England

One of the reasons for the absence of bins for rubbish in the UK is because of the terrorist threat and how they might be used to conceal explosives. This is left over from the days of the IRA.

There isn’t much AC because for most of the year we have absolutely no need for it. It is becoming more common because our weather is becoming hotter, but it is difficult to retrofit into old buildings.

The lack of trash cans is in many ways a legacy of the troubles in Northern Ireland, as well as other more recent terrorism. During the Troubles there was a bombing campaign on the UK mainland with some awful incidents. It took many forms, but hiding explosive devices in trash cans was one of them.
So they were removed from many public places, including railway stations and have only come back slowly.
You put bags out on collection day, the rest of the time being kept on your property.

You get less garbage if you remove the garbage bins. Wanting A/C is not the same as needing A/C.

You need to stay in large, purpose built hotels for AC as they will all have it. Small B&Bs don’t as it’s pretty unknown in private homes here. That might change if we have more summers like this one. It’s been unusually warm for a prolonged period of time.

OP it’s England not the USA. Things are different. Will bet the English don’t view what you’ve pointed out as issues. Inconveniences maybe but not issues.

If you don’t like rats be sure to mark Paris, Ljubljana and Seattle off your tourist destinations. My point, almost every major city has them, especially those with outside dining or where picnics are popular. Our climate here in Seattle is particularly rat friendly.

Thanks for this post- I love reading about how people’s UK visits went and am glad you had such a nice time. I think your queries about the bins have already been answered quite adequately above so have nothing to add on that tho will admit to being consistently perplexed about the complaints of lack of air conditioning here. To me, it just doesn’t get that hot and it’s very rare I wish it was available. I’m more likely to get annoyed about needing to carry a jumper around on hot days so I can be comfortable in the places that do have it! Maybe it is just about different expectations? (This is meant as a general observation rather than personal criticism!)

Not particularly focusing, just trying to explain why something is different.

It is easy to find AC with a hotel search. We've been to Paris, London, and Berlin in recent years and AC accommodations were not difficult to find.

AC is not wanted, but needed by many people, particularly the elderly or those with health issues.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1152766

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/01-08-2024-statement--heat-claims-more-than-175-000-lives-annually-in-the-who-european-region--with-numbers-set-to-soar

175,000 European lives are claimed by heat each year, with that number certain to rise dramatically in coming years.

I question why the trash is not contained in bins on the streets, instead of bags lumped on top of each other

Because some people don't take pride in their surroundings.

How did you find East Dean? We don't see many visitors to that area on this forum so I'm interested in your thoughts.

I do think the AC issue is about differing expectations. In a cold country we’re used to walking inside and finding it warmer than outside. If you live in a hot part of the States, you’re used to the opposite - walking inside and finding it cooler.

It is probably hard to adjust your mindset: it’s a warm day and you subconsciously expect to feel relief from the heat when you enter a shop or cafe. When that doesn’t happen it’s uncomfortable. We’re quite used to places being a bit stuffy even in winter and of course, what’s normal goes unnoticed.

Helen, I live in Western NY, where our winters can reach 15 degrees below zero with the wind chill factor, with an average of 102 inches of snow per year. I do not have A/C in my home, even though we average about 9 days of the year at 90 or above. The actual problem was the size of the fan which was about 8-9 inches in diameter, it was not possible to cool a room down. We use window box fans when necessary.

JC, East Dean was beautiful! The South Downs National park was so grand! We were also very fortunate the annual air show was there while we were visiting, it was fantastic, a real highlight of the trip. Not to mention it was free! We have the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds that perform but the cost is usually near $45 per person.