Canada got weird since I've been gone... | 9 Reverse Culture Shocks
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 31 พ.ค. 2024
- As a Canadian living in the UK for the last 6 years, I recently went home to Canada! And there was so much reverse culture shock! Check out these 9 Canadian culture shocks that I experienced, even as a Canadian!
0:00 intro
0:35 crickets
2:03 so many sniffles
3:54 high skies lol
5:20 want a cuppa?
6:10 it's so far!
7:20 doggy who?
9:15 ice please, stat!
10:29 rant about plugs
12:32 $$$
Please subscribe here! th-cam.com/users/Adventuresa...
FOLLOW THE ADVENTURE
Patreon: / adventuresandnaps
Livestreams: / adventuresandnaps
FB: / adventuresandnaps
IG: / adventures.and.naps
Web: www.adventuresandnaps.com
You can donate to my channel here: www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
Music by Epidemic Sound, get 60 days free: share.epidemicsound.com/pna7us
Hey! I'm Alanna - a twenty-something documenting my life as a Canadian living in England.
I share the ups and downs of an expat living abroad and what it's really like living in the UK. It's not always easy, but there's been so many wonderful experiences, too. I post a TH-cam video every Tuesday & Friday plus an additional video every Saturday on my Patreon account. I also livestream every Wednesday and Sunday at 5:30pm GMT/BST on Twitch.
Alanna x
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Playoffs DAY 1 // 100T vs FUT | FNC vs GEN](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/erQ7pGChzxA/mqdefault.jpg)
The U.K. has its own weather system because of its position in the Atlantic and as a collection of islands, and so it’s entirely possible that the cloud base is much lower here as we do get a lot of cloud buildup that is constantly coming off the seas.
In Edinburgh there is a weather phenomenon called haar and it's like the clouds have landed. It's not raining but you get soaked just walking through it. It can last all day.
In the UK we have the Arctic weather system in the north, the Siberian system in the east, the African/European system in the south and the Atlantic system in the west.
The cloud base depends on the relative humidity (concentration of water vapour in the air) and the dew point (at which point water vapour condenses to water droplets to form clouds). The UK having a very oceanic climate heavily depending on the ocean with weather systems frequently passing through, usually has a much higher relative humidity and a lower dew point, so clouds are formed way lower than in Ontario, which has a continental climate and is thus usually drier until a strong weather system comes from the Gulf of Mexico and brings moisture and rain. When it rains in Ontario, it’s usually strong and short-lived showers and the air is nowhere near as damp as in the UK or like Vancouver.
We live under the junction of 5 different weather systems, something our weather forecasters seem to ignore. Which could explain why they get the weather forecast wrong so often
I'm a UK expat living in New Mexico and the tendency of plugs to slide out of the wall socket drives me round the bend!
I used to travel all over Europe for work and the 2 pronged plugs and sockets drove me mad. It wasn't unusual for me to be trying to prop up the plug in my hotel room!
I also get reverse culture shock when I go back to the UK. It's strange how what was weird when you first arrived becomes normal and now your home country is the weird place.
So true!!
Absolutely! Same thoughts apply to living in one region of the USA and going back to the previous one you lived in.
I just got back home to California from Bournemouth and even though I was only away for 3 weeks, the culture shocks were real! Chatting with strangers at the airport, the weather difference (including the sky height! The clouds are so much more "dimensional" in the UK if that makes sense) and I'll tell ya, I got really used to paying the sticker price for things without having to mentally add the tax!
Total side note: I mentioned your channel to one of my fellow volunteers at Glastonbury. He happens to be a Green Party council member in Kent and he was really interested in the idea of your channel. So who knows? You may have gained a new follower!
Hey thank you so much!! Hope you had a great trip!
Well guess what, Britain is an Island with all weather fronts, hope you enjoyed your stay here. America is a big country and I have been, but give me the different Islands in Europe I will choose them!
@@joannakennedy6005 That's why weather forecasting in the UK is 'pants' whereas in the US and Canada it is really quite good.
Who else on here wants to know if Alannah used the phrase “pop to the shops” in Canada by accident and what the reaction from confused onlookers was?
Why would onlookers be confused? Everyone knows what pop to the shops or pop across the road means. At least they do here in southern Ontario. Where do you live?
Yeah, I'm from the Southern US, and if I heard someone say that I would just think it was a very quirky/goofy way of saying "pop into the grocery store" that someone was saying to be cute. It wouldn't confuse anyone, but it might get you an odd look because that's not exactly how people usually say it. Without context, I'd think they were just saying it that way because it rhymes or something, or maybe it was a weird movie reference I missed, etc. What's really confusing, IMO, is calling a soda/cola a "pop," and I don't even have to go across the Atlantic to encounter that one. My Mom went to Illinois for the first time and thought someone offering her a beverage wanted to hit her. LOL.
