Stores don't open until 10:00 and close at 16:00 on Sundays.
Yep, there are certainly one or two things I am so not going to miss about returning home to California and that is one of them. I have, on several occasions, gotten a hankering for popcorn about six in the evening, after the stores have closed down. I've had a hankering for popcorn only to find, hey look, no popcorn. There were 100g bags of salted popcorn for 50p but, as of a few days ago, it appears as if we grabbed the last bag. They do have individual packs of popcorn but it's a bit expensive. For shame Tesco, people need popcorn in the winter too! The SPAR (what we're calling the Roman Store for obvious reasons- okay, they're obvious to me and anyone who knows the way my mind works- ahemelizabethahem) has the 3 packs of butter for £2 which is a bit more than I want to spend on 3 packs of buttered popcorn. The salt ones are much better. And have I mentioned that I have been unable to find popcorn kernels that one can cook on the hob? No? Yes, I am not going to miss the substandard popcorn. Not even the popcorn at themovies cinemas are what I call proper popcorn.
I am not going to miss how everything shuts down when the sun goes down. It's cute, and it's quant and for a sleepy town like Filey well, it's mostly full of retirees so I can't exactly blame them. But it's not just Filey. Stores even in the big, bad city of Hull close down at 6. Restaurants don't open until 5 and you can't order anything for delivery until after 4. Unless it's dominoes pizza but then you get dominoes pizza. There are no decent fast food joints. They have McDonalds and a few Burger Kings, plenty of KFCs and I've heard that there's a single Taco Bell in Manchester. And that's about it. I know not everyone is a fan of fast food but sometimes it's nice to be able to run out and pick up a burger on those days you just don't feel like cooking. But there aren't any Carl's Jr., In 'n Out, Taco Bell, Del Taco or anything of the sort. There's also no diners open 24 hours. It makes me wonder where those party hardy people go after the bars close. Where are they suppose to go at 2 in the morning and they're starving? There's no Denny's to be had!
And Mexican food. Oh Britain, you're so funny. There's a chain of "Mexican" restaurants called Chiquitos that sport such items as 'sala ketchup'. Their idea of "Mexican" cheese is to put red and green peppers in cheddar cheese and call it "Mexican". I have pictures to prove it. The best they can do is a whole line of del monte products. It's adaquate if you're desperate but come on, if people don't even know what a chimichanga or an empañada or a quesadilla is, then there's no such thing as a Mexican food in this country. My in-laws have never heard of tamales or masa. How can you describe to people the utter goodness of a tamale if they don't even know what masa is? I can see what I am going to have to do when I come back.
And it might be a small thing but this country doesn't seem to realize that pumpkins have a greater value than just being used as a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Yes it makes a very delicious pie, which I have proved to my in-laws and, I assume, they have gone on to show to their families. I have seen a recipe in a British recipe book that has a standard pumpkin pie recipe but also includes a walnut crust. No, England, just no.
When we were still living in Hull the 24 hour Tesco would close at midnight saturday, open at 11 sunday, close at 5 sunday and not open again until midnight for monday. See, it's only been within recent memory that stores were even open on a Sunday. It's a slight pain.
And banks. Yes, lovely banks. Granted all banks are pretty much the same all with different tariffs and schemes to "help you save money" but there is something about UK banks that drive me batty. There is at least a 5 day turn around when you deposit a check. Yes my friends, at least 5 days, even longer if you dare to but a check in on friday. It sorta goes like this if someone who banks at Bank A writes you a check, you deposit it in your Bank B. Bank B sends the check to Bank A who takes it out of your friend's checking account. Bank A then sends the money to Bank B who then puts it into your account. In this modern day you'd think that this process should take a matter of hours, maybe a day or two, after all, this is fairly common in the States as well. The only difference is, if your friend wrote you a check, banks like Wells Fargo will allow you to withdraw some money from that check, so long as you're in the black. Not so with UK banks. You don't get a penny until the entire check clears.
Smokers. Goodness but I am not going to miss the smokers of this country. Laws have been passed that smoking is not allowed in public buildings. Huzzah, I'm all for that as I really don't want to be smelling ciggies while I'm trying to eat. However, this is where American smokers are far more advanced than British smokers. Despite signs reading that smokers must be within 20' of all doors and entrances, the second smokers get out of a building they light up and stop. Why are you stopping? Why must you smoke in front of a building? Smokers here are rude and disgusting. American smokers are far more considerate.
"Safety Cameras". Oh yes, on major roads there are these orange boxes with cameras on them to give you a ticket if you're speeding. It's all for "safety" and by "safety" we know it's all for "money". No one likes them and they are a pain in the ass. They also have these "traffic calming measures" that are supposed to help the flow of traffic on the motor ways. See, if there's an accident or it's rush hour these "traffic calming measures" are put into place. Above the motorway are these huge sign posts with displays overhead, one for each lane. For some reason I can't seem to find a picture of it. These will flash a speed limit that reduces the speed limit from 70 to anything down to 40. Imagine going 40 on the friggen motorway. It is annoying. It must work though because traffic does keep moving- mostly. And even though I am never on the M62, it's a pain.
And have I mentioned that there's no decent delivery? Well, Filey does have a nice chinese restaurant that'll deliver for £1 and supposedly there's a pizza place around here that delivers but the one time we called them for a pizza, they told us they couldn't deliver. I'm not even entirely sure where this place is.
There are more things that I am not going to miss I am sure and, over the ensuing weeks I'm sure that I'll think of them. Then I'll gloat, privately of course. Gloating is so unattractive.
