A cycle ride between the art, history and local services of Halesworth and Darsham.

This was written for the benefit of the High Tide Theatre Company



From: The Cut, New Cut, Halesworth, IP19 8BY
To: Haw Wood Farm, Darsham IP17 3QT

Distance: 5.4 miles, 9.18 km
Although the majority of this route is along a main road which HGVs travel between Ipswich and Norwich, the upside is that the road is smooth and wide with gentle climbs and descents. It should take a moderately fit person less than half an hour to travel by bicycle between the site of the High Tide festival at The Cut, Halesworth and the festival's campsite at Darsham.

On leaving the entrance to The Cut, head north (uphill) on New Cut and turn left at the A144/Norwich Rd, going downhill towards the roundabout.

But if your tyres need some air, turn right to Hammonds petrol station instead as this is the only local petrol station with a free air line.

Go straight ahead (second exit) over the roundabout onto Saxons Way. (The third exit Bridge Street leads to The Thoroughfare, a pedestrian shopping area.) A shopfront on Bridge Street belongs to the World Land Trust, an international conservation organisation that takes direct action to save rainforest and other wildlife habitats by buying it. The public library is almost opposite it.

On the roundabout on your left is Hooker House, once the home of the botanist Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker which is now a dental surgery. Behind it the park on your left was given to the town by Lady Rugby, the grandmother of disgraced MP Jonathan Aitken who spent his childhood in Halesworth. This is the site of the annual ‘Gig in the Park’ every August.

The river running through the park was once navigable until embankments built downstream caused it to silt up and there was a busy quayside where grain from the many maltings in Halesworth (of which The Cut was one) was taken by boat to Southwold and from there by ship to London. At one time all of Halesworth's malt went exclusively to the Truman brewery in London's Brick Lane.

The car park on the right has a rank of bottle banks and beside them is Huggy's, a cycle shop and motor mechanic.

At the next roundabout continue on ahead. (The right turn is signed Angel Link and leads to The Thoroughfare and the town Marketplace.)

The road now sweeps in a curve to the right. Lansbury Road on the left is named after the founder of the Labour Party George Lansbury (see Mells). Archaeological evidence suggests the derelict land on the right was occupied in medieval times with lead-working, spinning, weaving and brewing carried out in several tenements. It is now the contested site of a development for a Tesco supermarket.

At the next roundabout take the first left A144/London Rd. On the right is a Co-operative supermarket and a petrol station with a coin-operated pressure washer. Facing the roundabout is the Rifle Hall, originally built in 1792 as a theatre and was used from 1812 - 1844 by the theatre manager David Fisher. He owned an itinerant theatre group which travelled a circuit of theatres in East Anglia (including the Fisher Theatre in Bungay). It would take the company two years to complete the circuit travelling with their costumes, props and sets and publicising their plays as they went. They were highly successful with strong links with the London stage and the acting circle and the Rifle Hall once provided Halesworth what The Cut does today. The Rifle Hall has regretfully been neglected by Waveney District Council ever since they took it over in 1974 and its future looks uncertain.

Continue up the incline, mindful of the T-junction with the B1123 Chediston St causing traffic to stop or pull out in front of cyclists, passing Kerridges car dealership, and after that, turn left (heading south) at the A144/Bramfield Rd (at Highfield Residential Home). The road then sweeps downhill passing Blyth industrial estate. A cottage that once stood at the crossroads for Mells and Walpole was the birthplace of the founder of the Labour Party George Lansbury. His grand-daughter is the actress Angela. The Mells road continues onto Wenhaston and this is a good route if you want a quiet back road to see the Wenhaston Doom. In the distance to the east along the valley you can also see the Holton Windmill.

At the 2 km mark, the road climbs again as you pass the Halesworth Golf Club, crossing over the East Suffolk Railway, until it reaches a plateau. The trees at the right bend in the road have seen two fatal car accidents here in the last two years. A memorable road safety poster said "you see a lot of flowers in the country" and the remnants of wreaths were still there at the time of writing. To give a sense of distance if contemplating a side trip; to the east on the far horizon can be seen the Hinton Lodge water tower and next to it is Blythburgh Church, one of the finest churches in East Anglia.

The road then begins to descend towards the village of Bramfield and with enough initial speed it is possible to coast to the centre of the village.

