What I Didn't Expect about the UK // House Names?! // Living in the UK

[@joyfulzero853]

Ideally you will have a reasonable size sink so that when you put your bowl in the sink you have space around it. you can put things in the bowl to soak for a while if you wish but still have access to the sink, it needs less hot water to fill the bowl, you can rinse the washed items without 'diluting' the washing water (if you wish) and other benefits. You can use the bowl to soak your tired, aching feet as well!

[@billyhills9933]

What you have to remember with house names is that sometimes the house has been there for hundreds of years. Chances are that the road didn't have an official name when it was built. If you see an old house with a number surrounded by newer houses, it's likely that that house could have been the only one in the road for a long while. Whatever number it has it received at a far later date as the building plots along the road were filled up.

[@davidfrost1961]

Yes I have a early Victorian cottage for two hundred years was on it's own. now village built up I have only address with no Street or number just name

[@Strider9655]

@@davidfrost1961 It has a number, you just don't know it.

[@MrDannyDetail]

@@Strider9655 Every parish and/or borough will be different on this. It is entirely possible that her cottage has never been assigned a house number at any stage, particularly if it is locally well known and therefore not easily confused with anywhere else. She will, however have a Royal Mail postal code, either specific to her cottage, or else the same as everyone else on the road.

[@richmaniow]

In my street the houses have just name's, no numbers, but that's fairly rare these days as most properties have an official allocated number but the owners may have given their home a name as well to give it a bit of character but these names aren't usually recognised by the post office.

[@billyhills9933]

@@richmaniow Ah yes, the craze to give houses the name Chez Nous or Dun Roamin that started in the 70s.

[@DaveF.]

Oh, and queue the dozens of messages about the inherent superiority of the British Plug. (Seriously, if there's one thing that Brits bang on about, it's how amazing a design the mains plug is). They're not wrong - it's a genius bit of design. Unless you step on it.

[@JG-fv9bv]

I often wonder if whoever invented the plug also had a hand in inventing the single Lego block ....same levels of pain when stepped or knelt on

[@killerbye1985]

Our South African plug is very similar, but we use round pins and our plugs aren't fused. But it seems crazy to me to not have a switch.

[@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar]

The plug was designed (or rather specified) by committee during WW2 as the government planned for what would be needed after the war. In 1941 Lord Reith, as minister for Works and Planning established various committees to look at post-war rebuilding, one of which was the Electrical Installation Committee. One of the members, the only woman and the only safety expert, was Caroline Haslett. The very first requirement in the specification for the new plug (BS1363) was "To ensure the safety of young children..." The regulations they came up with also covered sockets. The committee also recommended the "ring circuit" which is ubiquitous in British houses.

[@killerbye1985]

@@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar One of the few times a committee designed something useful. LOL

[@TheHookahSmokingCaterpillar]

@@killerbye1985 I reckon those committees than planned for post-war Britain did a lot of great things we now take for granted.

[@paulmk2290]

I went to the US in the late 70s expecting to be able to take buses. When we found bus stops that's all the information you got, 'Bus Stop,' with no clues as to where the buses were going or when. The inference being that if you needed a bus you must be local and somehow know the details through local knowledge. In the UK timetables are invariably posted up at the bus stops.

[@skellious]

they were up until covid. now my local busncomoany has decided to stop putting up timtables and it's infuriating. I have to keep helping people who dont know how to look up timetables on their phones.

[@Robob0027]

True but they are useless because ever since a London no. 11 bus was torpedo in Whitehall in 1940 they have run in convoy therefore you wait for 30 minutes and then 3 come at once.

[@JaneAustenAteMyCat]

Not any more - now you have to look on your phone via a QR code

[@charlesunderwood6334]

How can you manage without a washing up bowl? You use less water which you can change more quickly, it stops metal pans scratching the sink and being plastic prevents glasses from getting broken in the sink.

[@jimappleby3545]

We call it a letter box - even when there's no actual box involved. It distinguishes it from a 'post box', the cast iron thing that stands in the street, and confusingly is painted a bright colour called 'pillar box bed'. The original pillar boxes were designed by the novelist Anthony Trollope (Barchester Towers etc) and the first one, which is still in use, stands on Guernsey in the Channel Isles after 170 years. You'll still find the occasional one from Victorian times with "VR" on it. I really love your blog - keep it coming. It makes me look at the UK with new eyes and prompts me to appreciate so many things we take for granted here.

[@steveknight878]

I can understand your confusion over Pillar Box Bed. More commonly, of course, it is called pillar box red, which is far less confusing. :-)

[@evelynwilson1566]

wow, that's so interesting about Anthony Trollope. Was he an engineer or something similar by trade?

[@jimappleby3545]

@@evelynwilson1566 - nothing quite so banal. Trollope was later a successful author, but spent some of his time teaching in Belgium after his father's law business in England failed. He was on the point of joining the Austrian cavalry when a friend offered him a job at the newly established General Post Office in England, which created the world's first public mail service (posting a letter to anywhere within the British Isles cost just a penny.) At first letters had to be taken to a Post Office until Trollope's bright idea of siting mailboxes around towns, cities and out in the countryside made the whole thing more convenient for the public. Trollope was often in trouble for insubordination, and moved to Ireland to escape creditors. The "Penny Post" became a great success after the railways began to criss-cross the country. and the idea spread across the world. You'll find out more on Wikipedia.

[@andrewcross5918]

If you want a house name just give it one and start using it. As for post it works pretty well, post code can be determined by geographic location then as long as your house is well clearly marked the post will get to you. So if you buy some land and do a self build then for post you just invent a name, clearly mark on the house/gate the name and post can get delivered. Also there are post boxes but they tend to be on larger properties with gates and fences surrounding them that prevent access to the front door.