Yep, there are certainly one or two things I am so not going to miss about returning home to California and that is one of them. I have, on several occasions, gotten a hankering for popcorn about six in the evening, after the stores have closed down. I've had a hankering for popcorn only to find, hey look, no popcorn. There were 100g bags of salted popcorn for 50p but, as of a few days ago, it appears as if we grabbed the last bag. They do have individual packs of popcorn but it's a bit expensive. For shame Tesco, people need popcorn in the winter too! The SPAR (what we're calling the Roman Store for obvious reasons- okay, they're obvious to me and anyone who knows the way my mind works- ahemelizabethahem) has the 3 packs of butter for £2 which is a bit more than I want to spend on 3 packs of buttered popcorn. The salt ones are much better. And have I mentioned that I have been unable to find popcorn kernels that one can cook on the hob? No? Yes, I am not going to miss the substandard popcorn. Not even the popcorn at the
I am not going to miss how everything shuts down when the sun goes down. It's cute, and it's quant and for a sleepy town like Filey well, it's mostly full of retirees so I can't exactly blame them. But it's not just Filey. Stores even in the big, bad city of Hull close down at 6. Restaurants don't open until 5 and you can't order anything for delivery until after 4. Unless it's dominoes pizza but then you get dominoes pizza. There are no decent fast food joints. They have McDonalds and a few Burger Kings, plenty of KFCs and I've heard that there's a single Taco Bell in Manchester. And that's about it. I know not everyone is a fan of fast food but sometimes it's nice to be able to run out and pick up a burger on those days you just don't feel like cooking. But there aren't any Carl's Jr., In 'n Out, Taco Bell, Del Taco or anything of the sort. There's also no diners open 24 hours. It makes me wonder where those party hardy people go after the bars close. Where are they suppose to go at 2 in the morning and they're starving? There's no Denny's to be had!
And Mexican food. Oh Britain, you're so funny. There's a chain of "Mexican" restaurants called Chiquitos that sport such items as 'sala ketchup'. Their idea of "Mexican" cheese is to put red and green peppers in cheddar cheese and call it "Mexican". I have pictures to prove it. The best they can do is a whole line of del monte products. It's adaquate if you're desperate but come on, if people don't even know what a chimichanga or an empañada or a quesadilla is, then there's no such thing as a Mexican food in this country. My in-laws have never heard of tamales or masa. How can you describe to people the utter goodness of a tamale if they don't even know what masa is? I can see what I am going to have to do when I come back.
And it might be a small thing but this country doesn't seem to realize that pumpkins have a greater value than just being used as a jack-o-lantern for Halloween. Yes it makes a very delicious pie, which I have proved to my in-laws and, I assume, they have gone on to show to their families. I have seen a recipe in a British recipe book that has a standard pumpkin pie recipe but also includes a walnut crust. No, England, just no.
When we were still living in Hull the 24 hour Tesco would close at midnight saturday, open at 11 sunday, close at 5 sunday and not open again until midnight for monday. See, it's only been within recent memory that stores were even open on a Sunday. It's a slight pain.
And banks. Yes, lovely banks. Granted all banks are pretty much the same all with different tariffs and schemes to "help you save money" but there is something about UK banks that drive me batty. There is at least a 5 day turn around when you deposit a check. Yes my friends, at least 5 days, even longer if you dare to but a check in on friday. It sorta goes like this if someone who banks at Bank A writes you a check, you deposit it in your Bank B. Bank B sends the check to Bank A who takes it out of your friend's checking account. Bank A then sends the money to Bank B who then puts it into your account. In this modern day you'd think that this process should take a matter of hours, maybe a day or two, after all, this is fairly common in the States as well. The only difference is, if your friend wrote you a check, banks like Wells Fargo will allow you to withdraw some money from that check, so long as you're in the black. Not so with UK banks. You don't get a penny until the entire check clears.
Smokers. Goodness but I am not going to miss the smokers of this country. Laws have been passed that smoking is not allowed in public buildings. Huzzah, I'm all for that as I really don't want to be smelling ciggies while I'm trying to eat. However, this is where American smokers are far more advanced than British smokers. Despite signs reading that smokers must be within 20' of all doors and entrances, the second smokers get out of a building they light up and stop. Why are you stopping? Why must you smoke in front of a building? Smokers here are rude and disgusting. American smokers are far more considerate.
"Safety Cameras". Oh yes, on major roads there are these orange boxes with cameras on them to give you a ticket if you're speeding. It's all for "safety" and by "safety" we know it's all for "money". No one likes them and they are a pain in the ass. They also have these "traffic calming measures" that are supposed to help the flow of traffic on the motor ways. See, if there's an accident or it's rush hour these "traffic calming measures" are put into place. Above the motorway are these huge sign posts with displays overhead, one for each lane. For some reason I can't seem to find a picture of it. These will flash a speed limit that reduces the speed limit from 70 to anything down to 40. Imagine going 40 on the friggen motorway. It is annoying. It must work though because traffic does keep moving- mostly. And even though I am never on the M62, it's a pain.
And have I mentioned that there's no decent delivery? Well, Filey does have a nice chinese restaurant that'll deliver for £1 and supposedly there's a pizza place around here that delivers but the one time we called them for a pizza, they told us they couldn't deliver. I'm not even entirely sure where this place is.
There are more things that I am not going to miss I am sure and, over the ensuing weeks I'm sure that I'll think of them. Then I'll gloat, privately of course. Gloating is so unattractive.
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