It depends where you are in the country. If you're in Wales, North-West England or Scotland, there are only two types of weather. Its either raining... Or its going to rain
Strange choice of words at the end - you don't have to 'endure' these culture shocks, it sounded like you were embracing them with enthusiasm. Endure means, to me at least, that you tolerate something against your will.
To be honest as a Brit - you strike me as a really easy person to get along with, and no doubt that also influences the way in which people react to you. So - WELCOME!
Our focus on weather may be in part because I suspect we spend a lot more time outside, whether it is hanging clothes outside to dry or walking instead of driving etc. Even indoors we are not as isolated from weather as we do not use USA style industrial grade air-conditioning and heating systems.
The first time I visited the US it was a real culture shock of how little people walk. Even getting from our hotel to a restaurant down the road they seem to make it as difficult as possible to walk, you end up walking across large parking lots and feeling like you shouldn’t be there. Even in cities like Atlanta it’s difficult to walk to a bar (and it feels very unsafe).
The three biggest culture shocks I got when I went to the States were in order, the restaurant portion sizes, the volume of adverts on the telly and the enormous immaculate churches you saw in some pretty run-down midwestern towns.
I love your comment about walking-first time I went to the States was Los Angeles in 1981, the first day we were a bit spaced out and jet lagged so decided to walk down the road and explore-we were staying on Beach Boulevard in Buena Park. Anyway we walked down the road to Knotts Berry Farm, we had to cross a road with my daughters buggy-the pavement was so high above the road that I had to carry it to cross-people looked at us as though we were nuts-nobody walks in LA!
The variety of accents surprises many people . I live in Manchester and you can tell by the accent if somebody is from north of the city centre or south. I originally come from the Newcastle area and you can tell if somebody is from north of the river or south. It's insane really. On the sense of community, this is something I'd never thought about until last year when I was discussing the NHS with a couple of Americans. One of them asked me if I didn't resent the idea of 'freeloaders'. Hand on heart I had no idea what he meant. Then he explained that he meant people who paid low taxes because they were on low wages or people who didn't pay tax at all but could still get full treatment. I explained it wasn't something anybody ever thought about. It was only then that I realised that the whole concept of the NHS relied on an innate sense of community and of looking after each other that we don't even think about let alone question.
I read of a investigation into this subject, which discovered, at least out in rural areas, that accents/ dialects, change slightly every 20 miles. After living in the West Country for 60 yrs, locals still ask, are you from the midlands.
What does annoy me about "freeloaders" on our NH is people come from 3rd world countries just to have babies. If they can afford the trip they can afford decent healthcare in their own countries. Also people just arriving on our shores and gaining preference to medical treatment than people who dam well paid for the stuff.
The one thing i find amusing about what Americans in the UK find as a culture shock is the weather. If i moved to Florida, i could hardly say the hot weather was a culture shock, as i would/should have already known beforehand. Surely Americans, through experience or the internet, should have a good idea beforehand how the weather is over here. I’ll never inderstand why that is a “culture shock” 😂😂…You wouldn’t go to Iceland and then be surprised that it was cold.
I think (going by several of my relatives from the US) that what shocks them about our winters is the combination of cold and wet. They are used to -20C and a dry atmosphere but over here, -2C and damp gets to them. They feel much colder at our -2 than their -20.
There is a big difference between looking at climate tables and experiencing the reality. For example, the average rainfall on the eastern side of Britain is less than 24 inches (60 cm). That is a less than most cities in the US, but it is unpredictable and partly because of the maritime location, with nowhere being more than about 200 miles from the coast and usually much less, the country tends to be more humid. Secondly, the UK is north of 50N. That is difficult for an American to relate to - it is Hudson Bay latitudes, or southern Alaska. But the climate is very different.
You wouldn't go to Iceland and be surprised it was cold - but it would be _consistently_ cold. A lot of places in America have a fairly _constant_ climate, or it changes _gradually_ . I think the what surprises some is how fast our weather _changes_ , often several times a day. As someone once said, other countries have a climate - mediterranean, tropical, arctic, or whatever; Britain doesn't have a climate, we have weather.
You only have to look at the greenery ,even in winter, to know that is is a climate that has an abundance of rain . Do they think we are out every day with hoses?
