392 - Home sweet home ?

So, in the past few entries, I discussed our trip to London (and Oxford), our visits to the park, to exhibits, mueseums, eating at a pizzeria and meeting friends. All the posts for this trip share the UK1018 keyword.

 Today, I want to do a bit of a comparison.

More precisely, that It's good to be back home, and yet, there are some positives about the UK that are worth mentioning and which I miss :

• No children's playground next to the flat (here we do, and we hear them all the damn time, and we hate the noise they make and that parents ignore, insensitive to it themselves, and not caring if anyone else is bothered). Sure, some kids are loud anywhere, but if you have a playground right next to your window, it compounds the sounds. Ah, How I loved that part of quiet neighbourhood in Lewisham. 
• Everyone speaks English, and it was funny overhearing French in London. 
• All food products are labeled veggie and vegan, allergens in bold, and so much easier to find something we can eat! Contrary to France, where I need my app to check all the E's and dechyper their full-names, reading long lists of ingredients and having to dig out my phone on each doubt, or having to contact companies to know if I can eat their product. 
• More, a LOT MORE vegan products in supermarkets, and no one looks at you as an alien when you ask for a vegan substitue or option, even in fast food Subway. In France, you are still a minority, and often asked if chicken and seafood's ok for your query of vegan food. (I kid ya not). 
• Speciality breads at more affordable prices than in France, and some aren't even available over here. 
• People saying pardon me when they bump into you. 
• Continual information in transit. Stop announcements. Easier to find correspondances, and although public transportation is more expensive, it's cleaner, nicer to be in and covers a lot of distance. Disability access and pins to get a seat. 
• Stronger frequency in all transport modes, might be a given for a big metropolis, but still has to be counted. 
• The burrough we were in gathers trash and recycling in such a way that bins didn't stink like they do here in France. It was refreshing and let my emeto have a small break, although not fully gone as some streets had litter (bones and food) on the ground. Overall, cleaner than over here, and as I said, the trash and recycling are so much better! 
• The flat had a dishwasher and so, I had to wash far fewer by hand, and this also helped my emeto relax a bit. 
• No one smoked in our face, contrary to France, where we always have to get up and move away from smokers. In fact, not FIVE minutes back in France, someone smoked right next to our bench, didn't apologize and shortly after we moved farther away, he left his cigarette, still lit, in the bin, and left. Not a single word of apology. 

Some odd bits I learned are different in the UK: 

• Alright, we knew about electricity, so we brought a USB to international plug thingy, to charge our phones. It's a great, magical device. 
• The shower was different, as there is an electical mixer thing, with a knob, and you gotta find the right position for the temperature. When you start it, it's kinda either scalding or really cold, and passes from one to another extreme, before your setting gets in sync. I never got it right. 
• No fees entering permanent collections in mueseums. The temp exhibits can be pricy, and there is a yearly subscription to visit them all, whears in France, some publics have free (unemployed...), everone else pays the mueseum rates, according to age. 
• Some food can be pricer than in France, especially fruits, but not always. 
• Security agents in stores don't seem to give a damn. I wonder what they really do, as none of them checked my bags, and they didn't interveen when someone was stealing stuff, unti a woman went to tell the cashiers about it! Here, they're on top of you in no time, even when you didn't steal anything. A buzz is enough. 

Sure, it's good to be home for a lot of reasons, but London, despite some difficulties and costs, does attract and I'd like to go back. In fact, we're thinking of doing just that in a year or two.