I had NEVER SEEN these common British items before moving to the UK

[@salhooper]

I’m not sure if everyone else does this but in my family we would usually store all the spare bed sheets and towels in the airing cupboard

[@lenrichardson7349]

Of course.

[@lpoollady12]

@@lenrichardson7349would love an airing cupboard again, and large garden with a clothes line! Living in Canada, yards are getting smaller, no airing cupboards and I would like a washer dryer in my kitchen, much easier to get them to a clothes line in the garden! Mine is on the landing with the bedrooms!

[@arabellamileham9978]

Yup, that's where they live! But carpets in a bathroom are really gross!

[@TheStevenWhiting]

Always did that. Mainly because our airing cupboard in the 80s had the hot water heater in it, so all the sheets would stay warm.

[@sroberts605]

Airing cupboards typically had the hot water tank in (not boiler) and of course all the linen, towels went in there to keep dry. I did too in our freezing house growing up.

[@AndrewLumsden]

In the UK they are only ever referred to as sockets. An outlet is a shop selling goods direct from the manufacturer and cutting out the retailer.

[@alanlittle4589]

Or in some situations we say the wall. "Is it plugged in at the wall?" "Switched on at the wall?"

[@p38arover22]

The official term in Australia is GPO - General Purpose Outlet (not General Post Office). Most people call it the “power point”.

[@juliegreen7604]

@AndrewLumsden Actually, No. Officially and technically they are called socket outlets - I appreciate that people in general don't use the correct term. A socket is a device which receives a plug - like the wall socket (known properly as a socket outlet) or like the socket on the kettle or computer which also receives a plug(commonly known as a kettle plug) - this type of socket is a socket inlet. They are built differently, a socket outlet will have inaccessible contacts, whist a socket inlet has exposed conductors. Correspondingly, a plug to be used into a socket outlet will have exposed conductors, whilst a plug to be used in a socket inlet will have inaccessible contacts.

[@NordicAxe]

Electricians I know refer to them as 13 Amp “points”. The rest of us call them sockets. I believe the switches were added as part of some reforms in the 60s, also adding the shutters over the L & N terminals which open via the earth pin, regularising plug design and adding the fuses to the plugs (prior to this there were several 13A plug designs, some with/without fuses).

[@juliansadler6263]

@@juliegreen7604 Yes there were 15 amp Bakelite plugs with no fuse and 2 amp 2 pin ceramic plugs for lights again with no fuse

[@lindamarshall-wc4yt]

In older homes, the airing cupboard housed the hot water tank. The shelving was for sheets, pillow cases and towels.

[@edeledeledel5490]

The washing up bowls were because all sinks before about 1950 used to be gert big vitreous enamel rectangular things called Belfast sinks, used for washing clothes, that took gallons of water to fill with hot water for washing up crockery, etc. Small plastic bowls helped with reducing the need for lots of hot water for washing crockery and were much more convenient.

[@SammyTheCat_No1]

And reproduction Butler sinks are - or were - popular refit options when ordering a hideously expensive Victorian style 'luxury English farmhouse' kitchen... none of it conforming to Amercan 'luxury ranch' expectations (apart from the vast double-bay walk-in fridge freezer, obviously)...

[@ianm452]

Plastic bowls also were less likely to chip crockery than stoneware sinks or steel sinks, but I agree that the main reason must have been the saving in cost and time of filling a large sink with hot water..

[@kerinsian8844]

Plus the fact that those huge ceramic monstrosities suck the heat right out of the water! Once they're hot they keep the water warm, but initially they just devour the heat.

[@Kari.F.]

Ah, yes it would make perfect sense to use a washing up bowl in that situation!

[@lindamarshall-wc4yt]

And for me it would stop me breaking the plug chain when removing it

[@kh23797]

Oh dear; I'm 72 yo and aching to comment on every item! :) In the UK, after WW2, Britain was pretty well broke, and the Americans wanted their war loans repaid PDQ. Many of the decisions we made in those days have impacted on design ever since. If you've ever had an electric shock from a 240/250 volt system like ours, it hurts! So you'll understand why our bathroom safety features are vital. The two taps? Well, you're supposed to run some H+C water into the sink, then wash. In the 1950s, many houses had no hot water system... you took a galvanised bath off the big nail in the shed on a Friday night, brought it indoors, filled it from stove-top kettles and saucepans-and mum, then the kids, all bathed in it. In the '60s, folk got better off, and by the '70s, central heating was becoming normal. The two-button toilet cisterns are an attempt to save water wastage. Radiators were often add-ons to existing houses, hence the design. Big garages were not the norm. Small car and no garage was pretty common. Sash windows were everywhere, but they were rattly, draughty and single-glazed... this all changed in the 1980s/90s, especially as cheap coal stopped being available. The idea of Aircon in the UK is rather amusing! It's hot for about a month, around August, if we're lucky.

[@bonnacon1610]

UK too. I love this testimony, even if much of it isn’t news to me!

[@cato1684]

You had a shed? Posh 😂😂

[@karenkaija4671]

Canada here. I think some of the things she didn't know have to do with her age and also the part of the US she's from . . . carpeting in the bathroom was pretty normal here from the 50s to the 70s because floors are cold in the winter! Hot water bottles were used to heat up the bed maybe because bedrooms are kept a little cooler than other rooms I guess and commonly used in hospitals too. Electric kettles sound perfectly normal to me. I didn't know there was a boiler in the airing cupboard though! We've got linen closets instead (no boiler). The water heater is usually in the basement, not the garage but I think many homes in Florida don't even have basements. Many homes in southern Ontario have central air conditioning because it gets horribly hot and humid here for most of the summer. Lots of things have been adapted to conserve water (showerheads, toilets, taps). And I'm glad we don't have a 240/250 volt system!!

[@kh23797]

@@karenkaija4671Hi! Boilers in airing cupboard? Since 2000, small 'combi' (combination) boilers rule, supplying hot running water and central heating in real time, and ousting preheated-water tanks. Global warming dictates we replace them with 'heat exchangers' (pricey!). These little islands keep trying to go green, while China keeps building new coal-powered power stations. Kettles? Yes, everywhere-but the trend is to have a boiling-water tap on the kitchen sink. I'm 72... the changes in my lifetime have been amazing.

[@philspurling6414]

Britian was broke, so we gave you millions(in 1940's cash) in the Marshall Plan. Funny no one remembers that? England did lend lease to Russia as well.

[@AlexisMoore-nx6wf]

Brit here. Astonished that you had never seen kitchen scales before. When you mentioned carpet in the bathroom, that cracked me up. Glad that it’s a thing of the past now.

[@CharleneCTX]

Kitchen scales are not common in the US, but they do exist. I own two.

[@TheTerriecat]

Kitchen scales are usually used by drug dealers in the US.

[@michaelme1548]

@@CharleneCTXI wouldn’t say they are not common. I would say they are not an everyday use item for most people. My experience is that they are normally put away instead of being left out to be seen.

[@Kari.F.]

I'm Norwegian, and in the 80ies I went to a showing of an apartment with a brand new shag carpet in the kitchen. Not the most practical thing either, if you actually cook in your kitchen... I remembered that when she mentioned carpet in the bathroom. People make the strangest decisions sometimes! 🤦

[@tonypcoyle]

because americans don't weigh ingredients for baking... (historically - midwest and others - everyone had a CUP but few people had accurate SCALES. And lots of recipes became established using such measures)

[@denisripley8699]

UK shaver sockets in bathrooms include an isolating transformer and thermal cutout so that neither wire of the shaver (or hair dryer, toothbrush etc) has any voltage to earth (so a shock to earth is impossible) and the socket cannot be used for more powerful appliances. The 2 pin sockets are reversible, so are not polarity deoendent.

[@GeorgeFoot]

Exactly this - it is very easy to touch ground in a bathroom so safer to use isolated circuits. It is also somewhat historical - less of an issue with modern breakers. If the bathroom is large enough then you can have normal sockets, light switches etc, so long as they are a certain distance from plumbing fixtures.

[@taxidude]

They’re inductively coupled. If you try to draw too much current the voltage collapses. Totally isolated from the mains and no more dangerous than a small dry cell battery.

[@denisripley8699]

We're having quite a nerdy group meeting here eh ? Must do it more often !

[@slharbron]

@@GeorgeFoot IIRC it is a minimum of 3 meters from ANY water source. Most UK bathrooms are not big enough to met this requirement. Mine certainly isn't.

[@bobm4378]

@@slharbron It also depends on the height of the unit..

[@PiersDJackson]

Just wait till you see "Tilt and turn" windows, turn the horizontal handle 90° up and it tilts in from the top (as if the hinge is at the base), turn the handle 90° down and it opens like a door.

[@stevedavis3828]

I have 2 in my home.

[@legend9335]

I can only work those when I am drunk.

[@deanosaur808]

I have tilt and turn windows 🥳 I dread the day when my council decides to replace them.. they started using generic windows locally 😩

[@sandyjuntunen4088]

That's not unusual to have kitchen scales. People are even using them more often now too. I see them all the time!

[@bruuhhhh]

Hate those, had one in my uni room and it never worked properly

[@robertkirk4387]

A Henry hoover is the best damn hoover you will ever buy, a little cumbersome but they last forever, that's why builders use them, they can be repaired if needed and will suck the clouds out of the sky, there is also a missus Henry called Hetty.

[@rachelpenny5165]

We have a Henry hoover and a Dyson hand held. The Henry is very good, but because I have mobility problems I sit on the floor using the Dyson hand held and carry a small rubbish bag as well. The Henry is better than the Dyson, but I struggle with it a bit. Take care and best wishes

[@snoopy10411]

We had a Henry back in the early 80's and it was still working up until recently. Now replaced with another one which will hopefully last us another 40 years

[@Frogprince2]

Henry has a big brother named George aswell, a wet a dry hoover.

[@perrycordel4118]

@@Frogprince2 don't forget James, Charles, Harry and Hetty

[@Rik77]

Yeah they are powerfully but basic enough construction to be easily repairable by anyone with a brain.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

In the UK, we believe the 'wet room' - whatever Americans call it - is an exceptionally dangerous place for electrocution accidents. Not only the 'wet' but the fact that metal taps/faucets, bath, shower and sink outlets, provide a fantastic low-resistance path to earth/ground, thereby greatly increasingly bodily injury due to accidental contact with 'live' electrical parts. And the difference between UK 230v and US/North American 110v mains really DOES make a big difference to electrical hazard.