@@Jill-mh2wn Even more so with Ireland, "The emerald isle", of course: it's emerald because it rains a lot there! That doesn't apply to _all_ of Britain however; east Anglia and Kent in particular. I was once told the actual rainfall there is similar to Israel; I don't know if that's true, and of course it gets a lot less _sun_ than Israel, so does not appear so desert-like. But - especially in summer - can go for weeks without rain. Even London isn't that wet.
I moved to the UK over a decade ago mostly because I like English culture but also I thought it would be cold (and I am not a fan of the sun) ...it is bastard-hot in summer in England! Despite being miss-sold about the weather I am still in love with the culture. England is staggeringly beautiful in the countryside and Wales is simply a Diamond. The US has some equally beautiful scenery but it is so far apart, the UK is compact, you can't drive for more than an hour or 2 without hitting the coast. I love it.
I think it was Mark Twain who said “If you don’t like the weather in England, wait a moment” 😁 The continual changes can be frustrating however not having the extremes of temperature is a positive. Weather aside there’s something very special about Spring in the U.K. which seems to be unlike anywhere else.
As a Pole whose 30% of the country is covered with forests in the UK, I miss forests . I also believe that sewage treatment companies and the installation of sewage disposal from houses in the UK are anti-ecological. Nowhere in the EU have I seen rainwater discharged into sewage and untreated sewage directly into rivers and the ocean. The worst thing in the UK is the construction, which is very primitive and of low quality, which favors the formation of mold in houses in this humid climate. Houses are also built unecologically, which means they are cold and use a staggering amount of energy to heat. They are also expensive compared to the standard of finishing
@@TheHicksonDiaries I live in a rural area in the mountains (about 60 miles south of Krakow) and most of the houses are connected to a sewage treatment plant. Connecting rainwater to sewage treatment plants may result in a court case. Rainwater can be stored in a tank and can be used to water the lawn in the summer if there is a drought. New houses in Poland are built using the same technology as in Germany. That is, an insulated concrete foundation with drainage, then a 25 cm thick wall, which is covered from the outside with 15 cm of Styrofoam, glass fiber mesh and waterproof plaster based on silicone or resins. Windows in the EU in the new standard consist of three panes or four panes. There may be gas between the windows that additionally muffles sounds from the surroundings. The attic of most houses is residential. The roof is simply properly insulated from the outside and a embossed sheet of metal that looks like a tile is usually laid . The basement under the roof is finished with a ring of reinforced concrete to which the roof is screwed so that strong winds cannot tear it off. 20 cm thick insulating foam is sprayed from the center between the 20 cm thick roof beams. Then a structure is built from special sheet metal profiles to mount double overlapping plasterboards. The point is that it was not possible to punch a hole in the wall, as is the case with a single plasterboard where it survives good wear, e.g. with a telephone, it can be driven into the wall. The entrance door does not have a hole cut out for the letters, so no heat escapes there, and it is insulated inside with insulating foam. Pipes from all water and sewage installations are buried in walls or floors. There are no cobwebs from pipes outside the house. The stairs are concrete and in the event of a fire you can use them without fear, and the ceilings are made of reinforced concrete. In the UK, in the event of a fire, you won't be able to go down the stairs because they are made of wood and the first one is salty, the same applies to wooden ceilings. One more important thing is that windows in houses open inwards and you don't need a ladder or a washing company to wash them . I could write a lot about construction because I was building my own house and due to work I spent some time on foreign construction contracts
Our first trip to America (1990) saw us in Oregon at one point of the trip. We stayed at Motel about a mile from the small Town, and on the few days we spent there we would "WALK" into the Town for a drink....no drinking and driving! During the walk to Town, multiple motorists slowed down to look at us, which we found strange. At one point the local Sheriff drove slowly past eyeing us up. I said to the Wife, I bet he stops us at some point, he didn't, but being a relatively small Town he walked into the Bar where we were, suspecting (correctly!) that's where we would end up, and came over to us (checking us out!). Only after opening our mouths did he realise we were foreigners....from that point on whenever he saw us out and about, he'd give us a wave.........And then there was the run in with the Highway Patrol Cops at one point! but that's another humorous story for another day. Everywhere we went we found the locals very friendly and helpful.
That's funny, small towns are infamous for instantly noticing if you are not a local, but the walking probably gave them cause for wondering wtf you were doing...HAHA
The weather always seems to catch Americans out. Remember that cities like Boston and New York are much farther south than anywhere in Britain or Ireland. The north of Newfoundland is at the same latitude as southern England, the rest is level with Labrador.
