Minor quirks and differences in the UK

'Drip brewed coffee' is available in many places in the UK but its called filter coffee. It's usually the cheapest coffee on a menu.

Those all sound normal to me (and Aussie) so I guess the opposites would be quirks I'd notice if I went to the US.

I used to buy a big cup of Starbucks filter coffee at Paternoster Square every morning when I had a daily commute. With milk and 2 sugars. It was only £1 when I started on that route, and went up to £1.20. The freshness of coffee from a pot is going to be pot luck in the UK though. Very few people drink it and a pot can sit for a while.

When I commuted filter from Pret a Manger was my morning drink of choice. 99p and it did the job.

Emma, maybe I didn't look very hard, but I didn't see that on the menu anywhere I visited. I probably just overlooked it though!

1. I believe this is current regulation.
2. As energy costs are high, turning things off is taken very seriously. No phantom energy.
3. See point 2, common throughout Europe
4. I wasn't aware, as this is not something I would drink. But lower sugar is a good idea.
5. I found drip brewed coffee in London.
6. I'm not disputing this, but I never came across a paid toilet during my week in London in March.

While there are differences, I wouldn't consider the above quirks.

Aren't light switches upside down compared to the US? We push the switch down to turn on the light. Am I imagining it when I have a recollection of it being the opposite in the US?

Filter coffee isn’t as common as espresso based coffee.

Yep electricity costs a fortune here and we’re encouraged to turn things off at the wall to save money, and it’s perceived to be safer. I don’t know if that’s true but if I forget to turn certain appliances off at the wall at work you can guarantee somebody else will performatively do it for me.

The rule about the light switches in bathrooms is that you shouldn’t be able to touch water and electricity at the same time. The kitchen seems to have different rules for some reason.

The sugar tax has effectively reduced sugar consumption but the drinks with sweeteners don’t taste very nice. Coke Classic is pretty much the only non artificially sweetened fizzy drink that is widely available.

It is very common. I don't like strong coffee, and I'm a cheapskate.
If it isn't available an americano is the closest, basically watered down espresso.

Regarding bathrooms something that seems to come up here a lot is why we don't have hairdryers in hotel bathrooms. Much confusion about where to find a hairdryer (answer - usually in the drawer by the table with a mirror).
I presume it is a cultural thing but i have never understood why you would want to dry your hair, put make up on etc in a damp steamy bathroom, when you can do it much more comfortably in the bedroom. Doing it in the bedroom also means you aren't blocking the bathroom that someone else might want to use.

I'm not disputing this, but I never came across a paid toilet during my week in London in March.

Last year I found a pay toilet in one of the royal parks near Churchill's War Rooms...luckily there was an attendant, I told him I had no change (it was coin op), and he let me through the turnstile...

I presume it is a cultural thing but i have never understood why you would want to dry your hair, put make up on etc in a damp steamy bathroom, when you can do it much more comfortably in the bedroom.

Hmm, makes me wonder, do you not have exhaust fans in your bathrooms?

Light switches-- In US 'up' is on.

Light switches-- In US 'up' is on.

Thanks Joe. I thought as much.

'Hmm, makes me wonder, do you not have exhaust fans in your bathrooms?'
Some do, some don't, but i still don't think it is a very pleasant, or practical place to get ready.

In hotels you have to insert your room key card into a slot on the wall in the room in order to turn on the lights.

Encountered this in a hotel in Milan. It also was hooked to the a/c. Discovered any rectangular plastic card would work, so was able to keep the a/c running low while we were out and not have to wait 45-60 minutes for the a/c to cool the room to be habitable upon return.

Room key inserted in the " slot on the wall in the room " is very common in Europe (not just the UK) and Asia (multiple countries). I don't remember my experiences in Australia and New Zealand; it wouldn't have seemed strange to me. I have encountered it in the US also.

The main place you'll find pay toilets in the UK is at large railway stations, although some of them have recently removed the fee after the COVID pandemic and resulting lifestyle changes reduced the number of people using them.

Toilets at most if not all UK major train stations are now free.