[@insoft_uk]

One thing she didn’t bring up about delivering is that our delivery 📦 are given to the person not left outside on a door step

[@TheEulerID]

All my UK deliveries are to the doorstep, although that is a choice.

[@guypainter]

And the paper boy doesn't throw the paper from the street... we prefer it to arrive intact!

[@DenisePeel]

My last delivery was left on the doorstep, in full view of anyone passing by. (UK).

[@sarahhardy8649]

The thing about a washing up bowl is that it deals with your food “equipment” for want of a better word. We also use sinks for prepping veg (freshly pulled beetroot tends to be quite muddy). As a splash container if we are decanting “something”. Somethings that end up in sinks are generally not nice (please remember we don’t tend to have waste disposals) so it’s better to scrap off our plates, cutlery, pots & pans into the bin, rinse them over the side of the bowl into the general sink and then wash them in a bowl that hasn’t been contaminated with god knows what. Yes, we clean our sinks almost religiously, but the thought is still quite yucky.

[@dianeharrison4975]

Yes I agree

[@martingibbs1179]

The post office uses "post codes" to direct mail in the UK. Every road or road segment if it's very long has its own unique post code. For every post code there is a list of all the postal addresses registered for that post code. This can be a mixture of house names or numbers and for the post people they typically get taught by a senior and there are maps that indicate where in a road each house is located.

[@gillcawthorn7572]

She would know this a the Zip code

[@charlestaylor9424]

Every large business has its own code (large being defined by the amount of mail).

[@johnclements6614]

The post office has machines that read the post code and sort the letters accordingly. Where the machine can not read the post code a person will. When I visited a local sorting office whilst at school the unreadable letters went along a conveyor in front of the person who used a keyboard and then the letter had something printed on it then back to the sorting machine. The postman would then sort by hand the letters within a post code. That was some time ago so must be more mechanised now.

[@MeFreeBee]

@@gillcawthorn7572 I believe that UK postcodes are more localised than a US zip code, by which I mean each unique postcode covers fewer addresses than a typical zip code does.

[@gillcawthorn7572]

@@MeFreeBee In my street of about 40 properties all have the same postcode.

[@anthonybradshaw3318]

The British plug socket has a safety switch, because it carries more than twice the voltage than the American. You could probably survive being electricuted by the 110 volt American system, but not the 240 volt British system. Great site, really enjoy your views and comments, keep up the good work.

[@stephenwalker6823]

Many UK sockets do not have switches. Switches are purely a convenience, so that something can be left plugged in, but not powered until needed. Unswitched sockets are very useful for fridges, freezers, TV recording boxes, computer equipment, etc. that must be left on 24 hours a day to function, as they can't be accidentally turned off by habit.

[@insoft_uk]

@@anthonybradshaw3318 not a safety switch and some don’t have switches. One area that’s been forgotten is why our plugs require a fuse, WW2 copper shortage ring circuit to solve the problem but not the best system why ring circuits are being replaced back just how the US circuits are done, but we’ll be keeping the fuse

[@BoredOfBills]

Washing up bowl - really simple - unless your house is fairly new and has a metal sink then the sink is made of china, your dishes are made of china, if one meets the other with any energy the dish will break. So, introduce a soft, forgiving intermediary - a soft bowl. Traditionally, the laundry was done in the sink, babies were bathed in the sink and anything that needed hot water and energy was done in the sink (still true) but dishes are not free and unless you have a dishwasher (or a metal sink) you will be washing your dishes in a sink - so you need a soft bowl. Further, check out the SIZE of those ceramic sinks - they are necessarily big enough to bathe babies and do laundry - try heating enough water to fill one (expensive and time consuming) so introduce a "mini sink" just big enough to wash the dishes and then put away. Old habits die hard in the UK and we like a bit of old fashioned here and there...

[@josefschiltz2192]

Well, my mother, grandmother and great uncle - at different times during the last century - all did a post round in a rural village. The village has stayed relative to 150 people. Many decades after her retirement from the job, my mother decided to test her memory and sat down and produced a list of the names and addresses in order of visit. She was one hundred percent accurate with the census. Forgot to mention, there were no numbers. All house names, plus their inhabitants, and she was in the first stage of dementia.

[@Kendall42971]

The Washing Up Bowl is very common in the Black Community here in the US. Every Black American household I know uses one. The majority of us grew up using one. Also, having a Mail Slot in Urban Communities in the US is common. The home I grew up in in Chicago had one and so did all of the homes in our area.🇺🇸

[@jameshead9119]

I think was due to the sink plug had a habit of going missing so it was easier to keep a bowl in the sink than go hunting for one

[@alanshepherd4304]

Using a washing up bowl uses less water and is a lot less hard when washing fragile items like crystal glasses. We only use a bowl for items that won't go in the dishwasher!!🇬🇧

[@TheCarl82]

I'm from the UK and have always used a washing up bowl. I always just thought it was used or hygenie reasons. My house and most other houses in the UK only have 1 sink in the kitchen so I use my sink to rinse my dirty plates off, pour my tea slops away and generally pour away any other unwanted waste. Therefore having a separate bowl to wash stuff in is definitely more hygenic. And I don't have room for a dishwasher either🙁

[@Kendall42971]

@John Ashtone John, I've been trying to get to London for 2 years now. Back in 2019 I purchased 3 tickets to see Craig David at the O2 Arena for his Hold That Thought Tour 2020, but it was cancelled and rescheduled for 2021, then 2021 rolled around and it was cancelled and rescheduled again for 2022 (this year). I heard Boris has lifted the quarantine mandates for visitors so perhaps I'll make it there after all? 🤞🏽🇺🇸❤🇬🇧

[@jameshead9119]

@John Ashtone Though most don’t have a Ming vase it wasn’t that long ago every house hold kept a best China dinner service that only came out on Special occasions

[@andrewgilbertson5356]

If you use a washing bowl you can use the water on your garden.