Bad idea, walking with your mouths wide open, because of flys, especially in THE SHAMBLES'. especially when the shambles really was a SHAMBLES, A PLACE WHERE THEY SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS IN THE OPEN, AND BLOOD AND GUTS RAN DOWN THE STREET, THERE BE MORE THAN A FEW FLYS ABOUT THEN
@@TheHicksonDiariesthis is absolutely true , The Shambles was a Medieval street of butchers shops where the animals were slaughtered , even up to the early 20th century it went on a smaller scale , my mother was born in the huge slum area not far from The Shambles and remembers the smell , and kids would hang around for the offal to take home . Our Saint Margaret Clitherow lived in The Shambles , her husband was a butcher , her shrine is still there in the street , she was put to death by Elizabeth the first for her religious beliefs . Yes I love my city
@@TheHicksonDiaries It is yes, the street 500+ years old and the windows used to open so they could display meats on a cold slab of stone or marble. The bits they couldn't sell were thrown in the street.
Really glad you appear on the whole to appreciate it here. The weather baffles us too! That’s why we talk about it so much! Not keen on your use of the word “endure” to describe your experiences. That word, depicts it as a hardship or suffering through. The weather maybe! But the rest, no.
Interestingly, an American called Audubon (bird painter) came to England to sell his works. On his visit to MAnchester in September 1828 he commented on the smoky atmosphere. He also commented on the weather _ cold , warm, rainy, misty in one day....
In 1828 it was smoky; much was powered by steam engines, and UK was an industrial powerhouse. Nowadays, smokey atmospheres are very rare, and fog not very common. P.S. the clothing brand "London Fog" is a US brand, nothing to do with the UK.
@@silversurfer8278 I agree. I have detailed (1 yard to one mile) Ordnance Survey maps of the centre of Manchester from 1849 showing all the cotton mills, iron foundries, all the industrial activities. Now all gone, replaced by coffee shops and hotels and offices...
At 14,19 there was a brief shot of a WW2 pill box, here in the South East there were ring of pill boxes to defend London in the event of a land invasion. There is one about a quarter of a mile from me and 25 miles from the coast, it is strategically sited overlooking a narrow bridge over the river Arun. The pillboxes were built to withstand heavy gun fire and grenades a so are still standing after all this time.
When out in the countryside its interesting to know that a large proportion of the hedgerows , grass verges, and roadside flora and fauna is protected. This is for its historical preservation as many field boundaries (hedges and stone/slate walls) are ancient - dating back centuries! Therefore the abundance of wildlife and plants cannot be replaced if it were to be bulldozed- hence why so many rural lanes or main roads in the middle of nowhere are bendy and windy. Many trees (copses/woodlands) are protected too. Criminal charges and huge fines for those who cut down trees (even on their own gardens/land) that have preservation orders on them!
I like our planning policy of constraining "ribbon development" from towns to prevent suburban sprawl and preserve the integrity of our green spaces. Conservatives largely consider planning policies to be red tape and would allow developers a completely free hand if they thought the British public would stand for it. I fervently hope we won't.
@@TheHicksonDiaries It's under constant pressure, even though there are enough brownfield sites due to the collapse of our industrial base. We have to be vigilant at a local level to preotect our countryside, the jewel in the crown.
I like your succinct presentation (saying something once and moving on). Many RU-vidrs prattle on and on about the same thing for 20 minutes or more - stating, re-stating, examples, paraphrasing, yet more examples... subscribed :)
We don't have our own weather, we have someone else's weather from yesterday. Today it has been sent from Norway. In a few days we have some coming up from Spain. There will be a difference. ☺
Just found and subscribed to your channel. Love hearing your views on the UK. Hope you have had a trip to the Lake District. If not I can give you some tips. Take care.
Please don't judge the UK by the south east. Visit the other parts - Wales , Ireland, Scotland and England . There is a huge amount to see and learn. Go just 5 or 10 miles and accents will have changed and each village, town or county will have different traditions.
