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Post by Miisa on Jun 5, 2017 6:27:22 GMT
I find most UK houses cold, by Finnish standards. The summer could be a factor, of course, and places that are more cold than hot often don't have on air conditioning.
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Post by tangent on Jun 5, 2017 6:27:47 GMT
Things I do not understand about UK...What's the deal about: - Toast racks This is subtle. After WWII, there was very little spare money and this presented a problem for wedding guests, who were obliged to buy presents for the bride and groom. Especially for nephews and nieces who only saw half of the couple and then only rarely at Christmas. The toast rack was the perfect solution. Very necessary to stop toast becoming soggy but also very cheap because they were mass produced. This led on naturally to the wedding list as wedding couples realised they didn't actually need a dozen toast racks.
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Post by juju on Jun 5, 2017 7:15:56 GMT
Square toilet seats
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Post by JoeP on Jun 5, 2017 8:37:04 GMT
Yes, I think square toilet seats are pretty rare and maybe an oddity of some hotels and B&Bs trying to be "edgy". (Or "cornery"?)
Extra-bold eyebrows ... yes ... you haven't reached Essex yet, of course. Wait for the orange skin.
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 9:44:47 GMT
So...oompa-loompa inspired?
And, the squared toilet seats are not as rare as you might think. It seems that many guesthouses which jave renovated recently (which is most) have selected this trend (including the Boars Head in Carmarthen). I have pix for the perplex.
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 9:52:48 GMT
I find most UK houses cold, by Finnish standards. The summer could be a factor, of course, and places that are more cold than hot often don't have on air conditioning. This is what a friend remembered about the UK. It contradicts my experience and I have responded by throwing open windows. I keep my home (w/heat pump) at 20 C, so it may just my natural warmth at work, but most places seem to have interior temps somewhere around 25 C.
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 10:01:56 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 10:01:56 GMT
You don't have duvets in the US?! Yes...they temd to appeal to the arty crowd, but fitted bottoms are ALWAYS matcjed with flat top sheets and quilts and covered duvets piled atop that. Changing duvet covers every wash seems a PITA, when we merely strip sheets only to wash.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Jun 5, 2017 12:18:29 GMT
Can't stand all those sheets - the Aussies do that too. I thought it was a Brittish thing.
I like a doona cover and not a gazillion other things. ESPECIALLY in a hotel where I would prefer not to wonder if they've washed the doona cover since the last person slept in the room. Might be OK for your home, but I want clean sheets and doona covers in a hotel!
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Post by Kye on Jun 5, 2017 12:39:19 GMT
I just hate it when I go to a hotel and they tuck the top sheet under the mattress. I feel like someone is grabbing my feet all night long! The first thing I do is untuck that sucker...
At home, I don't use a top sheet. It feels redundant --plus it's too hot!
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Post by raspberrybullets on Jun 5, 2017 12:47:45 GMT
Me too - I feel like my feet can't breath and are trapped. I don't understand the tucking in those sheets thing. Another reason I favour just a doona with a cover.
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Post by JoeP on Jun 5, 2017 14:16:41 GMT
I can only assume that's a hangover from an age when average heights were shorter (but beds the same length) and fewer people's feet reached the bottom. Plus protection from draughts because of less heating and less insulation.
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Post by Moose on Jun 5, 2017 16:27:27 GMT
I have never seen a square toilet seat either.
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Post by ceptimus on Jun 5, 2017 17:36:52 GMT
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Post by Moose on Jun 5, 2017 18:18:39 GMT
Ah .. actually that rings a distant bell now I think of it
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 18:50:49 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Jun 5, 2017 18:50:49 GMT
So... positives?
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Post by Moose on Jun 5, 2017 18:58:34 GMT
He met a jolly nice dog and had some good fish n chips
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 19:29:13 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Jun 5, 2017 19:29:13 GMT
Ahem. Two nice dogs - he came for dinner here, too
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Post by Moose on Jun 5, 2017 19:30:06 GMT
Kelly ate your dog?!
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 19:38:42 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 19:38:42 GMT
And here I thought it was curry.
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 20:00:05 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 20:00:05 GMT
I can only assume that's a hangover from an age when average heights were shorter (but beds the same length) and fewer people's feet reached the bottom. Plus protection from draughts because of less heating and less insulation. After having seen the box beds of an earlier age, and having sleeping habits explained, I think the shortness is more related to our forebears sleeping in more of a sitting position...propped up by pillows and bedding (evidently, sleeping horizontal was believed to cause nocturnal deaths - lots of sleep apnea?); thus the extra pillows. As for the duvets, I have found them to be a persostant nuisance because they are the only option for a top covering - a quilted and bagged duvet is FUKKIN hot in a room heated to temperatures beyond my comfort. Thus my option is to throw open all the windows and hope that I can plunge the heat in the room to a temperature I can tolerate under the damned duvet, or sleep naked without covers. Duvets leave no midway options and they are almost all too heavy for my comfort. Sheets with blankets and quilts offer any number of alternates...and, unless you are doing something untoward, the sheets are all that need to be washed frequently. How does one KNOW that the duvet inside the cover has not been soiled through tje cover?