@@jeremyandrews3292 Yes and of course if you were to say that in an English accent you'd be forgiven - a little!
I don’t want to know 😆
The one that shocks me--living in Canada, in Vancouver--is the high prices. Back in November, the storm cut us off from the rest of the world and the supermarket was picked over and prices went up. But prices have kept going up. And the amount of money I have has remained the same.
The highest skies I found were in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In Ontario you have stuff on the horizon that takes away from the height--but on the prairies it's just sky all around you.
Vancouver is great if you are a multimillionaire, otherwise not so much.
Picked over?
Popping to the shops. I have 3 corner shops within a 2 or 3 minute walk, 1 supermarket within 5 minutes and another 3 within 10 minutes.
4 chippy, 1 indian, 1 Chinese all within 5 minute walk. 1 chippy is about 50 yards away 😊
❤from North East England ❤️
I watch a British TH-camr who often shows off their groceries and I've been shocked at how cheap food is there compared to Ontario. Even the cheapest dollar store here wouldn't sell food as cheap as the standard grocery stores in Britain. There's lots of supply issues here right now and many products are unavailable or in short supply. Since we get much of our food from the US, Mexico and South America, the high fuel prices / shipping costs are probably a major contributor. Even if things normalize, I doubt prices will come back down to pre-pandemic levels.
We're all suffering rising prices, especially here in the UK. Food has gone up a lot and, if you buy ready meals and canned goods the weight has gone down. Ready meals that used to be 450g and £2.26 are now £2.80 and 400g.
Canadian food quality is not good as much as Brit's food chain .Organic veggies and meat can be found easily in the Uk ,but in Canada the price for organic food and diary is exremely high
@Colin Deal That's what I kept thinking when Alana was on about grocery prices. As you say, it's all relevant to earnings. Obviously, if you're earning more then the prices will still be the same percentage of earnings I would imagine. Wages are pretty low here in the UK I think so food isn't that cheap as a percentage.
You mused on the "High Sky" issue. In 🇨🇦, you have enormous open vistas where your horizon is a lot further away, whereas here in 🇬🇧 we're more hemmed in. It makes a *big* difference to your perception of your surroundings.
Ice makers & American 'fridges. They are becoming a bit more popular, but only if you have the space for them. I live in a small house & my kitchen is 9ft x 6ft, so a *huge* 'fridge is a no-no! If I need ice cubes, I fill the tray supplied with the freezer with water, put in the freezer & wait a couple of hours. Hey presto!
Glad to see that you've fully recovered from your illnesses - hope your partner has also recovered. That must've been a nightmare 😱. Keep safe Alanna, we always look forward to your "take" on 🇨🇦/🇬🇧 life. Have fun!
Yes, doggy bags. We use them all the time (in England). Even with a chef's special deal (cheap price) on restaurant food there is always far too much served for us to eat so we always ask if they can put the rest it in a bag or box for us. Especially in Indian restaurants. Put the food in the freezer in plastic boxes and have it another day. It always tastes just as good and feels like we are getting a 'free' meal too! More people should do it.
About plugs falling out of the socket outlet, its not just the shorter pins (not prongs) the Canadian/American plugs have the appliance cable entry on the back of the plug which makes it more sticking out and unbalanced also continually trying to pull down and out, the UK appliance cable entry is at the bottom of the plug, so is better balanced and stable, helps keeps the plug in the socket with a flatter profile as well.
I love this community I have been here since January '21. I'm not leaving until we crush WS and achieve life changing $. I sold one of my motorcycles yesterday . All of that money is going straight to AMC and GME shares.
I have 500 shares for the next 20yrs for generational wealth 100k I have 500 shares for 5k…retirement 1000 shares for 1k!!! Never selling cheap!!!
@@marthabender7622 They say AMC is the best at the moment, But do you have an idea how well it would do? l just retired and set aside $83k to invest aggressively with mainly AMC and NIO. Kindly let me know your thoughts
@@MelanieEMann To be successful in this uncertain market there is no secret sauce , its all abt mindset, patient and good habit . I got this far with a Finacial-Pundit Angela mae mcclain and ive accrued $30k so far. Most individuals desire immediate pleasure, which rarely works out but you need to commit at least 4 to 8 hours a week to research so you can stay ahead of the markets.
As a Canadian I have no idea what you guys are talking about, but it seems kind of off topic.
The high sky thing is definitely a thing! I live in Chicago and when I go to Florida I think to myself “The sky is so much lower here” like the clouds feel so much closer. I never vocalized it before though! Lol
Ahh I'm not crazy!!
Wow I didn't realize the pollen was quite that bad there!
