some of you may remember that Parking was on my list of British hates, People fight for spaces close to shops on Saturday mornings...

Most of the time, Ive lived here Ive had free parking, I dont think Wyoming has a parking meter in the whole state, and so much room to park... I Loved it...

Here in Oregon it can cost a fortune to park a car...
Ive had two parking tickets while living in Oregon, One was for a broken meter I had put money in, I was only parked for 6 minutes, the other was for reversing into a space sooner than driving in straight, it made it easier to drive out when leaving, I had to pay a fine for that, the rules here make no sense, they even have rules against feeding meters, why does it matter which car is in which space as long as the city is getting its revenue???.

In Seattle I remember paying $10 for two hours parking on a vacant lot...

Vegas, Ive never paid to park, like Wyoming there is so much space...

Derrygal

Free parking is nice, although there are some places here that you have to pay for parking and they will ticket you and fine you if you go over your allotted time. 80 pounds does seem a bit much though!

Fish n Chips 56

Over the top is how I see it too, especailly when you think of how much hate there is here, Its a melting pot that isnt melting too well these days, I wont list all the hates I see except to say the Wealthy seem to hate the middle class, and the blacks have always had a rough deal in my eyes, then there are Mexicans and Gays, I cant believe this country is so far behind...

I wish people would stick together for the common good but they dont...

I think many Americans like the July 4th Holiday because its a day off with pay of which they have few...

Englishman43

ldyinlv

Asda, you have to pay for parking, the Store I worked in had gates on their parking lot that they closed at night, the place I got the ticket was a service area on the side of the highway!!!
The only place I know of in Vegas that you have to pay is infront of the court building, and they have meters..What is the deal on parking here, I understand in small town centers, but whats the deal on everywhere else..its ridiculous. As I said..I need to go home, I find things very frustrating here..lovely country, but not for me.
Jackie

Mummy in the foothills

Strangely enough it's not a paid hoilday for Dh who is a teamster

Gabgoeshome

This is very interesting thanks...

Not to be too fickle,but are Smarties really on the decline?

M&Ms are SO not the same!

cheers

Thanks for reminding me.
I got a ticket for parking a bus in the downtown area of Las Vegas, and the area you described, because I had parked in a commercial zone. Excuse me? A bus is not a commercial vehicle? I went to court and fought it and lost.
Life can be unfair in either country.

cheers

Hey Mummy I'm a teamster and we have been on strike for 15 years, any advice?

ldyinlv

Thats true, but at least I dont have cameras on me entering the parking lot at Target, and then again when I leave, and a close up of my licence plate., and then recieving a bill in the mail a couple of days later because I had the nerve to park and shop in their store without paying for it.!!

Pistolpete2

I can't think why they would be! Smarties are Nestle which is Swiss while M&Ms are Mars which is American.

Since Cadbury's is now part of Kraft I would expect some marketing changes but not fundamental changes to the way chocolates are sold in the UK.

ldyinlv

I recieved a big box of Smarties on Valentines day, I dont think they are anything like M&Ms..they are good, but much sweeter, and they are in all the grocery stores I have been in..

Beedubya

Sorry I haven't been on much, but after my spell in hospital and my week off, I think I returned to work too early (but what can you do, new job and all that), I had a bit of a relapse on Friday but seem to be OK again now...just spent a wee while catching up on all the old posts I had sadly neglected.

So many good posts this past few weeks, loved ED's about Scotland I have never really fancied it up there but her words made me think about visiting one day.

Rodney and Rosie good posts as always and hitting the nail on the head, it is going to take most of us at least a year to assimilate back into UK life after so many years away.

Trotty True - fingers crossed this is the month for your house sale.

Charleygirl - on another thread we have said we will meet up in Blackpool - wooohhoooo, it's MANY MANY years since I went to that tacky town, but I do love it simply because of it's very tackiness.

Sallysimmons - how long now until your holiday??

Celtic spirit - how fab you will be in Sweden, any chance of you getting over to Ireland for a day or so?

