England Tour Update #4

[countblastula]

Day 8: Our first free day of the tour; no shows, no obligations to meet anyone, just a day on our own in Colchester, England's oldest settlement. And of course it was pouring rain most of the day. (Supposedly they got an entire September's worth of rain in 2 days.) That's OK though, there must be some great indoor museums? Oooh, there's a Natural

Comments

[halphasian]

I've been to a few Vietnamese restaurants in America that do this too, but not anywhere near the extremes that they go to in England.

You probably know that in Vietnam no restaurant will bring you the bill unless/until you ask for it. I guess it's considered impolite. I hate yelling at people, but sometimes you have to do it.

[countblastula]

Yeah, I remember that. It's always odd how different cultures operate at the customer service level. In America it would be considered impolite *not* to bring you the bill immediately. I guess because we're always in a hurry and eating is something we do on our way to something else?

[thischarmingmeg]

I actually find British restaurants in general tend to not bring your bill until asked; lots of Americans I meet here have a story of sitting confused for ages after a meal before realizing this. Perhaps the two cultural tendencies amplify each other.

[countblastula]

Another thing about British restaurants - if you ask for water they will bring you the most expensive bottled water they have, and charge you for it.

[newidentity666]

I love the new Sherlock. I adore Benedict Cumberbatch, currently watching him in "To The Ends of The Earth" on Netflix.