As an immigrant to the UK, what has surprised or puzzled you the most (good or bad) about British culture?
Moved here from Romania (E Europe) 2.5 years ago. Here’s what struck me:
People greeting each other with “- You’ alright?” .Back home - if somebody asks if you are alright it means you either look sick or hurt. First months I kept replying to people “-Why shouldn’t I be? Do I look unwell?”
Separate taps for hot and cold water. It’s been explained countless times here…but still…nobody wants to wash their hands or teeth with neither hot nor cold water. The water one needs is mild, a combination of the two.
Scorching hot coffee to go everywhere. If I buy a coffee to go back home in my country - I can pretty much start drinking it in 2–3 minutes. If I do the same in the UK - 15…20 minutes later is still waaaaay too hot to drink, it burns my mouth and tongue.
Exposed plumbing on the facades of buildings, both old and new. You see a beautiful Georgian townhouse in a millionaire’s neighbourhood in the centre of the city - and outside you see the black toilet pipes just pinned to the walls. Disgusting…plus unsafe. In other countries this would even be a technical impossibility - as the contents of those ducts would freeze during winter, thus cracking and eventually destroying those pipes.
People in the office not concerned AT ALL to make friends with their coworkers. You have your Friday evening beers with the staff - and that’s it! Everybody is in a rush to get home/ to their “real” life. People separate their work life from their private life completely. Very sad…In other countries - you start a job and in about 2–3 weeks you are friends with most people (even with high age gaps), you meet over the weekend, do stuff together, and so on. In the UK- nobody cares, nobody wants new friends…astonishing
Gardens and parks - the most beautiful and well maintained in the whole world. Period.
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