Having previously lived in the US many of your points were things that I missed when out there. The U.K. has weather whereas the US (as a generalisation) has climate. A real sense of community was also something I missed. As a small example when taking goods to a charity shop in the US I was asked if I wanted a receipt, which confused me. I declined. It was explained to me that in the US you could claim tax relief (I think it was up to @ $500, but this was about 14 years ago), so it was more of a business transaction than trying to help people in your area. The one I would add to the list is food, either that bought in supermarkets or eating out. The diversity, range and quality in the US is not great. Many foods are highly processed, to a point where they couldn’t be sold here. The use of growth hormones in meat production, spraying of eggs to the point where eggs in the US must be kept in a fridge or the tired fruit & vegetables found in the likes of Walmart or Kroger. As a gross generalisation, Americans don’t cook using fresh ingredients at home very much at all. Many will just mix packs of processed dry goods with cans of vegetables and add in some processed meats and call this cooking. The U.K. isn’t perfect by any means, but many things we do unconsciously are overlooked until such time as they’ve not there. I hope you enjoy living here and wish you the very best.
Thank you so much! Great point about the processed food in the US-your description of canned goods with a packaged/processed meat was pretty much how I grew up.
Your videos seems to be hitting it off more! Congrats! I personally really enjoy our history surrounding our culture, what I don’t enjoy is our current government 😅
I am a Brit and have just come back from the USA, so am in reverse culture shock. One of the biggest changes was the lack of vegetables in the USA. Also, a US friend said that people are one serious illness away from ruin. This is a biggie as, for instance, my wife has just seen a Consultant who is sending her for big tests, and we don't think about the cost. What we appreciated so much about the US is a generally more positive attitude about things. Lastly, I loved your video. Thanks.
The big mistake we all make when visiting eachothers country's is only going to tourist spots when I visited America I just visited ordinary towns, everyone was really friendly and helpful it's the regular people of a country that make it special.
London, if it wasn't an urban space could be technically classified as a forest, it has that many trees. Many of us who are born here take it for granted. Thank you so much for sharing your views and appreciation for our little island.
The weather we get is due to our position on the edge of the Atlantic .usually we get a few nice and sunny days then the next big cloud blows in of the Atlantic bringing a bit rain .this means the UK is very green.and varied . Far better than somewhere thats baking hot all the time if you live in a cool climate its far better .
I'm from the North east of UK and have spent a lot of vacation time in the USA last year we found the price of food had gone way up. we still love it and we are DVC members. (Disney vacation club) but travel all over. our family were there in 9/11 we saw the people come together in their loss. They need to understand how to queue. yes we have our community but you have where you all get together to support your school teams and are big on welcoming your military back home They live in a world of tipping and expect to be tipped for everything if they got payed a better wage would they still be willing to park your car for a few bucks or take your bags. We are a proud country as I'm sure the USA are, we both have some wonderful places to explore and should share our delights to everyone. Glad you enjoy our little spot in the world.😎
Thank you for your reply, well there has been a few places in our time in the USA.. we do enjoy Florida but we have been in the White house before 9/11 also on top of the Twin towers, we visited after the disaster and I was brought to tears, also a helicopter tour around New York, we were whale watching in Boston, toured LA stayed in a little hotel on Rodeo drive. Helicopter tour Las Vegas over Hoover dam. Alamo in Texas. drove up highway 1 through Big Sur & Carmel then Monterey. just so many places to name and plenty more to go, we were in Washington just before Christmas and West Virginia having a look around Jamestown and surrounding areas so as you see we like to look around we also had a trip over to Hawaii a several years ago but we also travel other parts of the world. we visit that often we could become a citizen. Hope that you have found plenty places to visit while you have been here.😎
Hi it all depends on what you like and if you want to travel up to the North east area, we have a lot of castles up here but a few places I like. Bamburgh castle it sits on a great beach a trip over to Holy island is not far away and Berwick 30 min away. Hadrian's wall has roman forts along it's length. Durham city Cathedral and city centre with river walk. Beamish a must see, ride old trolleybus and steam train visit old farm and school the Dentist or go down a mine a new cinema just been rebuilt see how we lived in the past all in the price. Cragside in Rothbury home of Lord Armstrong first house powered by electric lights and wonderful gardens and other inventions. Or try York amazing Minster and plenty cobble stone street shopping but do try the tea room just look for the queue it may take a while getting in but worth it. Hope that's been some help to you @@TheHicksonDiaries
I'm 78, have lived in England almost all my life, and I can tell you that the weird fast-changing daily weather patterns we've been having for months are not the norm. Yes, we get periods of wet or cold and sometimes snowy weather - and occasional storms - in winter and early Spring, but it's unusual to get so many days and weeks on end with the very changeable daily patterns you describe. Plus we've been getting more than our historical average of storms in recent months, and we've got another one upcoming as I type, due over the next few days. Just hope it really warms up and settles down as we get further into Spring and then early summer. But I've got a feeling that this damned wind is not going to let up much.
