Some wandering thoughts

Just thought I'd add a bit of a mishmash here of thoughts that have occurred to me as I've travelled around in different places. So these are not chronological, nor are they place-specific. Not in any order either - just as they come off the top of my head.

• The size of food portions in the UK is pretty much equal to the HUGE sized portions you get served up in the US. Have no idea why this is so and I've spoken to a few people about it who have also noticed the phenomenon. All agree that it's a relatively recent development, but is gaining momentum and probably more than contributes to the equal gain in the national waistline average. Asking for child-sized portions helps to get around it, or just ask for the soup.

• Salads in the UK comprise only Ice lettuce (none of the great lettuce varieties I'm used to in Aus), and probably 2 slices of tomato - that's it. Very disappointing as I love salads that have variety and taste (without relying on various dressings to provide said taste).

• Even menus supposedly in English in French restaurants are predominantly in French, so there's little chance of trying to work out the meaning of the French words for food, which can then be used to order in restaurants which don't offer an English menu. And as a lot of food items have a different French word than the English one, it can be daunting and limiting if you're not wildly adventurous with what you're going to eat. I tend to stick with things I can at least recognise and have some idea that I will enjoy, rather than be served a meal that doesn't appeal to my palette, is therefore a waste of money and leaves me still needing to eat.

• Bathrooms in most of the less expensive (but not necessarily low end of the market) hotels, guesthouses and B&Bs tend to be little more than cupboards, and I will never complain about the size (or lack thereof) of my shower at home again, as it's bigger than most of the shower stalls I've encountered. Also, having such huge single tap mixer controls, and usually a dangling, in-the-way, flexible pipe from the shower head to the control, means that even for someone small as me you can't lean over to pick up the shampoo, but have to bend down from the knees. And even then so many times, I knocked the control and either got hit with an extra hot or extra cold couple of seconds of water before I could readjust it. Very annoying.

• Very few train stations, even in major centres, accommodate people carting suitcases. This was especially the case in the London underground, though I know they're sorting it out with the upgrades. I was also not alone with having a big traveling bag and so many people struggling up a couple of flights of quite steep stairs makes one wonder why there's not at least a small side ramp up which to wheel bags. Going down isn't an issue as you can just set the bag on it's way down in front of you if it's wheeled. Luckily, in the UK, someone always helped out. Not the case in France however. There you have to fend for yourself regardless of how much of a struggle it is.

• No-one makes a good cup of tea like the English do - the French really suck at it and you can't get a pot of tea made with tea leaves anywhere - just like in the US. At least in Asia you can get Jasmine tea, ordinary green tea or good black tea, and in the middle east the tea is equally good so long as you remember to stipulate NO SUGAR unless you like a lot of it in your tea.

• You can drink the water from the taps in UK and in France. Not something I've ever been game to do in Asia or the middle east, but did in the US. Now when you consider that the UK use recycled water in their potable supply, that's something of a leap of faith for me - but no ill effects had at all.

• The English REALLY like their heating. I was slowly steamed in so many places and removing layers of clothes while the English were still rugged up in their jumpers and woolly coats. Completely stifling at times and more than once I felt the desperate need to get into the fresh air.

• Double glazing on windows should be mandatory in all houses in Aus. Great not only for temperature control, but for noise reduction from traffic it's great.

• UK and Europe have these really neat windows that you can open either inward from the side, or inward at the top depending on which way you turn the opening handle. First came across them in Munich when I arrived. Scared the hell out of me as I was expecting the window to open inward from the side, and panicked a bit when it seemed to be falling outward on me from the top until I realised it was supposed to do this and had a stop point. Great for air movement without having the disadvantage of a large and heavy window sticking into the room, as they all open inward, not outward as in Aus.

• When you ask for milk with your tea in France, you get container of hot milk. Someone needs to tell them that it means you want un-heated milk.

• The best hot chocolate in the world has to be in the Belgium Chocolate Shop in The Shambles in York.

• The icecream in France is to die for - absolutely fabulously creamy and yummy. And this from an icecream connoisseur. The best I've had anywhere except maybe for that time we stopped at the home made icecream place near Noosa that was also a Mango plantation - many years ago.

• I don't feel guilty for taking a day out and just doing nothing but reading or playing on the computer and I've come to be very considerate of my feet. They get regular massages and rubs with cream. They deserve it as most days they take me at least 10 or more miles.

• I discovered that i understand quite a lot of French words I'd forgotten I knew (I was actually quite good at French at school, probably from having done so many years of it as a ballet dancer). So picking up the gist of conversation is sometimes not impossible. At times it comes down to thinking how the word would look if spelt, and then I understand it because it's just spoken differently to how I'm familiar. This on its own has been quite an interesting observation for me. At times I can figure out what things like descriptions are in the various museums, on menus, in railway stations. And in the usual way of assimilating a language, figuring out what the words for Exit, Toilet, Taxi, Bus, Train etc are, these all add to a bank of knowledge. Next is to see if the same happens in Germany, though my knowledge of that language is light years away from even the basic French I have.

• Not many French people speak English, but evidently most Dutch and Germans do I'm told - yet to be tested. However, I'm sure a number of Brits don't speak English either as I've had difficulty understanding them at times depending on where I've been. Has been much like in the US. Regional accents, use of language and local words make it almost impossible to comprehend at times, meaning much nodding and trying to figure it out on the fly. Doesn't help that such linguistic divergents are usually spoken so fast that you're still figuring out what was said 5 minutes ago, and miss the whole thing. Felt like an idiot on more than one occasion.

Well that's all I can think of for now - but I'll add to this as I get further inspired.