US/Canadian outlets do have a 3rd prong but it's not always used. I believe British plugs are required to have the 3rd prong even if it's not wired up because the doors on the outlet won't open without the 3rd prong. The US/Canadian ones do fall out a lot though. I think it's because they weaken over time until they can't keep the plug from falling out.
The long prong on a UK plug is mainly to open the shutters to the powered prongs.
I think doggy bags are becoming more usual in the UK (at least London), but it never occurred to me to order more with a view to just taking it home. BRILLIANT! and so obvious!
Everything she said describes exactly my experience in the UK and I have never experienced it abroad. We took food home from the restaurant last night, and "cakeaway" is now a proper thing.
No idea why anyone would order soup to take home though, that one baffles me 😂
Ontarian here, often times here the server will ask if you want to take the rest home if they see you have leftovers while the rest of your party are done. I havent heard it called 'doggy bag' but they will either bring you stryofoam containers or take your plate back and box it up for you. Also "popping to the shop" is very dependent on where you live. Ontario is huge and I lived in a small town for years that a trip to the stores was only a couple minutes away.
Uk Main sockets are taken for granted here, but we’re spoiled 🤓
Such a well thought out design and so safe.
Travelling abroad and seeing the annoying mess other countries have to deal with, is quite an eye opener 👀
I normally modify an extension lead to have the appropriate "weird plug" instead of using travel adapters. Just a small one, and then put it in the hold luggage.
@@DuskHorizon Me too.
Yeah, I just came back from a holiday in Germany (thoroughly enjoyable btw!) and I'd really forgotten about the seeming flimsiness of the plug/socket arrangement... very similar to Canada/USA. I think we've been spoiled here in the UK... they're so robust, with a satisfying click as they make that final contact. You also need a certain amount of force to remove the plug... you just know it's safe.
about technical standards, EU is the best, but when talking about political self-awareness, Britannia rules! Hope the coup they prepare you won't bury this, together with the whole country.
@@divin5186 No idea where that comment came from, but I should point out that according to almost all electrical safety authorities, the UK standard plug is recognised as one of the safest designs.
As for coups, whoever they are, and whatever they're planning, I'd recommend not trying that in England, we have a historical reputation for brutality, and I wouldn't want to see just how brutal we'd be willing to be towards anyone attempting such a move here. We'd rather the entire country burned than cower before some self declared supremacist movement.
As a Canadian, who has been to England (love it and miss it), I agree about the sky, it is quite high up there. I think that is why I love my country. I agree about food has gotten very expensive here over the past two years. Enjoyed the video.
Thanks so much for watching!
Fwiw, a standard outlet in a washroom in Canada would be unsafe; current building codes require in-wasroom outlets to be protected by ground fault circuit interruptors, sort of a sensitive and fast acting breaker.
Some restaurants have caught up with the doggy bag idea but only for puddings. The afters. The whatever at the end of the meal... but they call it cake away. Yknow coz..take away... humour! Chortle chortle.
Loved this video.
The UK plugs are the safest in the world by design, but I have electrecuted myself three or four times with 240 volts (230 V now, I think); mainly by being stupid and young. Once, as an adult, I switched off the mains to fix and replace a mains socket. I heard a very faint click. I stopped what I was doing (bare wires around me) and went downstairs to check. My five-year-old son was watching the TV. He had come in from the garden, saw the TV wasn't turning on and actually flipped the mains switch back to on! From that point onwards, I would always also take out the fuse for the sockets in the section I was doing something and keep the fuse in my pocket until I had finished. It was nice to see some more insights from Canada. Thanks.
Totally understand the “high-sky” thought. I’d never thought of it before but thinking back, when I visited Australia, it was the same…. The sky felt infinite while the UK sky is very claustrophobic (but I’m strange and like it that way. It’s cosy) 😎
Same here. When I lived in PNG and Australia ages ago the height of the sky was impressively ‘up there’, and coming back to the UK it all seemed so close and almost reachable. The dome of the sky even on blue cloudless days was a smaller dome in the UK. Cloudy UK days seemed like a miniature shot of model or toy scenery.
Thank god it's not just me! 😂
when i lived in texas from the uk the sky felt as if it was pressing down on me, i felt claustrophobic in the open air, here in the uk its contained
Can’t actually believe someone other than me has noticed this. When I was in the US the sky felt massive but in the U.K. it’s like everywhere feels like you’re in a matchbox. Like a miniature toy village, everything is just so small.
In the UK we have a lower sky because we are closer to heaven :-)
I've got a a plastic tray that makes Ice cubes six at a time ,who says we're backwards. SIX at a time ,
I live in Victoria BC on Canada's Pacific Coast - the weather influences are similar to much of the UK. In the Prairies and even Ontario, yes the sky is much higher! And the clouds are puffier ☁️🌥️☁️
I usually hear "Canadian" but I did hear "comedian" in the last video of yours I watched so I thought you were a Canadian comedian. Well you do have a great sense of humour!