[@oakstrong1]

@@alastairbarkley6572 I lived in Finland late nineties. The sockets in kitchen and bathroom (wetroom) were earthed. The plug had to match, so I could only plug in appliances thar were designed to be used in those conditions. My parents also had a same kind casing for the socket as are used in the garden.

[@bestbehave]

epends what you mean by electrical hazard. 240v means much less fire risk

[@kevinrayner5812]

"And the difference between UK 230v and US/North American 110v mains really DOES make a big difference to electrical hazard." In Thailand they use all the us style electrial fittings BUT Thai voltage is 220 volts. So damned dangerous.

[@richard-riku]

The paranoia about electricity and water is mainly a British thing. European bathrooms allow power sockets. I live in Finland and we have sockets suitable for hairdryers and washing machines in bathrooms (clothes washing machines are normally in the bathroom, not in the Kitchen where you wash dirty clothes next to your lunch!). And for sure we don't have the light switch operated by a piece of string hanging down from the ceiling in bathrooms.

[@alastairbarkley6572]

@@richard-riku Are all circuits in/from Finnish bathrooms protected by a 'Residual Current' ('Ground Fault' - US) device? If so, there's no electric shock hazard there - or, actually the 'fault current' is limited to (typically) 30mA which generally won't cause serious injury. An ordinary simple fuse will not provide any protection. RCDs have come slowly to the UK. In anything other than a new build, private homes will have circuits without any RCD protection or only SOME circuits with RCD fitted (usually after-fitted).

[@stephenlee5929]

Hi Kalyn, The airing cupboard, in the UK, does not normally have a boiler in it, It has a hot water tank, this tank can be heated by many different methods, including a boiler, but that boiler is not normally in this cupboard. The hot tank and water pipes in there generally causes this room to be warm and dry. This makes it a good place to store Towels, It also makes somewhere good to finish drying some items. There should be a vent (often in the door) so the cupboard does not get musty or damp. These hot water tanks are the basic reason for separate Hot/Cold taps. See legionnaire's disease, in the US this tends to affect design of air conditioning, here it affected the design of taps.

[@geoffpriestley7310]

I think she's calling the hot water cylinder a boiler . The boilers I've seen in the usa look like a cylinder with a gas burner under it , the used to sold in this country under the name Lochinver green knights

[@AndrewJLeslie]

A lot of older houses have had hot water cylinders replaced with boilers. As most of the pipework already goes there, it's a logical place to house the boiler.

[@oakstrong1]

​@@AndrewJLeslieI was going to say the same. Water tanks are becoming rarer as they are replaced by boilers that heat water as needed.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

@@geoffpriestley7310 Old British properties which only had an electrically-heated hot water tank are often upgraded to gas by putting a combi boiler in the airing cupboard in place of the cylinder. Outside wall for the flue permitting of course. That's what they did when we had central heating installed in our first house.

[@geoffpriestley7310]

@@TheRealWindlePoons yes that's what they do but back in the 80s 90 s in larger properties they put theses gas fired cylinders in then added a pump and ran a pipe round the house/hotel and pumped the water round its called secondary circulation. It work so you didn't get that long flow of cold water before the hot came out also the pipework stored hot water as well as the cylnder, you could also run it off immersion heaters as a back up

[@alexf7377]

Switched power sockets are a very good idea. Without a switch, power is still reaching the appliance, and that can cause problems if something happens to that appliance, e.g. dampness or corrosion. Recently I had a filter coffee machine, (brand name less than a year old) and it blew during the night, causing the mains power to trip.

[@davidmarshall6616]

Window locks are there to prevent young children being able to open an upstairs window and possibly fall. They tend to supply them on all windows.

[@KenFullman]

They also don't NEED to be locked so I see no downside to them.

[@robinhillyard6187]

They’re also a relatively new feature. I’d never seen them myself before (I moved from the UK in 1979). Some of the other things mentioned are “new,” too, like the shower boxes.

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

@@robinhillyard6187 Yeah, I've only ever seen them on double glazing. Typically, on the ground floor, you'll only get the upper section of window that opens, and will only be hinged at the top. On the first (and higher) floors, many windows will be hinged at the bottom and the side, which lets you swing the window in to wash it, which is especially useful on dormers, because they're often difficult to get at with a ladder.

[@richardjones5255]

In some cases lockable windows are required by insurance policies to ensure that the window is more difficult to open by those will desire to own or at least take possession if your items. The fan light windows are provided at the top of some window set to allow ventilation while not providing a large opening through which children or pets could escape, fall, or injure themselves. There is a planning/building regulations requirement that windows should be capable of providing an escape route from upper stories if the fire escape provided by stairs was unavailable. Sadly, many houses Have been incorrectly retrofitted with windows that do not meet this requirement. This might well be associated with fatalities in these older properties. Historically many houses were heated, perhaps more accurately warmed by the use of coal fires or coal fired boilers. These heated water, (If you were lucky) Which could then drift round the house. Later fully pumped systems rather than gravity feed replaced these early radiator systems and most were fired by gas rather than coal.

[@davidjackson2580]

@@robinhillyard6187 Relatively new, yes. When I was young, in the 60s and 70s, sash windows were the most common (at least in older houses), but when the windows needed to be replaced, it was with the locking type described in the video and my home now also has the newer sort. I do occasionally see sash windows, but only in older properties.

[@Lee-70ish]

Had a Henry for 25 years now . Simple and reliable. Found it in a skip/dumpster All it needed was the manual cable winder contact cleaning. As it takes replaceable dust bags, no filters to clean or clog. Brilliant device.

[@owensmith7530]

@@Lee-70ish A skip find and repair Henry! Now there's a thing to treasure.

[@alexandertarver5154]

There is a whole Henry family!!

[@myrdaal]

Had a Henry for years! Was walking by my neighbours and saw a Henry being put out for trash, (much to my surprise..I dropped mine out of the attic, onto the stairs, and it bounced all the way to the bottom..still worked perfectly). Neighbour said 'Yeah its died, we've had it 7 years!' Lol... my own is 18 yrs old. So I asked if i could have it, to tinker with later. Checked for blockages, filter clogs, fan obstruction, couldnt find anything. Surely not, I thought... changed the fuse. Everything works fine. No I'm not taking it back, stupidity doesn't get rewarded!

[@deanosaur808]

I see so many of the newer plastic ones dumped. It's a sad sight 😭 Throwaway society gone crazy, but I nice source of free copper for scrap metal collectors 😆

[@owensmith7530]

@@Lee-70ish My dad repaired the cable winder contacts on both my Henry and my parents. In both cases he made an entire new wiper arm and contact out of a strip of brass. Both Henrys are still working, his more than 15 years after the repair.

[@stephenlee5929]

Hi Kalyn, Carpet in bathrooms. An explanation of how this came about. Generally we need to realise it was a 1950/60 thing. The bathrooms we are talking about did not have a WC (Toilet), they contained a Bath and probably a Sink. They were cold, often no heat, or a heater on the ceiling or high on a wall. There was probably no radiator in there, there may have been a towel rail that was heated (but not much). Flooring options were limited, depending on the underlying floor, which could be Stone, Cement, or Floor boards (basically planks, untreated, not good for bare feet). So options were to install Thin Lino tiles, cork flooring or this new water resistant carpet. It was later that bathrooms started to include a toilet and shower, I think these change the idea from OK to probably not. But also other flooring options became available.

[@wessexdruid7598]

Linoleum was earlier than that - and, before central heating could be VERY cold indeed. If you have ever walked on cold lino in the winter you would understand how people came to fit carpet.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

My late Mum's house where I grew up (from the age of six years) had no bathroom originally, just an outside toilet in the paved yard next to the back garden. My stepdad had a friend help him install a loo, wash basin and bath in what _had been& my bedroom (& I moved into my sister's bedroom when she moved out to live with our Aunt and maternal Uncle), so because our "new bathroom" had been a bedroom, it contained one overhead light in the centre of the ceiling, it's on/off switch being next to the door, and a couple of thin rugs were placed in front of the bath, and the wash basin, !with a smaller shaped one to go in front of the loo), all on a cold 'lino' flooring over wooden planking.. That room was over the kitchen so the pipework for the bath and wash basin fed down to the kitchen pipework where the kitchen sink lay next to the back outside wall. The rugs were small enough to wash in the washing machine (or by hand) but absorbent enough to help be comfortable and drying to wet feet after a bath and more comfortable, and non-slip to wet feet on a _cold 'lino' floor_ It was a standard bedroom-sized room with a 'sash window' to leave slightly ajar to help prevent condensation, but it had no additional heating in (like the whole of the upstairs rooms, two other bedrooms on a three-stairs higher landing, so all the rooms felt literally _icy cold_ in the winter. In the front room, and the back room (dining room) downstairs, there were two (originally coal fires) fireplaces which held gas fires but though they provided more than enough heat (sometimes too much!!) heating in those two rooms, and the kitchen got hot when the oven was lit and being used to cook, but mainly the heat hardly rose to heat the rooms upstairs, so as a child I learned to quickly get into bed, or up and dressed, a quick visit to the bathroom / loo and rush downstairs to eat breakfast before heading off to school, and then later, as a young adult (from 16 years onward) to work. I spent roughly twenty six / seven years in that house, and still miss visiting Mum there - since she died on 11th* October 2015 - actually _on_ the anniversary of my first husband and I getting married, in 1986!! Mother-in-Law's revenge*?! - as he left me for my friend and upstair's neighbour on 16th December 1994 - his birthday - when our second set of twins were just 14 months old, and our eldest child was just 5 years_+_10 months old (...our first set of twins having been _born and died_ on 16th January 1992...R.I..P) ... Philip Julian Leigh, lived 6_hrs💙💔 _&_ Marianne Zara Cyrena, lived 12_hrs🧡💔 (...sorry for the mini rant! 😟😢😢).

[@philipellis7039]

My house was built in 1973 with a bathroom with a separate toilet, had no heating and carpet on the floor. The sink was by the bath so the builders assumed you didn’t wash your hands after going to the toilet or didn’t mind touching two door handles on your way to do so.

[@wessexdruid7598]

@@philipellis7039 They weren't building houses like that near me, in 1973. They stopped before the end of the 1950s.

[@philipellis7039]

@@wessexdruid7598 the house I grew up in was built in 1967 and more modern than my 1973 house in some respects.

