Gardian Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 We've just got back from our annual 3 week 'hol' in the UK. In no particular order, here's some observations from a grumpy old man on the UK vs France:5p carrier bags - I very, very quickly got hissed off with being asked whether I wanted one! Well, when its piddling with rain and you've just bought a £150 overcoat, then the answer is "Yes!!"Traffic / road surfaces - need one say more?Motorway service station ripoffs - was charged £3.49 for a small pack of paper tissues. Have seen the same thing for €0.69 in Leclerc today.Prepared foods - what quality and range in the UK! As an example, a 'smoked fish gratin' in Waitrose which was absolutely delicious and well worth the fiver or so that it cost.Beer / wine prices in pubs - £26 for 2 pints of bitter and 4 glasses of wine. Bit much eh?Specsavers - brilliant. See other threadSupermarket staff - so much better trained + visible in the UK. Twice, when asking where something was, I was taken to the shelf in question.Restaurant variety - you fetch up in most UK towns and can find a really broad range of cuisine. France is so insular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vette Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 On the subject of Restaurants.The main difference is that in the UK, you can always find one open. Even on a Monday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Pubs, how prices vary.Our nearest local has what my son and husband consider good beer at £1.80 a pint. And we have been out and paid £3plus a pint. Wine, well that also varies just as much and it depends on what sort of wine too, surely???A friend had former colleagues up from London to stay and the bloke got back from getting a round in and whispered he had been given too much change. Our friend assured him that he could take him up the road and pay even less.Do I compare both countries, sometimes, but where ever I am, I just get on with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Definitely endorse what you say about roads. I spend most of my driving time in England in rural Derbyshire where the roads are much worse than the rural roads in the Dordogne. I also notice that the schools appear to have more spent on them.I've no idea of the price of a pint in either country, but I brought back rather a lot of rose from Bergerac which at E6 a bottle has been very well received by friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Prepared foods, well when anything becomes so omni-present competition drives down prices and creates different offerings, whilst I once lived on these things I no longer do and dont think their price and availability is actually something to wish for in France, for me the cost of buying basic ingrédients in the UK has shot up, what were once basic cooking ingrédients have now become luxury or craze driven items thanks to endless TV shows, the baking ones in particular have a lot to answer for, where once I could buy sachets of gelatine for a few pennies now all I could find was "finest leaf gelatine" I wish you could hear the scorn thats in my head when I say those words. Supermarket staff, yes great, they are all told/trained to do just thatn drop what they are doing and take you to the aisle, even the non skilled shelf stackers at 2am in the morning who may not even have a good grasp of English will give you the same service, here in France its just a game of "il faut parler avec un collègue" pass the parcel where the Customer is the parcel, we have huge hypermarkets that are closed 2 hours every lunchtime and all day Monday, I love recounting to French friends that I can shop for just about anything at 2am in the morning and will get Customer service from shelf stackers that they will never ever experience in France, that I can buy any DIY materials from 7am to 20.00 not 9 till 12 then 2 till 6, that I can place a £10 order on Saturday or Sunday and it will be delivered FOC on Monday morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormanH Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I can shop for just about anything at 2am in the morning and will get Customer service from shelf stackers that they will never ever experience in France, that I can buy any DIY materials from 7am to 20.00 not 9 till 12 then 2 till 6, that I can place a £10 order on Saturday or Sunday and it will be delivered FOC on Monday morningIs that good? Is any of it necessary? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 [quote user="NormanH"]Is that good? Is any of it necessary?[/quote]Good? yes to those that it suits. Is it necessary? No not really, but as in the UK the big supermarkets stack the shelves at night, their thinking is; if the lights are on why not have a cash till open, it is very popular with some people especially those on shift work. The delivery thing is great, one thing that really does annoy me in France is the rip off prices for delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 The tax on booze in the UK is high, hence the UK prices. So ofcourse it is cheaper in France.I still find drinking in a bar in France, VERY expensive, and ski ressorts......... [:-))] are even more expensive.Chancer, gelatine leaves.......... terrify me, I have never used them, EVER!! No idea what to do with them. When I started cooking, gelatine was in powder form and when I moved to France, if I needed any would get my MIL to bring it over. I have never used it very often to be honest.And the other day, I decided I wanted to make something with gelatine, and was sure that I would have to buy leaves, which I was going to you tube when I got home....... and lo and behold, they had powder, so that is what I bought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal1000 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I'd agree with most of the above.. although I have used gelatine leaves! (Now I tend to use agar agar as setting agent as I'm usually doing something for an occasion where at least one person will be a vegetarian). With the pound being quite strong I don't find the prices that great in the UK anymore, but last time I went back I did do a load of shopping. In part it was because I actually had the time, but also I could get everything I wanted in a few hours in one high street. Couple that with the enthusiastic Eastern European sales staff, who have a very powerful sales technique (Madam, if you are looking at some walking boots in the cheaper range then honestly the best ones are the £90 gortex ones reduced to £79..and I really wouldn't recommend you spend any less) and I had no difficulty parting with my money! