The U.K. has its own weather system because of its position in the Atlantic and as a collection of islands, and so it’s entirely possible that the cloud base is much lower here as we do get a lot of cloud buildup that is constantly coming off the seas.
In Edinburgh there is a weather phenomenon called haar and it's like the clouds have landed. It's not raining but you get soaked just walking through it. It can last all day.
In the UK we have the Arctic weather system in the north, the Siberian system in the east, the African/European system in the south and the Atlantic system in the west.
The cloud base depends on the relative humidity (concentration of water vapour in the air) and the dew point (at which point water vapour condenses to water droplets to form clouds). The UK having a very oceanic climate heavily depending on the ocean with weather systems frequently passing through, usually has a much higher relative humidity and a lower dew point, so clouds are formed way lower than in Ontario, which has a continental climate and is thus usually drier until a strong weather system comes from the Gulf of Mexico and brings moisture and rain. When it rains in Ontario, it’s usually strong and short-lived showers and the air is nowhere near as damp as in the UK or like Vancouver.
We live under the junction of 5 different weather systems, something our weather forecasters seem to ignore. Which could explain why they get the weather forecast wrong so often
I just got back home to California from Bournemouth and even though I was only away for 3 weeks, the culture shocks were real! Chatting with strangers at the airport, the weather difference (including the sky height! The clouds are so much more "dimensional" in the UK if that makes sense) and I'll tell ya, I got really used to paying the sticker price for things without having to mentally add the tax! Total side note: I mentioned your channel to one of my fellow volunteers at Glastonbury. He happens to be a Green Party council member in Kent and he was really interested in the idea of your channel. So who knows? You may have gained a new follower!
Well guess what, Britain is an Island with all weather fronts, hope you enjoyed your stay here. America is a big country and I have been, but give me the different Islands in Europe I will choose them!
I used to travel all over Europe for work and the 2 pronged plugs and sockets drove me mad. It wasn't unusual for me to be trying to prop up the plug in my hotel room!
Yes, doggy bags. We use them all the time (in England). Even with a chef's special deal (cheap price) on restaurant food there is always far too much served for us to eat so we always ask if they can put the rest it in a bag or box for us. Especially in Indian restaurants. Put the food in the freezer in plastic boxes and have it another day. It always tastes just as good and feels like we are getting a 'free' meal too! More people should do it.
The one that shocks me--living in Canada, in Vancouver--is the high prices. Back in November, the storm cut us off from the rest of the world and the supermarket was picked over and prices went up. But prices have kept going up. And the amount of money I have has remained the same. The highest skies I found were in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Ontario you have stuff on the horizon that takes away from the height--but on the prairies it's just sky all around you.
I also get reverse culture shock when I go back to the UK. It's strange how what was weird when you first arrived becomes normal and now your home country is the weird place.
As a Canadian, who has been to England (love it and miss it), I agree about the sky, it is quite high up there. I think that is why I love my country. I agree about food has gotten very expensive here over the past two years. Enjoyed the video.
You are obviously feeling much better in this latest video, which is great news. It was interesting to hear what struck you as a returning Canadian. The “high sky” thing made me laugh because I know exactly what you mean. It took me a while to understand the concept of shelves being “picked over” - I got it in the end, the shelves were emptier than usual. Great content as usual. Cheers 👍
You mused on the "High Sky" issue. In 🇨🇦, you have enormous open vistas where your horizon is a lot further away, whereas here in 🇬🇧 we're more hemmed in. It makes a *big* difference to your perception of your surroundings. Ice makers & American 'fridges. They are becoming a bit more popular, but only if you have the space for them. I live in a small house & my kitchen is 9ft x 6ft, so a *huge* 'fridge is a no-no! If I need ice cubes, I fill the tray supplied with the freezer with water, put in the freezer & wait a couple of hours. Hey presto! Glad to see that you've fully recovered from your illnesses - hope your partner has also recovered. That must've been a nightmare 😱. Keep safe Alanna, we always look forward to your "take" on 🇨🇦/🇬🇧 life. Have fun!
As a Brit, I must admit I like the fact that houses in canada are so much bigger. There plus and cons wherever you go. I totally understand the point you made about the high skies. Hope you’re feeling much better after your illness. Your experience of it sounded absolutely awful. As far as the cheese is concerned, it’s much cheaper here,so enjoy eating it to your heart’s content. It will never bankrupt you😉
When I went out to Australia, at first the sky just seemed so high. When I got back to the UK (an overcast sky) it felt very claustrophobic. I suffered from chronic depression for months.
I watch a British UA-camr who often shows off their groceries and I've been shocked at how cheap food is there compared to Ontario. Even the cheapest dollar store here wouldn't sell food as cheap as the standard grocery stores in Britain. There's lots of supply issues here right now and many products are unavailable or in short supply. Since we get much of our food from the US, Mexico and South America, the high fuel prices / shipping costs are probably a major contributor. Even if things normalize, I doubt prices will come back down to pre-pandemic levels.
We're all suffering rising prices, especially here in the UK. Food has gone up a lot and, if you buy ready meals and canned goods the weight has gone down. Ready meals that used to be 450g and £2.26 are now £2.80 and 400g.
Canadian food quality is not good as much as Brit's food chain .Organic veggies and meat can be found easily in the Uk ,but in Canada the price for organic food and diary is exremely high
@Colin Deal That's what I kept thinking when Alana was on about grocery prices. As you say, it's all relevant to earnings. Obviously, if you're earning more then the prices will still be the same percentage of earnings I would imagine. Wages are pretty low here in the UK I think so food isn't that cheap as a percentage.
The high sky thing is definitely a thing! I live in Chicago and when I go to Florida I think to myself “The sky is so much lower here” like the clouds feel so much closer. I never vocalized it before though! Lol
Why would onlookers be confused? Everyone knows what pop to the shops or pop across the road means. At least they do here in southern Ontario. Where do you live?
Yeah, I'm from the Southern US, and if I heard someone say that I would just think it was a very quirky/goofy way of saying "pop into the grocery store" that someone was saying to be cute. It wouldn't confuse anyone, but it might get you an odd look because that's not exactly how people usually say it. Without context, I'd think they were just saying it that way because it rhymes or something, or maybe it was a weird movie reference I missed, etc. What's really confusing, IMO, is calling a soda/cola a "pop," and I don't even have to go across the Atlantic to encounter that one. My Mom went to Illinois for the first time and thought someone offering her a beverage wanted to hit her. LOL.
About plugs falling out of the socket outlet, its not just the shorter pins (not prongs) the Canadian/American plugs have the appliance cable entry on the back of the plug which makes it more sticking out and unbalanced also continually trying to pull down and out, the UK appliance cable entry is at the bottom of the plug, so is better balanced and stable, helps keeps the plug in the socket with a flatter profile as well.
I think doggy bags are becoming more usual in the UK (at least London), but it never occurred to me to order more with a view to just taking it home. BRILLIANT! and so obvious!
Everything she said describes exactly my experience in the UK and I have never experienced it abroad. We took food home from the restaurant last night, and "cakeaway" is now a proper thing. No idea why anyone would order soup to take home though, that one baffles me 😂
Very interesting Alanna! Couple of things - firstly, the difference in pollen probably depends where you are even in the UK. I live in a small village which is surrounded in all directions by countryside and my car also gets yellow with pollen every summer's morning and I sniff and sneeze all the time. Also, I totally get the high skies thing - I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't travelled in Canada too but the sky really does go on forever when you're crossing an area that isn't so busy with buildings, pylons, airplanes etc (like the prairies for instance, and Ontario too, outside the cities) -so don't worry, you aren't going crazy just yet!!
Uk Main sockets are taken for granted here, but we’re spoiled 🤓 Such a well thought out design and so safe. Travelling abroad and seeing the annoying mess other countries have to deal with, is quite an eye opener 👀
I normally modify an extension lead to have the appropriate "weird plug" instead of using travel adapters. Just a small one, and then put it in the hold luggage.
Yeah, I just came back from a holiday in Germany (thoroughly enjoyable btw!) and I'd really forgotten about the seeming flimsiness of the plug/socket arrangement... very similar to Canada/USA. I think we've been spoiled here in the UK... they're so robust, with a satisfying click as they make that final contact. You also need a certain amount of force to remove the plug... you just know it's safe.
about technical standards, EU is the best, but when talking about political self-awareness, Britannia rules! Hope the coup they prepare you won't bury this, together with the whole country.