[@daveduvergier3412]

Sad for you guys having to eat a boiled egg without an eggcup 😔

[@deanosaur808]

🤣🤣🤣

[@rogerphillips7270]

Eggcups are new to Chinese people as well

[@JC-gm3zs]

Which came first, the eggcup or the egg?

[@Spinknitty]

No worries-we definitely have them.

[@lisadaly1026]

American here with no UK family connections in my past, and my mom put an egg in an egg cup in front of me most school mornings.

[@catherineball5071]

I own a window company and just wanted to help you out - the "tiny baby window" is a called a fanlight. Just in case it also helps, the window above a door is called a toplight and windows next to doors are sidelights. So now you know 😄

[@faodail3913]

Same in New Zealand.

[@IndigoMayRoe]

Is the high window up high to be more secure way of letting air in/damp out?

[@sophieswainger120]

@@IndigoMayRoe Yes! And you can also leave them open when it is raining and the water doesn't come in

[@edeledeledel5490]

Well, I won't buy any windows from you. Every source I have seen says that a fanlight is above a door, often semicircular, and a top light is the small window at the top of another window.

[@sandraash180]

I've always called the small window at the top a 'trap'.

[@nickgrazier3373]

Soft boiled eggs and soldiers!!! These really were for encouraging children to eat the eggs. The bread was presented as toasted, buttered and sliced, 1st in half then then in about 4 to 5 slices this was so the 3 minute soft boiled egg could have the top of the egg cut off giving access to the soft yolk inside. The toasted soldier is rigid enough for the child to dip it into the egg, soak it in the yolk and pull it out and bite off the yoked end to eat. Cunning parents plan!!! This got so popular that grown ups started to like the idea of this rather than just dumping the eggs out on to a sandwich or eating with a tea spoon!! Cheers Aah Kid!

[@alangeorgebarstow]

I'm a 73-year old Englishman and I still enjoy soft-boiled (3-minute) eggs with soldiers. I like buttered toast soldiers but nothing beats buttered soldiers cut from a slice-or-three of a freshly baked crusty loaf or cob.

[@jeffgraham6387]

@@alangeorgebarstow ...me too, 75 and love a runny egg and soldiers...🤣🤣

[@andyhughes5885]

So, how do you Americans eat a hot soft boiled egg without it burning your fingers off ?An egg cup is the only easy way to do it.

[@lunaflower4507]

Egg and soldiers are the best with salt on the soldiers oh I need some

[@redwarrior2424]

​@@andyhughes5885 I think it's rare for anyone to eat soft boiled here. A lot of people might not know what it is. Younger ones.

[@alanhodgson6714]

Measuring a cup of butter sounds like a nightmare

[@Poliss95]

@alanhodgson6714 Butter comes in sticks in the US. Recipes will refer to sticks of butter.

[@timduncan6750]

Butter comes in 1/2 cup sticks and the wrapper has Tablespoon markings so if a recipe calls for 3 Tablespoons of butter you can just cut off 3 of the markings. It's so common I've even seen recipes just call for 1 stick of butter instead of saying 1/2 cup.

[@Blitterbug]

Hehe I know this one - they buy butter in thin strips they call 'sticks'! And recipes call for 'half a stick' or whatever.... How you can serve a butter dish with a lil' ol stick in it I'm not sure.

[@davidhall4499]

@@Poliss95 How big is a stick of butter are some stick bigger than other sticks ?

[@Painterly_Collage]

@@davidhall4499 They're standardized. A stick of butter is ALWAYS equal to 1/2 cup. And in my 60 years experience, it is always the same shape no matter where you buy it (10.5 cm x 3.2 cm x 3.2 cm). My guess -- I couldn't verify this -- is that the volume is regulated while the shape is a widely shared convention so that the stick of butter will fit the butter dish you already own or the butter compartment built into your fridge.

[@yalova84]

As a Brit living in America for many years, one of the differences that I find really odd is in the judicial system. There are elections for judges, Sherifs and District Attorneys, rather than choosing from suitable professionals.

[@rifter0x0000]

By convention, people who run for judge or District Attorney positions are usually attorneys, and people who run for Sheriff are usually law enforcement officers. The requirements vary by jurisdiction, but you are correct that on occasion people can legally run for these offices without prior experience. A famous case is when Hunter S Thompson ran for Sheriff in Aspen, Colorado, and I remember at least one judicial election in which the inexperience of one of the people running was an issue.

[@sibby84]

Since 2012 we've held Police and Crime Commissioner elections in about 40 areas of the UK

[@MostlyPennyCat]

​@@sibby84 Is there a requirement for qualifications?

[@sibby84]

@@MostlyPennyCat I had to look it up because I've never voted in it. Not. because I'm not politically active, but because it's not particularly well understood in general and has a very low turnout as a result. Basically it seems that anyone can stand with a few exceptions, like being bankrupt or having a criminal record. They just need 100 signatures of support from people who live in that jurisdiction

[@MostlyPennyCat]

@@sibby84 Oh good, glad that's not ripe for abuse, you had me worried there... Actually, it's Britain, we're pretty bullshit lunatic proof when it comes to that sort of thing.

[@davidhall4499]

The USA and Canada use a 110/120 Volt domestic supply so it takes 10 minutes to boils a kettle. In the UK we use 240 volts so the same amount of water can be boiled in 3 minutes

[@untitledanarchistseagullch1237]

2:25 What gets me about British electrical codes on the subject of bathrooms is that they won't allow regular plug sockets in the bathroom because of the electrocution risk, but they have no problem with the abomination that is an electrical shower controller.

[@carolineskipper6976]

I currently live in a house built in 1967 which still has some of the older features you mention. An airing cupboard does not usually house the boiler- it's the hot water tank that is in there - the boiler will usually be elswhere in the house (although my daughter's house does have a modern boiler in hers ). It's this hot water tank that is the driving factor behind having separate taps for hot and cold. The water is heated at the start of the day and stored in that tank all day- and so is not fit for drinking due the bacteria that can thrive in there. I have this arrangement, and so most of my taps are separate, although the kitchen tap was updated to a mixer at some point - which means I have to run cold water through it for a second or two before I know it's safe to draw drinking water from the tap. The airing cupboard, if it still has a hot water tank in it, is ace for drying clothes that are still a bit damp- I always dry my trainers in there after washing them . The older lady who lived in my house beofre me loved carpet everywhere, and so my bathroom does currently have carpet. This will be replaced by something more practical when I remodel the bathroom in the next few years. I have already replaced carpet in the kitchen and downstairs shower room with a vinyl covdering. You are still so wrong about the washing up bowl!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@WhichDoctor1]

My parents house used to have the hot water tank in the airing cupboard, and the boiler was in the kitchen. But when they upgrade to a condensing boiler it was put in the airing cupboard. And the heat from the boiler works very much like the old hot water tank did. But having experienced a old Victorian flat having central heating put in for the first time a few years ago, and all the faff about where the boiler could and couldn’t go, I’m pretty sure it’s against regulations to have modern boilers put in airing cupboards these days

[@gavinreid2741]

Immersion heater.

[@thomaseland3136]

We're a nation of immersion eaters, so we dunk biscuits in our tea and coffee 😂​@@gavinreid2741

[@FC-PeakVersatility]

I think that the issue with the water in the immersion tank is not so much that hot water is left to stand all day but that, if the water is only heated once a day, every time hot water is used cold water is introduced from the header tank and, at some point the temperature will drop below 60. Legionella bacteria multiply most rapidly in water temperature between 20-45°C. Below 20°C they go dormant and cannot survive in temperatures above 60°C. Leaving the immersion heater on 24/7 will negate this. There is a school of thought that says it's cheaper to keep a hot tank hot than to heat a cold tank once a day (it's so long since I had a hot water tank that I cannot recall the conclusion I drew from testing that theory but my memory suggests that I left my heater on 24/7) And, yes, definitely wrong about washing up bowls 😉

[@monicawarner4091]

​@@WhichDoctor1 • It depended on the size of the cupboard (its volume). Modern boilers are generally condensing types and can be fitted in smaller cupboards than before. Earlier boilers could be fitted in compartments/cupboards with adequate ventilation. My airing cupboard is around 2,000 litres by volume...larger than most. I had to have 2 large air vents fitted to comply with legal requirements with my old boiler because the cupboard was around 4 litres "too small" by volume! Thankfully my present condensing boiler doesn't need any air vents.

[@flyhalf2]

Switched sockets are also a safety feature along with the live and neutral openings being shuttered, they're opened by the longer earth pin on the plug

[@richard-riku]

I don't see the big objection to the switch. If you want it to work like an american socket then leave it switched on all the time. But with the switch you can turn things off temporarily (like phone chargers that aren't actually charging something) rather than repeatedly unplugging and plugging things in.

[@GregNickoloff]

My house was built in Ohio c. 1950 and many of the outlets have switches with them. I've replaced/upgraded most of them, but still have a couple in places.

[@adriancampbell6924]

@@GregNickoloff You mean you have replaced/downgraded them.

[@fionafrazer8820]

Grew up using hot water bottles in the UK, to put in the bed before getting in to warm it up, and I own four here in the US. You can get them at CVS - simple and brilliant. Bathroom carpet was a thing in the US in the 70's. An airing cupboard was used for linens that were dried on the clothes line and then ironed to make sure they are completely dry. Dual flush is to save water . For me, a Brit living in the US, a trash compactor and a garbage disposal were things I hadn't seen before, or screens on the windows. I guess there aren't as many mosquitos in the UK, so they weren't necessary. I hadn't ever seen bathroom carpet until the US.Dual washer/dryer combos are common in Asia too, and they are space saving. Plus in the UK, I think people still hang more things outside to dry, and don't need as big a dryer. Growing up in the UK, we had neither, and used to send the washing out weekly to something called the Bagwash - where items were put in a bag - usually made of cotton, and similar types of washable clothing were placed in the bags. I believe the actual wash was done with everything in the bag, and then the bag was returned with your damp laundry ready to hang on the clothes line!!

[@garystroud6153]

I remember the "bagwash" system from my childhood in London. My dad used to drive the lorry that collected and delivered it for a couple of years when I was only a year or so old

[@josephinejones7386]

I visited America a couple of years ago and stayed in an Airbnb, and having listened to your post I would imagine the owners were very Brit savvy .... there was a kettle, egg cups and a washing up bowl. Home from home in fact!

[@someonespadre]

Don’t call it a washing up bowl but we use one and have for decades.

