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| A Typical English Neighborhood |
We continue yesterday’s blog by going…
Around The House
Europeans generally fill their homes with the same stuff that we do. In part 4 of this blog series, we’ll draw particular attention to some of the European-style stuff we’ll be buying to put in our home one day, but otherwise the main difference between ours and European’s homes is that Europeans tend to waste less than we do. Perhaps that’s an artifact of our reputation as Americans as being “throw away”, but on the other hand we have lots of stuff in our house that we simply don’t know what to do with and keep squirreled away here and there. It just seems the Europeans figure out a way to use all that sort of stuff. If they can’t figure out a way to use it, they throw it in the boot of their car and drive out to a field to sell it with a bunch of their neighbors.
Put it this way: you don’t see self-storage units in Europe like we have in the states. Just sayin’.
We have noticed one particular oddity in the European bedroom: the use of a flat bed sheet is not a foregone conclusion. Often there’s only a covered or washable comforter directly on top of the fitted sheet. In American kitchens, a coffee maker is pretty universal; here, not so much so. French presses are much more common than our filtered drip coffee makers.
The way Europeans fill their houses–shopping–is also a bit unique. We spotted a Costco in Derby the day I write this, but otherwise the big American chains are replaced with European counterparts. That’s not to say there aren’t American brands here, like TJMaxx (Lori’s favorite), though in the UK they call themselves TKMaxx for some reason. When it comes to grocery shopping, many people have observed that Europeans tend to go more frequently (sometimes daily), buy less, and buy fresher. That behavior is reflected in their kitchens: small fridges and freezers (we’d call them “dorm fridges”) and sparse pantries compared to American pantries.
Probably the biggest difference we’ve noticed is in how European homes are heated and cooled. In the UK, air conditioning is rarely needed so rarely installed. On the continent, in places where it’s needed much of the year like Spain or Italy, A/C’s are often small wall-mounted units versus central installations like we have. This is sometimes because of retrofitting a 200 year old building, but those replaceable units are also installed in new houses and apartments, probably for that very reason: they’re replaceable. Regarding heating, the system of choice seems to be forced hot water systems. These systems are common in parts of the US, but where we’re from it’s heat pumps and heated forced air.
In large part, Europeans are very sensitive to the energy costs of heating and cooling. Many hotels have those little key card receptacles just inside the door that require the insertion of your room key to operate the climate control. Most of the European homes and apartments we’ve seen use instant hot water heating, or they put their hot waters on timers. It’s all because of the cost of energy, so let’s talk about…
The Power Plug
We’re not talking about the voltage and prongs that are different–everyone knows about that–but instead how Europeans get their energy. We’ve noticed on previous trips to Europe that there are quite a few more nuclear power plants than we have in the states. They’re everywhere. Just outside of Derby, England today we spotted a power plant with no less than 8 of those signature hourglass reactor structures. Every time we’ve ridden trains on the continent, we could make a game of counting the nuclear power plants. You can hardly turn around in Europe without tripping over a nuclear power plant. And according to this Wikipedia article, there doesn’t seem to have been a dramatic increase in safety incidences in Europe given this concentration of nuclear energy production. Like it or not, with the states flipping the switch back on (so to speak) on nuclear power plant construction, it seems an inevitable part of humanity’s energy future.
Perhaps to hedge in energy production, Europeans seem also to have gladly embraced renewable sources moreso than we have in the states. The UK and Ireland in particular have embraced wind and solar power. We saw wind farms in Ireland (and plenty of villages trying to fight to keep them away), but for the most part we’ve seen wind mills frequently, but singularly (meaning one or two in a field versus dozens). We also spotted a giant solar farm near Sherwood Forest National Reserve in England, and we regularly see houses with solar panels on their roofs.
