BritanniAmerica

Do you have a Loch Fyne by you? A millions miles better than Red Lobster if you ask me.

Considering they use Loch Fyne, one would think there would be more than one restaurant in Scotland and that is a tad far to travel for a meal (well at least for me). Then again, this is the nation that gave the world, though they didn't accept it, the deep-fried Mars bar.

Today I really miss my sister's jacuzzi!

I miss proper country music but I have found http://www.live365.com/web/index.live?tm=5403 but its not Kase 101

I miss the libraries. Even though in the US I lived in a small suburb and the library was having to cut opening hours because of decreasing government funding, there was always an excellent selection of books, a user-friendly layout, and so many free services at my disposal. Here the selection has always been abysmal (both when we lived in Newcastle and now in Worcester) and the only thing that's free is walking into a library and checking out a standard book. If you want to check out a spoken word book, cd, dvd, etc. it costs at least £1 for the week (free at my US library). If you want to request books from another library it costs 60p (free at my US library). The only good thing I've discovered about the libraries here is the mobile library, which offers standard library services from a mobile van that travels to different outlying areas. However, if you don't happen to find a book in the tiny collection in the van you're again caught in the trap of having to pay 60p to request a copy. I'm so used to the public services in the UK being amazing. In general I love the NHS and am impressed with the public transportation. So why oh why are the libraries so much inferior to those in the US?

As a US librarian with a masters, yes libraries here stink. Especially if you want non-fiction.

I'm not thrilled with the state of the libraries either. A while back I wanted couldn't find a book by one of the Bronte sisters (and that's here in Yorkshire, Bronte country!) but there were dozens of Barbara Taylor Bradford books on the shelves (walk into any charity shop and you will find dozens more--whoever she is, anyway...).

Barbara Taylor Bradford is a contemporary author from Yorkshire, and most of her novels use Leeds and Yorkshire as the main locations. It doesn't surprise me that her works are in Yorkshire libraries. (I am shocked about the Brontes not being there! That makes no sense.) Though she might not be as "literary" as the Brontes, she is just as melodramatic!

That explains it! The Bronte books were there, but sporadically, and not the ones I wanted (The Professor, Agnes Grey). They really should have more than one copy each of them.....

Seperate male/female changing rooms, noticed too many department stores with co-ed changing areas. Also, I miss swimming pools with dressing areas with curtains or doors on them. Sorry, I don't like to take off my bathing suit and change butt naked in front of anyone, even if its just us girls. I'm so modest that I don't even hang my undies out on the line; they go straight on to the radiator.

I'm gonna have to put the pro library hat on. I love our library. I have never had any problems (nor charges - is this new?) requesting books.
The only complaint I have of ours is they have all the PC's beside the open area and I think they should be seperate to the 'quiet' areas. Oh and the hours really suck but I think that applies to all libraries. Our US library doesn't exist anymore which I think is a shame. I spent many 'cat on a hot tin roof' days in that place escaping the Mississppi summer heat just disappearing into another world. Pretty amazing how 26 letters can be used.

Yea Julie bug, it's hit and miss here for changing rooms. One pool has small cubicles, another has nothing, and another has small cubicles and family cubicles (these are FANFUCKINGTASTIC when ya got small kids).

The pool we go to has a co-ed locker room, but has stalls big enough for 2 adults for changing. Tim and I shared a changing room, and it got me thinking that teenagers could get up to lots of things in a place like that!

I have a friend who works for the libraries and basically, they need to charge the fees to keep offering the services. It made sense the way she was explaining it, but I still don't like paying 25p to reserve a book!