[@scana1979]

In Australia the power outlets ('Type I', different to the British 'Type G') are also switched and are at 240 volts. Bathrooms however do have a standard power outlets; the shaver type are only found at places like hotels and airports. The British originally used 'Type D' and 'Type M' (round pins at different spacing for different current capacities) which are still in use in places like India, Sri Lanka and South Africa.

[@KevPage-Witkicker]

The taps are like that because we tend to fill a sink/basin and use that to wash, rather than wash things in running water.

[@sheilaheald2509]

Yes, we use this little things called plugs so that the water mixes in the sink! Some people do not seem to realise that this can be done! (not you of course)

[@DEVAEGIR]

So, you wash off somethng nasty, and then use the same water to wash something else. Am I getting this right? Or, you brush your teeth, spit, and then use the same water. Yes? Oh, and by the by, I am from the UK too. Just never understood this double-tap insanity. I don't know what happens in the US, but almost everywhere I have lived or visted (Russia, Greece, Germany,. Spain, Italy, Turkey, Israel, and a bunch of other places) they have (if you can imagine such a mysterious and unimaginable setup) a mixer tap AND the little plug. That way people can wash off whatever they need without either burning themselves, or turning into an icile (in the tropical British weather), and can still fill the basin if they need to or if they follow Dark Ages hygene practices. (Present company excepted, of course.) You might notice I feel heated on the subject. This is because (a) I have experienced the burn/ice-turn thing more than once; and (b) because it is mind-boggling that people stil install this dual tap thing in newly built houses, and it is occasionally even marketed as a luxury. And I'm not on good terms with crazy.

[@inkulu]

Separate taps because hot water usually comes from a tank and is less safe to drink, whereas cold water is mains, so potable, that’s the reason for different taps.

[@ianm452]

Supposedly, we use less water by running it into the basin (with the plug in) than washing hands under running water, so it's supposed to avoid wasting water.

[@martinrobertson2667]

@@inkulu Not always - cold water can also come from a tank, but the kitchen cold tap is usually from the mains

[@dinger40]

How do you make sponge cake? The weight of the eggs is important. Eggs ,Sugar, Flour and Butter should all be of equal weight for the perfect sponge.

[@keithturner4036]

True

[@resurgem]

That would be a Victoria sandwich mixture, as sponge cake is fatness usually.

[@timduncan6750]

US recipes where a very specific amount of egg is needed will say (for example) three large eggs or three medium eggs so you can get just the right amount. Most (but not all) eggs you buy the carton is labeled by size and all inside will be in a set range.

[@Colourmad314]

@@resurgemfat less is a Genoese and used for Swiss Roll

[@sem1ot1c]

@@resurgem Not necessarily. Victoria sponge is only one of many very similar variations an a basic fat/flour/sugar recipe. Fatless (Genoese) sponges are a whole different family.

[@jenniedarling3710]

With regards to kettles it's good that you just call it a kettle and not a "tea kettle" like most Americans do. It's as if it's just for tea instead of the many uses.

[@briangates6707]

It is however usual to call an electric urn (a large worktop mounted tank that boils water) that you might find in an office, cafe or on a table in the refreshment tent at a village fete a "tea urn".

[@adiebarrett]

Like coffee for instant. Sorry, instance.

[@sem1ot1c]

Surely a 'tea kettle' is what we Brits call a 'tea pot' these days

[@silkvelvet2616]

I use my kettle a LOT in my ceramic studio. To wake up dried out glazes, to provide a warm water bath for onglae transfers.... making myself a cuppa....

[@grassytramtracks]

​@@sem1ot1c what Americans call a tea kettle is usually a pot that goes on the stove to heat water up. The teapot doesn't go on the stove and is used to let the tea brew, not to boil the water

[@ricom6839]

Used to use the sink to wash the dishes and seemed to chip crockery but a washing up bowl being plastic, I’ve never lost a dish in the washing up battle!!!!!

[@bobm4378]

also if it is a small kitchen, with one sink, and someone wants to fill the kettle, dishes in the way, they just pull out the plastic bowl, no problem!!

[@ianmclean6399]

my family made me hate them as everybody in my house throws dirty dishes in it. I always have to empty it and the dirty water before washing the dishes. Its disgusting and it drives me nuts 😂😂

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

I used to use a washing up bowl to wash my black powder revolver straight after a visit to the rifle range. Gunpowder residue is very corrosive but thankfully also very water-soluble.

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

They became really popular in 1976 when there was a big drought and the government wanted us to save water.

[@kenbateman8361]

Besides which, in the 50s/60s most sinks were heavy ceramic or stone, which cooled the water quickly and also chipped you mostly china pottery.

[@bobmcdermott9535]

Sinks in kitchens used to be a lot bigger, think of a Belfast sink. So washing up bowls came into use, initially they were made of light weight metal. These sinks were large because they had multiple uses, washing clothes, cleaning big pans,sometimes even bathing the baby! So you needed a little bowl to wash smaller items!

[@markianclark9645]

bob...Belfast sink? That's a new term to me in my Pension age...I've just reached 68 birthday and never heard of it...I wonder if it's another word for what we had throughout the 60's and 70's...a Butler sink...huge enamel very square and deep...with thick walls...before stainless steel became affordable...last I saw of them was always on skips outside houses and flats being modernised

[@bobmcdermott9535]

@@markianclark9645 hi, yes that is the kind of sink! Ours had a draining area as well, big enough for me to sit on with my feet in the sink, that was when I was 2! 😂

[@bobmcdermott9535]

There are very trendy now!,

[@supergran1000]

We had a ceramic Belfast sink and wooden draining board in our 50s council house growing up. I remember my mum getting the Ajax powder and scrubbing brush out to clean the beast. She made a gingham curtain to hide the pipework underneath. They matched the gingham curtains at the window.

[@markianclark9645]

@@supergran1000 never heard of Belfast till now here...ours had Butler as did all of them I ever saw...you live n learn...must be the area...in London and south east we got a different make of ceramic sink...

[@EVILBUNNY28]

If you think those casement windows (most common type in UK) are weird, you should see Tilt and Turn windows. Spin the handle 90° and they swing open like the casements, but tilt the handle another 90° and they will tilt open. First time you use them you think the window is gonna fall right out of the frame when you put it in tilt mode if you’re not expecting it.

[@doloresedwards3346]

Many years ago we had 3 American men staying with us while they worked over here for a few weeks. They loved the idea of an electric shower and each bought one, though my husband told them that they might not work in the USA. They also loved our roundabouts on the road. We all learned from each other. It was a good experience

[@christopherwaller2798]

When we moved into our family house in 2000, it hadn't been redecorated for a long time, and still had a 1970s era bathroom with avocado suite and brown carpet. That was one of the first rooms to be redone. Although the airing cupboard next to it still exists.

[@chrispurdy4859]

The dual option toilet flush is a water saving feature. If you've just done a wee then you only need to push the smaller flush but if you've done a pooh then you use the larger flush. Some even come with helpful dimples on them, one for a number one and two for a number two.

[@bubba842]

We have these everywhere in Canada. The States is literally decades behind the rest of the world.

[@rupertphmode1753]

I'm sure a gazillion (to use an American number we don't have in the UK) others have explained a few things. The thing in the airing cupboard is not the boiler. It 'may' be in there but the cylindrical thing is the hot water storage tank in which cold water from the cold water storage tank (normally in the loft or attic above) is heated by a coil of hot water from the boiler which could be in the garage (20 yards away in the case of a friend's home and directly below the airing cupboard in the kitchen in my smaller home) or anywhere else the builder's decided to hide it. The purpose of the airing cupboard is to 'air' clothes or bedding which have been washed (laundered) and perhaps dried in the washer/drier or out on the clothes line in the garden, but which might not be bone dry. Electricity is expensive in the UK especially for heating things so the hot water in the tank in the airing cupboard which is heated by cheaper gas (not petrol or gasoline as you insist on calling it, but a true gas which comes out of a pipe in the ground) is used to finally dry off, or air the clothes or bedding. Simples! UK is fairly unique in Europe in lots of ways. You have already come across the electrical regulations and the resulting limitations on how you can end your life in the home. One major way is that we use stored water. The cold water in most homes in UK comes in two varieties, drinking water which comes direct from the mains supply and is usually found in the kitchen tap/faucet and stored cold water which also comes from the same pipe but is fed into a cold water storage tank in the loft or attic of the property. Whilst there it is contaminated by bugs and spiders, bats and their droppings and all sorts of other disgusting things. This stored cold water is traditionally fed to the heating system boiler for heating the radiators (and that's OK) and also to the cold water taps in the bathroom (not a rest room, we use the bedroom for resting) which is not OK because that's where one washes one's hands and other bits and bobs and also cleans one's teeth. With the disgusting stored cold water... We have two types of showers, the 'weird' electric shower with the thing on the wall (which heats cold water direct from the mains) and the 'normal' US type which is a mixer shower which takes stored hot and stored cold water and mixes them to give you a shower at your desired temperature. In homes where the heating system is in use for hours at a time to heat the house, having plenty of hot water on hand is a side benefit so mixer showers are ideal. For folks like me who lives alone and heats my home with a wood burning stove (despite having expensive oil-fired central heating available) having to burn oil to heat a tankful of water to have a shower is daft so I use an electric shower instead. Also simples! And as for the kettle. You probably drink coffee almost exclusively and probably also use a coffee. Aching exclusively. We Brits by and large prefer tea and drink copious amounts of it. The kettle heats the water for the tea pot (you haven't mentioned the tea pot yet) which 'brews' the tea until it is stewed enough for our tastes. I believe the American use of cups comes from your (our?) pioneering ancestors who needed a convenient measure for ingredients whilst crossing the Great Plains in covered wagons with almost none of the comforts of home. A cup was the obvious answer. Meanwhile, back in dear old Blighty, their cousins carried on using the weighing scales your ancestors could neither afford to carry with them across the ocean nor were able to buy along the way. Again, simples! I have a friend in the US who I first met when he was stationed with the USAF at RAF Greenham Common and who dated and eventually married my next door neighbour, a typically lovely English Rose sort of lady. They back and forth'ed between UK and US until they eventually settled in the US but I'm sure Anne never quite got used to the US way of life. Things like cups and four-way-stops and the overt American tradition of advertising one's political ideals (to her dying day I never knew how she voted nor her me) or flying the Stars and Stripes on the front yard (we call them gardens but you know that already...) whilst here in the UK it is considered weird to fly the Union Flag at home and is actually illegal in some circumstances. Or how everyone in America knows all the words to the Star Spangled banner and sings it at every opportunity whilst here in Britain, most folks have no idea that the national anthem (now God Save the King) has more than verse and most don't even know all the words to than verse, let alone all of them. Two nations separated by a common language indeed and much else that is really not common at all.