After the village sign, a short way up the first left turning is K W Clarkes, a quality butchers who produce local ham smoked on the premises as well as stocking locally sourced groceries.

After that turning, the North Manor Equestrian Centre stock the surrounding fields with horses and beyond that, The Bell, a 17th century pub, sells firewood and serves real ale but not food. It is one of the last places in the world where the traditional pub game ‘Ringing the Bull’ can be played.

Further on the Bramfield Garage services and sells secondhand cars and motorcycles. Opposite the garage is the Queens Head, a long established award winning gastro-pub. Even though it is now only 5 kms since you left The Cut, you may want to slake your thirst from passing the half-way mark with a pint of locally brewed Adnams there. Nearby an overgrown dovecote made from a barrel raised on a post is a charming oddity.

At the village crossroads a choice of diversions awaits: The Walpole road to the right passes a crinkle-crankle wall and leads to the fine St Andrews Church.

In the opposite direction; a short way down the Thorington road, a path following the ancient Dunwich road leads to circle of felled elm trees at TM 403 736 which often holds outdoor performances. The landowner is the managing director of a display pyrotechnics company who has evidently done extensive and sensitive natural landscaping.

The Thorington road also leads to Wenhaston and a ride to there and back to Holton and Halesworth via the Mells road is a pleasant circular route.

Continuing out of the village, an ancient defensive earthworks, the ‘Bramfield Castle’, becomes apparent on the left side. The road now divides two separate estates. On the right; the Georgian façade of Bramfield Hall can be glimpsed. This Tudor pile is the weekend home of the chairman of the Royal Opera House.

The road begins to climb again and here the surface has deteriorated in some places. A cast iron milestone is at TM 401 727 and near here a large colony of rooks makes an audible landmark that car drivers would miss.

Then on the right, Brights Farm raises organic meat and is a special area of conservation. From the farm you can access twelve miles of grass walks passing a variety of different habitats including old meadows, ancient woods and ponds. Polocrosse is sometimes played in the fields too.

On reaching a flat plateau again, passing two WWII pillboxes marks the last kilometre. The vista is marred or enlivened depending on your mood by the sight of the A12 road and the whiff of a poultry farm.

At the junction with the A12, to reach Haw Wood Farm turn left towards the Little Chef restaurant and then turn right (signed for Hinton) and continue on, passing the turning for High Lodge golf course and shooting school, to reach Haw Wood Farm.

Otherwise, to continue onto Saxmundham, turn right at the A12 and continue on the cycle path towards the train station and petrol station which will become visible 2 km further south.

Darsham has all the basic essentials for a bicycle visitor including a cycling centre and The Fox Inn is popular for Sunday lunches. A bicycle will ensure all its amenities are convenient as they are scattered over some distance.

Clustered around the train station 2 km further along the A12 from the A144 junction are two cafés, a Jet petrol station with a market, Monkey Drum; a shop selling multicultural musical instruments and fair-trade gifts, a paint and tile shop and a automotive tyre centre.

If you want to return to Halesworth by public transport, your choices are the train from Darsham which takes under ten minutes but only runs every two hours or the hourly 521 Anglian Bus which stops outside the station and The Fox Inn on which so far folding bikes have been tolerated.

Local Bike Shops

Halesworth

Coopers (an ironmongers selling tools but no bike spares)
53-54 The Thoroughfare
01986 872 110

Huggy's Bike Shop
Unit 5
18 The Thoroughfare
Tel: 01986 873932

Darsham

Byways Bicycle
Priory Farm
Tel: 01728 668764

Mountain Bike Hire for Snape and Rendlesham forests (delivery and collection to your door with 24 hours notice).

Avocet Sports

07706 479965

http://www.eastcoastmountainbiking.co.uk/

Another map link: http://www.mapmyrun.com/route/gb/halesworth/959027424273

Services in Halesworth

Besides The Cut, services in Halesworth cluster around the Thoroughfare and The Marketplace, both a short walk from the New Cut. Halesworth has a wide range of shops including specialist butchers, a fishmonger, a delicatessen, a organic shop, several greengrocers, a toyshop, several giftshops, an ironmongers, several cafes, a picture framer, a teddy bear emporium, several banks and building societies, a travel agent, a sports shop, a Spar, two newsagents, three hairdressers, a gun shop, a wine merchant, a copy shop, a stationers, chemists and several takeaways. There is also a Co-operative supermarket and several petrol stations and car dealerships locally.