[@clairenoon4070]

Washing up bowl: I tend to use the sink for 'dirtier' jobs (flowers, pouring out old flower water etc) so I prefer to wash dishes in the 'cleaner' washing up bowl. Also, plastic is kinder to a glass or china cup that slips out of your soapy hands than the metal sink would be. House names: almost all towns and villages (except 20th Cent. designed 'New Towns') grew organically, so have a range of housing ages ranging over centuries. In the town where I live, the oldest houses are 1500s thatched cottages 5 minutes walk from my house which is 1980s, and there are house ages ranging between the two. You couldn't have given numbers to the thatched cottages, and then consecutively numbered what was built nearby in the 1600s, 1700s and so on, because there were gaps between which gradually got filled in with newer again houses. Also, most people in the 1500s/1600s/1700s were illiterate, so wouldn't have been able to read either a house name or number, so most houses didn't actually have a 'sign' on them; the names were just verbal and related to the nature of the property e.g. The Vicarage, Fletcher's Farm, Hill Top House, Lane End Cottage etc. For the same reason, pubs always had (and usually still do) a pictorial sign of its name outside e.g. a picture of a Golden Lion, as it's the only way illiterate people could find it if given directions - they wouldn't have been able to read the words.

[@grahamo22]

Its also that most UK houses only have one sink trap, so if you are washing up in the sink, you cannot pour anything away. You wash up in the bowl and anythng that needs pouring away while washing, goes into the sink and not the washing up water.

[@patrickkelly7085]

My name is Patrick my wife's christian name also starts with a P so i thought it was logical to name the house we shared together "In A Pod"

[@andyonions7864]

Absolutely. Any other name makes no sense.

[@orwellboy1958]

Very clever, I like that.

[@rolandbellamy2837]

years ago i lived in mablethorpe on the lincolnshire coast , one year i got a christmas card from my neice who lived in barnsley yorkshire , all it said on the envolope was , " UNCLE ROLY , MABLETHORPE " :)

[@andrewmcgee382]

There is a legend -prorbably apochryphal, but never mind - that a letter simply addressed Wood John Hants Was correctly addressed to John Underwood Andover Hants.

[@craftyclaira]

And also to blow your mind...when using trains in Europe the city station will have trains listed on departure boards for many other countries and they all usually run like clockwork! Example Paris will have trains listed for Milan/Berlin/ Madrid/Riga/ Brussels etc -daily! This always amazes me snd I'm from the UK

[@stuartmccall5474]

Congratulations "K", you are an (ex) American that actually appreciated outside the US mail was actually delivered and you had only to get your head round the detail of how it was done. Did you know that in 2016 the Royal Mail celebrated 500 years of existence having been introduced by King Henry VIII in 1516 and in pre WW2 days, around 1936, had experimented in delivering mail to offshore islands within the UK by rocket rather than by ferry boat. The rockets worked but the ferry boat was more reliable so it was discontinued.

[@BlueTangWebSystems]

I'm 60, I'm a British citizen, lived here nearly all of my life (bar 1 year in Alabama). And I regularly STILL forget to switch the power on at the socket, particularly annoying if making a 'cuppa' and then find the kettle is still cold! Also, living in America we had the outside mailbox (though was a small box hung by the front door). I did like the fact that to send a letter you just put it in the box and the mailman would take it away. Whereas here you need to walk to the nearest postbox. Swings and roundabouts. As for the washing bowl. Agree, they are pointless. But growing up we didn't have the extra small sink to the side, so having the bowel meant you could run the water to rinse things down the side.

[@davemiller4385]

house names in the north east are more common due the vast open countryside and farms. in the uk we call a mail slot a letter box as some homes have a box on the inside for your mail to drop into . 3 pin uk plugs are because we have 3 wires running through our supply ( live negative and earth )

[@sianchatfield3052]

I'm a Postie - when you're new to a route named houses are a pain and yes, you have to read every single house name. But after a couple of goes, you get it. It's fine. Btw the term is now Postie rather than postman or postwoman - those are old-fashioned terms which I guess you could still use, but we prefer Postie.

[@theinsideouter6371]

Sorry did not read your comment but it must be a pain

[@ericeric3117]

In Canada it's letter carrier.

[@antman5474]

What about the people that don't put their house number on their address when they have one but instead choose a poncy name. Whenever I delivered goods to these addresses I would ask them why they chose to make my job difficult. Just for fun 😉

[@miss.l.1563]

Great! You're the perfect person to ask!!.... It's about the number 13. I lived in a block of flats a few years ago, & noticed that the council don't have number 13 in any of the blocks. Have/do you believe to any number 13 houses or flats?

[@danh4698]

@@miss.l.1563 I used to live at a number 13

[@glo0115]

I used to love living in ”The Penthouse, Dudley House”, fancy name for a small, cramped flat in a converted attic of an old house 🤣

[@RichardGadsden]

Some British houses do have mailboxes. It's usually for houses that are set back a long way from the street and have a security gate at the street (not a "gated community" in the American style, but an individual house behind a gate). They will have a mailbox attached to the wall, usually next to the security gate. Usually, these are a large metal box (much bigger than a US mailbox) behind the wall with a letterbox on the wall. Remember that, unlike the US Mail, in the UK parcels are often delivered through the letterbox, so you need a large enough container to be able to accept whatever the postie is managing to fit through the letterbox.