Tom Scott did a TH-cam video on the safety features designed into the British plug. It's very interesting.
The ice cube matter is a non issue, for decades fridges come with a separate ice cube tray, also inexpensive ready to use bags of ice cubes are in supermarkets, kitchens are smaller and many people don't want American size fridges that make ice cubes,they prefer European spec integrated appliances .
As a Brit, I must admit I like the fact that houses in canada are so much bigger.
There plus and cons wherever you go. I totally understand the point you made about the high skies.
Hope you’re feeling much better after your illness. Your experience of it sounded absolutely awful.
As far as the cheese is concerned, it’s much cheaper here,so enjoy eating it to your heart’s content. It will never bankrupt you😉
When I went out to Australia, at first the sky just seemed so high. When I got back to the UK (an overcast sky) it felt very claustrophobic. I suffered from chronic depression for months.
Once in a blue moon we get high sky's in the UK. I love it
❤from North East England ❤️
Your Sky thing makes perfect to me as I come from the Norfolk Fenns where they have HUGE skies.
I think my dinner would have been pasta with tinned tomatoes and hold the mascarpone if it was that price, lol. You're sounding better, hope you're feeling better.
Thank you! Nearly 100%
I live in an end of terrace house in Southern England.The nights are very quite.We have double glazing,but have windows open and it's still very quite
The sky is higher in Canada 😄 your as mad as a box of frogs,love it! Yes our lower skies is the reason why we have such variable weather 😁 glad your all healthy again 😊 👍
Doggy bags are definitely a thing in the UK - you just have to ask, they won't usually offer. Also, portion sizes are generally a reasonable amount that most people can finish. It's rare that I don't finish a meal in the UK and I don't typically eat massive portions.
Also, remind me never to visit Canada in the spring/summer - I struggle enough with pollen in the UK. Although, Canadian winters are really cold, so I would probably avoid winter too. Looks like I'll have to visit in autumn!
I hate using foreign plug sockets - some of them feel so dangerous! My "favourite" was a hotel where the hair dryer was attached to the bathroom wall (and couldn't be removed), but you still had to plug it into the wall with a normal plug socket. The plug also didn't really fit in the socket properly and was kinda loose.
I don't even understand why you'd want to use a hairdryer in a damp bathroom where the mirror is fogged up - you're most likely to be drying your hair after having a shower after all!
Hello alanna! Nice to see you back in the uk.. the electrical system in Canada operates at 120 volts. in the uk its 230 volts nearly twice the power = twice the speed. we need the speed for the amount of tea we drink 😄
Have you read Bill Bryson's 'I'm a Stranger Here Myself?' It's about moving back to the US after 20 years in England (he married a Brit) and feeling more than a bit disoriented - in a humorous way.
I think ‘comedian’ is a very apt description!….🤣😂😅😘🥰🇬🇧
I’d hate not being able to pop to the shops. My house is within 10-15 mins walk of shops in three different directions. I really wanted to understand the high skies but 😵💫 (Maybe I’ll rewatch and try again 🙃) Thank you for this insightful vid, Alanna!
High skies can be relative to your position above sea level and sight polution. By sight polution, I refer to obstructions such as buildings, trees and natural rolling landscape. Also clouds packed closely fill one's vission making the sky feel close - sometimes overbearing. Skies with few clouds appear spacious and with less visual markers may appear farther away. Wide open spaces and flat lands will make the sky seem higher but it can also be true that clouds form higher in the atmosphere in different parts of the globe due to particular local weather charactoristics. Clouds in the UK are between 6,500 and 20,000 ft.
I think the higher prices and picked over shelves are still due to supply chain issues since Covid. I bought a can of wood stain recently, that I usually paid about $60 for before Covid and it’s now $120!
From my discussions with folks from the UK I get the sense that portions are somewhat bigger here and harder to finish at a restaurant.
The brick hanging from the electric outlet is called a “wall wart” (great name!). We do have 3 prong plugs in North America, the third prong is the ground wire. But 3 prong plugs are definitely in the minority.
Probably in the US as well ? but the three prong dates back to when appliances were made of metal rather than plastic. It is still needed in the UK to open the socket connectors but is not actually connected anything anymore most of the time - unless the appliance has say exposed metal parts or used where it might get wet.