For bike related items there is Huggy's and Anglia Sports has some clothing and Coopers is hardware shop with good tool department but it doesn’t stock bike bits.

Barclays and Lloyds cashpoints are in the marketplace (beyond the Thoroughfare, opposite the Angel Hotel) and HSBC has one at the north end of The Thoroughfare opposite Focus Organics.

PART TWO TO COME: DARSHAM to SNAPE via SAXMUNDHAM

Look what they done to my town Ma...

I am beginning to feel despair that my home town of Halesworth, and the county of Suffolk in general, has taken a turn for the worse. Until recently I was very positive about its potential. Things like The New Cut arts centre opening and the Latitude Festival and even the Prime Minister's holiday were seen by me as signs of an improvement in the quality of life locally and that the prospects for my children were getting brighter. Even though reports state that extreme rural poverty exists in north east Suffolk, evidence abounded that Halesworth's charms were being discovered by others attracting investment. I even cheered the thought that Waitrose would be coming to nearby Saxmundham since John Lewis has bought the Somerfield store there.

Now, after too many assaults on my sensibilities, with several issues needing urgent opposition all at once and competing with each other for public protest and vigilance, I am despondent that elected officials of every stripe appear to be letting me down. Waveney is an under performing council and I fear if this all comes to pass, Halesworth could soon become a prime contender for The Idler's 'Crap Towns'.

Not in any particular order:

Plans for 340,000 chickens to be intensively farmed at Thorington have been approved. Nobody can tell me these birds won't stink. My own chickens stink. Chicken farms account for 17% of environmental complaints resulting from agriculture. I regularly travel past several poultry farms and they all stink, even from miles away. The smell will probably reach me when the wind is from that direction. Then there's the threat to surface and ground water from chicken manure and litter. Of course precautions will be taken and systems put in place to manage and treat the effluent, blah de bloody blah, but, as we have seen many times, inspection and certification systems can fail. These risks can be managed by complex and expensive methods but not totally eradicated. With millions of Bernard Matthews birds nearby (see below) we only increase the chances of this area becoming a avian flu factory. I know indirectly the people behind this plan and although they are what you would call "good people"; the court proceedings from the very small proportion who have been prosecuted for agricultural pollution (rather more indicating lax enforcement than fewer perpetrators) shows that waste management compliance decreases as cost pressures increase.

The closure of Middle Schools. This is a complete upheaval of my children's education. The best teachers are already leaving the affected schools and the County Council is rather tight lipped about the fate of the Halesworth Middle School playing field. This concerns the town council but they are powerless on education matters. It's obvious to a blind bat that this open space will be sold off to a developer to pay for this wicked plan. The only acceptable use of that open space is one the County Council can't raise money with. It's idiotic to increase the hundreds of children travelling every day to Bungay High when there are more children in Halesworth than Bungay. If Suffolk wants to be green about transport, surely the smaller population of Bungay children should be coming to Halesworth.

Besides, I don't recall any parents ever complaining about the three-tier system either. Throughout the whole process the council have promised consultations yet those consultations haven't made a jot of difference. Those in the know that I know tell me it's a foregone conclusion. It has to be by now if its going to be implemented according to the promised schedule. Parents are fatigued enough and although there have been protests, this kind of protester is easy to divide and conquer and dis-courage. But fight on we will! If the credit crunch thwarts this it will be a blessing in disguise.

Bernard Matthews' Wind Farm. I am all for wind power but 400 foot high wind turbines to power turkey sheds brings no benefit to the community. It's not power for the people but to warm a lot of intensively reared meat that I don't want to buy or eat. Bernie's PR machine is using green arguments to ensure he can continue with a totally unsustainable practise. I find it galling he brands his turkey fillets 'Big Green Tick'. There's nothing green about them unless you keep them past their sell by date.

