What do you find strange about the other country?

[tracy123]

OK this is not attacking the UK or Australia, but what do you find strange that either country is missing or has not taken off in that country.

Myself I find it strange that the UK’s petrol pumps don’t have the option for exact fill. (You just press £10, £20 etc and it fills to that amount)

That snack chocolate is not on sale in the UK

That bbq chicken shops are not big here

Thing’s I find funny in Australia is the chip barm can not be found.

Now Australia is not the UK and visa versa, so I guess we should be grateful that both countries are different and sell and do things differently to each other so lets keep it light hearted and have a laugh

[Bod]

I was surprised at the lack of Solor panels in a country with so much Sun

[Guest guest30038]

I find it strange that there's a distinct lack of intelegenge on there behalf :biglaugh:

[Guest siamsusie]

As Essex said Solar Panels... very sad.

 

For me I also find it "surprising" to find there are no main boxes to switch off the ovens and hot plates...

 

Bathroom ...electric sockets are too close to the basins

 

Double glazing & Insulation are a requirement in Tasmania now which is good.

 

Grey water use & Water tanks could be made compulsary.

[Guest guest37336]

I was and am still surprised that a food item with the word 'Floater' in it, i.e Pie Floater is eaten with such relish.

 

Must admit I like them despite the name.

 

 

Cheers Tony.

[tracy123]

I was and am still surprised that a food item with the word 'Floater' in it, i.e Pie Floater is eaten with such relish.

 

Must admit I like them despite the name.

 

 

Cheers Tony.

 

Don't pick on the pie floater, it's Joe Cockers favourite thing about S.A or so rumour has it :tongue: (pie floating in mushy peas)

[Guest SDJ&A]

I was surprised at the lack of Solor panels in a country with so much Sun

 

 

Totally agree with you there, Essex, I expected to see them on nearly every roof.

I think I saw more in the uk! Although there does seem to be more appearing now.

 

Geoff, What's 'chip barm?'.

 

Can't really think of anything that I could call strange. Different, oh yes, but not really strange.

[MicheleW]

I found it really strange that security screen doors weren't available in the UK. TBH They might be now but when I was looking for a sliding security door about 8 years ago they were nowhere to be found.

[Guest guest30038]

As Essex said Solar Panels... actually I find that shocking.

 

For me I also find it "surprising" and actually "shocking lol to find there are no main boxes to switch off the ovens and hot plates...

 

 

 

Yeah? Is it so hard to simply have some kind of heavy duty plug that plugs into the wall? It's a bugger trying to clean under and behind the stove (I have a tendency to throw stuff out of the wok):rolleyes: when it's hard wired :rolleyes:

[tracy123]

Totally agree with you there, Essex, I expected to see them on nearly every roof.

I think I saw more in the uk! Although there does seem to be more appearing now.

 

Geoff, What's 'chip barm?'.

 

Can't really think of anything that I could call strange. Different, oh yes, but not really strange.

 

chips in a bread roll

[Guest gail.crease]

Only relevant in Melbourne:

Central heating

Double glazing

Roof insulation

 

All over Oz:

 

Recycling of water. I think it rains just as much in Melbourne as it does in the UK (feels like that at the moment) but we're still not out of the official drought. They're creating reverse osmosis plants in Melbourne but I think they should recycle water like we do in the UK. I've discussed it with aussies who are horrified at what we do and don't want it done here.

 

Lack of villages/centre points to surburbs. Some of the older suburbs have them in Melbourne but a little strip of shops doesn't constitute a village. There's something to be said for a central green, church, community centre and shops all in one place (not just a little strip of shops). I really expected it to be replicated here given the pommy background in Australia. I really thought this was lacking in Perth in particular probably because it's newer with lots of new housing estates (no offence to people in Perth...:-)

 

How sprawling the suburbs are with nothing out there. In the UK even in the country you're not far away from a major town. Considering the lower population here I didn't expect much rush hour traffic compared to London but because most of the work is in the city everyone is trying to get to the same place.

 

Lack of comprehensive train network. Given the vastness of Australia I would have expected a bigger train network. Melbourne has the most but it's not that good. The guys I work with coming from outer suburbs are always late in due to train problems. It's the only way to go given the growing population and most of the work being in the city.

 

The only thing missing in the UK is the WEATHER!!!!! Plus too many people in the South of England.

[Guest siamsusie]

Yeah? Is it so hard to simply have some kind of heavy duty plug that plugs into the wall? It's a bugger trying to clean under and behind the stove (I have a tendency to throw stuff out of the wok):rolleyes: when it's hard wired :rolleyes:

 

 

 

You have been here too long Kev, those boxes are just a light switch these days:biggrin: love Susie x

[Guest JulieW]

I find it really strange that the electricity wires here are not underground. They managed to put them underground in all the old medieval streets of Europe but have't done it here when they were starting from scratch. I find them so ugly and they are always getting blown down in high winds causing power failure. So why not put them underground?

[Guest SDJ&A]

chips in a bread roll

 

 

A chip butty? cool.