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

Since I am from the US I wonder if the radiators are the most common heating system in the UK? I'm in the south and we use what's called a heat pump most often. It has a unit that's partially on the outside and partially on the inside of the house. It can be in the crawl space /basement. The thermostat has a switch to change from heat to A/C. Some folks use natural gas but it's far less common. I have seen really old buildings with radiators here, but they're very scarce. Our high school had them. I think it was built in the 1920s. The classrooms were always sweltering hot because there was no way to control the temp. We'd wear short sleeve shirts with winter coats so we could strip down in class and not burn up. 😂

[@rupertphmode1753]

@@Mick_Ts_Chick Yes is the short answer. The longer answer is...but not always. The 'historically normal' central heating method in UK is based on storing water direct from the mains in a couple of 'header tanks' normally in the loft space but always above the boiler so the water is gravity fed rather than high pressure from the mains. The boiler, which is nearly always gas fired, heats this stored cold water and a pump circulates it around the system of radiators which in almost every UK home will look just like the ones you see in the vid. You can buy fancier ones, but to most folks they are just a way to heat the home and are not a fashion item. Gas is very common in UK with it being piped into most homes in towns and cities just like the water. For those with no gas supply like me, you can use an oil-fired boiler either to heat the water for the radiators or electricity to heat them directly with no water or boiler involved. Also, the boiler in most UK homes also provides stored hot water for washing and showering etc. More modern systems still use radiators but use the mains pressure water instead of stored water. With the move toward the reduction in the use of fossil fuels for domestic heating, heat pumps are becoming more common but these still heat the water for the radiators, are still very expensive over here and require a different size of radiator to get the same heat output. Hot air heating as you describe, with the air ducted around the home by a fan are sometimes found but they are not common. Also, UK is quite different from mainland Europe in that almost no homes on the continent use stored cold water but rather high pressure water from the mains but radiators are still the normal means of heating the home.

[@adriandorman7511]

Whenever we holiday in Florida we always stay at the same housing complex. The owners must receive a lot of British tourists as now we find an electric kettle in the kitchen.

[@HweolRidda]

Or tourists from Canada, Europe,Asia, or...

[@fayesouthall6604]

Brilliant !

[@dcallan812]

Im not old and not a gran, but I have carpet in my bathroom and toilet. When you get out of the shower-bath its nice not to stand on tiles. Same in the toilet really I dont wear anything on my feet in the house. The carpet I have is carpet tiles they have a "tar" backing you can lift up and bleach. I often use a carpet cleaner and if need can scrub by hand

[@sandywatson]

I'm a 55 year old Brit and I've never heard of, seen, nor experienced a carpeted bathroom. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@kh23797]

Just too young, eh? We 70+ guys knew them well.

[@cameliabrown6260]

I’m almost 70 and have always lived in the northeast USA. Many of the things you mentioned were once very common here and I remember them from my childhood. The overhead flush box and chain on the toilet, the hot water bottle, the electric kettle and the pull chain light switch just to name a few.

[@kh23797]

I keep reading Americans who ask why US usage of electric kettles is lower than it might be. Though, yes, you can fit a boiling-water tap/faucet beside the kitchen sink mixer nowadays.

[@sourdoughhome2571]

@@kh23797 The big reason electric kettles in the USA is rare is because we have 110volt mains, which means we have less power for the kettle. A kettle in England will heat water faster than a pot on the stove or a container in the microwave. As a certified tea and coffee nerd, I have an electric kettle in the USA.

[@edeledeledel5490]

If there wasn't a chain on the toilets that have them, those with a header tank for the toilet 6ft up the wall; you'd have to have a sets of steps for kids to reach the lever... or my wife for that matter...

[@jrochest4642]

@@sourdoughhome2571 This actually isn't true -- Canada has the same 110 volt system, but we all use electric kettles. It's probably the result of being a member of British Empire right up to the 50s. Electric kettles are ubiquitous and most homes or offices will have one. They're way faster than boiling a kettle on the stove.

[@briandawkins984]

@@jrochest4642 actually the electric kettle was a Canadian invention, from another Canadian.

[@NewsJunky1966]

Washing up bowls - If you have a single sink it is useful to have a space down which one can spill detritus from plates without making the washing up water murky. A plastic bowl also acts as a noise insulator against the metal sink and as a less hard surface for glasses. Also a bowl holds less water thus cutting down on water usage. In addition the use of the bowl enables one to recycle the water from which the plants benefit by carrying the water to the garden and emptying the bowl.

[@sandywatson]

I've seen to many American true crime shows to ever want US style windows over here. 😆 So many murderers just cut the screen and climbed right in a huge man-sized opening! I'm keeping my tiny (and lockable) opening, ta. 😉

[@billmilligan1705]

One other thing to be aware of American household wiring is very outdated. In the USA the whole phlisophy is that the protection is for the wiring not person safety. There is no RCBOs, RCDs, Neutral fault protection or surge supression. So if your water heater causes your pipework to become live there is no protection against you getting a shock. I have seen a video where a worker touched a metal heating duct and they could light an LED light strip. Also one of the reasons why we don't mention cups as a measurement for food due to the other use of cups as a measurement. A good example was in the Glasgow Herald diary where a young chap was in a cafe in Glasgow and asked the woman how big are your cups, meaning the size of the drink only to be told that was a personal question

[@glen1555]

Almost every night on the local tv news there were reports of house fires because of bad electrical wiring. In Britain the largest cause is chip pan fires

[@myrdaal]

@@glen1555 Chip pan fires? Which century did you get you news from?

[@ianhutchinson1783]

When I lived in the States for a few years, my mum and dad visited and mum got back ache and asked if I had a hot water bottle. I hadn't so I went looking for one down at the drug store. Found one there without the comfy furry covering - just bare rubber - but it came with an assortment of pipes and other bits and pieces. We finally worked it out to our great amusement - the pipes etc. were to give oneself an enema using the hot water bottle! 😂

[@Darrenski]

You've just given me a bad good idea!

[@andyhughes5885]

🤣A hot water bottle with pipes is a new one on me.

[@michaelleiper]

Technically, you are allowed regular plugs in a bathroom. They just have to be a minimum distance from a source of water, like a shower, sink or bath. - And bathrooms are generally not big enough.

[@andywilliams7323]

Henry Hover is part of a family of hovers in addition to him, there's also Hetty, Harry, George, Charles and James. They also come as kids toys for the kids who want to pretend to hover.

[@BlueSunYoutube]

Numacs now, love them though, still one of the only vacuums you can suck up dry or wet with no issues, simple interchangable parts, and a relative price for the quality. A true national treasure. Symbolic of us Brits

[@realhorrorshow8547]

I inherited a George by accident - long story. He's a wet and dry who can cope with anything. I think anthropomorphising their products was a good sales idea for Numatics but, frankly, they didn't need it. They work.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

@@BlueSunKZbin In my experience (observing a student in halls trying to vac up vomit on a Saturday night with consequent flash and bang) Henrys are not intended for wet and dry use. Other Numatics products are though.

[@johnd6487]

We bought a Henry in the leisure centre where I used to work. The 'face' came as a set of stickers that could be added by choice. In the manual, they pointed out that - especially if it was being used in commercial premises - giving it a face would generally make the staff take better care of the machine than if it was just seen as another vacuum cleaner.. and to be fair, Henry outlasted all the far more industrial Nilfisk machines we'd had previously.

[@bonvoyage5377]

Hover/s?? Hoovers maybe

[@Richard-eh8ib]

It’s incorrect to say that you can’t have a electric socket in the bathroom, you can, its just that it needs to be a certain distance from water sources most bathrooms are too small, and if big enough most houses don’t bother as we used to not having one.

[@biaberg3448]

We have electric sockets in the bathrooms in Norway. But they are grounded and can only be used with grounded equipment. Same for the kitchen.

[@eddiec1961]

The bathroom carpet was used in the period before Central heating it helped to keep your feet warm while you got dressed, in those days we had proper winters and proper summers we used to have snow for 3 months of the year so the carpet helped a lot, the only heating we had was coal fires down stairs and the airing cupboard upstairs.

[@lindawitt9063]

You didn’t use towelling bath mats? We have drains in the door of our tiled bathrooms. So easy to keep clean.

[@rosemaryprobert8099]

Switches on electric sockets are common across Europe partly because they enable you to switch off appliances without having to remove the plug from the socket every time and partly for safety if there are young children in the house . Egg cups hold the boiled egg in position while you scoop the inside out. If the egg is hot it saves you burning your hand. Weighing scales in kitchens make sense because they are more accurate than using a cup, especially if you are measuring something other than liquids and powders. You can weigh straight into a bowl for large quantities instead of having to remember how many cups you have scooped out, quite useful if there are distractions around. Also by using the tare function you can weigh all the ingredients into the bowl direct which saves having to keep cleaning the measuring cup. Central heating radiators make sense when houses have solid walls instead of thin, hollow walls. It's easier to cut a small hole for the pipe through the brick most British homes are built from. Sash windows didn't used to have locks. That's down to modern security, as are the small opening sections of windows. Some modern windows can tilt or swivel and be set to open by a small amount or fully. Lots of homes have mixer taps these days. Some modern taps also deliver boiling water, but most people still prefer to use an electric kettle which is capable of boiling just the amount of water you need efficiently and it is cheap to replace if it stops working. There are even electric kettles now which have a colour display to show you the temperature of the water because some people prefer to use water at just below the boiling point for coffee. A lot of us use temperature controlled electric blankets instead of hot water bottles that go cold after a while and can leak. Carpet in a bathroom is mostly considered unhygenic. It was a craze back in the 1960s when carpet by the yard/metre became cheap to buy and before bathrooms were heated. It was warmer on bare feet than the old linoleum. Airing cupboards were a space saving replacement for the big linen cupboards of old. The hot water tank gave off some heat unless it was well insulated and people decided to take advantage of that heat by storing their linen around it. Washing up bowls are considered more hygenic for washing dishes and cutlery than using the same sink where dirty water is disposed of, underwear might be washed etc. The bowl also protected the crockery and glass from the harsh porcelain of the old sinks that were used before metal sinks became the norm in kitchens. I am surprised you have seen a chain on a toilet cistern! Very few such toilets exist in the UK now. They are only needed on the old (early 20th century) toilets. Since the mid 20th century most new homes have been fitted with toilets with low level cisterns. The showers with a box on the wall are also rare in Britain these days. In most of Europe they have been replaced with showers that have a tube where the required temperature is set because most people like hot or warm showers but some prefer a cold shower. Some bathrooms have a shower which comes off the mixer tap that serves the bathtub but they are more fiddly to set the temperature and are more susceptible to the temperature changing if the water pressure drops when a tap is turned on elsewhere in the house. And finally, did you know the Henry vacuum cleaner has friends? Hetty, James, Charles and George! Cumbersome compared to most vacuums but cute.