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 20:03:28 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 20:03:28 GMT
I can only assume that's a hangover from an age when average heights were shorter (but beds the same length) and fewer people's feet reached the bottom. Plus protection from draughts because of less heating and less insulation. After having seen the box beds of an earlier age, and having sleeping habits explained, I think the shortness is more related to our forebears sleeping in more of a sitting position...propped up by pillows and bedding (evidently, sleeping horizontal was believed to cause nocturnal deaths - lots of sleep apnea?); thus the extra pillows. As for the duvets, I have found them to be a persostant nuisance because they are the only option for a top covering - a quilted and bagged duvet is FUKKIN hot in a room heated to temperatures beyond my comfort. Thus my option is to throw open all the windows and hope that I can plunge the heat in the room to a temperature I can tolerate under the damned duvet, or sleep naked without covers. Duvets leave no midway options and they are almost all too heavy for my comfort. Sheets with blankets and quilts offer any number of alternates...and, unless you are doing something untoward, the sheets are all that need to be washed frequently. How does one KNOW that the duvet inside the cover has not been soiled through tje cover?
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 20:10:36 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 20:10:36 GMT
YES! These are all the rage in guesthouses and hotels which have recently renovated their guest rooms. They often come wirh other fixtures which require vareful inspection to operate correctly. I would say tjat the majority of my rooms have had some version of this 'updating'.
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 20:32:08 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 20:32:08 GMT
Things I do not understand about UK...What's the deal about: - Toast racks This is subtle. After WWII, there was very little spare money and this presented a problem for wedding guests, who were obliged to buy presents for the bride and groom. Especially for nephews and nieces who only saw half of the couple and then only rarely at Christmas. The toast rack was the perfect solution. Very necessary to stop toast becoming soggy but also very cheap because they were mass produced. This led on naturally to the wedding list as wedding couples realised they didn't actually need a dozen toast racks. Your toast becomes soggy if not racked? I assume that all the excess toast racks gifted in the pre-listing weddings were subsequently willed to the local guesthouses?
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 20:41:45 GMT
via mobile
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2017 20:41:45 GMT
So... positives? You mean other than F&C and the TP? All the really friendly people I have met along the way. I have been truly stunned by the kindnesses extended to me, an obvious furriner, by complete strangers. That is the #1 positve, in my view.
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Post by tangent on Jun 5, 2017 21:41:34 GMT
Your toast becomes soggy if not racked? Yes, leathery, you have to tug at the toast with significant force to tear off the pieces. Doesn't yours? I assume that all the excess toast racks gifted in the pre-listing weddings were subsequently willed to the local guesthouses? Possibly.
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So, Kelly
Jun 5, 2017 22:23:13 GMT
via mobile
Post by juju on Jun 5, 2017 22:23:13 GMT
I must have lived a very sheltered life because I've never seen one of those square toilet seats!
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Post by ceptimus on Jun 5, 2017 23:10:48 GMT
I've always thought toast racks to be useless. They seem to be designed to cool down the toast as fast as possible - what could be done to the design, short of adding a fan, that would cool the toast quicker?
A much more sensible way to transport and store toast is on a warm or hot plate with all the pieces of toast on top of each other so as to minimize the air circulation between them. If I'm carrying my own toast back from one of those buffet-style breakfast bars and no warmed plates are available, then I improvise an insulating blanket from paper napkins to keep the warm toast from touching the cold plate: I sometimes also add a top blanket consisting of one or more paper napkins to stop the top slice of toast cooling too fast.
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Post by Kye on Jun 5, 2017 23:23:49 GMT
That sounds reasonable, ceptimus. I hate cold toast!
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Post by whollygoats on Jun 6, 2017 2:40:24 GMT
I must have lived a very sheltered life because I've never seen one of those square toilet seats! As I noted, I suspect it to be a recent trend, because they appear only in recently renovated rooms. The first one I noticed was there at the Boars Head in Carmarthen...which actually seemed unfinished, as, upon my departure, I gave them a list of needed minor fixes to the bath. That's a 17th century building with an unfinished 21st century bath. It was jarring to my sensibilities, but subsequent repeats were common enough to have elicited my inquiry. I posted a pic of my Ayr bath on FB.
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Post by JoeP on Jun 6, 2017 8:03:21 GMT
The problem with covering a pile of toast slices is that although they stay warm they get softer, even soggier. Maybe the people behind toast racks prioritise crispness above heat? (Although then they could just have stale bread...)
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