As for the ongoing effluent problems and smells from intensive poultry farming and processing and the risks of another bird flu outbreak see above. Around here, lazy children get told that if they don't apply themselves to their lessons they'll end up at Bernies. People in Halesworth are very leery of openly criticizing Bernard Matthews as local jobs used to depend on him (and with a net worth somewhere around £300M his lawyer can beat up your lawyer) but if he shut up shop in Holton tomorrow, I doubt anyone would really care except Lowestoft's buy-to-let landlords, the pound shops and the Portuguese workers bussed in every day who now make up 30% of his 6000 person workforce. I'll miss their coffee shops and pasteis de nata but that's a small price I'll pay.

There have been long running complaints to the Holton Parish Council about smells from Bernies but I gather that if you complain to Environmental Health, you have to declare that or it becomes public record when you sell your house which has made sure a lot of people remain silent. Bernie can buy friends in one parish by letting a museum use a building and the only opposing voice in another parish was a councillor who believes a nuclear power station at Holton over a wind farm is a rational alternative!

Bernie recently ran an ad campaign claiming his staff were proud all his turkeys were 100% British born and bred, unlike his staff of course.I'll spare discourse on what that actually means in product marketing terms, not a lot really, and so what does he grow at his Hungarian and Brazilian farms then? His website has revolving banner ads of his employees saying "I'm proud to work at Bernard Matthews". None of the workers making that claim were named Joao or Costanca though and there were also many testimonials by African-Americans during the civil rights era that they were perfectly happy with Jim Crow too. Bernie's PR campaigns are style without substance and designed to diffuse, deflect and obfuscate.

My opposition is nothing personal or directed at Bernard Matthews in particular, it's just that intensive meat production and processing is not the way forward. Why don't they grow some tomatoes there instead and put them on trains instead of trucks, like when London's food markets were supplied by the East Suffolk line with fish from Lowestoft docks and milk from Halesworth dairy.

Nuclear Power: First there was Sizewell A, then B, now plans are afoot for C. Then D and....? Do we really have to sell out future generations for tens of thousands of years for the sake of five hundred jobs? I reluctantly agree there is some role for nuclear power but we must do everything we can to improve efficiency and exhaust every alternative first. And, if it's so safe as 'they' claim, nuclear power stations should be in the middle of cities so the population that depends on them lives with the consequences in a fair proportion of use and responsibility.

The flooding of Blythburgh. There's a lot of bad karma in the river and sea defences arising from the actions taken during their building centuries ago by selfish landowners - detailed in Rachel Lawrence's 'Southwold River' - which have been maintained by the public purse until recently. But there is very important infrastructure there now and letting the sea flood the marshland around Walberswick and Dunwich will also have a devastating impact further inland. Now we are being promised improvements to the A12 to prevent the flooding closing it but this money will probably come at the expense of something else. Several villages desperately need bypasses and there should be more cycle routes.

The Tesco Battle. If not Tesco, then ASDA or something worse like Budgens or Lidl will eventually arrive in Halesworth. Despite a recent makeover, the Co-operative store still needs to up its game. Its failure creates the demand its rivals are keen to fulfil. Locals want an alternative which is why I support the idea of a Waitrose nearby. At the top of my ethical supermarket scale (I realise it is an oxymoron) is the Co-operative Society, then John Lewis. Running in the middle of the pack is Sainsburys. At the bottom sits Tesco and ASDA aka Wal-Mart whose low prices come at high costs.

The Beccles Loop: Enabling more than one train every two hours in each direction between Saxmundham and Lowestoft. We had a dual track railway line until 1984 but to save money one track was torn up. Now it will take over £12M to reinstate just one mile at Beccles so trains can pass and double the line's capacity. It's long promised but I'll give four to one we soon hear it's a victim of the credit crunch.

Anyone with news of any positive signs is welcome to post here. I am looking for them, believe me.

US and UK incompatability

A list off the top of my head of the adjustments you have to make when moving between the USA and the UK or vice-versa. This is a can of worms I wish I'd never started. Read at your own risk.

Roads

US: Drive on the right, steering wheel is on the left. Thus drivers are more likely to get skin cancer on their left arm.

UK: Drive on the left, steering wheel on the right. Drivers get skin cancer on right arm. Except the UK gets it less because of the weather (but don't kid yourself, melanoma rates are rising).

In the UK you can get a special license if you can only drive an automatic car but why bother. Everyone has a stick.

