Questions for those in England

**britbunny** · 11-16-2010, 02:07 PM

Originally Posted by Squidge

My parents have not got delivered milk for around seven years because of the cost, but they have had an 'egg man' for a few years who comes up with fresh eggs from his farm in the countryside.

Anyone else in the UK avail of such a service? I definitely didn't think it was common.

ETA: Also, hello

We don't buy things from them but there's an egg man and a fish man that drive round on a weekly basis. They seem pretty popular. It's quite an old population here so there's lots of good local services - shops will deliver and all that kind of stuff so it's pretty useful.

When I was little we had all kinds of folks come round - bread, milk, eggs, fish, fizzy drinks etc. When I was a teenager there was also a guy who sold cooked fish at the pub. He'd come round with pots of whelks, crab sticks and all that kind of thing.

**wanderlusting** · 11-18-2010, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by britbunny

Harrogate isn't near Scotland! Maybe in US terms of space, but not in UK terms - it's miles away! In terms of tumble dryers there are vented ones as well as ones with a container - the container ones are usually used for places where it's difficult to get an outside vent.

Eh...I guess a few hour drive to an American is close. I guess we're just used to things being more spread out

**Trishagirl** · 11-19-2010, 08:52 AM

English Cottage I love the english shows on PBS love Keeping up Appearances so funny! Hyacinth and her sister Rose & family crack me up! and others too! I've wondered that too about their fridges also. I noticed their houses were small. Like townhouses.

**englishcottage1** · 12-09-2010, 12:04 PM

It seems that my dh isn't into the British shows, he is beginning to take note as to how many dvd's there are that he has no idea what they are, lol. I use both birthday and christmas money to buy new dvd's. I never knew until recently that "Are you being served" came out with a movie, got that. I can't say I sit and laugh all out while watching these dvd's, but they do humor me!

We have an egg "person" here, it's more of a local kid who delivers fresh eggs to all his customers, we get eggs every week, we had planned on getting chickens but I think I like this way better, we know they are fresh and were the eggs come from and what the chickens are feed, but I never heard of an actual egg man.

**The Muse** · 12-09-2010, 02:52 PM

Originally Posted by englishcottage1

Why are your fridges so small? Are all fridges over in Europe as small as I see on shows? How often do you need to buy your cold products?

I moved from the US to Denmark earlier this year and the fridges here are tiny compared to what I'm used to. The grocery stores are smaller and there's pretty much one in every neighborhood. In the US, I did big grocery shopping every 2 weeks, here, I shop every few days. A lot of people don't have cars, so it's actually more convenient this way.

Once in awhile, I ride my bike across town to stock up on dried beans from the middle eastern market, paper goods from Aldi, and tofu from the Asian shop, but I do most of my shopping every few days in my neighborhood.

And as others have mentioned, houses here are much smaller. My flat is 108 square meters and everyone thinks it's huge, it's actually bigger than a lot of houses. I don't have any built in closets, just a free standing wardrobe in my bedroom and some open shelves in the bathroom. I'm very lucky to have a washing cellar, though I don't have a dryer.

But taxes are very high and so is the cost of pretty much everything, so people have less.

**Vanilla** · 12-09-2010, 03:11 PM

Love those British shows: Keeping up Appearance, Faulty Towers, Are you being served, Mr Bean ... & also
there are 2 other shows, I cannot remember the titles:
1. old retired folks living in a senior center
2. about a couple, who were first loves, but found each other again late in life (the lady is also the head secret agent of the James Bond movie)

**pollypurebred39** · 12-09-2010, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by The Muse

I moved from the US to Denmark earlier this year and the fridges here are tiny compared to what I'm used to. The grocery stores are smaller and there's pretty much one in every neighborhood. In the US, I did big grocery shopping every 2 weeks, here, I shop every few days. A lot of people don't have cars, so it's actually more convenient this way.

Once in awhile, I ride my bike across town to stock up on dried beans from the middle eastern market, paper goods from Aldi, and tofu from the Asian shop, but I do most of my shopping every few days in my neighborhood.

And as others have mentioned, houses here are much smaller. My flat is 108 square meters and everyone thinks it's huge, it's actually bigger than a lot of houses. I don't have any built in closets, just a free standing wardrobe in my bedroom and some open shelves in the bathroom. I'm very lucky to have a washing cellar, though I don't have a dryer.

But taxes are very high and so is the cost of pretty much everything, so people have less.

I'm finding this thread most interesting. I do have a question about meters as I never really took to the metric system in school. :/

Does 108 square meters = 1,162.5 square feet?

**The Muse** · 12-10-2010, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by pollypurebred39

I'm finding this thread most interesting. I do have a question about meters as I never really took to the metric system in school. :/

Does 108 square meters = 1,162.5 square feet?

That's it! I didn't really have the metric system in school, so living here is interesting to say the least. Temperature is a blast, takes me a few seconds to register that "below 0" isn't really below 0.

**pollypurebred39** · 12-10-2010, 02:15 AM

"Temperature is a blast, takes me a few seconds to register that "below 0" isn't really below 0."

LOL! I swear I'd be in big trouble! I know that temperature thing stumps me.

**FrugalKate** · 12-14-2010, 08:26 PM

WOW does this thread bring back fond memories! After growing up "Across the Pond" in Ireland I can relate to a lot of things that were said here. We too had a tiny fridge, a "utility room" a fireplace in every room, hung laundry from the line, the milkman delivered milk, eggs and buttermilk (my Nanna used to drink that - personally

YUCK!), the breadman would deliver 2 loves of white and 1 loaf of brown...WOW what memories...I miss them. I absolutely LOVE Keeping Up With Appearances, Are You Being Served, Waiting For God, The Vicar of Dibley and my all time favorite is Eastenders!''

To this day I still love "a cuppa", in fact I'm having a nice one right now! Cheers!

**FrugalKate** · 12-14-2010, 09:08 PM

[QUOTE=Vanilla;1449599]Love those British shows: Keeping up Appearance, Faulty Towers, Are you being served, Mr Bean ... & also
there are 2 other shows, I cannot remember the titles:
1. old retired folks living in a senior center
2. about a couple, who were first loves, but found each other again late in life (the lady is also the head secret agent of the James Bond movie)[/QUOTE]

1. Waiting For God - Diana Trent and Tom Ballard are the main characters and let's not forget "the idiot Baines" and his sidekick Jane. LOL!

2. As Time Goes By - Staring Judi Dench as Jean and Geoffry Palmer as Lionel.