I don't think anyone actually gets how clever a UK wall plug socket is. If you look closely at the socket, you'll see that the 2 lower holes are blocked by a little sliding door. The top hole has a lever in it which, when the longer top pin goes in, depresses the lever and opens the 2 lower doors for the live and neutral pins to enter. When you remove the plug the doors close and no little kid can stick their fingers etc in them
Hi Alana, I think you suffered more from Ontario reverse culture shock than a generic Canada variety. I often visit family in BC, and even within that one province my experiences of quiet nights, allergies, etc, varies massively between the Interior, the Island, and the Lower Mainland. In effect, to say Canadian in this context is similar to saying European, for experience in Yellowknife will be as different from Markham or Windsor as between Tromsø and Istanbul or Rochester.
She's talking about her personal experience in Canada, as I believe her family home is in a fairly rural area. She wouldn't be talking so much about the peace and quiet if she'd gone to Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, or London, ON. As is to be expected, she's only in her 20's and young people usually lack objectivity. Because of inexperience, they tend to generalize from their own very subjective experiences.
Totally get the high sky thing. Moved to Wellington NZ from UK in 74 and that was one of the main things we noticed here too. Also, we have 240v power and sockets in the bathrooms. So quick tea and toothbrush rechargers taken care of. 🙂
Doggy bags are far less common, but you can get 'em, especially Indian restaurants and other restaurants that offer take-away food.
Very interesting Alanna! Couple of things - firstly, the difference in pollen probably depends where you are even in the UK. I live in a small village which is surrounded in all directions by countryside and my car also gets yellow with pollen every summer's morning and I sniff and sneeze all the time. Also, I totally get the high skies thing - I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't travelled in Canada too but the sky really does go on forever when you're crossing an area that isn't so busy with buildings, pylons, airplanes etc (like the prairies for instance, and Ontario too, outside the cities) -so don't worry, you aren't going crazy just yet!!
Cheers Malcolm!!
Yet? 😂
Median cloud height can vary significantly even if you travel just a couple of hours away, in some cases. I grew up in Canal Fulton, which is a bit over an hour from here, and they sky there is literally *always* overcast. In the five years that we lived there, I don't think I saw blue sky once. The question there is not whether the sun is behind clouds, but how many layers. Then we moved to Hastings Michigan, and it was very different; there were days with no clouds at *all* which is not something I previously imagined possible. Here, in Galion is somewhere in between; we have days (lots of them in July and August, fewer the rest of the year) when there are only clouds over parts of the sky, and other parts are clear. That's all within a space much smaller than Ontario, and in fact roughly comparable in size to the portion of Ontario that's south of Lake Huron (which is where most of the population is).
Here in Ohio, food prices roughly doubled, within the first six months after the start of the Ukraine war. There are several reasons for this, most of them related in one way or another to the war. Briefly: 1. Ukraine is a major supplier of grain and lost pretty much an entire year's crop. (America and Canada are net exporters of grain, but prices still go up, because overseas buyers are willing to pay more.) 2. Russia is a significant supplier of grain and most countries are boycotting them. 3. Coincidentally, India had a drought around the same time, which hurt their grain output as well. 4. Meat and egg and dairy prices go up when grain prices go up, because animals have to be fed; and the prices of other foods (e.g., potatoes) go up because people are buying them as a substitute for the expensive grain and animal products. 5. Russia is also a major supplier of energy (especially petroleum and natural gas), so energy prices are up, and that means the cost of transporting things, including food, is up. 6. Coincidentally, China had been having some kind of issue with domestic pork production and was thus still buying more pork than usual from international markets at the time of the Ukraine war; this is smaller than the other factors but still significant. 7. There was also higher general-purpose price inflation around the same time than we've been accustomed to of late; partly this was because of the above factors, and partly due to American politics, but there were other factors as well. This inflation made the increase in food prices even more than it would have otherwise been. Though I don't doubt that food prices in Ontario are normally higher than elsewhere. In Ohio I'm used to thinking of rural areas as having *lower* food prices (compared to big cities), but that's because "rural" in Ohio means "the houses are along the roads, with farm fields behind them". Rural in Ontario is at a whole other level, and when the population density is that low, things have to be transported over much longer distances, and prices go up. This gets even worse in areas with even lower population density, e.g., Nunavut. Cost of living up there is insane.
I think of Wal-Mart as a mid-range grocery store, price-wise. Do you not have true budget groceries, like an Aldi or a Sav-A-Lot or anything along those lines? Granted, Wal-Mart is cheaper than stores like Kroger.
High skies. I get what you mean. I had the same feeling in Vermont when I visited Montpellier.
When the last bout of panic buying was happening I read "I spent 3 years in Syria during the war there, we never ran out of toilet paper".