Jackie I see you haven't answered my post and I do hope you didn't think I was being trite, it was just getting my friends text about job/money the world seeming a different place, etc. and the next thing seeing yours about returning to the USA. Of course it's not going to work out living over here for ALL of us, but please don't turn into a ping ponger or you will be forever broke LOL!! Of course money isn't the answer to everything but I know I would feel pretty miserable if I was living with my mother and not earning decent money and would feel very trapped. But you of course know what is best for you, and I wish you all the very best, hey at least you can say you tried it and it didn't work out, hey ho.

Like Rodney and Rosie said this returning thing is going to take some time for all of us........

I too have been frustrated many times at the Brit way of doing things, for instance to get my phone/internet on I had to get an actual physical visit from a BT engineer, yet in Australia they just sent the modem in the post and you set it up yourself..........of course you have to wait a few weeks for the appointment with said BT engineer which means you are cut off from the outside world so to speak.

Registering my car was hugely frustrating as in Australia you just go to the one place, not post offices and all that other stuff that made my hair curl.

Things I want to buy that were so simple to find in Australia like in the supermarket I just cannot find here, like these little plastic hook things you stick on the wall to hang up pictures etc, then you just pull the bottom of them when you don't want them anymore and they peel off leaving no marks on the wall, I have been all over the place and just cannot find them here.

Lots more posting of things here instead of emailing or scanning or faxing......why oh why?......grrrr......

Not so bad on the car parks around these here parts, at my local Sainsbury's in Wilmslowit is 90p for 2 hours so not so bad, but I have noticed the parking wardens hanging around like hawks, so am ultra careful at that particular car park. I'm not sure who controls the parking, is it the local council or the actual store? In Runcorn there is no parking fee at Asda and on Saturday I went to Wythenshawe (Manchester) and to the Asda with a multi storey car park and again no parking fee.......

The weather hasn't really bothered me so much, but in saying that, of course I am at work 9am-5.30pm Monday to Friday, when I was off for those 3 weeks before I started my job, it did get me down some days with the grey skies and rain and having no income and living in a shoebox, so if you are a bit of a sun worshipper that will surely get to you. My daughter has said she could never live back in England as she knows the gloomy weather would get her down.

Another thing I have found is that I have a different mentality to the average Brit regarding holidays, here everybody is talking about their next trip for a week in the sun, losing weight to fit into their holiday gear, or topping up their tan before leaving or always planning ahead to the next European holiday and I find I am just not on that same wavelength at all. I am more interested in seeing things in this country.............funny that.

Anyway today was a lovely bright sunny day so I took myself off to Dunham Massey http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-dunhammassey for a few hours. I had a bit of a nightmare journey there as I went on the motorway and when I exited I couldn't get into the correct lane to turn so ended up going around the roundabout 3 times LOL!! I was sooooo nervous as I exited my chin was seriously DITHERING!!

On the way back home I adjusted the sat nav to say "slowest way home, no motorways" and it was a breeze.

Fish n Chips 56

I bought some here recently, I used to love them, now I prefer M&Ms... maybe the ones I bought were old...

Rosie will have to look a little harder, hopefully they are still available...

jasper123

Jackie hello,
About the ------affording to go out to lunch once and a while, I think you kind of missed my point, I was just using that to explain that it does make a huge difference when one comes over here retired with an income, not a lot of money but enough to live somewhat comfortably without having to worry how to pay the next months rent,
About your parking ticket yes I agree that its more then creepy and outrages its just gouging every penny out of the public that it can,
But Vegas of course is one city in the U.S. that as you say apart from the downtown area around the courthouse and other government buildings where there are parking meeters everywhere, everywhere else is free parking, every casino and every shopping mall and every store --- even the little ones, ---- so really we who live in Vegas realize how spoilt we are in that respect,
But try parking for free in New York city, or San Francisco which is another cool place to live if one can afford the rent and parking is a problem in dozens of U.S. cities and States, and you have to pay for parking and those cities also need revenue so they will be also eager to fine you if you are parked somewhere that you are not supposed to be, or you let the meeter run out, ---- just saying