[@Blossom_Chops]

Back in the '90s I was able to get my Henry hoover in yellow 😊 there was a special offer on where he was available in all 4 colours

[@rogerwitte]

And just to join the dots - the kettle and the hot water bottle go together in the sense that if heating water is not quick and convenient then filling hot water bottles gets to inconvenient also.

[@jamesroyce1845]

Recipes are written so many different ways, I have both measuring cups and an electronic scale. The scales are wonderful because you can measure liquids as well as dry ingredients. And they automatically discount the weight of the receptacle. Pop the bowl on, turn it on and it's set to zero so you're only measuring the ingredients - sweet.

[@michaelwhitcombe7749]

The airing cupboard houses the hot water tank, not the boiler. It may have an immersion heater, but no flames!

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

Unless it has a gas combi boiler in it of course.

[@alemgas]

​@@TheRealWindlePoonsyou don't store anything next to a gas boiler.

[@jane1975]

@@TheRealWindlePoonsThere are no boilers in cupboards, they are always immersion heaters. Central Heating boilers ( Gas, Oil or even solid fuel ) are often located elsewhere in the house. Someone from a climate such as Florida has no need for central heating, the UK has always had a wet and cooler climate ( warmer summers in the south of the country ) thus we don’t need air conditioning but we do need central heating during the winter months.

[@jane1975]

@@nemesis2264 Interesting, I guess your house was built differently, most airing cupboards if a house has one, have just the immersion water cylinder in it. Our Oil Fired Boiler is under the stairs in our house, but we owned houses with Gas Fired boilers in garages or the Kitchen. We even had a back boiler behind our fireplace when we lived on the West Coast of Scotland so that was coal fired central heating, the house also had night storage heaters.

[@PaulForeman-indievisuals]

The benefit of the digital kitchen scales is the change in units and the zeroing function to allow for the weight of bowls, pots etc you will pour things into. Older UK analog balance scales might have a tub with it but could have a dial to zero

[@Thereishope664]

When carpet was common in the bathroom there would also have been a 'toilet mat'. Which is a small U shaped mat that would go around the base of the toilet, this would have been for obvious reasons and was washed frequently.

[@cordiagabert2573]

I grew up in the 40s in an older home. 2 faucets, lived in an apartment in Ohio with a radiator in 1967-68, and in the 70s newer homes and my apartment in 1970 had carpet in the bathrooms and kitchens! Ugh. My bedroom door as a child had a glass window over the door that could be opened for ventilation called a transome. My brothers could jump up, open it and climb in my room when I locked my door playing hide and seek. The house was 2 stories and 80 years old. The washing machine was in the kitchen. I don't know where you live in FL, but I live in Florida and all the ceiling lights with fans use chains after the electric power is turned on from a switch on the wall.

[@catherineball5071]

It's mental that you don't use kitchen scales. I've only just got over no kettles. Now no scales. I can't.

[@bevinboulder5039]

We don't need to weigh ingredients because we have measuring cups and spoons. See?

[@Blitterbug]

I know! And she called them 'scale' singular... that's like putting on a pair of trouser (or pant)

[@adamnealis]

Volume based versus weight based.

[@owensmith7530]

And this is why a lot of Americans think baking is hard, because volume based is too variable. There's how finely ground the flour is, and how hard it is packed into the cup. Same goes for the other dry ingredients. Weight based is much more consistent.

[@Blitterbug]

@@bevinboulder5039 Yah, we all saw the video. Doesn't mean it's not daft as a sackful of hamsters though.

[@gavinreid2741]

I use my shaving point socket to recharge my electric toothbrush. It came with a specific plug.

[@lynnbean7200]

You can fit any standard 2 pin Australian plug in a shaving socket. My hubby always uses that socket for his phone charger when we're overseas lol.

[@snafu2350]

* The mains socket switch is to allow a plugged-in device to be earthed while unpowered. This can be critical for many situations, eg when some households still have 3-phase power (1 typically for the heating circuit: instead of hot water radiators there was a period when household heating was all electric) * The cup cooking ingredient system works by volume, so it's easy to scale up in size: just multiply the number of cups of each ingredient by the amount you wish to cook into the finished meal/product. The measuring scale system is more precise, so in general you'll get more consistent results for a fixed recipe, but it doesn't scale as well; that being said, since the UK is now mostly metric, you can at least convert grammes of mass to millilitres of volume extremely easily (as they're the same unit measurement: 1000g of water is 1000ml) * The electric kettle is simply because the UK (& Continent) runs on nominal 220V mains, while US is half that: you can boil a UK/Continental electric kettle in a lot less time than a US version using the same amount of current, so they're more popular & convenient on the right side of the Pond than the left * An airing cupboard is an artefact of house/flat/apartment design & the climate: it's not used to dry clothes as such, but to keep the damp climate from allowing mildew, hence the hot water storage tank (not often the hot water boiler itself) being often located there. * Similarly the mini-window is to allow for airflow throughout the space, discouraging damp; it also acts as a pet/child safety feature on upper floors, but this is incidental

[@johngardiner6800]

Sash widows are old British designed and can easily be opened from the outside. Two taps are a throw back to the old days when the hot water came initially from a cold water storage tank in the loft and was at a lower pressure to the cold mains supply and therefore could not be mixed and was illegal. As to airing cupboards, the picture shown was not of a boiler but of a hot water storage cylinder. Cloths and towels etc. when dried on an outside line were placed in airing cupboards for that very purpose of airing them. You must remember that Briton is considerably older than American and that indoor plumbing was invented here.

[@Mick_Ts_Chick]

The thing I don't get is the cold water storage tank. Our water is either pumped from a well right into all the pipes throughout the house, or from the city/county water lines throughout neighborhoods which come into the house the same way. How does the UK do it? The only tanks we have are water heaters, and they're completely enclosed so there's no outside contamination.

[@SimonBillingham-zq4oy]

A bit of info for you, the dual flush toilet was developed in Australia as a water saving measure as water use can be restricted during droughts. Both the small and large flush quantities are less than the old flush quantities. The overhead toilet tanks with the pull chain date from the Victorian era. As an Australian I find plastic bowls in kitchen sinks strange. My grandparents had Wilton carpet in their bathroom, grandfather was in carpet manufacturing and used offcuts. I find your observations interesting.

[@vikkirobinson4131]

Bathroom carpet grew out of having a traditionally unheated bathroom, because few places had central heating. To make it feel nicer on bare feet after a bath, carpet was sort of a good idea, and they were usually waterproof on the back, since it was a special carpet just for bathrooms. But if there is a toilet in the room it soon became obvious that this was a bad idea for hygiene reasons and, as central heating spread, the fashion soon ended. I can remember the fashion coming in in the 1970s and going again by the 90s.

[@deanosaur808]

Can't beat have rug around the toilet to soak up all the mishaps 😅

[@f0rth3l0v30fchr15t]

The thing about radiators is that they're less about actually radiating the heat than they are about using convection to heat air and move it around the room. Which is why the shelf over the radiator in the picture would make that less efficient at heating the room, and possibly - over time - warp the shelf as it's unevenly heated and cooled.

[@rschroev]

I've seen advice that says the opposite: presumably a shelf over the radiator helps the stream of warm to air to go into the room, instead of straight up; that way it should help heat the room instead of mostly the ceiling. Both explanations seem to have something going for them, but obviously only one can be correct. I don't know which one.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

I think it’s often not made clear that carpets for the bathroom are specifically made for wet areas with a rubber backing and normally a higher percentage of man made fibres for the tufts. My parents had a carpet in the bathroom when I was a kid before we had double glazing and central heating fitted. Our bathroom was also downstairs and the whole of the lower level of that house had a concrete floor. So the carpet was just to help make the room a little warmer for when it was in use. Once the double glazing and central heating were fitted the carpet got ripped out and replaced with varnished cork tiles that helped to create a little warmth underfoot. But it’s also worth realising that for those who grew up without double glazing, central heating and insulation, during the winter ice had to be chipped off of the inside of the windows (mainly in the bedrooms) which had been created due to the condensation from people breathing and having every room carpeted (our kitchen was carpeted too) meant that there was always some warmth for your feet to touch and coupled with the other soft furnishings in homes (there were fewer leather sofas or minimalist interior decor trends) just created a little bit of warmth through both look and feel and of course they would absorb and retain a lot of the heat created when the fire (be it a gas, electric or solid fuel one) was put on. So I daresay that for some it just became a mainstay in how those rooms were decorated/fitted out. Though I think it was also a status symbol at some points in the not too distant past, to have a home with fully fitted carpets in every room.

[@juliusapweiler1465]

"carpets for the bathroom are specifically made for wet areas" You say that, but I think some of the corner-cutting housebuilding companies haven't got the memo. My ~2006 flat came with carpet in the bathrooms, and it was definitely the exact same carpet they used everywhere else.

[@lynnejamieson2063]

@@juliusapweiler1465 I think it’s safe to say that they didn’t use a carpet for the bathroom then, which is an issue with the company that selected the carpet and not a contradiction to my statement. After all, if round pegs are designed for round holes, it’s not the manufacturer’s fault it the person in charge of sourcing the pegs and filling the holes gets triangular pegs instead because they’re cheaper.

[@36814]

Hot water bottles can also be used as cold water bottles by adding some crushed ice or simply cold tap water for those who experience hot feet especially in Summer.

[@eloquentlyemma]

When I got my flat remodelled in the 90s I got 0.5 inch thick green water-resistant carpet to go with the large marble wall tiles, gold fittings and big corner bathtub. It was so luxurious when I got out of the bath, with my glass of wine and walked over the carpet to the window seat where I could chill for a short time before getting my bath robe. It made bath times really special for me. Most carpets in bathrooms are pretty grim because it costs a lot to buy the right kind of carpet, but was the one room that I wished that I could have taken with me when I moved out.