@@divin5186 No idea where that comment came from, but I should point out that according to almost all electrical safety authorities, the UK standard plug is recognised as one of the safest designs. As for coups, whoever they are, and whatever they're planning, I'd recommend not trying that in England, we have a historical reputation for brutality, and I wouldn't want to see just how brutal we'd be willing to be towards anyone attempting such a move here. We'd rather the entire country burned than cower before some self declared supremacist movement.
Wow I didn't realize the pollen was quite that bad there! US/Canadian outlets do have a 3rd prong but it's not always used. I believe British plugs are required to have the 3rd prong even if it's not wired up because the doors on the outlet won't open without the 3rd prong. The US/Canadian ones do fall out a lot though. I think it's because they weaken over time until they can't keep the plug from falling out.
I'm glad to see and hear that you're winning the battle against flu, Alanna! As for your specific points herein... 1) This can actually be a thing even if you've never left your home country. I've lived in big cities and small towns, in different parts of the UK, and the latter (especially in the north of England) are much quieter. My university was based near a quiet village on the edge of York; a friend who went away to London remarked, on paying a return visit, how amazingly quiet it was compared to the capital. I suppose almost anywhere is quieter than the capital! 2) Allergies are best preempted by eating locally produced honey or taking locally produced pollen. If that isn't possible, you could try spraying Beconase or another form of hay fever relief medication into your nostrils... 3) The sky probably isn't higher in Canada, but it might feel that way because of the relatively wide open spaces in the terrain, compared with the more packed built-up areas in the UK. 4) I use a stove-top / fireplace kettle, which takes minutes to boil, so it's not just a Canadian thing! 5) The saying goes that you never truly realise how precious something is to you until you lose it. That's true of conveniences like local shops, you could argue! 6) My local tea room in Warwickshire will provide a doggy bag if you cannot manage everything, so they *do* exist in the UK. When I lived in Cumbria, an elderly couple I knew were forever taking their own to restaurants, cafés etc. - in the form of baking foil, which they would use to wrap up and take away whatever they couldn't finish. It would usually emerge at their home a day or two later - waste not, want not! 7) Indeed, it's not such a thing in the UK but it's catching on - and I would note that the family of a school friend of mine had a fridge-freezer with ice dispenser, as long as 30 years ago.... 8) Two prongs are quite common on the European mainland, it seems, and the UK's triple prongs are thus a world oddity. That being said, I believe some UK appliances are wired to just the lower two prongs, with the third prong in place purely to fit our sockets, so perhaps things aren't so different as they appear! 9) Cost of living is becoming a crisis all the world over. I have my doubts that prices will subside, here or in Canada; I hope I may be proved wrong, but will say no more and thus keep your channel relatively free of politics.
Totally understand the “high-sky” thought. I’d never thought of it before but thinking back, when I visited Australia, it was the same…. The sky felt infinite while the UK sky is very claustrophobic (but I’m strange and like it that way. It’s cosy) 😎
Same here. When I lived in PNG and Australia ages ago the height of the sky was impressively ‘up there’, and coming back to the UK it all seemed so close and almost reachable. The dome of the sky even on blue cloudless days was a smaller dome in the UK. Cloudy UK days seemed like a miniature shot of model or toy scenery.
Can’t actually believe someone other than me has noticed this. When I was in the US the sky felt massive but in the U.K. it’s like everywhere feels like you’re in a matchbox. Like a miniature toy village, everything is just so small.
Hi Alana, I think you suffered more from Ontario reverse culture shock than a generic Canada variety. I often visit family in BC, and even within that one province my experiences of quiet nights, allergies, etc, varies massively between the Interior, the Island, and the Lower Mainland. In effect, to say Canadian in this context is similar to saying European, for experience in Yellowknife will be as different from Markham or Windsor as between Tromsø and Istanbul or Rochester.
She's talking about her personal experience in Canada, as I believe her family home is in a fairly rural area. She wouldn't be talking so much about the peace and quiet if she'd gone to Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, or London, ON. As is to be expected, she's only in her 20's and young people usually lack objectivity. Because of inexperience, they tend to generalize from their own very subjective experiences.
Oh, Girl the thing about the High sky is so true. I was in England for a month many years ago and the first thing I'd noticed when I went back to Montreal was exactly that. The ceiling of the sky was incredible high, the vastness is not only with the land spread but the vast distance from ground to space. England is often covered by clouds that must act as a grey blanket that lowers the sky ceiling or the impression of it. And yes the price of food is just crazy, it getting scary and people talk about it a lot.🇨🇦🇬🇧
Interesting observations Alanna. As you surmised the time to boil the kettle is down to the lower Canadian mains voltage. Canadian kettles are around 1000W in power versus 2000W in the UK - hence roughly twice the time to boil.
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I’d hate not being able to pop to the shops. My house is within 10-15 mins walk of shops in three different directions. I really wanted to understand the high skies but 😵💫 (Maybe I’ll rewatch and try again 🙃) Thank you for this insightful vid, Alanna!
Really interesting all the differences! I am a US expat living in South Korea. I have a 15-20 minute walk to and from work and four grocery stores on the way. This is in a rural areal too! I'll definitely miss just popping in for a few things and not getting in a car to get groceries when I head back to the states.
Great video Alanna! I too couldn’t get over the skies in the UK when I moved here.. like the clouds are closing in on you. My husband said it’s because of the low pressure which causes them to be heavy and dense. I definitely do miss the clear, high skies back home in the US! Don’t miss driving ages to get to the shop, or the expensive food prices, or the lengthy time it take to boil the kettle! Funny about taking home leftovers, I never noticed that before but it’s so true! Kind of prefer not taking anything back home now.
The brick hanging from the electric outlet is called a “wall wart” (great name!). We do have 3 prong plugs in North America, the third prong is the ground wire. But 3 prong plugs are definitely in the minority.
Probably in the US as well ? but the three prong dates back to when appliances were made of metal rather than plastic. It is still needed in the UK to open the socket connectors but is not actually connected anything anymore most of the time - unless the appliance has say exposed metal parts or used where it might get wet.
I think my dinner would have been pasta with tinned tomatoes and hold the mascarpone if it was that price, lol. You're sounding better, hope you're feeling better.
Hi Alanna, My allergies are really bad here in Illinois. I have to take Claritin daily in the summer. So I totally understand what you went through. The other day, it was so bad outside when the fluffy things blew off the trees, it looked like it was snowing. When it gets like that all you can do is stay inside. I also agree with you about food prices. I was at the store yesterday, and eggs were $5.00 a dozen. This is due to crazy inflation in North America right now. When gas prices increase, the cost of everything else goes up. I’m also really sorry to hear about how sick you got when you were in Canada. When I was in college, I had a bad case of the flu, even though I was vaccinated, so I went to the student health center and they gave me Tami-Flu, and it just made me much sicker. I’m glad that you are feeling much better now, and I hope that your trip to Canada next year will go much smoother.
Totally get the high sky thing. Moved to Wellington NZ from UK in 74 and that was one of the main things we noticed here too. Also, we have 240v power and sockets in the bathrooms. So quick tea and toothbrush rechargers taken care of. 🙂
It's certainly an eye-opener seeing the difference in prices between the UK and Canada, and even more so in the context of the cost of living crisis we're going through here. Thanks for the informative vid!
Hello alanna! Nice to see you back in the uk.. the electrical system in Canada operates at 120 volts. in the uk its 230 volts nearly twice the power = twice the speed. we need the speed for the amount of tea we drink 😄
I get the whole sky thing. I remember being in a country town here in Australia and a young kid said to me, ‘we have a lot of sky out here, lots of sky.’ It made sense, especially as the area was fairly flat and the sky a crystal clear azure that day.
Totally agree with the sky height. Felt the same in Houston, Texas. And the night sky just a few miles out of town is amazing! And we have ice makers in the UK. They're called ice trays!
Some restaurants have caught up with the doggy bag idea but only for puddings. The afters. The whatever at the end of the meal... but they call it cake away. Yknow coz..take away... humour! Chortle chortle. Loved this video.
Heavier duty electronics in Canada do use a third prong on the plug, which makes them more stable, but yes it’s irritating when two prong plugs slide out. And kettles take longer. But the first time you accidentally tread on a UK plug barefoot, you will long for North American plugs.