Weather. We're on an island in a shallow sea, off the coast of a large continental mass. There's a warm ocean current on the windward side, and the northern end of the island is only 600 miles from the Arctic circle. No wonder the weather changes often ! Friendliness ? Well, you're quite likely to meet someone again so being friendly is just paying it forward for next time. Nature ? We just like having a nice place to live, so we look after it. 😊
I would have thought that everyone on the planet knows about the weather in Britain! Endure is definitely the wrong word to use! Looks like you have enjoyed your time here in the UK. as far as the weather goes, just be prepared for everything!
Goodness, I thought it would be a lot of polite criticism and moaning but so pleased that despite some differences you manage to appreciate living somewhere rather different .I will watch more of your videos.
Most people didn't move far from home until the Industrial Revolution. By then , the accents were well-established. Rural accents tended to be softer but when large towns developed around industries the accents got harder. Some people think it was because of noisy machinery. Compare the Liverpool and Manchester accents.They are only 20 miles apart but are as different as you can get. Really enjoyed your post.
I'd been visiting the USA for more than a decade, Boston and Cambridge, New England, New York, Portland, San Francisco. Then I went to Houston Texas. On the Sunday morning I walked from my hotel to the nearest dinner, less than 10 minutes walk. On the way back, a police car stopped and asked me what I was doing, then where I was staying, how long I'd been there. Not frightening, but weird. In the dinner, I had sat at the counter, ordered and started on breakfast. A smartly dressed, cheerful, black couple came up to the counter, settled their bill and left. Very soon after they'd left, one of the dinner staff casually, but audibly, said that she didn't like serving 'N word' and started a discussion with a co-worker!! I quickly finished up and left. I was flabbergasted. 😞 Best Wishes. ☮
In America you have accents, in the UK we have accents AND dialects, each hamlet, village town and city can have a completely different dialect. The UK being considered as pretentious and stiff, may well (in my humble opinion) come from the WW2 years, as a country who were under strict laws and food rations. US soldiers would have gone back home with what they saw and this is probably how the UK got its reputation, including the idea that our food was grey and boring!
That was really interesting. I'm surprised you didn't mention "pub culture" - it's so important to Brits, and very much part of maintaining that community thing.
Yes, a great idea! It's an area of British life on which I'm all too expert! (My "local" of 30 years was recently voted the best pub in London!).@@TheHicksonDiaries
People from this country are always moaning about how bad life is here in England. Your videos are an antidote to that. I like where I live here in North West England. If they don't like it here they should move away.
On the other side of the coin, we were in the US and our hotel was across a vacant lot from a restaurant. We decided to walk over there as it was so close. A passing police car saw us and stopped to question us. Said it was a dangerous thing to do. Go figure!
What a lovely idea for a video. I’m glad that you see such positive differences over here. You are very welcome in UK it’s rather a shame that so few American tourists come here anymore.
US culture shock i met in Britain: adverts on some of the TV channels ( those owned by US companies ) are ridiculously loud compared to the normal TV sound. This has, interestingly, faded away in the face of millions of complaints.
People in the UK aren't quite so friendly in the big cities. I live in a small market town in the Midlands. Strangers passing in the street will still say hello generally. Also ask anyone for directions, etc, and they are more than willing to help.
Maybe check a dictionary for the definition of “Culture” , also , the dictionary is the one absolute best books to own , all the other books are in there 👍
The Northern dialect us unique, you can have an entire conversation ysing jyst the words Ee, by gum, sithee, by'eck, tha knows. Trouble at t'mill, and Herpes.
We arent 'older* than USA, but we developed the industrial revolution, part of what out ran the Indigenous populations of other countries & put the Great in the G. Britain.. Stefan uk
English people are a lot more reserved in the South but starting North of Birmingham people are much more friendly and will talk to strangers and we hardly ever see Americans.
You got it! Check our community poll and let me know what video you want me to do next. Also, feel free to LMK if there's anything specific you want me to talk about. Thx!
True the USA is vast compared to the U.K. but a high percentage of it no one lives there, we are more compact, as the saying goes the best things come in small packages.