[@jamesbeeching6138]

@@eloquentlyemma Liberace would be jealous of your bathroom....VERY bling!!!

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

Ah, Flotex carpet tiles, that brings back memories. Properly waterproof carpet. Popular in the dining halls of old folks' homes too.

[@eloquentlyemma]

@@TheRealWindlePoons oh lord, no. Flotex tiles are just cheap and nasty - I would rather have pretty much anything else. No, this was the high quality stuff.

[@davew4998]

One reason for the washing up bowl is to overcome the problem of not having mixer taps. You mix the water in the bowl. They also allow you to empty cups down the sink without having to wash up in tea or coffee or whatever. We only use one now for soaking tired aching feet. Hot water bottles come from times before central heating. It was the only way for (single) people to get warm in bed. They are very good for putting on parts of the body that ache too, such as back ache.

[@threethymes]

You can also use them in hot weather filled with iced water. An easy way to cool down hot feet.

[@WhichDoctor1]

Yeah, being able to swill out dirty cups and bowls and immediately dump that dirty water down the sink instead of mixing it with the water you’re trying to clean stuff with is kinda essential imo. My parents now have a fancy sink with an extra little mini sink between the main sink and the draining board with functions the same. But also their sink is this stone effect stuff so its really hard and easy to chip stuff on, so they still use a washing up bowl too

[@missharry5727]

I use my plastic bowl for soaking small items and hand washing them before putting them in the washer/dryer to spin and dry, especially things that say they should be hand washed. Also for pre-soaking/rinsing anything that is too disgusting to go into the washing machine immediately.

[@bonetiredtoo]

Kitchen scales make life vastly simpler and more accurate. Need to measure 250ml of water? Just weigh it: 250g

[@tmac160]

USA doesn't do metric anything, except money.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

​@@crocsmart5115😂😂😂

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

@@crocsmart5115 They don't understand furlongs per fortnight either.

[@zebo-the-fat]

'mericans measure the volume of the food Brits measure the mass of the food (tbh not sure which is better but I suspect weighing it will be more accurate)

[@JimC]

I'm an American. I bought a scale from Amazon a few years ago that's the same model she shows. Its advertised accuracy was +- .03 grams! I can't verify that, but even accuracy of +- .1 gram would be fantastic! It was so cheap I bought it as a science toy. But now I use it to make small amounts of my own sucralose solution, mixing the pure powder with water. It works really well.

[@hazelmeldrum5860]

For me the differences are due to the history and smaller homes and shortages in the past , now many are helping to conserve energy

[@TukikoTroy]

Uhuh, burglars love the old sash windows with a latch.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

A tap to crack the window then reach through to the latch... When we lived in an old house with sash windows, the police crime prevention officer's advice was to fit additional locks.

[@alanstebbings2886]

​@@TheRealWindlePoonsyou don't even need to break the window for a lot of them Just slide a thin blade between rhe two frames IF YOU'VE GOT THEM FIT SASH WINDOW LOCKS

[@PhilR0gers]

I have sash windows, but the latches have locks in them.

[@robinbickerton9315]

Our Henry is over 40 years old and still works fine

[@wolf5370]

Airing cupboard doesn't have boiler in it - most houses this is in the kitchen. There may be a hat water tank - or, like my house which is a year old, nothing but shelving but hot water pipes go under it so its warm and dry. It is usually used for storing linen like bedding and towels - damp towels don't go mouldy.

[@robertjones3568]

Some countries refer to the hot water tank with an electric heating element as a boiler.

[@jarvisa12345]

Normal sockets are allowed in a bathroom but they must be at least 3m away from the bath or shower, so this is not usually possible.

[@Andy-by8if]

Don’t know if any one has mentioned this but the U.K’s strict electrical laws is down to the difference in voltage,the US runs on 110v whereas the UK is 240v which will give a bigger shock if contact is made.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

Mixer taps often don't work very well in some British homes. If the hot water is fed from a header tank then your hot water pressure may be a lot lower than the cold. Pressure regulators on the cold water or booster pumps on the hot water may be needed.

[@jeffreymartin2010]

I stayed in a place that had that. There was a big square plastic box on a high shelf that was full of water and had no lid to keep out dirt or whatever, and below it was a steel tank where the water was heated. There was also a booster pump and a hammer to tap the sticky valve. In the US all the water, hot and cold, is supposed to be potable throughout the entire water system.

[@EmilyCheetham]

The airing cupboard is usually used to store towels & bedding in. I’m a brit & never got washing up bowls & never use them.

[@t.a.k.palfrey3882]

What about: toast racks, tea or egg cosies, fish knives & forks, egg spoons, paper doilies, poaching pans, fruit knives, dumb waiters; and galoshes, anoraks, kagools, gilets, and draught excluders?

[@shaunw9270]

Can you still buy tea cosies and egg cosies ?

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

How about serving hatches between the kitchen and the dining room?

[@eadweard.]

Lazy Susan.

[@alemgas]

​@@eadweard.Married her

[@steelcrown7130]

@@shaunw9270 I bought a tea cosy online only last year 🙂 (I can't knit or sew to save myself, so Etsy came to the rescue).

[@richardsnell2348]

In smaller homes, the boiler is in with the airing cupboard - the heat from the boiler help dry the clothes. In larger ones, the boiler has it own space, and the airing cupboard is seperate, operating as its name suggests through air circulation.

[@Dasyurid]

A lot of us know cups and have measuring cups and spoons, but the thing that makes us ask what’s a cup is that there’s at least three sizes of cup - half a US pint, half a an Imperial or British pint, and 250ml for metric countries that use cups. If it’s something where the recipe really requires precision you may need to find out if it came from the US, the UK or Australia, Canada, NZ etc.

[@lynnbean7200]

Totally agree. Australian cups are 250 ml, US cups are 240 ml.

[@StitchesLovesRats]

The bathroom plugs are designed to keep you from electric shock. I believe it uses some kind of induction circuit. Learned about it in school. Washing up bowl allows you to cycle out dirty water, pull out the washing up to use the taps if the washing up is obstructing, can use it to transport warm water for foot washing, or throwing warm water on icy paths. It's very versitile.

[@russellpotter7294]

I live in a really old house. There is a sign on the wall that says 'This House is equipped with Edson Electric Lights. Do not attempt to light with match'. Oh alright there is also a Bates Motel sign outside so I may have put them up myself. There is even a light switch that doesn't seem to do anything. Probably released a door to a secret passage somewhere. But as the walls are thick and it is hard to put anything up I doubt it. Egg cups are interesting. A boiled egg has to have its own egg cup. No wonder there is anarchy in the outer colonies. Also recipe 'cups' make more sense as I remember old scales and my Mum weighing out ingredients for a fruit cake. However in the end the cake was eaten before it had cooled down from the oven so the ingredients were measured by sight in the end. Happy days.

[@brigidsingleton1596]

We always had small measuring cups - with handles - but mostly if at all, they were used for measuring spices, the main ingredients for cakes, biscuits etc being weighed on balance scales, either with cast iron / brass weights, (or later, electric scales) or a scale with measuring bowl atop the weighing mechanism, used to weigh dry goods (flour, sugar) using metric / or Imperial weights. I haven't cooked or baked for years now, as my daughter is my Carer now and she shops, and deals with meals etc for us both (due to my disabilities). She's one of my second set of twins, her older sister now lives in Canada, but her twin brother - younger by 21 minutes - lives with his partner, and their cat, a couple of towns away from us! Life goes on... And, even though I haven't listened to it for years now, I feel the tune to 'The Archers' ought end my long comments - like Billy Connolly says, it's like our "National Anthem, Mark_2"... 🤔😊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿♥️🇬🇧🙂🤭🖖

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

" There is even a light switch that doesn't seem to do anything. " I met one of those in the toilet of an Amsterdam coffee shop. It was lit by UV (weird seeing your urine glowing yellow). Apparently this is to prevent junkies finding a vein and shooting up there. The non-functioning wall switch seems to be there to taunt those who have had one spliff too many...

[@heatherhoward2513]

Loved that anarchy in the outer colonies! Of course you should have an egg cup!

[@Mounhas]

If you want tape measures, measuring jugs & scales in metric only often it’s necessary to source out of the UK. Even though, like the USA, we’ve had metrication for 50 years some just won’t let go of imperial measurements, and as you know a UK gallon is not the same as a US gallon, but a Cuban litre is the same as a French litre and the same as a Canadian litre etc etc 🇮🇪

[@hiuhuj]

If you came to Kenya you'd find the identical things, except radiators and carpeting in bathrooms. Homes built before the 1980s here do not have mixer taps either, might have high level toilets with a pull flush in the servant's quarters, and a pull cord to turn on the bathroom lights. The surprise to me was finding non mixer taps when I first moved to the UK.

[@andyhowlett2231]

The shaver socket is a safety thing. Due to all the water and exposed (earthed) metal in bathrooms, a normal supply would be dangerous. The shaver sockets are isolated from earth (floating) so you are safe holding a mains-powered device. The switch on a socket means you can remove the power from an appliance without pulling the plug out and leaving it on the floor. Ever trodden on a stray plug?

[@grahamstubbs4962]

I'd managed to avoid owning kitchen scales my entire life until the point that I started baking my own bread. If the recipe calls for 400g flour, that's what it needs. There is zero scope for artistic interpretation in baking.

[@DenisePeel]

Baking is a sciencr, with little wiggle room. Thats why im always amazed when my bakibg turns out so well, when i was rubbish at science at school 😂

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

@@DenisePeel I never did much cooking 'til I was in my 20s. I processed my own photos as a teenager and after that, cooking was a doddle.

[@thedivinemrm5832]

It was explained to me thus: "cooking is art (you can colour outside the lines) BUT baking is *science*"

[@l3eatalphal3eatalpha]

In general I agree, but the idea you actually need 400g correct to three significant figures is not accurate.

[@kgbgb3663]

@@TheRealWindlePoons Weird fact for today: it's OK to spell _till_ as _'til,_ but it actually isn't necessary. _Till_ is the original word, it isn't short for _until._ Weirdly, _until_ is long for _till!_ There used to be two common words with the same meaning, _und_ and _till._ Sometimes people used both for emphasis, _und till._ Then people dropped the _d_ and the final _l,_ giving _until._ Then _und_ died out, so we were again had two words with the same meaning, but they were _until_ and _till._ So people who had never heard of _und_ naturally started to think that _till_ was just a shortened version of _until,_ and started spelling it _'til!_

[@robjames5228]

Dual toilet flushes. Sometimes the handle can be turned upwards for a small flush as well as pushing down for a big flush. Something I only learned a couple of years ago!

