Thread:Paris Garter/@comment-32738051-20161008181730/@comment-32738051-20161008191211

Oh and you'll figure all this out when you get there but the bathroom or ladies room is a loo or a W.C. (water closet) there. They play snooker, not pool (billiards). Potato chips are crisps. French fries are chips...and if you're arteries and your digestive tract can take it, try the street vendor ones (the really greasy, soft thick plank ones...you can't get them here). They like to cut their meat all at once before taking a bite. In currency, one pound is a quid. A taxi is a lorry. The London Underground (trains) is the Tube. There are currently 9 transit zones (there were only 3 when I was there). If you're there long enough, get yourself some good maps - at least one for London and one for public transit...you'll need them (I had one for public transit, 3 for London (including 1 that was a book) and a Fodor's guide). You really don't need to drive there - the transit system is so good. But if you do drive there, you already know they drive on the other side of the road but also they drive really, really fast (like race car drivers or so it seemed to me as a passenger). Gas is called petrol there. A bar is called a pub there. You'll find more Guiness than any beer. If you like Scotch, you're going to love it there. The best tequila sunrise I've ever had was in a London pub. Liquor is purer there and easier on the stomach (the liquor laws are less stringent). And man, can the British drink (though not as much as the Scots or the Irish)! The coffee is to die for, especially if you like espresso and cappuccino...we Americans with our Starbucks just don't have a clue. I have been places here that serve American cappuccino and European cappuccino and they still don't get the European one right. The British don't have much by way of their own cuisine...you'll probably eat more of other cuisines instead. Fish and chips is British and is really good there. And the British have more ways of preparing lamb than you can imagine. Blood pudding (a type of sausage) is an acquired taste that I never acquired. The Indian and Chinese food is (or at least was) better and more authentic. And they have lots of American fast food options. You won't starve. And the sales tax is 20% (it was 15% when I was there) but it's built into prices rather than added on at the register and some things are non-taxable. It was so funny going to McDonald's...if I ordered milk and drank it there, it was non-taxable but if I got it to go, it was. Prices were pretty decent when I was there but then in 1985 the dollar was very strong compared to the pound. I could go on but that's probably a pretty good primer. 😉