When it comes to their automobiles, we’ve not seen any electric vehicles, so perhaps that’s one area we’re excelling in the states compared to Europe, but we’ve heard they’re around. The cost of petrol (gas) and diesel what it is here, it’s surprising there’s not lots more electric cars around. It’s easy for us visiting Americans to lose perspective of how much gas costs here in the UK (which are similar on the continent): the signs, after all, bear prices like “1.209”. But both the numerator and the denominator in that equation work against us: a moment later you realize that’s 1.20 Pound Sterling for 9/10 of a gallon, which at current exchange rates are about $2.10. And then you realized that’s not per gallon but per liter. To get (roughly) to the $/gallon we Americans are familiar with, multiply again by 4. That’s right, gas goes here for north of $8 per gallon. If Americans were forced to pay $8 per gallon, about half of the cars on the road would be electric, solar, or fusion powered.
One other energy-related oddity in European houses: maddeningly, Europeans put far fewer power outlets in their walls than Americans. Back home in Atlanta, our house has 2 outlets per wall, sometimes 3 or 4 for a lengthy stretch of wall. Often in Europe an entire room has a single outlet, maybe two.
So, their homes, governments, and power infrastructure explored, what do Europeans do for fun?
Off The Clock
As we said yesterday, sports are a big deal in much of Europe, so when it comes to fun, attending sporting events–as we did when attending a Manchester United game back in August–is a cornerstone of fun here. If a European can’t attend in person, they’re often to be found with mates or amigos at a pub in front of a TV. And if they can’t get to the pub, they congregate in front of their living room telly watching the match (we’ve noticed walking by their windows). Watching sports is a national past time for most Europeans.
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| Fans On Their Way To A Manchester United Game (And Not Even An Official Game) |
But don’t they take significant chunks of time off in the summers? Yes, they do. Sometimes up to 6 weeks. So much so that some places practically shut down in August, or they would if it weren’t for willing Eastern Europeans desperately in need of work and willing to keep the hotels and restaurants operating. Curiously, most of the locals don’t seem to go far for their vacations. Most just enjoy some “staycation”. Others head to their own local attractions and beaches. Those who do travel often go to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean. Some–English in particular–go to the United States to enjoy the exchange rates (favorable to them, unfortunately for us), and 2/3 of those seem to like to go to Florida.
One thing that has surprised us in regards to holiday-taking in Europe, especially given the extravagant prices of diesel and petrol, is that they like RV’s here. They call their motor homes “Caravans” or “Snail’s Homes”, but what we would have thought to be a uniquely American phenomena of taking land yachts on road trips isn’t so unique to America at all. On the other hand, we haven’t yet seen a 40+ foot Bluebird or Prevost motorhome (excuse me: motorcoach) in Europe. So the American part of the phenomena may be limited to massive land yachts on a road trip.
If Europeans aren’t going on holiday to Palma or hopping in their caravan or attending a futball match, you might find them spending their leisure time in a sports book or casino. That’s right, gambling is big here. And we don’t necessarily mean the Vegas-style megaliths of blinky, glittery lights and headliner shows. Instead, casinos, particularly sports books, here are often the convenience-store variety, with brand names like Coral, Ladbrokes, William Hill, Paddy Power, Betfred, Cashino, and Play2Win. If there’s an urban strip mall somewhere in Europe, there’s likely to be a small casino in it somewhere with Europeans playing the fruit machines or placing offtrack bets.
There are many more differences that we’ve noticed in European life, like the way Europeans handle their mail: the UK Royal Mail, for example, actually makes multiple deliveries per day in some places and private companies even deliver on Sunday. How is it that in the states our postal service is closing locations and talking about dialing service back to 5 days a week, and continues to bleed billions of dollars a year, while in Europe they have multiple deliveries a day and private services that deliver on Sundays? Don’t get us started on the issues with the USPS…
There’s also cell phones vs. land lines: while everyone has mobile phones and cellular data services are plentiful, cheap, and with excellent coverage, Europeans seem stubbornly insistent on holding on to land lines. Coffee houses: yes, Starbucks is here, but they have to compete with some other great brands like Costa and Café Nero, not to mention the private coffee and tea houses that are just about everywhere.
We could go on and on, but tomorrow we’re going to focus on how America’s favorite pastime–driving our automobiles–is conducted here. Buckle your seatbelts…