Doggy bags are very much a thing and term used in the UK! Me and my partner regularly take leftovers home. Kids often take doggy bags home from parties too.
I think the high Skye’s you get in Canada and not the UK is due to the light pollution we have here in the UK , but the more you travel north like Northumberland & Scotland , you will experience high sky’s , due to them being the least populated places in the UK .
The UK plugs are the safest in the world by design, but I have electrecuted myself three or four times with 240 volts (230 V now, I think); mainly by being stupid and young. Once, as an adult, I switched off the mains to fix and replace a mains socket. I heard a very faint click. I stopped what I was doing (bare wires around me) and went downstairs to check. My five-year-old son was watching the TV. He had come in from the garden, saw the TV wasn't turning on and actually flipped the mains switch back to on! From that point onwards, I would always also take out the fuse for the sockets in the section I was doing something and keep the fuse in my pocket until I had finished. It was nice to see some more insights from Canada. Thanks.
I'm a Canadian living over here in the UK. Have just recently moved house and its got an American style fridge with the ice and water dispenser. I'm love, love, loving it!! I do find that over here the brits aren't so into ice as we are.
I’m from the UK but now living in the USA. I’ve never given much thought about the electrical outlets and plugs in the UK. But you’re absolutely right! Sometimes American plugs don’t seem to be plugged in whereas in the UK they are more heavy duty and secure.
Great to see you're looking and sounding a lot better☺👍. You really are a proper British convert, going to Canada and having fish and chips! 😂 thanks for another of your fun, interesting video.
Totally agree on the doggs bags. Every restaurant we’ve been to in BC where I’ve not finished my meal they’ve asked if I want the rest to go - every single time!! X
I hear you with the high skies, it always felt that way coming to visit family while I was living in London. Even in an area without large buildings/skyscrapers, looking up in London just seemed more closed in than when elsewhere. Weird, but nice to know I'm not the only one.
Having worked in a pub in the UK i can say that people wanting to take leftovers home happened a couple of times a week....but then again I'm from Yorkshire and we're well known for being "careful" with our money 😂
One of my top tips for power adapters - take a UK 4-way bar plug and plug it in with a socket adapter. Then you can plug in all your UK chargers, and there's little weight on the main socket.
Ontarian here, often times here the server will ask if you want to take the rest home if they see you have leftovers while the rest of your party are done. I havent heard it called 'doggy bag' but they will either bring you stryofoam containers or take your plate back and box it up for you. Also "popping to the shop" is very dependent on where you live. Ontario is huge and I lived in a small town for years that a trip to the stores was only a couple minutes away.
Hey Alanna. Glad to see you feeling better. Great video and you make great points that you wouldn't think of until you experience them. Never knew the pollen was that extreme over there. I wonder if there's something scientific to your sky thing? I'll take a quick cup of tea over bathroom outlets any day, you've gotta get your priorities right. Enjoyed your newsletter, looking forward to more. 🙂
Alanna... You are not alone, I completely get it about the high and lower sky feeling. Gads, the prices here in America are atrocious. The same bag of cat food cost $11.99 a year ago costs $27.99 today. This is at Walmart! I can't afford Walmart anymore. It's horrible. Thanks for the great (as usual) video.
Some years ago now we had a company Christmas dinner, employees only, was dinner time, and at a very nice Italian restaurant. Ay that time our office manager was a German lady. At the end of the meal she asked for a doggy bag, the staff started scraping off the remains from plates into a bag. No, she says, a doggy bag, for my husbands dinner. The staff thought she wanted scraps for her dog. The first time any of us had heard that expression.
Hi Allanah. If you visit the Lincolnshire Fens on a nice day you can experience "Big sky". We had an "American" style fridge-freezer in the mid 1970s. It had an ice cube dispenser in the freezer door and a chilled water dispenser in the fridge door, and was plumbed in to the cold water supply. Most houses in the U.K. are just not big enough to fit such a beast.
The ice cube matter is a non issue, for decades fridges come with a separate ice cube tray, also inexpensive ready to use bags of ice cubes are in supermarkets, kitchens are smaller and many people don't want American size fridges that make ice cubes,they prefer European spec integrated appliances .
I remember doggy bags being a thing in Canada, when I was across in 84. When you first mentioned doggy bags, I thought you were talking about poo bags. lol
Not to worry Alanna. Now you're back in Britain, just break out the cider and bring back the good times!! You've got so used to being here, everywhere else seems weird. It's good to have you back!
Had never really thought about the high sky/ low sky thing. I’ll make note next time I go over to the UK. I get the slow kettle times here. The first time I made tea in England I wasn’t prepared! At home there is plenty of time to take out all the accoutrements necessary for a tea break - pot, teabag, cup, sugar, teaspoon, biscuit, little plate to put the cookie in, little bowl to put the tea bag in and still have “hours” to stand around staring at the kettle, contemplating the universe 😄 Hurry up already! In England tea making is a much speedier affair.
Doggy bags are definitely a thing in the UK - you just have to ask, they won't usually offer. Also, portion sizes are generally a reasonable amount that most people can finish. It's rare that I don't finish a meal in the UK and I don't typically eat massive portions. Also, remind me never to visit Canada in the spring/summer - I struggle enough with pollen in the UK. Although, Canadian winters are really cold, so I would probably avoid winter too. Looks like I'll have to visit in autumn! I hate using foreign plug sockets - some of them feel so dangerous! My "favourite" was a hotel where the hair dryer was attached to the bathroom wall (and couldn't be removed), but you still had to plug it into the wall with a normal plug socket. The plug also didn't really fit in the socket properly and was kinda loose. I don't even understand why you'd want to use a hairdryer in a damp bathroom where the mirror is fogged up - you're most likely to be drying your hair after having a shower after all!
I've now listened to the whole post. Every country has different structures, rules etc. Regarding plugs. There are posts comparing American and British plugs and the British model came out as being better in every way, including safety. I enjoyed your post and it was interesting to hear your views about going home after a few years but there's no place like home!
Fwiw, a standard outlet in a washroom in Canada would be unsafe; current building codes require in-wasroom outlets to be protected by ground fault circuit interruptors, sort of a sensitive and fast acting breaker.
I think that near enough all houses here in the UK have double glazing installed to help to insulate house from the cold, and also noise outside. I live in my house is part of two houses, and rarely hear my neighbours. We use 220-240V mains, but can have outlets in a bathroom fed via a transformer to drop the voltage, to power hair dryers, shavers etc. There are freezer trays at the top inside a fridge just to make a tray of ice cubes, but I don't as I have no real use for ice cubes, even on hot days of sunshine, and just put a bottle of fizz, beers, fruit juice etc.......but that's just me... Yes, we have many types of 'adaptors' for our 3 pin plugs which when plugged in are very secure, which is very handy for all the plugs needed for my PC, monitors (2), printer, scanner, landline phone, Wifi hub, router etc, under my desk. I quite like a tub of 'cream cheese' spread which is usually about £1.80, but currently in Iceland for a quid....:)
Hi Alanna, love the content. Keep up the amusing content. Just a little FYI in case it is of use: Re item 1 on your list, the population densities are (2020): Ontario 14.1 people per square kilometre. England 430 people per square kilometre. Southeast England 483 people per square kilometre. So the southeast is thirty-four times more densely populated than Ontario - it's even worse if you compare rural vs town/city living.
High skies can be relative to your position above sea level and sight polution. By sight polution, I refer to obstructions such as buildings, trees and natural rolling landscape. Also clouds packed closely fill one's vission making the sky feel close - sometimes overbearing. Skies with few clouds appear spacious and with less visual markers may appear farther away. Wide open spaces and flat lands will make the sky seem higher but it can also be true that clouds form higher in the atmosphere in different parts of the globe due to particular local weather charactoristics. Clouds in the UK are between 6,500 and 20,000 ft.
I usually hear "Canadian" but I did hear "comedian" in the last video of yours I watched so I thought you were a Canadian comedian. Well you do have a great sense of humour! Tom Scott did a UA-cam video on the safety features designed into the British plug. It's very interesting.
Culture shock is finding things weird (different) when you first arrive, but once you get used to them they become the norm. When you go back, having forgotten some of the differences, you are then surprised by things you had readjusted too. The cloud base is most likely lower here and I also noticed the difference when travelling abroad in both Europe and North Africa, so I get what you meant. As for our 3 pin plugs, the top (earth) pin is longer and that's possibly why they are more secure. Doggy bags were never a big thing because 1) the portions tend to be smaller 2) after years of rationing in WW2 people didn't waste food, so you ate everything, it has changed slowly in some places.