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 [quote user="NickP"][quote user="NormanH"]Is that good? Is any of it necessary?[/quote]Good? yes to those that it suits. Is it necessary? No not really, but as in the UK the big supermarkets stack the shelves at night, their thinking is; if the lights are on why not have a cash till open, it is very popular with some people especially those on shift work. The delivery thing is great, one thing that really does annoy me in France is the rip off prices for delivery. [/quote]I could not have put it better Nick! Whilst I understand the views about Sunday opening I see no problem with 24 hour opening (these shops do close on Saturday night and dont re-open till 12 or 14.00) I live near Gatwick airport, most jobs are 3 shift operations, here in France if you work normal hours then you cannot shop point bar except for Saturday if you are Lucky, if you work in retail and work Saturdays then you only have Monday where most shops and even the banks are closed. They buily a huge new Champion at Bapaume by the motorway exit, it has a filling station and naturally people leave the autoroute to refuel both their vehicles and themselves, it was the only large supermarket in the town, cost millions to build and is an obvious candidate for extended if not 24 hour opening, but no because of the inward looking mentality it is even closed all day on Mondays [:'(] Their loss, they left the door open for Leclerc to open a much smaller supermarket with a filling station even closer to the autoroute exit and crucially their sign and that of the Macdo on the same site is visible from the autoroute, this little centre commerciale is now heaving at all hours and the Champion is deserted, the smaller shops beside closing down one by one. My local town is deserted between 12.00 and 14.00 all the shops are closed and the shutters down even on a Saturday, the same goes for the centre commerciales around it, vistors from Amiens on seeing it at 11.45 on a Saturday thought that the whole centre had gone into liquidation because all the shoppers had already been shoved out, the lights turned off and the shutters drawn 15 minutes before the closing time. A Flunch opened and now the car park is always full at lunch time, its no exaggeration to say that 95% of the footfall to the centre is at that time and thanks to Flunch, yet all the adjacent shops not only close for the 2 hours but bring down their shutters so you cannot even see what is in the window displays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 And me, I am still not over shops in towns shutting at 5, in the UK. Too long in France I suppose, never shop between 12 and 2, but happily go out at 4.30 and next to nothing is open by the time I get, that is in a proper town, out of town places are ofcourse, open.AND the good butchers are closed by 15h30, so when we shop there, I get my OH to go on a morning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cajal Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Is that good? Is any of it necessary?------------------------------------------------------------------I can shop for just about anything at 2am in the morning and will get Customer service from shelf stackers that they will never ever experience in France, that I can buy any DIY materials from 7am to 20.00 not 9 till 12 then 2 till 6, that I can place a £10 order on Saturday or Sunday and it will be delivered FOC on Monday morning-----------------------------------------------------------------------You flick a switch at 2am and expect a light to come on.You turn on a tap at 2am and expect water to come out.You put a filling station nozzle in your vehicle at 2am and expect fuel to flow.You push a supermarket door at 2am????It's not unreasonable to expect the store to be open.It is, after all, 2016.regardscajal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Linda - that's one thing I look forward to in my visit to England - footwear.I take english size 6, and there's not much choice here for women at equivalent size (?42). French women seem to have very small feet.And clothes in general, I like John Lewis.Having said that, I think most clothes suppliers in both countries are offering very poor quality stuff now, even John Lewis.Driving and road standards - France always wins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Patf, I take a 7uk and always bought a 40 and lots of styles available, trouble was the ones I liked were always VERY expensive....... and still are, vivre les soldes nez pah!!!![:-))] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lindal1000 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I buy most of my shoes online.. I hate proper shoes, or anything with a heel and tend to buy sports styles even for smart wear. I find I have very little choice in the stores so tend to stick to a few brands that I know suit me. Strangely the boots I bought in Uk are a French make, but I've never found them here! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancer Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I bought a tiny cyclists bivouac tent on EBay.uk, it is really fantastic, weighs only 550g it would fit in a long Pocket, carbon fibre poles and the pegs are made of titanium alloy, then I found that it was made by the French manufacturer Marechal not 15km from where I live! Except that they didnt even sell it in France, the French cyclists tent is probably 10 times the size and weight and you would need a support vehicle to carry it, instead of providing the minimum volume and shelter for one cyclist it is made to take two occupants plus their bikes [:-))] in fact the bikes get the best room!!! I have bought some excellent French products in the past notably Tools that I have never seen for sale over here, then there are the things that I bought and appreciated not even knowing they were medd een Fronnce like my Delsey briefcase and luggage its only when I hear of a factory closure like Delsey that I realise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaInFrance Posted February 26, 2016 Share Posted February 26, 2016 From my experience the service in the UK is generally always better than in continental Europe.And the selection of ready made meals, while we can argue about the health value of it, is something I love about the UK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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