If you come to the UK from the US and stay more than 30 days with intention to live here, you have to take the UK driving test. If you say you're not coming to stay more than 30 days, you can drive on a US license but only for one year. It is not that hard to get car insurance on a US license but you will pay a slightly higher premium but you won't be able to transfer your 'no claims' bonus unless you get a certified letter from your old insurer less than 30 day old.

On the other hand, you can come to the UK from Zimbabwe and hand in your license and get a UK one straight away. Do they think Zimbabwe's driving standards are better than American ones?

The know-it-all in the pub told me (and I haven't yet heard that this loophole has been closed) that you can get legally a driving license from the DR Congo which has no driving test and then exchange it without a test in Germany and then exchange that (because it is EU) for a UK license WITHOUT EVER TAKING A TEST. There are dodgy websites that claim they do this for you and relieve you of 600 euros for the privilege.

If you get a ticket in the UK when driving on a US license, you get fined etc. just the same and the minute you get a UK license, the 'points' (endorsements) show up.

Taking the UK driving test is not just going down to the DMV. Oh no, it's an example of British bureaucracy at its finest. You have to make an appointment to take the written test and maybe wait six months. Then when you've passed that you make another appointment for the driving test, and then maybe wait six months. Without driving lessons the fees etc. add up to over £150

The UK test is MUCH harder than the California DMV exam. Maybe because UK roads are smaller and speeds are higher.

Bringing an economy type car with high mileage from the US to Britain is not worth the cost of all the extra cost of insurance that you will pay for a left-hand drive (and conversion of emissions and light lenses etc.) but for luxury and sports cars, it might be worth it.

If your car is over 30 years old, you will pay NO road tax in the UK and avoid all kinds of emission regulations. Certainly importing some classic tin from the US to the UK is a lot easier than importing a modern car. A lot of classic UK cars (Jags, MG's, and Bentleys etc.) seem to go the other way too.

I've met a lot of British people in the USA buying classic Harleys for half the UK cost and importing them to the UK where any adaptation to UK specifications must be more straightforward.

Car Insurance

I never got to the bottom of this but in the US, if you have a license and fully comprehensive insurance, you can lend your friend or your child your car to drive as long as they have a license. Your policy covers occasional use by family or friends if there under reasonable circumstances.

In the UK, the driver has to have their own insurance (and license obviously) before they can drive anyone else's car. Total pain and you have to get a rider on your policy.

Road Tax (Registration)

USA: (California) your car and your trailer have different license plates.

UK: your trailer has to have the same license plate as the car pulling it. So you have to have a lot of custom plates if you have a lot of different cars.

When you rent a trailer in the UK, they charge you extra (around £30) to make up the plate unless you have your own.

If you have a tow bar (hitch) installed on your car, you should get an extra license plate (wired and illuminated of course) to put on whatever you tow with it.

In California the annual registration sticker goes on the corner of the rear license plate and it sticks really hard. You have to buy one every year. You stick the new one over the old. After about ten years, you take them off with razor blade.

In the UK, the registration sticker isn't a sticker but a paper beer label and sticks on the inside of your windshield (windscreen) with a lame bit of phthalated plastic. It can fall off and blow away anytime. That's really annoying if you get a ticket for not displaying one or a residents' parking permit when this type falls off in the sun. As it costs an arm and a leg, you can buy one for six or twelve months.

Rear Lamps on cars.

US cars: Red brake lights and turn signal (indicators).

UK cars: Amber turn signal, red brake lights.

In the UK, you can tell if they’re turning and not that they have lost a bulb in the brake light.

Dates.

US month/day/year… but why?

UK day/month/year is better but still not logical.

Why don't we just do year/month/day - hour/minute/second like astronomers do?

The international format defined by ISO 8601 tries to address all these problems by defining a numerical date system as follows: YYYY-MM-DD where

* YYYY is the year [all the digits, i.e. 2012]
* MM is the month [01 (January) to 12 (December)]
* DD is the day [01 to 31]

Celebrations.

In Britain, Mother's Day is on the fourth Sunday of Lent and therefore its date varies, depending on the date of Easter.

In the USA and also in Australia and many other countries, Mother's Day is on the second Sunday in May.

Father's Day seems to be different either side of the Atlantic too.