Hi Alanna,I am glad that you are back to your normal bubbly self again and are able to laugh at your own statements.We have a large fridge/freezer unit with an ice maker and water chiller fitted.because the children have long since flown the nest they do not get used much,only when the grandchildren come round.cheers Roly 🇬🇧.
What a great vid. .Going home can seem very strange. As you say the price of food the plugs. Silly things but you do notice .Anyway ,thank you .Hope your feeling better . Sounded more like you ..😷😷
Alanna's Tech Talk should become a regular slot like cooking/baking. :) Hilarious and informative...kind of. ;) I think one of the reasons we don't really do Doggy Bags here is that restaurants rarely give you enough to eat in the first place. lol. :)
10:14 My family here in Wales have one! Given that I hate ice in my drinks I haven't used it much, although my brother has a strange affinity for ice (sometimes he'll just eat the ice on its own??) so at least it's getting some use.
I live in Victoria BC on Canada's Pacific Coast - the weather influences are similar to much of the UK. In the Prairies and even Ontario, yes the sky is much higher! And the clouds are puffier ☁️🌥️☁️
We have lots of trees in Canada and speaking as a Forester that's awesome. It also means lots of pollen in May and June. As for the price of cheese, we have a supply management system here that keeps out foreign competition, reduces supply and keeps prices high. We do this keep American dairy out because they would flood the market and destroy Canadian dairy farms. I think we should open the market to those Kiwis though, we like them.
When I lived in Southern Africa, (mostly Zimbabwe) asking for a "doggy bag" was very common. But we literally used to give it to our dogs when we got home! Especially if it was mea or leftover chicken. Our dogs there lived outside, so it was a nice treat for them. But here in the UK I only generally ask for a "doggy bag" if there is leftover chicken when we've been to Nandos. Love Nandos!!! (Well, Nandos is from South Africa - originally). I actually met Fernando, the chap that started it all, in Zimbabwe once many years ago!
The whole clouds/visibility thing is simple enough: the height at which clouds form is a function of humidity and surface temperature. The bigger the difference, the higher clouds form. The UK tends to have high humidity and relatively high surface temps, so cumulus clouds typically form at 2000-4000feet. As a former glider pilot this stuff was essential to understand. The high humidity partially explains the generally hazy air we have here.
What are night skies like if your high sky feeling subsists at night? Outlets - it's volts that jolts, but mils that kills. Canada is approximately 120V, UK is 230V -mains outlet voltage: "higher power" kettle takes longer in Canada because of lower mains voltage (but 32V can kill you, and 9V across your heart can also kill you ...) Power outlets: I took my laptop and bought a Canadian lead before I went ... it was still *weird* to plug my laptop into the hotel bedside lamp which had an outlet socket in the base by the switch ...
Ya know something I noticed when I was in London a few years ago, you can't get snap peas/pea pods in grocery stores. I looked in a few different ones and nobody sold them. I do enjoy the better selection of meal and snack options that are available.
Great video as usual Alanna. I think the 'high sky' is at least partly to do with the overall congestion of things around you. I noticed it a fair bit on trips to the US & Africa but by far it was most obvious when I went to Diego Garcia (middle of the Indian Ocean and highest point 6ft above sea level). The noise thing is one of the reasons I now live in the country in UK. I found that I was constantly getting woken up by noises from outside. Now I can literally hear an owl a mile or so away. I completely got what you were saying about the power outlets. Having travelled extensively with the army I've seen the US/Canadian, European and Asian systems and I'd say that I much preffer ours although the European one is good as well (only 2 prongs but they have an earth strip on two sides of the plug that the socket grips). In the US I lost count of the number of times things didn't charge up because the plug had fallen out that little bit too much.
Hi Alanna, good to see you're getting over the lurgy. Low sky! rain clouds at only 6000ft like a big grey duvet , if you see blue run out and take a pic cos you never know when you will see it again.
I love doggy bags. Though we don’t give it to the dog unless it is steak scraps, like fat or gristle. But we enjoy getting our leftovers to go because we often get two or three meals or of that one meal. This makes going out to eat more feasible (or more affordable) since we are getting two meals out of that one meal. In essence then, we are paying $7.00 per meal instead of $14.00 for that one meal. It makes going out to eat more affordable if you can get two meals out of that one expensive meal.
In the UK on overcast days the cloudbase is generally quite low. One thing that's defintiely true in Canada and Australia though is that sightlines are mush longer - so you can reasonably often see further or even see to the horizon. In the UK it's relatively rare for there not to be a building/hill or something in the way. UK is 240V (Actually around 220 now) Canda is probably 120 I'd guess, so it will take about twice as long. The UK plugs have lots of design features, originally UK plugs had 2 prongs but after world war 2 when lots of the country had been bombed flat and they were rebuilding the oppourtunity was taken to revise the design and make it as good as possible - several things - incorporated fuse, earthed (the third pin), earth protudes further than the live or neutral pins so you can't insert it without it being earthed. Live and neutral pins are covred in insulation to prevent arcing and also ensure it's earthed (when you plung thing in in North America you sometimes get that flash/spark - not in the UK) also the cord is anchored inside the plug separately so you can't pull directly on the contacts (or at least not easily), also the cord is angled at 90 degrees to the cord so if you tug on it it wont pull out of the socket easily (downside of this is if you stand on it it will really hurt :-(!). There are loads of icemakers on amazon but yep hardly anyone has one - I guess it's not warm enough for long enough to have cold drinks!
We have something akin to your “High-Sky” phenomenon - in some of our more rural counties (East Yorkshire, for example), we call it “Big-Sky”, especially out on the Wolds…
Popping to the shops. I have 3 corner shops within a 2 or 3 minute walk, 1 supermarket within 5 minutes and another 3 within 10 minutes. 4 chippy, 1 indian, 1 Chinese all within 5 minute walk. 1 chippy is about 50 yards away 😊 ❤from North East England ❤️
If you ever move back to Canada and take a place in Montreal, you could still pop to the shops, except it will be called popping to the Dep (and expect to pay a lot, plus the additional GST and QST)
The U.K. has its own weather system because of its position in the Atlantic and as a collection of islands, and so it’s entirely possible that the cloud base is much lower here as we do get a lot of cloud buildup that is constantly coming off the seas.
In Edinburgh there is a weather phenomenon called haar and it's like the clouds have landed. It's not raining but you get soaked just walking through it. It can last all day.
In the UK we have the Arctic weather system in the north, the Siberian system in the east, the African/European system in the south and the Atlantic system in the west.
The cloud base depends on the relative humidity (concentration of water vapour in the air) and the dew point (at which point water vapour condenses to water droplets to form clouds). The UK having a very oceanic climate heavily depending on the ocean with weather systems frequently passing through, usually has a much higher relative humidity and a lower dew point, so clouds are formed way lower than in Ontario, which has a continental climate and is thus usually drier until a strong weather system comes from the Gulf of Mexico and brings moisture and rain. When it rains in Ontario, it’s usually strong and short-lived showers and the air is nowhere near as damp as in the UK or like Vancouver.
We live under the junction of 5 different weather systems, something our weather forecasters seem to ignore. Which could explain why they get the weather forecast wrong so often
I just got back home to California from Bournemouth and even though I was only away for 3 weeks, the culture shocks were real! Chatting with strangers at the airport, the weather difference (including the sky height! The clouds are so much more "dimensional" in the UK if that makes sense) and I'll tell ya, I got really used to paying the sticker price for things without having to mentally add the tax!
Total side note: I mentioned your channel to one of my fellow volunteers at Glastonbury. He happens to be a Green Party council member in Kent and he was really interested in the idea of your channel. So who knows? You may have gained a new follower!
Hey thank you so much!! Hope you had a great trip!
Well guess what, Britain is an Island with all weather fronts, hope you enjoyed your stay here. America is a big country and I have been, but give me the different Islands in Europe I will choose them!
@@joannakennedy6005 That's why weather forecasting in the UK is 'pants' whereas in the US and Canada it is really quite good.
I'm a UK expat living in New Mexico and the tendency of plugs to slide out of the wall socket drives me round the bend!
