I'm only up to page 20, but this thread does make me laugh.
I am British, married to a Dutch man, and have lived in several countries, including parts of Asia and ex soviet.
Honestly so many of these are either weather and environment dictated, or just so clearly in opposition to the person commenting.
for example:
washing machines in kitchens- because it is close to back door and many people don't have space for a tumble dryer, so they hang washing out to dry. Bathroom is also tiny, as houses tend to be small.
cafe culture - non existent due to weather, hence the prevelance of pubs.
but really - British people never say what they mean or get to the point. Try living in Asia! Where I lived, it was rude to say no. So if you invited someone to dinner, they would say yes, but not come. It took ages and ages to realise that there were ways of saying yes that meant no. Everyone else knew this, just the silly foreigner who hadn't worked it out.
and of course to that the reverse is true. Many more direct cultures feel incredibly rude to us. Dh laughs at how he had to learn that if someone said - would you like to help put the chairs away? It wasn't actually a question!
Also - customer service. Try living in an ex-soviet country, the concept is completely unheard of, they make us look positively amazing.
and greetings - we say 'how are you?' 'I'm fine' as a greeting. It isn't a question. Neither is - alright? to which the answer is - alright.
But every country has the same, standard greetings. In some places, the opening greetings are 5 minutes long. You ask how the perosn is, how their husband is, how their children are and their auntie and second cousin and dog, and then finally, you can talk about what you came to talk about.
People complain about us having sandwiches for lunch, but in our staff room there was always a variety of things for lunch, whereas when you go inot a staff room in Holland, every single person has a tupperware with 2 rounds of cheese or ham sandwiches on brown bread, and an apple, and they all eat it with a glass of milk on the side. I'm not exaggerating!
The kids and bedtime one. When I lived in ex-soviet, kids went to bed at the same time as adults, mainly due to small flats and sleeping arrangements. Out of interest I once worked out how many hours sleep my friend's son had, compared to mine. Mine went to bed around 8 and slept til 7 am, plus afternoon nap. I worked out they both had about 12 hours sleep a day. Her son woke later, and had a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. So it is swings and roundabouts.
And so many of these only apply to some people. I've always rinsed dishes, eaten cake at parties and taken my shoes off. My kids eat with us (no way am I cooking 2 meals) and I don't use a washing up bowl (BUT I have asink in the utility room for dirty things like football boots. If the only sink was the kitchen sink, it would get used for everything, and I would probably have a wahsing up bowl.)
Every where has its quirks. I think some of these are just people not getting what they are used to, and sorry, but if you live here you have to get used to the fact that we sell the bread we like in UK, not the bread you like.
as to the food
-vinegar on chips is amazing
-mintsauce with roast lamb is delicious
-chip/crisp/fish finger butties are disgusting
-salad cream is 100 x better than mayo
-butter is much nicer than mayo on any sandwich, but WHY would you put mayo in eg a ham sandwich (shudder)
-roast dinners done properly are not remotely beige and are delicious
-gravy is a food of the gods