[@adrianadrian255]

In the old days, surge protection on household electricity wasn't great, people used to unplug all their appliances before going to bed. Switches made that less necessary. It's also safer to avoid arcing when plugging things in and out - and also safer if a kid used to poke something into the socket - this isn't such an issue nowadays, since live socket is usually behind a cover, that is pushed aside when you put a plug in - the longer earth pin, pushes a plate down, opening the live and neutral sockets

[@peckelhaze6934]

Nice to hear you say "Dual citizen". I am a born Brit and, on occassions, I still forget to switch on the socket on the wall. I have come across properties that just have names, usually rural.

[@kinglear5952]

Good to see you again this is the first video of yours to appear on my feed for a long time. I hope you and your family are all happy and well.

[@nickgrazier3373]

The post code is very useful here, if you use a gps to go to a house with a name then the gps will take you to a street and then to the middle between I think it’s 10 to 14 houses so it makes for a smaller group of houses to find a named one. Ours has a name so when we order a Chinese meal say then the phone will ring and a voice will say “where are you?” I have to go out with a torch if necessary. I normally explained the gps conundrum to them and they’ve never heard of it, Harrumph !!!

[@bobkovacs2206]

I've lived in the US all my life, and have owned two houses with a mail slot just like what you show in the video. A mail slot like that is not unheard of in the US.

[@BlueTangWebSystems]

Having lived in the Highlands of Scotland, my house was named Tanglewood. It had no number, though we had only four houses on my street. It is very common there. I ran a small IT business which meant traveling to people's houses. Often the instructions would be of the nature 'Travel North from Aviemore, turn second right past the first pub then a mile or so take a dirt track left by the green bin, the destination is 3rd house on the right'. By contrast, my house while in Alabama uber easy to find, was number 1636, describing the 36th house on the16th street.

[@michaelcaffery5038]

I've wondered before about U.S addresses with numbers in the thousands. It didn't occur to me that it was a combination. D'oh! I live in rural Ireland and up to a few years ago there was no post code or road names. The postman knew all the family names for the homes in his area. I didn't receive a few letters from friends in England because they used my nickname.

[@shorelifeliving4858]

I didn’t realise the 1636 thing! I just thought it was the 1636th house on the street 🤦‍♀️😆

[@rogersmith89]

The reason we turn plug sockets on and off. Is so young kids and some older ones pock their fingers in the hole's. Turning them off they wont get a shock

[@harrybarrow6222]

The UK postcode takes the postman to the right street and the regular postman will know the house names (if they have them) as well as numbers. Houses without numbers are likely to be by themselves in rural areas.

[@araptorofnote5938]

Hot running water was dependant on a coal fire and a hot water storage tank. Since the coal fire would not be lit in the summer months, many homes would be without hot water. Washing-up water would be heated in pans on the stove and a washing-up bowl required less water. It was also kinder to china cups and plates which might be damaged in a large stone 'butler's' sink.

[@damianpritchard1456]

I grew up with the "washing bowl", my mum still uses one. My wife from Europe never got the hang of it so we havent used one in years. But this explanation makes perfect sense. when I grew up we didnt have central heating and did get hot water from the kettle. And I am not even old!

[@mbak7801]

China can stand heat better than earthenware. Rich people brought china and put tea in first knowing the temperature was not an issue. People on lower income had to put milk in first to reduce the thermal shock. There was no need for a washing up bowl if you had china and piped water.

[@sarahmacrae8277]

Also the washing up bowl means if someone comes along with a mug with half the tea left in it you can pour excess tea into sink beside the bowl so the tea doesn't dirty the water .

[@Grahame59]

Another reason we Brits can go to far away destinations for holiday is that on average we get a lot more days holiday from our employers. Americans get relatively few days holiday per year which makes travelling to far away destinations involving long flights (e.g. Australia) impractical.

[@mr.balloffur]

Some Americans, some other Americans have great vacation times from their employers

[@adrianadrian255]

I used to work for the post office. To set out your mail in the morning, you have to know the name of every house and the order they come in. On some rounds, I had a couple of hundred names. You learn them very quickly. Another thing that is different to most US towns is that places have no grid system for roads. - numbered houses will be the same on every street, whereas North American homes normally have longer numbers which indicate where in the city they are , usually the first two numbers indicating the block. UK towns pre-date traffic, or even mail.

[@MrRQBQ]

In the UK you really only need to put the number or name of the house plus the post code and that is sufficient for delivery.

[@john_smith1471]

The more modern Washing up baskets have been around for 30+ years, washing up bowls have gone the way of VHS tapes, basket or bowls used to-prevent damage and scratching of ceramic and stainless steel sinks, a bowl also saves water, better for water bills and the environment .

[@will4may175]

Homes that have loose dogs running around have mail boxes somewhere the Postie can get to safely. A washing bowl stops your sink getting scratched and damaged over time with cutlery etc, cheaper to replace a bowl than a whole sink unit. Usually the richer folk with bigger posh houses or like you said rural areas that have house names, but you only have around 400-600 houses to deliver on a Postie route or double if van sharing so it's not difficult to get used to, parcel delivery firms will struggle more with multi drop but were used to it.

[@sidrat2009]

I like the bowl because you can still drain off the bits you want to drain off. Otherwise it's the same as trying to clean stuff in bath water instead of a shower. Same principle. Yes baths are great to lounge in and relax. Doing the dishes in a bowl/bucket means you can rinse off excess down the drain without having to empty the entire sink. It also prevents the metal on metal noise with cutlery. I can't believe a mains wall socket is constantly powered without bad things happening involving electrical fires.

