Observations...

Ok, before I forget, here are some observations about our time in the United Kingdom - in no particular order!

• All of the outlets have on and off buttons - this is not specific to hotels either. If you plug in something, like your TV, then you still have to turn the outlet on. I'm confident that there are zero deaths by electrocution in the UK each year. Even the outlets in the bathrooms will only fit the plugs that come on the end of an electric razor. Forget trying to dry or curl your hair in the bathroom - not going to happen.

• Speaking of electric, in hotels you have to keep your room key card in a slot by the door in order to make the outlets and lights even work in the first place. If you take the key card out, the lights will go out after so many minutes. On the outset this seems like a good idea - not only do you save electricity if you're not using it, you don't usually misplace your room card! After a while, it gets annoying when combined with the observation above.

• NOTHING is open on Sunday, except the pubs and restaurants. Oh, and the Churches.

• Hotels do not have ice buckets, and if you ask for one, it's because they think you want to chill your bottle of wine. If you want ice, you have to go to the hotel bar and ask for it. Most hotels do not have ice machines, and if they do, it's by the cup, not the bucket.
  

• The bathtubs are much higher, or maybe it's that they're deeper. Either way, it's quite a step up to get in.

• The bathroom trash container is the same little silver bin in all the hotels, and they're a pain because you have to step on the little pedal to open them. Convenient! But annoying because they are so small and light that when the top opens, it springs back a little too far and ca-changs into the wall. Did I mention it's' metal? Silly, I know... I've started taking the plastic liner out and just using that.

• There aren't McDonalds and Starbucks on every corner - refreshing! There seem to be more Burger King's than Micky D's.
  

• Pubs stop serving food after 6pm. Restaurants are not as plentiful as pubs. Did I mention there aren't McDonalds on every corner? Sometimes you can find the occasional fast food joint open late in areas that accommodate the pub crowds (aka: drunks) when they let out - like KFC in Camden. When you're hungry, you'll eat anything...

• Shops close at 6. If you want to do any shopping for local trinkets, do it before 6pm. Some "bigger cities" might keep their shops open until 8, depending on how much foot traffic is around. Needless to say, it's been tricky to get any fun shopping done, since we're always looking for food first!

• There are no laundraumats in Ireland, except in the big cities like Limerick and Dublin. If you have clothes you need cleaned, you take them to a dry cleaning and laundry shop, where you drop off your stuff, they wash it, and the you pick it up....the next day. They close at 8 pm, and they're not open on Sunday's. Today is Sunday and we're doing our first load of laundry in the hotel bathtub. Thank goodness this hotel has heated towel racks!

• And speaking of electric and heated things, the hotels have these really weird pants press contraptions. They work great for drying the clothes you just washed in the tub! The only problem is, in order to cut down on the number of electrocutions in the UK (wink, wink), they are set on a timer of 15 minutes, and that is only after you figure out how to: turn on the power at the outlet, turn on the presser, then turn on the timer. If you can get past those 3 things and still get electrocuted, then you must want to die.

• They have these great hot pots in hotel rooms to make tea or coffee with - I wish I could get these at home. They plug into a base that automatically starts the pot heating - superfast and super hot - you'll have a boil in the matter of 1 minute (not that you want boiling water for your tea or coffee). At home you can get something similar, but it would never get this hot this fast. It's surprising to me, what with all the electrical safety measures in place over here, that the heat on the pots aren't "regulated" (a word used quite often on the news).