Strange things about London

---

OK - so there are a few strange/annoying things about London. Have decided to keep a list (to remind me when I start thinking these things are normal!!). List is in no particular order re level of annoyingness.

• People do not indicate when driving .
  
• Smoking - still allowed in restaurants (but that will be ending soon).
  
• Supermarkets sell most fruit and veg items pre packed - this means you have to buy way more beans or snow peas or whatever than you would ever need.
  
• Bike riders without helmets!!! Even worse taking into account lack of indicating by drivers.
  
• You can park your car facing in either direction on the side of the street (ie do not have to park in direction of traffic flow). Actually means it is easier to nip into that spot on the other side of the road (or it would be, if I drove here) but a bit disconcerting when you are trying to work out if a street is one way or not.
  
• Despite being militant about which side of the escalator you must stand in the tube (as an aside - it’s the right - go figure, surely it should be the left?), there is no convention for the stairs leading into the stations. At busy times, against the flow, you have to be a human dodgeball. Actually, there is no keep left (or right) convention anywhere, including on the footpath.
  
• ATM's - there are hardly any of them, and when you do find them, they are unbelievably slow!! (and invariably have a VERY LONG queue at 'peak (read nearly all) times)
  
• The traffic lights go ambder both before they go red (like in Oz) and before they go green - but it is not a 'get ready' orange, it is a 'you can go now' orange. If you can go, why doesn't the light just go green and be done with it?
  
• Shower pressure - generally crap (although quite good at my place thank goodness!)
  
• Loos - lots of them are really difficult to flush and require a dgree of pumping the 'flusher'. Something to do with the water pressure perhaps?
  
• Limescale - gross. Limescale occurs because - who would have thought - London's water supply is encased in a bed of limestone. Anyway - unless you filter your water - it leaves a gross scale on your applicances (especially noticable in the kettle). Sometimes, at the end of a cup of tea, there can be a chunky bit of limescalse - gross. Don't think I will ever get used to that!
  
• Coffee - not good here (and no flat whites). I don't know why - they have the proper machinery and everything. I mean, how hard can it be?
  
• Paying by credit card. People do it everywhere. For tiny amounts. And no one minds. On the plus side - you can go to dinner with 8 people, all get out cards with which to pay the bill, split it however you want and no one bats an eyelid. That is awesome.
  
• No light switches or power points in the bathroom - and they say Australia is a nanny state.
  
• Weird traffic lights - where there is a green/red arrow and a normal light, the arrow id for the main traffic - very confusing!!
  

I am sure there are more, but that is all that I can think of at the moment.

---

Comments

[St Peters]

.
This list represents a small portion of the types of things we warned you about before you embarked on this futile adventure. Please come home and stop wasting cyberspace.

[Miss Australia]

I told you so
I told you so. But it was your DREAM to experience all of these things wasn't it? Is it your DREAM to freeze for the next 6 months?

[Neroli]

Ok so you clowns were right
no need to rub it in

[Cadsky]

Watch out for briefcases
You might either want to join in the general rush of people swarming up/down the stairs at Tube stations or keep clear of businessmen doing the 5 minute mile with their brief cases. I was knee-capped.