The paid toilets I saw were mainly in public parks. For example St. James Park in London and Victoria Park in Bath. They all accepted contactless card as well.

I wouldn't call any of these things quirks, just because they are different than in the US. That rather smacks of a superiority that is unmerited.

Many if not most of those things are also found in other countries around the world.

Re light switches- north American switches are up for on only if that switch is the only one that controls that light. We have lights in 4 different rooms that have 2 switches for the same fixture- located at different entrances to those rooms. So depending on use, the switch may be up OR down for on.

So depending on use, the switch may be up OR down for on.

Yes. It's the same here. That's just the nature of switches in a circuit. The standard electricians see in code for how switches are mounted is flipped though. I think the UK may be an outlier in this respect. I'm thinking of The Netherlands and Spain and both are the same as US (maybe?).

They don't seem like quirks to me - same as Australia (where I'm from) and Singapore (where I live). The room key card thing in particular is common throughout Asia and the Pacific.

Except for paid toilets, which are actually not that common in the UK any more. Singapore manages spotlessly clean free public toilets just about everywhere.

CJean, I didn't mean to use 'quirks' in any kind of negative sense. I don't think any of these things are necessarily better or worse than how things are in the US. I just found them interesting and sort of unexpected. I like seeing the different ways of doing things when traveling to other places.

Regarding the electrical, not necessarily outdated, just a different approach. You might have also noted that in addition to the switch being outside the bathroom, there were no outlets in the bathroom. In the US we use GFCI outlets instead in the bathroom, as well as any potentially wet environment. (Kitchen, Garage, Outside, Basement)

You would probably not notice, but each plug on an appliance, lamp, even your plug adapter (if you have a correct one) has a fuse in it, not found in US products, but we limit the current to a greater degree at the main panel.

Light switches for bathrooms are typically located outside of the bathroom. This is, I think, some sort of (possibly outdated) safety regulation?

Pretty normal for me. My house was built in 1952 and the bathroom light switch is outside by the door.

In hotels you have to insert your room key card into a slot on the wall in the room in order to turn on the lights.

Common across the board. What I find funny is wherever I check-in, without fail, I'm always issued a second key card and told it's for the light slot.

Soft drinks all have lower amounts of sugar and have alternative sweeteners. I learned this is due to a 2018 law which imposed a tax on drink soft drinks manufacturers for any drink which contains 5g or more of sugar per 100ml.

At home when I drink soda, it'll be diet and I got use to my only choice being Diet Coke. So it was pretty glorious when I found a Dr Pepper in a shop near East India Docks in 2017, then a Mt Dew in Poundland in Chichester in 2018.

You can get coffee pretty much everywhere, but they don't appear to do drip brewed coffee like we most commonly have in the US. It's all espresso drinks, and most places it's pretty good!

Coffee is never an issue. I just don't like the little sachets on low/no fat milk.

Electricity switches outside bathrooms is not an outdated safety regulation, but is common in many countries I have visited. I think it is the USA which is behind the times. Deaths from electricity in the UK each year usually less than five. Equivalent figure in the USA about 1000.

"Light switches for bathrooms are typically located outside of the bathroom. This is, I think, some sort of (possibly outdated) safety regulation? "

Its certainly is not outdated, its currently part of both the Building and IET Wiring (BS 7671) Regulations. Standard UK voltage is 220 as opposed to 110 in the US, a huge difference. As such standard sockets in the UK are not allowed within 2.5 metres horizontally from the boundary of a bath or shower. Shaver sockets and the like are allowed in bathrooms but have to be transformed down to 115v and the socket IP rated against water ingress and its not unusual to RCD protect them as well.

Filter coffee is widely available if you want it. Card access and electricity activation is used widely in hotels across the world not just the UK.

Electrician here. The regulations are that light switches should be out of hands reach in a bathroom. As an alternative to mounting the switch outside, it can be a pull cord switch mounted on the ceiling, inside the bathroom.
The main function of the switches on socket outlets is so that the plug can be removed under no load conditions. Simply pulling a plug out when the appliance is drawing current cam result in arcing at the pins which become damaged over time.