Tags: lose

Canada vs. England

Posted on 2 September 2008 in Travels | View Comments

Better in Canada

Better in England

  • Peanut Butter: okay, I know, I’m a peanut butter snob
  • Roads: While Canada has wider roads, larger shoulders, less curves, no hedges or stone walls to crash into, we do have bigger pot holes and bumpy surfaces. I still prefer driving in Canada, though!
  • Restaurant prices: give me Swiss Chalet anyday! $15 gets you a huge rotisserie chicken meal and a drink (including taxes and tip!)
  • How bars & clubs operate: I prefer the tipping system because it motivates bar staff to work harder and ensures you’ll be served quicker if you tip better.
  • Subway: Choose from three types of cheese and yellow mustard. How I miss yellow mustard.
  • Public Toilets: I much prefer American toilets. The water levels are so low in the UK / Europe that more often than not the entire bowl smells like pee
  • Recycling: You wouldn’t believe how bad the recycling system is in Bath & North East Somerset… Plus I have a feeling it all ends up in the dump anyhow. There should be a bottle deposit on alcohol cans and recycling bins beside public trash cans…
  • Central heating: I prefer vents to radiators, and in Canada we keep our houses warmer, generally.
  • Television: namely Comedy… I don’t ‘get’ British comedy
  • Coffee: You know I love my Tim Horton’s!
  • Dairy products: Skim milk is actually delicious and cheese is incredible
  • Cider: There are are so many different kinds – my favourite is Pear
  • Checkout queues: aside from Lloyds bank, they keep the queues moving faster here
  • Fashion: always a step ahead of Canada, but prices are double (or more)
  • Traffic intersections: traffic circles make so much more sense than traffic lights or four-way stops.
  • Window shopping: I love having everything on a ‘High Street’ where all the shops are terraced and all the good shops are crammed together with nice window displays.
  • Public transportation: trains, in general. They run so often and are much cheaper.
  • Houses: gotta love the Georgian architecture in Bath!!!
  • Fireplaces: there’s one in each room here, including the bathroom!
  • Accents: you know all us North Americans are suckers for the accents…
  • Slang: Not only is everyone familiar with American slang, but they have a whole set of slang
  • Design: signage, menus, magazines, etc are much nicer here, on average
  • Pub cleanliness: well, the ones I’ve been to anyways…

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