I used to travel all over Europe for work and the 2 pronged plugs and sockets drove me mad. It wasn't unusual for me to be trying to prop up the plug in my hotel room!
Yes, doggy bags. We use them all the time (in England). Even with a chef's special deal (cheap price) on restaurant food there is always far too much served for us to eat so we always ask if they can put the rest it in a bag or box for us. Especially in Indian restaurants. Put the food in the freezer in plastic boxes and have it another day. It always tastes just as good and feels like we are getting a 'free' meal too! More people should do it.
The one that shocks me--living in Canada, in Vancouver--is the high prices. Back in November, the storm cut us off from the rest of the world and the supermarket was picked over and prices went up. But prices have kept going up. And the amount of money I have has remained the same.
The highest skies I found were in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Ontario you have stuff on the horizon that takes away from the height--but on the prairies it's just sky all around you.
Vancouver is great if you are a multimillionaire, otherwise not so much.
Picked over?
I also get reverse culture shock when I go back to the UK. It's strange how what was weird when you first arrived becomes normal and now your home country is the weird place.
So true!!
Absolutely! Same thoughts apply to living in one region of the USA and going back to the previous one you lived in.
As a Canadian, who has been to England (love it and miss it), I agree about the sky, it is quite high up there. I think that is why I love my country. I agree about food has gotten very expensive here over the past two years. Enjoyed the video.
Thanks so much for watching!
You are obviously feeling much better in this latest video, which is great news. It was interesting to hear what struck you as a returning Canadian. The “high sky” thing made me laugh because I know exactly what you mean. It took me a while to understand the concept of shelves being “picked over” - I got it in the end, the shelves were emptier than usual. Great content as usual. Cheers 👍
You mused on the "High Sky" issue. In 🇨🇦, you have enormous open vistas where your horizon is a lot further away, whereas here in 🇬🇧 we're more hemmed in. It makes a *big* difference to your perception of your surroundings.
Ice makers & American 'fridges. They are becoming a bit more popular, but only if you have the space for them. I live in a small house & my kitchen is 9ft x 6ft, so a *huge* 'fridge is a no-no! If I need ice cubes, I fill the tray supplied with the freezer with water, put in the freezer & wait a couple of hours. Hey presto!
Glad to see that you've fully recovered from your illnesses - hope your partner has also recovered. That must've been a nightmare 😱. Keep safe Alanna, we always look forward to your "take" on 🇨🇦/🇬🇧 life. Have fun!
As a Brit, I must admit I like the fact that houses in canada are so much bigger.
There plus and cons wherever you go. I totally understand the point you made about the high skies.
Hope you’re feeling much better after your illness. Your experience of it sounded absolutely awful.
As far as the cheese is concerned, it’s much cheaper here,so enjoy eating it to your heart’s content. It will never bankrupt you😉
When I went out to Australia, at first the sky just seemed so high. When I got back to the UK (an overcast sky) it felt very claustrophobic. I suffered from chronic depression for months.
I watch a British UA-camr who often shows off their groceries and I've been shocked at how cheap food is there compared to Ontario. Even the cheapest dollar store here wouldn't sell food as cheap as the standard grocery stores in Britain. There's lots of supply issues here right now and many products are unavailable or in short supply. Since we get much of our food from the US, Mexico and South America, the high fuel prices / shipping costs are probably a major contributor. Even if things normalize, I doubt prices will come back down to pre-pandemic levels.
We're all suffering rising prices, especially here in the UK. Food has gone up a lot and, if you buy ready meals and canned goods the weight has gone down. Ready meals that used to be 450g and £2.26 are now £2.80 and 400g.
Canadian food quality is not good as much as Brit's food chain .Organic veggies and meat can be found easily in the Uk ,but in Canada the price for organic food and diary is exremely high
@Colin Deal That's what I kept thinking when Alana was on about grocery prices. As you say, it's all relevant to earnings. Obviously, if you're earning more then the prices will still be the same percentage of earnings I would imagine. Wages are pretty low here in the UK I think so food isn't that cheap as a percentage.
The high sky thing is definitely a thing! I live in Chicago and when I go to Florida I think to myself “The sky is so much lower here” like the clouds feel so much closer. I never vocalized it before though! Lol
Ahh I'm not crazy!!
Who else on here wants to know if Alannah used the phrase “pop to the shops” in Canada by accident and what the reaction from confused onlookers was?
Why would onlookers be confused? Everyone knows what pop to the shops or pop across the road means. At least they do here in southern Ontario. Where do you live?
Yeah, I'm from the Southern US, and if I heard someone say that I would just think it was a very quirky/goofy way of saying "pop into the grocery store" that someone was saying to be cute. It wouldn't confuse anyone, but it might get you an odd look because that's not exactly how people usually say it. Without context, I'd think they were just saying it that way because it rhymes or something, or maybe it was a weird movie reference I missed, etc. What's really confusing, IMO, is calling a soda/cola a "pop," and I don't even have to go across the Atlantic to encounter that one. My Mom went to Illinois for the first time and thought someone offering her a beverage wanted to hit her. LOL.
@@pennyandrews3292 Yes and of course if you were to say that in an English accent you'd be forgiven - a little!
I don’t want to know 😆
@@shaunpcoleman the hell I’ve never heard “pops to the shops” ever until this video. I’ve never heard a single person in Ottawa say that including me😅
About plugs falling out of the socket outlet, its not just the shorter pins (not prongs) the Canadian/American plugs have the appliance cable entry on the back of the plug which makes it more sticking out and unbalanced also continually trying to pull down and out, the UK appliance cable entry is at the bottom of the plug, so is better balanced and stable, helps keeps the plug in the socket with a flatter profile as well.
I think doggy bags are becoming more usual in the UK (at least London), but it never occurred to me to order more with a view to just taking it home. BRILLIANT! and so obvious!
Everything she said describes exactly my experience in the UK and I have never experienced it abroad. We took food home from the restaurant last night, and "cakeaway" is now a proper thing.
No idea why anyone would order soup to take home though, that one baffles me 😂
Very interesting Alanna! Couple of things - firstly, the difference in pollen probably depends where you are even in the UK. I live in a small village which is surrounded in all directions by countryside and my car also gets yellow with pollen every summer's morning and I sniff and sneeze all the time. Also, I totally get the high skies thing - I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't travelled in Canada too but the sky really does go on forever when you're crossing an area that isn't so busy with buildings, pylons, airplanes etc (like the prairies for instance, and Ontario too, outside the cities) -so don't worry, you aren't going crazy just yet!!
Cheers Malcolm!!
Yet? 😂
Uk Main sockets are taken for granted here, but we’re spoiled 🤓
Such a well thought out design and so safe.
Travelling abroad and seeing the annoying mess other countries have to deal with, is quite an eye opener 👀
I normally modify an extension lead to have the appropriate "weird plug" instead of using travel adapters. Just a small one, and then put it in the hold luggage.
@@DuskHorizon Me too.
Yeah, I just came back from a holiday in Germany (thoroughly enjoyable btw!) and I'd really forgotten about the seeming flimsiness of the plug/socket arrangement... very similar to Canada/USA. I think we've been spoiled here in the UK... they're so robust, with a satisfying click as they make that final contact. You also need a certain amount of force to remove the plug... you just know it's safe.
about technical standards, EU is the best, but when talking about political self-awareness, Britannia rules! Hope the coup they prepare you won't bury this, together with the whole country.
@@divin5186 No idea where that comment came from, but I should point out that according to almost all electrical safety authorities, the UK standard plug is recognised as one of the safest designs.
As for coups, whoever they are, and whatever they're planning, I'd recommend not trying that in England, we have a historical reputation for brutality, and I wouldn't want to see just how brutal we'd be willing to be towards anyone attempting such a move here. We'd rather the entire country burned than cower before some self declared supremacist movement.
Wow I didn't realize the pollen was quite that bad there!
US/Canadian outlets do have a 3rd prong but it's not always used. I believe British plugs are required to have the 3rd prong even if it's not wired up because the doors on the outlet won't open without the 3rd prong. The US/Canadian ones do fall out a lot though. I think it's because they weaken over time until they can't keep the plug from falling out.
The long prong on a UK plug is mainly to open the shutters to the powered prongs.
I'm glad to see and hear that you're winning the battle against flu, Alanna! As for your specific points herein...
