you have to come to mexio if you are looking for strange things... here is surealistic!!! so fun!...an american friend just came 2 weeks ago and was like "wow" all time! very different of what he did think about mexico before comming. anyway...London is GREAT!

Actually, British traffic lights go Red - Red & Amber - Green - Amber - Red. If you think about it you can work out why.

Also, we are not really nice. We just do that to freak you out. Like the accent - you don't think we speak like that among ourselves do you?

We found lots of those things weird too, having just come from Australia. Other weird things include: having to pay council tax, the amazing lack of reliability of the trains (and people's acceptance of it), people's preoccupation with the weather, ale, and the extreme bureaucracy. It's excellent being this close to the rest of Europe though - it's hard to decide where to visit next.

As far as I'm aware, and someone may prove me wrong, London is the only underground system in the world not to have any litter bins. Despite this fact, it is still relatively clean.

We may not do Mexican food like they do in America, but the range of international cuisine is phenomenal - in Islington you can get Moroccan, Brazilian, Lebanese, Turkish and Vietnamese to name but a few...

Strange Thing #3: They call "juice," "squash!"

Not quite - squash is nasty plastic juice substitute. Actual fruit juice is fruit juice, and if you go to the right supermarket it even comes from Minute Maid :-)

If you made it to Dundee on your travels around Scotland, you'd have found a part of the UK where drinking in public is illegal, carrying a hefty fine.

If you're still struggling with UK keyboards, I actually have a spare US one around here somewhere - although I can hop between the two quite easily now.

Strange Thing #1: Funny, I always thing Americans are scarily nice and British people are rude. Not as rude as the French, though...

Strange Thing #2: That's to stop people nicking them. Shopping trolley theft is a major crime over here, along with watching "Hollyoaks".

Strange Thing #3: Um, I call it "juice" actually. It depends where you live. They call it "pop" in the Midlands.

Strange Thing #4: Err, I dunno - I guess. *shrug*

Strange Thing #5: Well, there are - just not to the same degress of lardiness as your crop.

Strange Thing #8: That's shockingly unoriginal. I can think of dozens of far more disparaging comebacks.

Strange Thing #10a: Why "old" wires - do you think they're like the sewers and date from Victorian times?

Strange Thing #14: I think it's more a national fear that the moron you call President is the most powerful man on the planet.

Strange Thing #17: They drive Skodas and knackered old Peugeots here.

Strange Thing #19: It took me ages to work out you can turn right through a red light in your country. Brilliant idea, we should do that! (Left, though - not right...)

Strange Thing #22: What's a dryer sheet?

Strange Thing #23: Yeah, I wonder what she does all day.

Strange Thing #24: Well, you don't celebrate St George's day or the Queen's birthday, so touche.

Strange Thing #25: *cough* you call Taco Bell decent Mexican food?

#34: Baseball

#35: Sellotape, actually. Brand name.

#40: Jay Leno

There used to be litter bins on the Underground (tube / subway) but they were all removed some time ago to minimise (minimize) the hiding places for bombs. Sad but true.
Julie. Hertfordshire.

Strange Thing #3: They call "juice," "squash!"

Juice is Juice, Coridial is A.K.A. Squash this needs water adding and fizzy drinks are called POP. As in a Can of POP, this might be a midlands and northern thing though.

Strange Thing #4: It is super money being a vegetarian here!

It's super money doing anything compared to the U.S.

Strange Thing #5: There are no obese people here.

Are you sure? Look again, they are on the increase.

Strange Thing #6: They drink Aftershock.

You guys drink St Stans and Rolling Rock, enough said.

Strange Thing #7: The keyboards here are totally different.

You keyboards are different, but not totally different. Actually UK and US are quite simular compared with the other keyboards around. French use the AZERTY layout, what's that all about.

Strange Thing #8: Every single slightly disparaging comment I have about London/England/British Empire, no matter what it is, is greeted each time with the following comment: Yea, but in America you're allowed to shoot each other.

Personally i just use the old "We have history in the country" line, anything over 50 years old is historical in the US.

Strange Thing #9: You can curse on the radio.

And on T.V. we also are not to bothered about nudity on T.V. America has a lot of religous people in high places that tend to stop you guys having access to this. But hey you can still Shoot each other...

Strange Thing #10: There are two types of light bulbs here. And if you are unaware of this fact, and try to fit the wrong bulb in, you will short circuit your brand new lamp and cause the fuse to blow.

There are actually several types but the main 3 are...

Hallogen, Bayonet and Screw.

Strange Thing #10a: All electrical appliances have fuses, because there is enough voltage running through these old wires to kill a horse.

It's not the voltage it's the amps that kill you. We only use twice the volts you guys use, most PSU's are switchable.

Strange Thing #11: Text messages in this country are the primary mode of communication.

Because mobile phones were expensive when they first started over here and sending txt's was cheap. Now calls are cheap enough but some things just linger on...

Strange Thing #14: British get far more fired up about American politics and September 11th than Americans do.

Which is why you guys voted bush into power, maybe you guys should pay more attention.