[tracy123]

A chip butty? cool.

 

So many names for the same thing :realmad::wacko::biglaugh:

[Que Sera Sera]

Having only been here 8 weeks there are so many differences, but the ones that really stick out for me is, when you go to the supermarket your bags are packed for you by the check out people, bliss! :jiggy:

 

When you pay for your stuff there is a choice of whether you swipe or insert, and then you have to choose either a Cheque, Savings or Credit button :confused:

 

But a major one for me is seeing kids walking around the streets and the supermarkets with no shoes on! :swoon:

 

The shear size of the prawns :notworthy:

 

And whats with the mash and gravy with KFC now thats just not cricket :biggrin:

[janine the party queen]

The lack of recycling house hold things.In Edinburgh we had 4 bins,2 bags and a huge garden waste bin.I could recycle everything including light bulbs and batteries.Here I have 2 bins and a shared garden one.

Parking your car in a certain direction !!!

Going out for breakfast at a weekend and seeing the amount of people out and about in their P.Js.

[Petals]

Different parts of Aus have difference too, reversing in in NSW and QLD we do not do that here unless we want to in Victoria.

 

In the UK Fly Screens as it was so warm when we were over there and in the country bothered by bugs. Screen doors, so can let the heat out of the double glazed houses.

 

Know why we do not have double glazing as they heat up and when they are hot its hot. We stayed in one place with a conservatory and it was like an oven in there. Took hours to cool down.

 

My oh missed proper oats in the UK as he has porridge every day.

 

I missed my jigglers.

 

Most of the things that could take off here will not as we are not enough people for the market to make a quid.

 

I prefer alcohol kept out of the actual supermarket.

 

I missed my salads with meals.

 

We had an automatic hire car but note that not a lot of people drive them. Who wants to change gear all the time, miffed by that one :laugh:

[Guest girlwizz99]

Odd that you can not find many sandwich shops - a nice English bakery where you can buy a crusty roll and have the fillings of your choice. For food on the go (ie, garages 'servos') you are looking at a bag of crisps or a 3 day old meat pie or a rancid smelling chiko roll. Surely it would be easy to whack a few rolls together - bit of stilton, choice of bread, salad (ie, NOT tinned pineapple and beetroot).... I don't know if it is a gap in the market or just not wanted...

 

That you have to go to a bottle shop to buy alcohol - I wasn't expecting that. I miss not being able to stroll up and down Tesco booze shelves, then choosing a good cheese to fit with the vino... Certainly when I lived in Northern Territory thought it was odd to have to produce ID if you wanted to spend over $100 in the Bottleshop!!

 

I'm surprised there isn't an NHS here. It's a rich country with all these minerals being dug out, Centrelink benefits are higher than the UK equivalent etc and in many ways Australia seems a more generous state. It's $60 to visit the doctor and prescriptions can be pretty fruity too - I had to pay $25 for antibiotics.

 

I like the way there isn't so much commerical acumen in OZ. Not everyone is out to milk you for what they can get and there are no way near so many 'jobs worths'. Having lived in the UK, Hong Kong , Beijing and Jordan during my life so far I think Australia is the least greedy. For instance, I still have some UK vulture debt company threatening me for a phone contract I never had over 5 years ago at my London address....I just can't see that happening in Oz.

 

Oh yeah, and people walking about in no shoes - I don't really like it as it seems a bit scruffy but imagine doing that on the grubby streets of London - you would be covered in dog cr_p and chewing gum immediately

[northernbird]

I find it really strange that the electricity wires here are not underground. They managed to put them underground in all the old medieval streets of Europe but have't done it here when they were starting from scratch. I find them so ugly and they are always getting blown down in high winds causing power failure. So why not put them underground?

 

Most of the suburbs around my house have underground power. South of me they don't but anything built since about 1990 here in northern perth gets underground power.

[Guest JulieW]

Great to hear that wires are put underground somewhere in Australia! Sadly, here in Melbourne, apart from right in the CBD, they all seem to be overhead.

[boganbear]

I've just seen a bloke in a business suit wearing thongs (flip flops)!!! now I've seen it all.

[boganbear]

Why do sinks not have an overflow hole to stop the water from pouring everywhere if you leave a tap on? And none of the places we have lived at have a plug on a chain either. We've had to buy all the plugs ourselves

[Guest JulieW]

Yes, I managed to flood the bedroom because I forgot I was running a bath in the en-suite and there was no overflow! Why ever not?

[Guest guest30038]

Yes, I managed to flood the bedroom because I forgot I was running a bath in the en-suite and there was no overflow! Why ever not?

 

There should be an overflow in the ensuite floor which should be set lower than your bedroom..............at least that is the statutory requirement in Qld.

 

The thinking is that if your sink U bend is blocked causing an overflow if you had the overflow set in the side of the sink as in the UK, the overflow would still have to negotiate the same blocked U bend :unsure: In fact most overflows are simply a result of leaving the plug in whilst the tap is running :goofy:

 

kev