Questions of human nature

[Sundae]

I second the wow. And you were right after all, I am perturbed by it.
Wow again - because it's nothing like a town centre - English version. I mean if we decided a retail park would be called a town centre.

Possibly the biggest difference is the car-accessibility. The centre of our towns are generally so old that there is little or no room for that sort of parking. Things have to be within walking distance. It looks to me like an open air shopping centre/ retail park. On steroids. We stick something smaller outside of town.

Monster - some things have changed since you were away. I guess you know that, having plenty of contact with the UK. The two obvious ones are drive-through McDonalds (LOTS now rather than a few) and paying at the pump - my Dad expects it and would be quite grumpy if he had to go in the shop.

In Aylesbury we've had drive-through banking as long as I can remember (Lloyds on Gatehouse Road). But you are quite right, I have never seen it anywhere else, ever! And certainly in my experience, most people parked up and used the cashpoint on the other side of the building

Ketchup is generally free now, as is tap water. But no, very few places offer refills - if they do you pay a flat fee for it (as we did at Pizza Hut).

But the rest holds true. And your school experience is completely different to that of my niece and nephew.

Limes, the standard charge in London is 30p now.
I'm happy to pay it for spotless toilets. I'd be happier if it was free of course.

As an aside, Rome has virtually NO public toilets. You have to go into a bar or restaurant. My ex husband had a dicky tummy when we went, and refused to walk more than about 1/2 mile from the hotel. He hated Rome for making him feel uncomfortable. I hated him for ruining my trip to the Eternal City, which I'd dreamed about for years. It was a matter of months until we split up. And yes, he was paranoid, but yes I was a bitch.