Happy culture shock comment, from where the skies can be both ;)
The power circuitry in North America runs at 110V which is why the kettle is slower, the UK uses 240V like the rest of Europe which is why you find it quicker
quietness is similar in NZ as well, with double insulated windows , walls, and ceilings lol, I had to switch on my heater for silent noise :)
Having worked in a pub in the UK i can say that people wanting to take leftovers home happened a couple of times a week....but then again I'm from Yorkshire and we're well known for being "careful" with our money 😂
Keep the good work up. You allways make me smile, as we say, you are a lovely cheeky chops..
Oh, Girl the thing about the High sky is so true. I was in England for a month many years ago and the first thing I'd noticed when I went back to Montreal was exactly that. The ceiling of the sky was incredible high, the vastness is not only with the land spread but the vast distance from ground to space. England is often covered by clouds that must act as a grey blanket that lowers the sky ceiling or the impression of it. And yes the price of food is just crazy, it getting scary and people talk about it a lot.🇨🇦🇬🇧
Once a long time ago I took an almost complete steak home and it was not mine but a random diner. Sliced in half and under a grill, luscious.
Really interesting all the differences! I am a US expat living in South Korea. I have a 15-20 minute walk to and from work and four grocery stores on the way. This is in a rural areal too! I'll definitely miss just popping in for a few things and not getting in a car to get groceries when I head back to the states.
I love doggy bags. Though we don’t give it to the dog unless it is steak scraps, like fat or gristle. But we enjoy getting our leftovers to go because we often get two or three meals or of that one meal. This makes going out to eat more feasible (or more affordable) since we are getting two meals out of that one meal. In essence then, we are paying $7.00 per meal instead of $14.00 for that one meal. It makes going out to eat more affordable if you can get two meals out of that one expensive meal.
You are obviously feeling much better in this latest video, which is great news. It was interesting to hear what struck you as a returning Canadian. The “high sky” thing made me laugh because I know exactly what you mean. It took me a while to understand the concept of shelves being “picked over” - I got it in the end, the shelves were emptier than usual. Great content as usual. Cheers 👍
I remember doggy bags being a thing in Canada, when I was across in 84.
When you first mentioned doggy bags, I thought you were talking about poo bags. lol
Heavier duty electronics in Canada do use a third prong on the plug, which makes them more stable, but yes it’s irritating when two prong plugs slide out. And kettles take longer. But the first time you accidentally tread on a UK plug barefoot, you will long for North American plugs.
Great video as usual Alanna. I think the 'high sky' is at least partly to do with the overall congestion of things around you. I noticed it a fair bit on trips to the US & Africa but by far it was most obvious when I went to Diego Garcia (middle of the Indian Ocean and highest point 6ft above sea level). The noise thing is one of the reasons I now live in the country in UK. I found that I was constantly getting woken up by noises from outside. Now I can literally hear an owl a mile or so away.
I completely got what you were saying about the power outlets. Having travelled extensively with the army I've seen the US/Canadian, European and Asian systems and I'd say that I much preffer ours although the European one is good as well (only 2 prongs but they have an earth strip on two sides of the plug that the socket grips). In the US I lost count of the number of times things didn't charge up because the plug had fallen out that little bit too much.
The doggie bag thing was common in the restaurant I worked in the uk. I think it depends where you are and it’s also a class thing here
we need the doggy bags in canada cause as you said its probably a 45 minute drive to get to the food to begin with and it saves you a trip lol
It's certainly an eye-opener seeing the difference in prices between the UK and Canada, and even more so in the context of the cost of living crisis we're going through here. Thanks for the informative vid!
You're sounding a lot healthier (like you've recovered from your recent sickness) in this new video, Alanna 😊😀
👍 , so without further ado, let's go! 😀
I hear you with the high skies, it always felt that way coming to visit family while I was living in London. Even in an area without large buildings/skyscrapers, looking up in London just seemed more closed in than when elsewhere. Weird, but nice to know I'm not the only one.
Great video Alanna! I too couldn’t get over the skies in the UK when I moved here.. like the clouds are closing in on you. My husband said it’s because of the low pressure which causes them to be heavy and dense. I definitely do miss the clear, high skies back home in the US!
Don’t miss driving ages to get to the shop, or the expensive food prices, or the lengthy time it take to boil the kettle!
Funny about taking home leftovers, I never noticed that before but it’s so true! Kind of prefer not taking anything back home now.
Enjoyed the video, loved the one about the sky, I'd never thought of that.
Interesting observations Alanna. As you surmised the time to boil the kettle is down to the lower Canadian mains voltage. Canadian kettles are around 1000W in power versus 2000W in the UK - hence roughly twice the time to boil.
May take longer than that because of heat losses - longer boil time will cause more heat loss which will make boil time even longer...
Great video as always Alanna. You sound better now, hope you have gotten over your sickness. 🙂
Thank you!!