[@13guns87]

The main feature of the washing bowl is it's ability to change water. If you have a sink, you have to wait for the water to leave and then add some fresh. With a bowl, the water goes in the sink and while it's doing that, your bowl is full of hot water. It's a time saver.

[@rantmaker6427]

Every home in uk has a zip code /postcode so it’s easy for delivery’s and postmen they use satnav and it guides them straight to the right address

[@amstreater]

Washing up bowl is helpful when you know you’re going to need to do several “loads” of dishes - once the water gets dirty, you can empty it and then start filling the bowl again with hot water while the old water drains away, rather than having to wait for the sink to drain and clean it out before being able to refill it. But also, as someone else mentioned, many sinks in the UK used to be ceramic, so it would be easy to break dishes. Most houses now have a stainless steel sink, but it’s still just habit for a lot of people as they’ve just grown up with the washing up tub. I don’t usually use one now but I do have one which comes in handy for example when I want to soak things but I don’t wanna fill up the entire sink which takes ages - and also if I then need to use the sink for something like washing vegetables or draining pasta, I can just take the washing up bowl out and leave it on the side until I’m ready to address what’s soaking. A lot of people don’t have the double sink or even a small draining sink, so the plastic tub acts as sort of a second sink in that sense.

[@GenialHarryGrout]

A mailbox at the end of your drive isn't secure. In the UK someone would follow the postman and empty the mailbox, and in some parts of the UK they would probably steal the mailbox as well. Buildings have postcodes which are specific to a handful of buildings and the local postie will also know the names of houses within that postcode. In theory you could address a letter to, example - 26 ZY1 2AB meaning building number 26 in the postcode ZY1 2AB and the letter will arrive.

[@xhogun8578]

Postcodes are not so easy in rural areas. My postcode doesn't take you anywhere near my house. So for deliveries other than royal mail we always have to make sure there are directions included. There are no numbered houses on my road or any of the side roads. Also some houses in my village don't even have a registered name. We even have houses with the same name on the road same road though they are fair distance from one another. On one road we have a Fairview, fair view, fare view and a far view. In 1765 there was an act of parliament which made it a legal requirement for all houses in towns and cities to have numbers. You will still see some houses having names but town/city houses and new housing estates the houses will all be numbered. This is so emergency services can find houses easily.

[@quietenglishman4179]

I think the washing up bowl was initially used as many homes had ceramic sinks. They're useful as you can rinse food residue stuff down the sink without making the washing up water dirty. I'd hate to wash up without a plastic bowl. (You also said "rout" when you meant "route". A rout is what happens when Exeter RFC plays a rubbish team. Just saying...)

[@orlandotrustfullandhiscosm4110]

Americans pronounce route in the same way we would pronounce rout..just saying.

[@christine899]

When I was a child (40's and 50's) we didn't have plastic bowls they were galvanized metal covered in enamel I think it was the 60's before I had a plastic washing up bowl.

[@quietenglishman4179]

@@orlandotrustfullandhiscosm4110 So how do they pronounce rout?

[@orlandotrustfullandhiscosm4110]

@@quietenglishman4179 they pronounce it the same. I guess its a more English word than American anyhow.

[@viewfromthehillswift6979]

If you're not in post-WW2 sprawl land in the U.S., but in a big city, Amazon delivery can be very fast, public transport can be very good, and mail comes through a slot in the door (or into the lobby if you live in an apartment). Much of the UK is pre-automobile and thus denser, which is more efficient than, say, Florida's suburbia.

[@NoOnionsUK]

A washing-up bowl is because many/most UK houses only have a single sink. This allows us to wash-up and also drain liquids down the sink. My Parents have a larger house and have a 1½ sink - so liquids can be poured down the drain. We both also have Dishwashers. All quite normal here in the UK 🙂

[@markhorton7128]

Having a switch on the socket saves power. If something like a transformer or charger is left plugged in, it continues to use a small amount of power even if the thing it is connected to is not on or not even connected. The bowl reduces the amount of hot water that you use, it also stays hotter in a plastic bowl. It also means a lot less noise and clatter against the metal sink when washing up. All houses once had names. England was the first country to introduce a house numbering system. :-)

[@niallrussell7184]

Bus coverage in rural areas used to be better, then transport was privatised - best routes were cherry picked and any routes not as profitable were left to wither and die. Slightly different for trains, pricing forced people to take cheap local trains over the old intercity ones. Sure Virgin added/invested in new train stock, but ticket prices just skyrocketed. I could live with trains where you open the door yourself, the toilet door doesn't open while you're sitting on it, wifi, extortionate food/drink, etc.. for ticket price of 25% of what it currently is. 😂

[@michaelbaker7499]

Yep. When she started with 'public transport is good here' I was like "what? You and me have a different idea of what's good".

[@RonSeymour1]

The house names would be in smaller villages but what is important is the postcode because it pins the address down to a small area. Then the local postman will know the house.

[@rp1692]

As someone mentioned, in the US you can use your mailbox to send outgoing mail. But nowadays, very few people write enough letters to make the trade-off worthwhile (versus the convenience of the British system where the letters arrive in your home). It tends to only be a short walk to the nearest postbox anyway.

[@template16]

Mail is sorted by postcode in the UK. Living in a rural area my address is house name, village name and postcode. There's no house number nor a road name. The postcode covers only about eight properties so anybody delivering is directed by the postcode to a small area to then look for the property name.

[@richardscales9560]

Speaking as someone who has worked as a delivery driver, house names on rural properties are a right pain in the bum.

[@Knappa22]

I’ve never lived in a numbered house. Very unusual to have numbered properties in rural Wales. Royal Mail uses the postcode to locate the house if needed, though most posties know all the house names on their round. The British electricity plug and socket is designed for safety. It is a triumph of design. One reason people use washing up bowls is because they have a more yielding surface for washing ceramics and fine china. It’s more likely you’ll chip something in a steel/ceramic sink.