[@chrisaskin6144]

Firstly, mixer taps over baths and sinks are not a relatively 'new thing' here in the UK. As a child in the 60's I often saw them. And secondly, I've seen many American films (movies) etc, where the sanitary wear has separate hot and cold taps.

[@alexjames1146]

They have kitchen scales in Brooklyn. They have other types of windows all over the USA. They make 110 V Henry's and I've used them in the US. Washer/dryers also seen. Older places in the US still have separate taps. You fill the basin and use it like a bath. The first thing I did in my flat was to rip out the carpet. It often really stinks. No garage in Brooklyn. Old houses in the US still often have an old toilet. I was just in NY and there were houses with electric showers in the basement set up as a guest room/suite. It seems that you haven't lived much in the US.

[@briansearle4138]

It's not a hoover , it's a henry vacuum cleaner, top vacuum cleaner.

[@jerseyman99]

"Hoover" generic Brit term for a vacuum cleaner

[@PhilR0gers]

@@jerseyman99 Not in our house, because my son works for Dyson!

[@nickhickson8738]

​@@jerseyman99This does annoy me. It's the same with digital devices. The media particularly refer to iPhones and ipads when most often it could be an Android device.

[@ianm452]

His friends call him Henry the Hoover - vacuum cleaner is more formal.

[@danoneill8751]

Another great video. Loving this series, am working my through right now - seems to be a very clever presenter / youtuber! Plug switches - we don't turn them off usually... they are turned off for specific reasons, notice how stiff they are, they are very young child safety devices. Secondly, when going away, as a fire risk reduction, we can simply hit the switch rather than unplugging things - look up electrical fire stats in the UK vs many other places, we get a lot wrong here but not that, electrical fires are far rarer in the UK. Plugs in bathrooms - its not the voltage, its the lack of an earth, again a safety thing. This one again, if you knew the numbers you'd realise how essentially they WERE (actually modern electrical systems in the UK are FAR safer and with RCD protection in the breakers its harder to kill someone, although not impossible). However, culturally, actually we almost never use them, occasionally toothbrush chargers... No one has used an egg cup for 30 years. Brits use volumetric measures all the time too - those 'cups' you showed, we use them all the time too. We just ALSO occasionally use scales for some things. You don't need to actually use the key on the windows! They are a safety thing for the inside, they do nothing to protect your house from intrusion... The windows here and in the US are just the same, you just occasionally see people with the key sitting in the window, but no one ever uses them. We just usually wash our hands with cold water, so its quicker to use one tap. The hot is for shaving. In kitchens where you'd be using higher temps we have mixers everywhere. Hot water bottles are for period pain or to comfort small children and distract them from illness, I haven't seen one in 30 years at least, and certainly don't have one in our house. Carpets in bathrooms are disgusting and should be illegal. Not sure I've ever seen one in the UK, but I believe you if you say you've seen one - just as many silly people in the UK as anywhere else! You guys still boil water on the stove?!?! Like in the 1950s!?!?? WHY?????? Airing cupboards are rarer now as we have switched to on-demand water over the last 30 years with boilers that don't require hot water tanks - its the hot water tank, not the boiler in there by the way. Washing up bowels, I have never used one (except when camping). I know people have them and I see why, but I just use the tap. Admittedly this is a similarity, not a difference, the real diff is with people who just run the hot water tap the whole time while cleaning a few plates, and those people should be made to emmigrate to the climate-destroyed countries when global warming really kicks in. Chain pulls on toilets are incredibly rare. Pull cord light switches in wet rooms - yeah, its just safety. Power showers are a bit odd still in my opinion. Efficiecy wise and due to duty cycles and complex overhead losses on starting up boilers, if you shower for just 5 mins as many brits do, electrical showers turn out to be very efficient compared to using your centrally heated up water. But yeah, they are a bit of an oddity.

[@kennethgarland4712]

When I was young in the 50s, we did not have fitted carpets in any room - just floorboards with a (loose) carpet laid down across most of the area. Then, suddenly, everyone had to have fitted carpets, everywhere in the home, including the bathroom. It looked so "luxurious". It was expected, however, that you would have a bathmat next to the bath, to protect the fitted carpet.

[@billyhills9933]

Yes! The carpet never reached the wall, there was always a section of floorboard visible. It was the same with the stairs. If you ever pull up a stair carpet and find only the edges of each step are painted white then it means that at one point there there was a strip of carpet running up the centre of the stairs with the sides left bare.

[@kennethgarland4712]

@billyhills9933 And the carpet on the stairs, though loose, was held in place by metal 'stair rods' on each step. We described very heavy rain as "coming down like stair rods". Incidentally, I should have said in my original post that kitchens and bathrooms had lino (linoleum) as a floor cover and kitchens continued to have lino even when every other room had gone over to fitted carpets.

[@samanthagibson5791]

​@@kennethgarland4712 My parents house had a huge kitchen which was half lino, half carpet. Across the middle of the room was a strip of metal holding down the edges of both were they met. Our vacuum didn't work well on the lino so often we half cleaned the floor. Mum didn't use a mop as it would likely cause too much water to be transferred over to the carpet, she wiped it down with a bucket of water and dettol using a spong cloth. She tended to not let us do this in case we ended up with too much water everywhere

[@plonchyvideos7456]

Many insurance companies require you to have locks on your windows. You do NOT need a pull cord for the bathroom light. DO NOT. You can have a normal switch as long as it's 16" (I think) from the edge of any bath or shower.

[@harviemilligan1887]

Most new build houses have the bathroom light switch in the hall outside the bathroom rather than the pull cord inside.

[@alantheskinhead]

There is Henry, Hetty, Harry & James hoovers. Also we use "Hoover" as a general term for a vacuum cleaner!

[@dizwell]

It's also a verb, of course: "I should get round to hoovering the front room".

[@AdrianFlynn]

There is also a wet and dry hoover called George.

[@jfwfreo]

I believe the separate hot and cold taps exist because the water in these houses goes up to a tank in the roof (with the cold taps coming off that pipe) and then goes through the water heater and back down to the hot taps and the water that's been through the roof tank and boiler isn't considered potable (and therefore can't be allowed to mix with the cold water)

[@CHEEKYMONKEY2647]

we dont carpet the entire bathroom we just place matts in front of the bath tub to stop slipping on the floor when you get out, same for the sink area... when you shave or wash and spill water you dont slip on the floor... also as most bathrooms in the UK were upstairs the matts soak up water spilt and doesnt raot the wood floors as much... toilet dual flush button is fairly new in the UK, a single fluch button has been around for decades but the old handle flush was the second type, the first was a pull chain from a tank above the toilet...

[@reluctantheist5224]

The whole room was carpeted. You might not have seen them, but that's what they used to do.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

"toilet dual flush button is fairly new in the UK," Originally introduced to "save water", many develop a fault where they continually leak water into the toilet. The syphon flush system they replaced never did that. So much for saving water.

[@CHEEKYMONKEY2647]

@@TheRealWindlePoons already had that issue soon got a older one that dont leak lol

[@CHEEKYMONKEY2647]

@@reluctantheist5224 that depended on what class you were... lower class people didnt have carpets it was just floor boards with a rug next to tub

[@reluctantheist5224]

@@CHEEKYMONKEY2647 Yes, I suppose the " we" was quite broad. I took it to mean people now. I thought you were a young thing 😉

[@lizzielines1]

My mother was 2lbs when she was born in January 1923 and she slept in the the airing cupboard for a few weeks until she got bigger! There was no central heating at the time. When you dry clothes outside on the line they often need to go into the airing cupboard for the last 1% of drying out. I do miss an airing small cupboard with a constant low level of warmth.

[@Blossom_Chops]

We also used to prove the bread dough in our airing cupb'd

[@BritishBeachcomber]

Old UK houses often have wonky floor boards, so vinyl or linoleum would not lay flat, hence the carpets.

[@rosiefay7283]

Some situations where I use my kitchen scale but a measuring cup would not be convenient: + Measuring 60g of spaghetti. Spaghetti don't fit into a measuring-cup easily. It's so much easier to put a nice big cup onto a scale and put the spaghetti into that cup. The difference is that I'm not filling the cup up to the brim with stuff. + Pouring half a tin's contents into a pan (the point being to use the other half for a later meal). The tin says how much the contents weighs. Peel the lid off, weigh the tin; keep pouring stuff into the pan until the tin weighs half a tinful less.

[@paulmurgatroyd6372]

I never understood the problem with taps, if you want warm water just put the plug in the sink and mix it there.

[@robinhillyard6187]

Plugs are rare in the US. There’s usually some mechanism for retaining water but they often don’t work well enough for the mixing strategy to work.

[@chrispreston5177]

Why would you want to fill a sink up like a mini bath in a public toilet to wash your hands? Actually why would you even want to do that in your own house when using a mixer tap and running water is better in every single way? Separate taps are stupid. I’m a Brit but that doesn’t mean I’m going to defend everything we do as if it’s always the best way because it’s obvious to anyone with even at least half a brain that separate taps are a stupid idea and should have been done away with after the invention of the mixer tap.

[@paulmurgatroyd6372]

@@chrispreston5177 I didn't say fill the sink, just use enough to wash your hands, it's probably using less water than a running tap anyway. Also we can't use a single tap in the Uk because we very often don't have them.

[@peterbroad7622]

Modern Boilers and immersion heaters can be set at a temperature level so that hot water doesn't scald your hands, so mixer taps don't really serve a purpose unless you need tepid water. I have a mixer tap in the kitchen but I've rarely used it to mix water.

[@TheRealWindlePoons]

The problem with installing mixer taps in the UK is that many properties have a big difference in water pressure between the hot and cold water.

[@catherinewilkins2760]

Get yourself a Henry, got 2, one upstairs, one down. They last for years. Beat other brands. Briefly had a Dyson . Oldest Henry is nearly 40 years old. Warning he sucks up any thing that's small enough to go down the pipe. Brilliant machine. (Dyson machine was just under £400 - Henry just over £100 much better deal on the Henry. )

[@PaulJohn01]

Half the apt's I lived in, in Texas had combo washer/dryers and the other half had laundry rooms usually with separate washers/dryers. As for kitchen scales they were common enogh when i lived in Texas, probably everyone i knew had 1 and even then people would measure in not just cups/tsp/tbsp but also Oz and grams .