Strange Thing #16: French Toast is "eggy bread." Hee hee hee. I think that's so cute it makes me giggle!

I thought french toast was when you just toasted one side, i have also seen dried toast sold in supermarkets as french toast. Some places even call fried bread (With no egg) french toast. Depends where you go.

Strange Thing #17: Cops get to drive BMW cop cars!

As opposed to Dodge Vipers... They also get to drive Clios too, it depends where you are.

Strange Thing #20: The wide range of available flavors of crisps (a.k.a. potato chips.)

Yeah and Chips are actually fries, and we call fries French Fries even though they are american imports...

Strange Thing #21: Christmas Dinners.

Thanksgiving Dinners!

Strange Thing #22: They don't have dryer sheets. (Actually they do, but they are damn hard to come across.)

Ah you mean stuff like BOUNCE, i think it was because we realised we were being conned as it is pretty much usless... You guys still drink Dansani (By Coke) even though we realised it was just tap water...

Strange Thing #24: No Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Who?

Strange Thing #25: Serious lack of decent Mexican food.

You mean you can get decent mexican food?

Strange Thing #26: Fee-less ATMs (or cashpoints or hole-in-the-walls as they are called here.)

Pay to take out your own money? They did try and we yet again realised we were being conned and that went out the window. Although you can find machines in pubs and small stores where you have to pay should you wish too.

Strange Thing #27: The worthless strip of tape that holds bread bags "closed."

Sometimes it's a plastic clip, depends on the brand.

Strange Thing #28: It's not "How are you?" when greeting someone, it's "You alright?"

Depends where you are from.

Strange Thing #29: You are allowed to drink outside. There appears to be no public drinking laws whatsoever.

This is not true, most places you will get an on the spot fine and your drinks will be disposed of, usually down the closest drain.

Strange Thing #30: Department meetings come fully equipped with alcohol.

Do they? Depends where you work but this is not the normal way of doing things.

Strange Thing #31: The popularity of Robbie Williams.

That puzzles me too...

#32: Brown Sauce.

Soon to made abroad....

#34: Cricket.

Baseball (Rounders)

#35: It's not scotch tape, it's "cello" tape.

Wrong... Sellotape is a brand name and is applied to all generic versions of it. Scotch tape the none transparent stuff is scotch tape and is different.

#38: Occasionally the weather woman on BBC-insert-number-here announces tomorrow will be "fresher." What on Earth does this mean? Cooler? Less humid? More breezy? A tinge of yummy citrus flavor in the air? What?

Fresher tends to mean colder, usually because there will be a stronger breeze.

#40: Richard and Judy

No comment...

#43: British celebs are famous only in the UK

Not really true, we have international stars too. Just they might not be famous in the U.S. there is still the rest of the world you know.

#46: Televised Dart Competitions

Monster Trucks????

#47: Pancake Day!

#48: Big Brother popularity

The Real World ???

#49: Ant and Dec

Powell and Bush

about drinking outside: usually it's allowed, but now there are "alcohol restriction zones" in a lot of places (there are signs up in these areas warning you), and if the police catch you drinking in those zones they can confiscate your drink and fine you.

London Monica! That was wicked!

I like to apologise on behalf of my country - Britain - who cannot take a joke (we could once now it's prob not very PC). Please if you think of anymore - do post them up and I got to you via Tuckmac who's my great American friend.

Thanks again and I'm very, very sorry

xxx

geez dont take things so seriously...emy got it...it's called JOKING...maybe you should also try it someday.

I am heading to London soon for the first time.

No decent Mexican food? I can do without it. But since I am a vegetarain the rumors of boiled meats and bangers being an Brittish staple have me nervous.....

No worries, it's far better to be a vegetarian in London than anywhere I've been to in America. It's quite awesome actually, and I prefer it here on that accord.

Of course its better to be a vegetarian here than anywhere else in the world - its the only chance you people have to eat something healthy, not breaded and then deep fried in animal fat!! Or slathered in butter or wrapped in ham. Get a clue, Britain is about 30 years behind America in terms of healthy food (and don't start with McDonald's as most educated people in the US never would step foot into one). Look up the "California" movement in cuisine and you'll see that healthy, low-carbohydrate, grilled, and vegetable intensive foods are so much more popular in the US than here. Enjoy your potatoes and butter braised crap - Brits would deep fry a salad if they could....

NY subways or undergrounds have trash bins, still we prefer the floor. Also us New Yorkers consider our trains very clean, but any visitor always comments they are dirty, we have lower expectations.

Also if your tourist every one is nice to you, not so much if you live there. I wonder if that is why they are pleasant in London, also like one commenter said about English accents, when you visit NY, I for one always try and have a thicker NY accent than I usually do.

No one wears I heart NY T-shirts, Time Square has much more police than "real" NY areas, and those in the "real" areas are fat.

I am guessing the writer of this blog lived in the Midwest or south, cause no one has butter milk up here in the NY area.

Always wanted to visit London, hope my post was informative and not too distracting.