[@mrsjudetheobscure]

Washing up bowl comes from when we heated water in a kettle, not having a hotwater tap. It saves water, so still useful.

[@lemdixon01]

It depends upon population density whether transportation is any good in a country, even a developed country. I liked it in Washington DC how you could put a bike on the front of the bus, very good idea. And I learned that for school busses dropping off kids in the US you have to stop your car even on the opposite side of the road, but that might encourage kids to not need to check for traffic on the other side of the roads by themselves.

[@petersiekmann5175]

House names are generally fine, because the postcode (zip code) is much more specific than in the US and will apply to only a handful of locations, and thus easily identify the house. In fact the postcode is so precise that you really only need the person's name and postcode on the envelope or package.

[@richardlincoln886]

Socket - plug pins go into it => Socket, Outlet does make sense - sure - juice comes out - but generally sounds weird and as back to front as socket probably sounds to the U.S. ear. :)

[@jrc58526]

I used to be a postman in a village called Crondall over forty years ago and nearly every house had a name but no number. This ran to hundreds of houses, farms, and shops. If delivery wasn't hard enough trying to sort the post at 4.30am was even more challenging😄

[@duncancallum]

5.45 am was when i started at Portobello DO in Edinburgh in the 50's .

[@jrc58526]

@@duncancallum I was based in a bigger town so all the outlying routes had to start earlier as we had to cycle out to the different villages once we'd sorted the post. I had the physique of a greyhound back then😆

[@DavidWilliams-DSW558]

In my village (in Sussex, where I grew up) most houses had a name and a number

[@vincespeedmk223]

All UK addresses have a post code that for on the address block of a letter (AANN NAA) this correlates to a street in a particular postal area. So the names are likely to be unique for that street.

[@dianeharrison4975]

We also use w up bowls as we don’t have a waste disposal so we kind of put the peel in the sink then clean it out but we can still do dishes and other things in the bowl

[@AndysEastCoastAdventures]

Unbelievably before 1965 their were actually 55% more train stations in the UK than their are now so it was even better then. More or less every rural town was connected to the railway network. They were cut in the famous 'Dr Beeching' rail transformation.

[@adammullarkey4996]

UK power sockets (outlets) and plugs are the best in the world. The plug has 3 prongs in a triangle, as you can see from the socket. The bottom two are the live and neutral, which carry the current. These two prongs are plastic for the first half of their length, so that, by the time they contact the live wires in the socket, there is no exposed metal you can touch. The top prong is the ground. This carries no charge, and it's main role is to ensure that no excess charge remains in the appliance. Inside the plug are three wires, corresponding to the three prongs. The ground wire is significantly longer, meaning that, in the event of something pulling on the main wire running from the plug to the appliance, the wires carrying the current will disconnect first, and any power remaining in the appliance will be discharged through the ground wire. The ground prong is also slightly longer than the other two. This is because of a design feature of the socket. If you've ever plugged in to a UK socket, you may have noticed an odd, mechanical "clunk" sound. The live and neutral holes have small doors inside, preventing any metallic item, such as a fork, from being inserted and contacting the live wiring. These doors can only be opened by a lever in the ground hole, which is depressed by the ground prong, opening the doors, but, by the time the doors are open, the other two prongs are blocking the holes, so nothing can be poked inside. This means that it takes a concerted effort by an intelligent child to electrocute themselves.

[@DavidPaulMorgan]

San Francisco has a superb public transport system - eg BART & the Metro and also several modes of public transport. I also thought Chicago was very well organised. "It's a Letter Box" 🙂

[@jeffhurst2077]

Plus using a washing up bowl you can transfer the water in the bowl to your garden / garden water container easily

[@mattlage2640]

I'm a Brit, and I don't see the point of having a washing up bowl, but my misses insists on it

[@MrJohnL21]

A 'mail slot' in English English is a 'letter box', because there often used to be a 'box' of some sort attached to the door behind the 'slot'.

[@maggiemay5194]

Love your videos, your reminding me of all the great things that I take for granted

[@timglennon6814]

With Amazon Prime, you can get some stuff the same day.

[@dianeharrison4975]

Thank god we have letter boxes in our doors here and on off switch on our sockets, and washing up bowls they’re useful if you need to do something else and instead of emptying the sink water each time. You can use bowl , also handy if you need. To soak clothes etc, I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t have one!!we don’t even think about it I guess.

[@paulgreen2456]

As has already been mentioned, sinks used to be huge ceramic things that it would take ages to fill and would quickly cool the washing up water, so a smaller (originally enamelled - before plastic) would be used in the sink, using less water and keeping it hotter. Perhaps we just never got out of the habit!

[@neilmorrison7356]

Also electric switches being the other way round. Press bottom for on in Uk and top for off.

[@yellowtommytanker]

As a 30+ year Postie, seeing your thoughts on named houses and how they are delivered to made me want to reply. When sorting post for a delivery, each delivery route has it's own frame. In each frame they have separate slots for each delivery address. In urban delivery routes the slots are numbered to correspond with each house and how the delivery route is completed, in rural areas where houses are named the numbers are just exchanged by the house names. We also (for your American viewers) use Post Codes rather than the American Zip code numerical system. The Post Code system uses 2 letters followed by 1 or 2 numbers, a space then a single number followed by 2 letters. The first 2 letters denote the town or city destination, the 1st set of numbers denote the area in the town or city and the last set of number and letters denotes the road or part of the road the delivery address is located on. Most Post Codes start with the initial 2 letters of the town or city address (say BA for Bath and EX for Exeter) but sometimes two places start with the same first 2 letters, when this happens, the second letter is switched (so Bromley and Bristol share the same first 2 letters so Bromley postcode is BR, Bristol postcode is changed to BS). London postcodes denote the area in London only (NW for North West, E for East, SW for South West etc). Technically you only need to have the house name/number and full Post Code for the delivery item to reach its intended destination.