Hi. There is a high Sky ceiling. I'm British and i've noticed it....especially the moon, it's always much further away.
A really good and informative video Alanna, thank you.
The Sky's thing that you were struggling for the right words for, I've heard many people refer to this as "Big Sky's", Norfolk is known for its big sky's partly because its a large flat area which is coastal so that exaggerates the effect, the sky seems to be higher and stretches much further, its a common phenomenon (I'm happy with the rhyme there), not usually a fan of rhyming words/phrases.
The wall socket outlets, understood you from start to finish, look at a video by Tom Scott on the subject, short but perfect, UK plugs (yes the worst pain in the world when you stand on one barefoot on your way to the bathroom in the middle of the night) yes I know that you will have done it, you would rather have your leg amputated without anaesthetic, and standing on a Lego brick is nothing compared "it's just a scratch".
Wonderful video as always.
Take care :)
Been watching your vids all year at 1.25x and for so long I thought u were saying “I’m Alana and I’m a COMEDIAN” lol
I get the whole sky thing. I remember being in a country town here in Australia and a young kid said to me, ‘we have a lot of sky out here, lots of sky.’ It made sense, especially as the area was fairly flat and the sky a crystal clear azure that day.
Like the Skull shirt! I think Canada feels like it's living over a Meth lab right now...
Hi Alanna,
My allergies are really bad here in Illinois. I have to take Claritin daily in the summer. So I totally understand what you went through. The other day, it was so bad outside when the fluffy things blew off the trees, it looked like it was snowing. When it gets like that all you can do is stay inside. I also agree with you about food prices. I was at the store yesterday, and eggs were $5.00 a dozen. This is due to crazy inflation in North America right now. When gas prices increase, the cost of everything else goes up.
I’m also really sorry to hear about how sick you got when you were in Canada.
When I was in college, I had a bad case of the flu, even though I was vaccinated, so I went to the student health center and they gave me Tami-Flu, and it just made me much sicker. I’m glad that you are feeling much better now, and I hope that your trip to Canada next year will go much smoother.
Alanna's Tech Talk should become a regular slot like cooking/baking. :) Hilarious and informative...kind of. ;) I think one of the reasons we don't really do Doggy Bags here is that restaurants rarely give you enough to eat in the first place. lol. :)
What a great vid. .Going home can seem very strange. As you say the price of food the plugs. Silly things but you do notice .Anyway ,thank you .Hope your feeling better . Sounded more like you ..😷😷
European homes are typically smaller, and in most kitchens there would be no room for an "american fridge". Also, I don't think fridges with ice makers are popular because an ice tray in the freezer is usually more than enough, we don't put ice in drinks (except for alcohol drinks, sometimes), so no need for the ice maker . You won't even find ice making machines in hotels, for example.
I'm glad to see and hear that you're winning the battle against flu, Alanna! As for your specific points herein...
1) This can actually be a thing even if you've never left your home country. I've lived in big cities and small towns, in different parts of the UK, and the latter (especially in the north of England) are much quieter. My university was based near a quiet village on the edge of York; a friend who went away to London remarked, on paying a return visit, how amazingly quiet it was compared to the capital. I suppose almost anywhere is quieter than the capital!
2) Allergies are best preempted by eating locally produced honey or taking locally produced pollen. If that isn't possible, you could try spraying Beconase or another form of hay fever relief medication into your nostrils...
3) The sky probably isn't higher in Canada, but it might feel that way because of the relatively wide open spaces in the terrain, compared with the more packed built-up areas in the UK.
4) I use a stove-top / fireplace kettle, which takes minutes to boil, so it's not just a Canadian thing!
5) The saying goes that you never truly realise how precious something is to you until you lose it. That's true of conveniences like local shops, you could argue!
6) My local tea room in Warwickshire will provide a doggy bag if you cannot manage everything, so they *do* exist in the UK. When I lived in Cumbria, an elderly couple I knew were forever taking their own to restaurants, cafés etc. - in the form of baking foil, which they would use to wrap up and take away whatever they couldn't finish. It would usually emerge at their home a day or two later - waste not, want not!
7) Indeed, it's not such a thing in the UK but it's catching on - and I would note that the family of a school friend of mine had a fridge-freezer with ice dispenser, as long as 30 years ago....
8) Two prongs are quite common on the European mainland, it seems, and the UK's triple prongs are thus a world oddity. That being said, I believe some UK appliances are wired to just the lower two prongs, with the third prong in place purely to fit our sockets, so perhaps things aren't so different as they appear!
9) Cost of living is becoming a crisis all the world over. I have my doubts that prices will subside, here or in Canada; I hope I may be proved wrong, but will say no more and thus keep your channel relatively free of politics.