1) This can actually be a thing even if you've never left your home country. I've lived in big cities and small towns, in different parts of the UK, and the latter (especially in the north of England) are much quieter. My university was based near a quiet village on the edge of York; a friend who went away to London remarked, on paying a return visit, how amazingly quiet it was compared to the capital. I suppose almost anywhere is quieter than the capital!
2) Allergies are best preempted by eating locally produced honey or taking locally produced pollen. If that isn't possible, you could try spraying Beconase or another form of hay fever relief medication into your nostrils...
3) The sky probably isn't higher in Canada, but it might feel that way because of the relatively wide open spaces in the terrain, compared with the more packed built-up areas in the UK.
4) I use a stove-top / fireplace kettle, which takes minutes to boil, so it's not just a Canadian thing!
5) The saying goes that you never truly realise how precious something is to you until you lose it. That's true of conveniences like local shops, you could argue!
6) My local tea room in Warwickshire will provide a doggy bag if you cannot manage everything, so they *do* exist in the UK. When I lived in Cumbria, an elderly couple I knew were forever taking their own to restaurants, cafés etc. - in the form of baking foil, which they would use to wrap up and take away whatever they couldn't finish. It would usually emerge at their home a day or two later - waste not, want not!
7) Indeed, it's not such a thing in the UK but it's catching on - and I would note that the family of a school friend of mine had a fridge-freezer with ice dispenser, as long as 30 years ago....
8) Two prongs are quite common on the European mainland, it seems, and the UK's triple prongs are thus a world oddity. That being said, I believe some UK appliances are wired to just the lower two prongs, with the third prong in place purely to fit our sockets, so perhaps things aren't so different as they appear!
9) Cost of living is becoming a crisis all the world over. I have my doubts that prices will subside, here or in Canada; I hope I may be proved wrong, but will say no more and thus keep your channel relatively free of politics.
Totally understand the “high-sky” thought. I’d never thought of it before but thinking back, when I visited Australia, it was the same…. The sky felt infinite while the UK sky is very claustrophobic (but I’m strange and like it that way. It’s cosy) 😎
Same here. When I lived in PNG and Australia ages ago the height of the sky was impressively ‘up there’, and coming back to the UK it all seemed so close and almost reachable. The dome of the sky even on blue cloudless days was a smaller dome in the UK. Cloudy UK days seemed like a miniature shot of model or toy scenery.
Thank god it's not just me! 😂
when i lived in texas from the uk the sky felt as if it was pressing down on me, i felt claustrophobic in the open air, here in the uk its contained
Can’t actually believe someone other than me has noticed this. When I was in the US the sky felt massive but in the U.K. it’s like everywhere feels like you’re in a matchbox. Like a miniature toy village, everything is just so small.
In the UK we have a lower sky because we are closer to heaven :-)
Hi Alana, I think you suffered more from Ontario reverse culture shock than a generic Canada variety. I often visit family in BC, and even within that one province my experiences of quiet nights, allergies, etc, varies massively between the Interior, the Island, and the Lower Mainland. In effect, to say Canadian in this context is similar to saying European, for experience in Yellowknife will be as different from Markham or Windsor as between Tromsø and Istanbul or Rochester.
She's talking about her personal experience in Canada, as I believe her family home is in a fairly rural area. She wouldn't be talking so much about the peace and quiet if she'd gone to Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, or London, ON. As is to be expected, she's only in her 20's and young people usually lack objectivity. Because of inexperience, they tend to generalize from their own very subjective experiences.
You're sounding a lot healthier (like you've recovered from your recent sickness) in this new video, Alanna 😊😀
👍 , so without further ado, let's go! 😀
Keep the good work up. You allways make me smile, as we say, you are a lovely cheeky chops..
Oh, Girl the thing about the High sky is so true. I was in England for a month many years ago and the first thing I'd noticed when I went back to Montreal was exactly that. The ceiling of the sky was incredible high, the vastness is not only with the land spread but the vast distance from ground to space. England is often covered by clouds that must act as a grey blanket that lowers the sky ceiling or the impression of it. And yes the price of food is just crazy, it getting scary and people talk about it a lot.🇨🇦🇬🇧
Interesting observations Alanna. As you surmised the time to boil the kettle is down to the lower Canadian mains voltage. Canadian kettles are around 1000W in power versus 2000W in the UK - hence roughly twice the time to boil.
May take longer than that because of heat losses - longer boil time will cause more heat loss which will make boil time even longer...
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As a Canadian I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but it seems kind of off topic.
I’d hate not being able to pop to the shops. My house is within 10-15 mins walk of shops in three different directions. I really wanted to understand the high skies but 😵💫 (Maybe I’ll rewatch and try again 🙃) Thank you for this insightful vid, Alanna!
Really interesting all the differences! I am a US expat living in South Korea. I have a 15-20 minute walk to and from work and four grocery stores on the way. This is in a rural areal too! I'll definitely miss just popping in for a few things and not getting in a car to get groceries when I head back to the states.
Great video Alanna! I too couldn’t get over the skies in the UK when I moved here.. like the clouds are closing in on you. My husband said it’s because of the low pressure which causes them to be heavy and dense. I definitely do miss the clear, high skies back home in the US!
Don’t miss driving ages to get to the shop, or the expensive food prices, or the lengthy time it take to boil the kettle!
Funny about taking home leftovers, I never noticed that before but it’s so true! Kind of prefer not taking anything back home now.
The brick hanging from the electric outlet is called a “wall wart” (great name!). We do have 3 prong plugs in North America, the third prong is the ground wire. But 3 prong plugs are definitely in the minority.
Probably in the US as well ? but the three prong dates back to when appliances were made of metal rather than plastic. It is still needed in the UK to open the socket connectors but is not actually connected anything anymore most of the time - unless the appliance has say exposed metal parts or used where it might get wet.
I think my dinner would have been pasta with tinned tomatoes and hold the mascarpone if it was that price, lol. You're sounding better, hope you're feeling better.
Thank you! Nearly 100%
Hi Alanna,
My allergies are really bad here in Illinois. I have to take Claritin daily in the summer. So I totally understand what you went through. The other day, it was so bad outside when the fluffy things blew off the trees, it looked like it was snowing. When it gets like that all you can do is stay inside. I also agree with you about food prices. I was at the store yesterday, and eggs were $5.00 a dozen. This is due to crazy inflation in North America right now. When gas prices increase, the cost of everything else goes up.
I’m also really sorry to hear about how sick you got when you were in Canada.
When I was in college, I had a bad case of the flu, even though I was vaccinated, so I went to the student health center and they gave me Tami-Flu, and it just made me much sicker. I’m glad that you are feeling much better now, and I hope that your trip to Canada next year will go much smoother.
Totally get the high sky thing. Moved to Wellington NZ from UK in 74 and that was one of the main things we noticed here too. Also, we have 240v power and sockets in the bathrooms. So quick tea and toothbrush rechargers taken care of. 🙂
It's certainly an eye-opener seeing the difference in prices between the UK and Canada, and even more so in the context of the cost of living crisis we're going through here. Thanks for the informative vid!
Hello alanna! Nice to see you back in the uk.. the electrical system in Canada operates at 120 volts. in the uk its 230 volts nearly twice the power = twice the speed. we need the speed for the amount of tea we drink 😄
I get the whole sky thing. I remember being in a country town here in Australia and a young kid said to me, ‘we have a lot of sky out here, lots of sky.’ It made sense, especially as the area was fairly flat and the sky a crystal clear azure that day.
Totally agree with the sky height. Felt the same in Houston, Texas. And the night sky just a few miles out of town is amazing! And we have ice makers in the UK. They're called ice trays!
Ice trays are annoying! 😂
Some restaurants have caught up with the doggy bag idea but only for puddings. The afters. The whatever at the end of the meal... but they call it cake away. Yknow coz..take away... humour! Chortle chortle.
Loved this video.
When the last bout of panic buying was happening I read "I spent 3 years in Syria during the war there, we never ran out of toilet paper".
Happy culture shock comment, from where the skies can be both ;)
Hi Alanna, looks like you got over your Canadian flu, good to have the old Alanna back again!
Thank you! Nearly 100% 🙏🏻
I'm an American living in the US, and I wish we were as good of a neighbour to Canada as Canada is to us.
🙏🏻
Amen ,brother
Ahhh, you guys are pretty good too.