[@TheExpatpom]

Posties probably rely a lot on the postcode to help identify where mail to houses with names instead of numbers goes. I don’t know how big an area zip codes typically cover but UK postcodes are usually just a handful of premises, sometimes just one of it’s commercial or a house in a rural area with little else around it. My old house was in a street with five postcodes and about 35-40 homes. They were all numbered but if any of them were called Blue Cottage or something it would still have been easy for a new postie to find once the mail is sorted into the batch for those 7 or 8 houses.

[@davidporter499]

Generally in the UK each postcode covers 40 addresses, so the postman will find the property named with relative ease, then remember it’s location so that he can organise his mailbag. Simples.

[@obi-ron]

Apart from the previous comments about washing up bowls, there are safety factors. If you have stuff in the sink and someone is injured, removing the bowl gives immediate access to water for appropriate treatment

[@briwire138]

If you don't have a switch on a socket outlet, the electrical circuit is broken and made in an uncontrolled manner in the actual connector resulting in arcing. A washing up bowl prevents ceramic plates from marking the softer sinks with prolonged use.

[@djrizla420]

I used to live in a house with a name, rather than a number, but it wasn’t in a rural area, we were in the city centre. Because of the layout of the adjacent street (they joined the main through road together, at a 45° angle), the original row of houses didn’t come up to the end of the street. Our house and that of our neighbour (it was a semi-detached house) were built sometime later, but by that time the houses were already numbered and we were at the start the street, next to No.1. So our two houses got names instead. I remember how, whenever I had to give my address to someone, they’d always say “what number” and I’d have to explain we didn’t have a number, just a name.

[@Steve14ps]

Buses in rural areas!!! There were a lot more of them before local government spending cuts!!! There also once a Post Bus service in rural areas, the driver delivered letters as well as carrying passengers, it was operated by Royal Mail.

[@kenirving5240]

The bowl simply protects your sink from damage. The plastic bowl can be disposed of, or used to carry water wherever.

[@marcovtjev]

vacation destinations: If you are UK based, consider.... (drum roll).... Africa. Yes, the other part of the continent other than the Canary Islands, or even Morocco. For exactly the same reason, relative close and no -headache (no jetlag) tropics, and not a destination you'd go as quickly when being US based. Accra or Nairobi is only 8-9 hours from London , Cape Town about 12, and direct flights are nearly always available, and in all those three destination English is spoken.

[@gregstilwell7760]

I reside in a smaller town in USA, and Amazon delivers most of my items within 24 hrs

[@tatooinestar]

Houses in the UK have either numbers, names, or names and a number. If you want to have your home named there is a process that you can register it, for a small fee, but the house number will still be maintained too. All properties (residential and commercial) are covered by Postcodes, which in the US I think is the Zip Code. These Postcodes are used to locate streets, small areas or a small group of properties, depending on the density of buildings in the area. So one Postcode might have two or three properties, or 25. A Postcode is made up of six to seven characters, e.g. AB01 2CD Public transport here is very good, although there are still some areas in the countryside where the bus routes don't travel to, but that's really it, plus once you're over 60 it's all free.

[@amyw6808]

I have never owned a washing up bowl. It’s not obligatory! Names of houses: my parents’ house is Shepherds Cottage. It’s a big thatched house in Devon. It’s easy for posties to find addresses. The house name precedes the street, which in a village or old town won’t be a long street. It will also have the post code, which normally narrows which house it is down to 6-10 houses.

[@madskier50]

Alll properties have an associated postcode, whether they are named or numbered. It's relatively easy to find any house, even if it only has a name and not a number. Some rural properties are the only ones in their postcode, which makes this even easier.

[@hiramabiff2017]

The was an agreement ( i.e corruption ) that state planners throughout the USA deliberately neglected the need to for public transport when introducing or approving new housing communities/projects as early as 1929 to favour the automobile industry lobbyists. Making citizens reliant on vehicles/oil is a long established trait that still goes on today.

[@_starfiend]

I heard that was late 40's an early 50's.

[@hiramabiff2017]

@@_starfiend LOL.. Henry Ford paved the way in the late 20's to this madness by being the first car manufacturer to have lobbyists in Washington. Until then Ford's minions had to persuade ( bribe ) individual county planners which was not cost effective. Much easier bribing Senators/Councillors and get the whole state instead of just 1or 2 area's at a time. So you have the Oil/Automobile lobby's working together ever since. It has only been the past 10-15 yrs that the Pharmaceutical lobby's have finally overtaken them in power. Quite interesting reading as it shows you how utterly irreverent we voters are when it comes to influencing political policies compared to the legions of lobbyist's who infest most western democracy's.

[@rogerjenkinson7979]

I think you meant 'irrelevant'. It's nice to know that you're also irreverent. Me too.

[@hiramabiff2017]

@@rogerjenkinson7979 No I didn't, but the word is apt because everyone of us are irrelevant, and in many cases quite delusional as well thinking we can ever change things or have the power to.

[@effyleven]

She means Public Transport... Public Transport-ATION is something they have in America.. ... it is the "Ation Nation," where you go to get "burgl-ARIZED."