If your electrical outlet in your bathroom in Canada could deliver few power, you must have an obsolete house. Normally a bathroom outlet must be able to power a hairdryer. And it has no tie with the voltage, but the maximum current amperes, so the watts the outlet can deliver to power the device. My bathroom electrical outlet in my house in Quebec has a differential breaker and it can power a kettle if I plug one, whenever I use it in the bathroom or in the kitchen and whenever someone is using a hairdryer at the same time. The electrical network of the house is able to sustain it.
We do have doggy bags in the UK. My parents always brought be home some food when they use to go out for meals .
Doggy bags are very much a thing and term used in the UK! Me and my partner regularly take leftovers home. Kids often take doggy bags home from parties too.
Hi Alanna, good to see you're getting over the lurgy. Low sky! rain clouds at only 6000ft like a big grey duvet , if you see blue run out and take a pic cos you never know when you will see it again.
Hahahaha, had so much fun watching this 😅. The technical terms and explanations were so fun lol. For the kettles and the speed at which brings water to a boil, wonder if not just the volts but boiling water near sea level (London, Kent...well, most of England lol) versus above sea level....?...how much higher elevated is Ontario from the sea ? 🤔.
The sky, yeah that one I think could be more phycological I wonder. More often than not there is usually cloud of some sort in England, and flights that leave chemtrails fly a bit lower due to there being no less than three airports around London alone, and not flying very high anyway cos destinations are never far, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, France, Germany....anyway it also can be in most places in England, and Kent not being much different, as you say is cramped living, and looking up at even a clear sky your vision will always have a part of a building or roof or fencing in it, giving the idea of no space? Perhaps being in a place where you have an uninterrupted view of the sky and not having that cramped feeling gives the idea of an infinite sky. ...just my thoughts anyway, nothing scientific 😂. Dammit now I'm rambling explanations lol.
Great video, and entertaining as usual. 👍🏻
Great to see you're looking and sounding a lot better☺👍.
You really are a proper British convert, going to Canada and having fish and chips! 😂 thanks for another of your fun, interesting video.
Thank you! 😂
Once again, very entertaining. Thank you. And just for your information you aren't crazy for your observation about the sky. I used to fly in Europe and the METAR (the weather report pilots use) consistently had much lower cloud ceilings than in the US or Canada. It is an observation that people notice who come from the Eastern side of each country to the Western side. Have a great day.
Totally agree on the doggs bags. Every restaurant we’ve been to in BC where I’ve not finished my meal they’ve asked if I want the rest to go - every single time!! X
Right?? 😂
10:14 My family here in Wales have one!
Given that I hate ice in my drinks I haven't used it much, although my brother has a strange affinity for ice (sometimes he'll just eat the ice on its own??) so at least it's getting some use.
Hi Alanna, looks like you got over your Canadian flu, good to have the old Alanna back again!
Thank you! Nearly 100% 🙏🏻
Hi Allanah. If you visit the Lincolnshire Fens on a nice day you can experience "Big sky". We had an "American" style fridge-freezer in the mid 1970s. It had an ice cube dispenser in the freezer door and a chilled water dispenser in the fridge door, and was plumbed in to the cold water supply. Most houses in the U.K. are just not big enough to fit such a beast.
Thanks for the video. The sky thing is really interesting and I hope that one day I get to see what you mean. I hope you are feeling better as well
Thank you so much!
In the UK we have 230/240volt ‘mains’ which is twice the power of that in the states 120volts…..so kettles boil faster here, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, clothes dryers are all more efficient because of the higher power……it kills quicker too!…😘🥰🤣🇬🇧😎
Canadian here. We totally have three prong plugs and outlets!!
Totally agree with the sky height. Felt the same in Houston, Texas. And the night sky just a few miles out of town is amazing! And we have ice makers in the UK. They're called ice trays!
Ice trays are annoying! 😂
I have had the same experience about the ceiling of the sky - when mentioned it to people they thought I was crazy - it's nice to know I'm not alone!
I experienced many of these when I moved back to Canada after many years living in Australia and New Zealand.
FYI, I asked a friend in NZ to time how long it took her kettle to boil 1 litre of water and I did the same here in Canada. They were different brands of kettles etc but I was still interested in the comparison. The kettle in NZ took half the time.
Hey Alanna. Glad to see you feeling better. Great video and you make great points that you wouldn't think of until you experience them.
Never knew the pollen was that extreme over there. I wonder if there's something scientific to your sky thing? I'll take a quick cup of tea over bathroom outlets any day, you've gotta get your priorities right.
Enjoyed your newsletter, looking forward to more. 🙂
Thank you so much!
We have something akin to your “High-Sky” phenomenon - in some of our more rural counties (East Yorkshire, for example), we call it “Big-Sky”, especially out on the Wolds…