My personal experience, though has always been nothing like what you see on the tube. Y’all a pretty friendly bunch!
Heavier duty electronics in Canada do use a third prong on the plug, which makes them more stable, but yes it’s irritating when two prong plugs slide out. And kettles take longer. But the first time you accidentally tread on a UK plug barefoot, you will long for North American plugs.
Doggy bags are very much a thing and term used in the UK! Me and my partner regularly take leftovers home. Kids often take doggy bags home from parties too.
I think the high Skye’s you get in Canada and not the UK is due to the light pollution we have here in the UK , but the more you travel north like Northumberland & Scotland , you will experience high sky’s , due to them being the least populated places in the UK .
The UK plugs are the safest in the world by design, but I have electrecuted myself three or four times with 240 volts (230 V now, I think); mainly by being stupid and young. Once, as an adult, I switched off the mains to fix and replace a mains socket. I heard a very faint click. I stopped what I was doing (bare wires around me) and went downstairs to check. My five-year-old son was watching the TV. He had come in from the garden, saw the TV wasn't turning on and actually flipped the mains switch back to on! From that point onwards, I would always also take out the fuse for the sockets in the section I was doing something and keep the fuse in my pocket until I had finished. It was nice to see some more insights from Canada. Thanks.
I'm a Canadian living over here in the UK. Have just recently moved house and its got an American style fridge with the ice and water dispenser. I'm love, love, loving it!! I do find that over here the brits aren't so into ice as we are.
That’s true. I order drinks and say no ice 😅
I’m from the UK but now living in the USA.
I’ve never given much thought about the electrical outlets and plugs in the UK.
But you’re absolutely right! Sometimes American plugs don’t seem
to be plugged in whereas in the UK they are more heavy duty and secure.
Great to see you're looking and sounding a lot better☺👍.
You really are a proper British convert, going to Canada and having fish and chips! 😂 thanks for another of your fun, interesting video.
Thank you! 😂
Great video as always Alanna. You sound better now, hope you have gotten over your sickness. 🙂
Thank you!!
Totally agree on the doggs bags. Every restaurant we’ve been to in BC where I’ve not finished my meal they’ve asked if I want the rest to go - every single time!! X
Right?? 😂
I hear you with the high skies, it always felt that way coming to visit family while I was living in London. Even in an area without large buildings/skyscrapers, looking up in London just seemed more closed in than when elsewhere. Weird, but nice to know I'm not the only one.
Having worked in a pub in the UK i can say that people wanting to take leftovers home happened a couple of times a week....but then again I'm from Yorkshire and we're well known for being "careful" with our money 😂
Your Sky thing makes perfect to me as I come from the Norfolk Fenns where they have HUGE skies.
One of my top tips for power adapters - take a UK 4-way bar plug and plug it in with a socket adapter. Then you can plug in all your UK chargers, and there's little weight on the main socket.
Ontarian here, often times here the server will ask if you want to take the rest home if they see you have leftovers while the rest of your party are done. I havent heard it called 'doggy bag' but they will either bring you stryofoam containers or take your plate back and box it up for you. Also "popping to the shop" is very dependent on where you live. Ontario is huge and I lived in a small town for years that a trip to the stores was only a couple minutes away.
Hey Alanna. Glad to see you feeling better. Great video and you make great points that you wouldn't think of until you experience them.
Never knew the pollen was that extreme over there. I wonder if there's something scientific to your sky thing? I'll take a quick cup of tea over bathroom outlets any day, you've gotta get your priorities right.
Enjoyed your newsletter, looking forward to more. 🙂
Thank you so much!
Alanna... You are not alone, I completely get it about the high and lower sky feeling. Gads, the prices here in America are atrocious. The same bag of cat food cost $11.99 a year ago costs $27.99 today. This is at Walmart! I can't afford Walmart anymore. It's horrible. Thanks for the great (as usual) video.
Some years ago now we had a company Christmas dinner, employees only, was dinner time, and at a very nice Italian restaurant. Ay that time our office manager was a German lady. At the end of the meal she asked for a doggy bag, the staff started scraping off the remains from plates into a bag. No, she says, a doggy bag, for my husbands dinner. The staff thought she wanted scraps for her dog. The first time any of us had heard that expression.
I have had the same experience about the ceiling of the sky - when mentioned it to people they thought I was crazy - it's nice to know I'm not alone!
Hi Allanah. If you visit the Lincolnshire Fens on a nice day you can experience "Big sky". We had an "American" style fridge-freezer in the mid 1970s. It had an ice cube dispenser in the freezer door and a chilled water dispenser in the fridge door, and was plumbed in to the cold water supply. Most houses in the U.K. are just not big enough to fit such a beast.
The ice cube matter is a non issue, for decades fridges come with a separate ice cube tray, also inexpensive ready to use bags of ice cubes are in supermarkets, kitchens are smaller and many people don't want American size fridges that make ice cubes,they prefer European spec integrated appliances .
OMG!!! As a fellow Canadian here in the UK I noticed the sky feels closer here too!!!!
Good to see that your throat is sounding back to normal and on top form 👌👍
Thank you!
I remember doggy bags being a thing in Canada, when I was across in 84.
When you first mentioned doggy bags, I thought you were talking about poo bags. lol
Not to worry Alanna. Now you're back in Britain, just break out the cider and bring back the good times!! You've got so used to being here, everywhere else seems weird. It's good to have you back!
Thank you!! ☺️
Had never really thought about the high sky/ low sky thing. I’ll make note next time I go over to the UK.
I get the slow kettle times here. The first time I made tea in England I wasn’t prepared! At home there is plenty of time to take out all the accoutrements necessary for a tea break - pot, teabag, cup, sugar, teaspoon, biscuit, little plate to put the cookie in, little bowl to put the tea bag in and still have “hours” to stand around staring at the kettle, contemplating the universe 😄 Hurry up already! In England tea making is a much speedier affair.
I still remember the ads for the Hotpoint High Speed Kettle -"boils three pints in three minutes" -for when you desperately need tea!
Doggy bags are definitely a thing in the UK - you just have to ask, they won't usually offer. Also, portion sizes are generally a reasonable amount that most people can finish. It's rare that I don't finish a meal in the UK and I don't typically eat massive portions.
Also, remind me never to visit Canada in the spring/summer - I struggle enough with pollen in the UK. Although, Canadian winters are really cold, so I would probably avoid winter too. Looks like I'll have to visit in autumn!
I hate using foreign plug sockets - some of them feel so dangerous! My "favourite" was a hotel where the hair dryer was attached to the bathroom wall (and couldn't be removed), but you still had to plug it into the wall with a normal plug socket. The plug also didn't really fit in the socket properly and was kinda loose.
I don't even understand why you'd want to use a hairdryer in a damp bathroom where the mirror is fogged up - you're most likely to be drying your hair after having a shower after all!
Yes, my neighbour's snoring often keeps me awake. Thin walls are what we do here in England.
I've now listened to the whole post. Every country has different structures, rules etc. Regarding plugs. There are posts comparing American and British plugs and the British model came out as being better in every way, including safety.
I enjoyed your post and it was interesting to hear your views about going home after a few years but there's no place like home!
Fwiw, a standard outlet in a washroom in Canada would be unsafe; current building codes require in-wasroom outlets to be protected by ground fault circuit interruptors, sort of a sensitive and fast acting breaker.
I think that near enough all houses here in the UK have double glazing installed to help to insulate house from the cold, and also noise outside.
I live in my house is part of two houses, and rarely hear my neighbours.
We use 220-240V mains, but can have outlets in a bathroom fed via a transformer to drop the voltage, to power hair dryers, shavers etc.
There are freezer trays at the top inside a fridge just to make a tray of ice cubes, but I don't as I have no real use for ice cubes, even on hot days of sunshine, and just put a bottle of fizz, beers, fruit juice etc.......but that's just me...
Yes, we have many types of 'adaptors' for our 3 pin plugs which when plugged in are very secure, which is very handy for all the plugs needed for my PC, monitors (2), printer, scanner, landline phone, Wifi hub, router etc, under my desk.
I quite like a tub of 'cream cheese' spread which is usually about £1.80, but currently in Iceland for a quid....:)
Hi Alanna, love the content. Keep up the amusing content. Just a little FYI in case it is of use:
Re item 1 on your list, the population densities are (2020):
Ontario 14.1 people per square kilometre.
England 430 people per square kilometre.