HAHAHAHA I still can't stop laughing that was pretty funny I am doing an essay on london and decided to look up strange laws in london well i certinlly found them... Hay thats not fair how come they get to curse on the radio XD...Yeah it is big money being a vegitarian there since the American econamy is in the toilet right now.

what was the kids show we loved (#53) the video doesn't work and I'm really curious

I don't like London.

People don't like the foreigners, they are so rude, racist and hypocrites (I'm not neither black nor Asian).

I have never lived so isolated and lonely in my entirely life, so depressive.

I understood why people commit suicide all the days here and why they put strange advertisements in the tube telling people not to commit suicide.

I didn't met anybody in this country who likes this country, not even the English people. And the foreigners don't like at all, all of them like so much the money, but in fact it's really hard to find a job.

In this country they have one God and it's called MONEY, they have made very big monuments that represent their unique and authentic God.

The weather is so horrible, I don't understand why people still live here, there a a lot of places really beautiful in the rest of the world, I can't understand why I decided to come here.

Considering all the horrible things that this country has, It's ridiculous that issue about immigration, if they'll inform the reality about this country to the rest of the world, I truly believe that they would stop once for all the illegal immigration. Everything it's a lie in this country.

This country is not what they show you, this country doesn't have sun, damn cold, the weather and the people are so awful.

I can't wait to finish my duties here and leave this country and try to forget their people and all what I lived here.

Wow, i was very entertained by this page until I read the one above (about hating everything about the uk and wanting to commit suicide) and now I'm really depressed. I'm so sorry you're having a horrible time here.

I'm English so I'm biased but dig a bit deeper and people ARE friendly. On the surface perhaps not but that's the old British reserve going on. Join a club, - there are hundreds on www.meetup.com so I'm sure you'll find something you're interested in! Or just go drinking after work, you're bound to bond with people then! and yes, I am fully aware of our national obsession with alcohol! It makes things seem a little brighter and less depressive so give it a go!

WE know the weather's a bit crap but you can moan about it together, that's the British obsession and once you get that then you'll feel a bit less isolated.

I wasn't aware we had a particularly high suicide rate (compared with, say, Finland), but I guess you do get held up on the tube because of it - maybe suicidal people just prefer to inconvenience other people whilst doing it than doing it in some private manner i.e. razorblade in the bath tub??? Or is it the mess that they like the sound of? Or traumatising some poor tube driver? I don't know, I expect they're not thinking straight - or just get a compulsion when they're waiting for the tube to come in...

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is give us a chance, stick with it and you'll grow to love it (although it does sound like you have decided to hate it as much as possible and if that's the case, bugger off back to wherever you came from!). London has a lot to offer so wrap up warm, get out and enjoy it!!!

London is one of, if not the greatest cities I've ever been to. It's definitely not for everyone though: if you're helpless, miserable, wretched, racist and stupid enough not to research how cloudy it is before moving here, then by all means you won't be welcomed or make any friends. So 'bugger off' indeed!

Weird how our cultures are so closely related but so different in a lot of ways.
One thing i was confused about was when you say 'everyone here is so nice' yet you live in London. People in London are generally rude, selfish assholes who believe that no world exists outside of their smog-ridden hole.
Get yourself to the North of England. That's where all the best people come from.

Nope, not buying it. Londoners are absolutely lovely. I've yet to lug a big suitcase up a set of tube steps- some stranger always helps me!

How they treat Notherners however, is something I don't know about.

Hmmm...I generally agree with this blog. And then I read the comments...I think that london sucks, yet is wonderful! I think that if you really look hard enough it is a happy medium, not bad nor great. And just to let you know I am an American living in London and I moved here 3 years ago. When I first moved here I had the mind set that London is an awful place that rains all of the time and has no respect and then I decided that I could either think that way and be miserable or go out and see it for what it really is. And what I have come to find is that, yes, some of the people are rude(most of which I find to be the foreigners) and people are very nice and friendly! And yes, most of the time the weather sucks but you can either be depressed and complain or you can grab a coat and umbrella and go out adventuring making you time here worth while. And also, yes, it can be expensive, but hell, you only live once so stop complaining and live a little and if you don't have the money there are tons of things that don't cost money you just might have to search a bit. Enjoy London don't regret your time here, many people would kill to come!!

London is not clean but neither is New York.

I don't get Ant/Dec but neither do I get Jay Leno.

There may be a "few" different restaurants in Islington but that does not reflect all of London. Chicken Cottage, Fish and chips shops and the usual fast food junk is more indicative.

If you only knew how my life has been in London and how disappointed I'm.

I was near to commit suicide so near, I never lived so lonely in my life, the only friend that I have is my shadow.

I don't know what to do, but I still think is a good option...

i've lived here for two years and am about to move back to the US - can't wait. Anyway, I agree wtih lots of these except for number one! What part of London are you living in?!? I feel like people here are so rude they make New Yorkers (my home) look like midwesterners. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this! (I have found English people from outside England to be generally friendly-ish by comparison, though).

Well I have been here just over two years and feel the strong need to move on, either home or somewhere else in Europe. Someone described Europe as like a museum, buildings, history, culture etc. Nice to visit but you would not want to live there.

London is great(good) if you are making £50k a year, at least otherwise you are living like a pauper if you are not.