[@pedanticradiator1491]

I hate the word burglized when I first heard it I thought it was a joke

[@shaunhw]

Unswitched sockets were very common some years ago, but are frowned upon nowadays. But in fact you can still buy and install wall sockets without switches if you really want to, and they are still allowed by electrical standards, so if you wanted one or more you can still have them. They are still manufactured and Screwfix (for example) stock them. Standards BS1363 and BS7671 do not prohibit the installation and use of unswitched wall sockets. Be sure a competent electrician installs them however. Switched sockets became more common after government sponsored TV campaigns to unplug things (especially TV sets, electric fires etc) at night. They called it "Your bedtime routine" if anyone remembers that. It was easier just to flick up the switch instead. Ironcally with things on standby all the time hardly anyone ever unplugs or switches off anything any more. It is safe to just unplug things with the switch left on as far as I know. However though the sockets are shuttered, a turned off switch socket gives an extra layer of protection for small children. As our voltage supplied to wall sockets is twice as high (it is still 240 volts, regardless of the EU changing the spec to 230 volts) as to those in the US, switched sockets do add more safety if the switch (if present) is used as it should be.

[@arthurerickson5162]

Always look forward to your videos (and someday, my schedule will match your livestream’s). I love the outlet switches and wish we had them here in the States (of course we do have “switched” outlets, operated by wall switches, but it’s not the same). Regarding mailboxes, I used to have them on my street, but there was a period where kids were leaving lit firecrackers inside them, obviously causing damage, so the PO banned them in our neighborhood (other neighborhoods still have them). Now, our mailboxes are mounted by the front door. A few homes actually have mail slots/letterboxes!

[@christopherdean1326]

When I was living with my elderly parents (partly to look after them, partly because I had lost my job and couldn't afford anywhere else!) I would do the washing up in the sink, without using the bowl. Now I have a place of my own again, I have to have a washing up bowl, because the kitchen sink in my new place has a stupid plug that won't keep the water in, and it is so designed that to change it would mean a whole new sink.

[@roderickwhyte240]

I lived in a house in essex in the 60s that had black mains sockets (square pins not round pins) without a switch on it. it varies with the street whether they have just a housename and/or number on the house. the postcode helps the postman see where to post letters. I don't fancy having to pop out in the street to get the mail. i can hop on a bus for free as i have an oldies bus pass. Enjoy our transport and don't get electrocuted on your mains sockets-make sure your hands are dry when handling them! just joking, have a nice day kaylen

[@efnissien]

To answer your question on how mail finds people if the house has just a name. The postcode will allow the postman to know roughly where it is to a block of on average 12 or so houses.

[@Tomm9y]

The postal system in the UK uses postcodes, numbers and digits to identify a town, area, street, part of a street and even an individual property. Some postcodes include 50 houses, some cover just a few homes. The Royal Mail postmen sort letters and according to their route. They know the sequence of properties within each postcode. Not only do people know house names, they may also refer to a house by the name of the owner 'Mrs Smith' particularly if they have lived there a long time. Some people stay in the same house for 30 years or over generations. People still refer to the house by a well known occupant's name even many years after they have died and the house sold. I have experienced that, where people would say 'Oh, you live in xxxx's house'. It's a nice human thing and a connection to people both past and present.

[@davidshattock9522]

The post code alpha betic numeric puts location down to a smallarea

[@michaelwilson8204]

Many years ago when one house was built on a country lane, as it was the only dwelling it was identified by a a name, often the owners own. This continues today. Often a favourite place name is used, making the dwelling more personalised.

[@steveknight878]

True - the house I have is called Holland Farm. It was, until relatively recently, Hollands Farm - which should be Holland's Farm, and I have seen a photo of a previous owner, who was a Mr Holland.

[@andrewbaker7839]

My sister lives in a house in a medium-sized (it has a shop, a church, a school and a pub) village in North Wilts. Her house is called "Tangles" - not only does it not have a number, it doesn't have a road name either. It's just "Tangles, Village Name, Post Town, Wilts".

[@john_smith1471]

Cant agree about public transport, 30 thirty miles outside London is a public transport desert, infrequent, expensive, often not direct and involves making connections, London has heavily subsidised buses, night buses, underground and trams also concession fares and free travel not available outside London. Cars are deterred and hated by the mayor, 7 day congestion charging, low emission zones, low traffic neighbourhoods, and expensive residents parking permits.

[@nevillemason6791]

Only a couple of years ago I was talking to someone about doing family history research. I was telling her it was difficult to locate the correct house in a village as the census had no house numbers and only from 1901 did house numbers appear. She told me she lived in a road where the houses only had names and no numbers. I never knew places like this still existed (and I'm 68!). The road would still have a postcode that can cover as few as 20 houses. Not many to choose from when it comes to delivering mail by an unfamiliar postman/woman.

[@saxon-mt5by]

I live in the middle of a small town; our house has only a name - Woodland Cottage, 300 years ago it was the only property! - and the postcode covers just six properties, the others all being shops identified by their name, so no problem for a new postie!

[@johnhewett9483]

Regarding house names as opposed to numbers. Using only a house name can represent a huge security issue. I remember when as a policeman getting emergency calls from an unlit upmarket housing estate and desperately looking for house names with a torch on a dark night. Sometimes it would be on the wall, sometimes on a gate sometimes nailed to a tree. The resulting delay in arriving could cost peoples lives

[@petes5041]

In wales, buses are free to the elderly, disabled and other designated categories. In the South that's All buses, doesn't matter what Company runs them. There's not that many anyway. N.B. Prescriptions are free to everyone.

[@petervaughan6854]

I used to live in a house with a name on a road with no name 😹 never had any issue with the post as the postcode already got you down to about 20 houses anyway

[@gillianrimmer7733]

Yes, I live in an old cottage in a small village, My address is just 'Archer's Cottage', name of village and post code. It appears as Archers Cottage in maps dating back over 300 years.