Southeast England 483 people per square kilometre.
So the southeast is thirty-four times more densely populated than Ontario - it's even worse if you compare rural vs town/city living.
So crazy!! Thanks for the numbers!
High skies can be relative to your position above sea level and sight polution. By sight polution, I refer to obstructions such as buildings, trees and natural rolling landscape. Also clouds packed closely fill one's vission making the sky feel close - sometimes overbearing. Skies with few clouds appear spacious and with less visual markers may appear farther away. Wide open spaces and flat lands will make the sky seem higher but it can also be true that clouds form higher in the atmosphere in different parts of the globe due to particular local weather charactoristics. Clouds in the UK are between 6,500 and 20,000 ft.
I live in an end of terrace house in Southern England.The nights are very quite.We have double glazing,but have windows open and it's still very quite
I've got a a plastic tray that makes Ice cubes six at a time ,who says we're backwards. SIX at a time ,
I usually hear "Canadian" but I did hear "comedian" in the last video of yours I watched so I thought you were a Canadian comedian. Well you do have a great sense of humour!
Tom Scott did a UA-cam video on the safety features designed into the British plug. It's very interesting.
Culture shock is finding things weird (different) when you first arrive, but once you get used to them they become the norm. When you go back, having forgotten some of the differences, you are then surprised by things you had readjusted too. The cloud base is most likely lower here and I also noticed the difference when travelling abroad in both Europe and North Africa, so I get what you meant. As for our 3 pin plugs, the top (earth) pin is longer and that's possibly why they are more secure. Doggy bags were never a big thing because 1) the portions tend to be smaller 2) after years of rationing in WW2 people didn't waste food, so you ate everything, it has changed slowly in some places.
Hi Alanna,I am glad that you are back to your normal bubbly self again and are able to laugh at your own statements.We have a large fridge/freezer unit with an ice maker and water chiller fitted.because the children have long since flown the nest they do not get used much,only when the grandchildren come round.cheers Roly 🇬🇧.
What a great vid. .Going home can seem very strange. As you say the price of food the plugs. Silly things but you do notice .Anyway ,thank you .Hope your feeling better . Sounded more like you ..😷😷
Alanna's Tech Talk should become a regular slot like cooking/baking. :) Hilarious and informative...kind of. ;) I think one of the reasons we don't really do Doggy Bags here is that restaurants rarely give you enough to eat in the first place. lol. :)
10:14 My family here in Wales have one!
Given that I hate ice in my drinks I haven't used it much, although my brother has a strange affinity for ice (sometimes he'll just eat the ice on its own??) so at least it's getting some use.
I live in Victoria BC on Canada's Pacific Coast - the weather influences are similar to much of the UK. In the Prairies and even Ontario, yes the sky is much higher! And the clouds are puffier ☁️🌥️☁️
We have lots of trees in Canada and speaking as a Forester that's awesome. It also means lots of pollen in May and June.
As for the price of cheese, we have a supply management system here that keeps out foreign competition, reduces supply and keeps prices high. We do this keep American dairy out because they would flood the market and destroy Canadian dairy farms. I think we should open the market to those Kiwis though, we like them.
erm, its mascarpone as in 'mask a pony' - otherwise the joke "What is the best type of cheese to hide a horse in? Mascarpone" doesn't work
When I lived in Southern Africa, (mostly Zimbabwe) asking for a "doggy bag" was very common. But we literally used to give it to our dogs when we got home! Especially if it was mea or leftover chicken. Our dogs there lived outside, so it was a nice treat for them.
But here in the UK I only generally ask for a "doggy bag" if there is leftover chicken when we've been to Nandos. Love Nandos!!! (Well, Nandos is from South Africa - originally). I actually met Fernando, the chap that started it all, in Zimbabwe once many years ago!
The whole clouds/visibility thing is simple enough: the height at which clouds form is a function of humidity and surface temperature. The bigger the difference, the higher clouds form. The UK tends to have high humidity and relatively high surface temps, so cumulus clouds typically form at 2000-4000feet. As a former glider pilot this stuff was essential to understand. The high humidity partially explains the generally hazy air we have here.
What are night skies like if your high sky feeling subsists at night?
Outlets - it's volts that jolts, but mils that kills. Canada is approximately 120V, UK is 230V -mains outlet voltage: "higher power" kettle takes longer in Canada because of lower mains voltage (but 32V can kill you, and 9V across your heart can also kill you ...)
Power outlets: I took my laptop and bought a Canadian lead before I went ... it was still *weird* to plug my laptop into the hotel bedside lamp which had an outlet socket in the base by the switch ...
Ya know something I noticed when I was in London a few years ago, you can't get snap peas/pea pods in grocery stores. I looked in a few different ones and nobody sold them. I do enjoy the better selection of meal and snack options that are available.
They’re in greengrocers in season and in the supermarkets near me. Whereabouts were you living?
Great video as usual Alanna. I think the 'high sky' is at least partly to do with the overall congestion of things around you. I noticed it a fair bit on trips to the US & Africa but by far it was most obvious when I went to Diego Garcia (middle of the Indian Ocean and highest point 6ft above sea level). The noise thing is one of the reasons I now live in the country in UK. I found that I was constantly getting woken up by noises from outside. Now I can literally hear an owl a mile or so away.
I completely got what you were saying about the power outlets. Having travelled extensively with the army I've seen the US/Canadian, European and Asian systems and I'd say that I much preffer ours although the European one is good as well (only 2 prongs but they have an earth strip on two sides of the plug that the socket grips). In the US I lost count of the number of times things didn't charge up because the plug had fallen out that little bit too much.
Enjoyed the video, loved the one about the sky, I'd never thought of that.
Thanks for the video. The sky thing is really interesting and I hope that one day I get to see what you mean. I hope you are feeling better as well
Thank you so much!
Hi Alanna, good to see you're getting over the lurgy. Low sky! rain clouds at only 6000ft like a big grey duvet , if you see blue run out and take a pic cos you never know when you will see it again.
I love doggy bags. Though we don’t give it to the dog unless it is steak scraps, like fat or gristle. But we enjoy getting our leftovers to go because we often get two or three meals or of that one meal. This makes going out to eat more feasible (or more affordable) since we are getting two meals out of that one meal. In essence then, we are paying $7.00 per meal instead of $14.00 for that one meal. It makes going out to eat more affordable if you can get two meals out of that one expensive meal.
Great video.
Never heard the term "picked over" before. Don't they regularly refill shelves or is it total lack of stock ?
In the UK on overcast days the cloudbase is generally quite low. One thing that's defintiely true in Canada and Australia though is that sightlines are mush longer - so you can reasonably often see further or even see to the horizon. In the UK it's relatively rare for there not to be a building/hill or something in the way. UK is 240V (Actually around 220 now) Canda is probably 120 I'd guess, so it will take about twice as long. The UK plugs have lots of design features, originally UK plugs had 2 prongs but after world war 2 when lots of the country had been bombed flat and they were rebuilding the oppourtunity was taken to revise the design and make it as good as possible - several things - incorporated fuse, earthed (the third pin), earth protudes further than the live or neutral pins so you can't insert it without it being earthed. Live and neutral pins are covred in insulation to prevent arcing and also ensure it's earthed (when you plung thing in in North America you sometimes get that flash/spark - not in the UK) also the cord is anchored inside the plug separately so you can't pull directly on the contacts (or at least not easily), also the cord is angled at 90 degrees to the cord so if you tug on it it wont pull out of the socket easily (downside of this is if you stand on it it will really hurt :-(!). There are loads of icemakers on amazon but yep hardly anyone has one - I guess it's not warm enough for long enough to have cold drinks!
There's a theory that nettles reduce hayfever - the studies I've seen suggest drinking the nettles have helped.
We have something akin to your “High-Sky” phenomenon - in some of our more rural counties (East Yorkshire, for example), we call it “Big-Sky”, especially out on the Wolds…
Popping to the shops. I have 3 corner shops within a 2 or 3 minute walk, 1 supermarket within 5 minutes and another 3 within 10 minutes.
4 chippy, 1 indian, 1 Chinese all within 5 minute walk. 1 chippy is about 50 yards away 😊
❤from North East England ❤️
If you ever move back to Canada and take a place in Montreal, you could still pop to the shops, except it will be called popping to the Dep (and expect to pay a lot, plus the additional GST and QST)