People in Britain complain about the American invasion of 'Trick or Treat' corrupting Halloween which twenty years ago didn't have the mischief element in the UK nor the hordes of sweet collectors but they forget it was invented in Yorkshire and went to the New World, so it's a custom that's just come home and it never died out here in the first place.

'Bonfire Night' on 5th November means the fireworks show starts earlier than it would on 4th July. And what better on a winter night than a great big fire! In the UK you can buy fireworks in a sweetshop (candy store). They are neither safe nor sane. M-80's or cherry bombs (real or not) are called 'bangers'. The British love flammable magnesium wands called 'sparklers'.

Time.

The US and the UK change to/from Summer Time or Daylight Saving Time at different times.

The U.S. federal Uniform Time Act of 1966 mandated that daylight saving time begin nationwide on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October. Then they changed it again so daylight saving time goes from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday of November.

"Spring forward, Fall back" is universal but the change always happens about two weeks apart. LA is eight hours behind London then for two weeks in the Spring it is nine hours behind.

Brits say "quarter past". Americans say "quarter of".

Paper.

US: Legal and letter paper sizes Duh?

UK: A4 and dead easy to scale up and down and to calculate the shipping weight of a publication by the GSM of the paper.

This makes US filing cabinets and suspension systems incompatible with UK ones and vice-versa.

Binders.

The US three ring binders are totally incompatible with UK two-ring or four-ring binders.

Bolts.

Henry Ford turned down the Roberston Bolt because they (the Robertson's) wouldn't let him have it exclusively. Canadians on the other hand have adopted it everywhere. Why Britain uses the inferior Philips I don't know.

American bolts are Imperial and the UK is pretty much metric now. US manufacturers are slowly and very quietly changing to metric because of overseas markets (the US) as tools and dies in offshore manufacturers are generally metric.

NASA's loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter was caused by assumptions that the US way is #1.
A NASA investigation into the satellite's failure revealed that one team of engineers had used traditional American units, while another had used metric units. The result was a trajectory error of sixty miles, and a $125-million disappearing act.

Measures.

US pints are 16 fluid ounces.

UK pints are 20 fluid ounces.

This makes the US gallon smaller and trips to the pub bathroom more frequent as Brits drink bigger pints.

Electricity.

US 110v 60 Hz

UK 230v 50 Hz

I've always liked the US voltage. Appliance plugs are smaller.

US cube taps (two-way adaptors) are quite small. British ones are huge and bulky. Same with wall sockets. If you like minimalism, have US style household electrics.

If you move to the UK from the USA, you don't have to give away or sell all your appliances and power tools. Since 1991 all professional contractors (builders) have to run 110v power tools on sites in the UK so you can buy 230v-110v transformers very cheaply capable of almost any wattage. Things like record players don't work so well as the AC hertz governs the motor speed. Small appliances like a US specification KitchenAid mixer or HP printer will work just fine with a transformer in the UK and besides they cost twice in the UK what they do in the US. Most desk computers and laptops are universal voltage so not a worry.

A UK hairdryer in the US is anemic and useless. A US hairdryer used in the UK will burn out in seconds (I tried it!) I saw in a drugstore (chemist) one with a switch on the handle that said 230v/110v and when I opened it, it was just a dummy stuck in the housing not even connected to anything.

When you go into a UK bathroom, you won't find a light switch inside it. Because of the voltage, wet hands might get a nasty shock so bathrooms have a pull switch on a long cord which hopefully insulates you. For any electrical things you want to use in a bathroom like razors, there is often a two-pin plug unit on the wall marked 'Shavers Only' which has a monstrous GFI to prevent electric shocks.

If you have your US laptop or similar with you and you have forgotten or lost a US to UK plug adaptor, you can make the US plug fit in those shaver sockets without too much butchery. Just tamp down the widest part of the prongs on the US plug which a shoe heel or something heavy.

A trick I've learned is when using something that can run on a car adaptor taking 12v from the cigarette lighter, you should buy an American one for 12v to 110v as it’s a waayyyy smaller package than a 12v to 240v.

American appliances like the WaterPik are not as common in the UK because they don't allow electricity in bathrooms. Which also helps explain British teeth.

Household Wiring.

In Europe the following colour scheme is used: the covering of the live conductor is brown, that of the neutral conductor is blue and that of the earth (ground) has green and yellow stripes. Britain previously used a different colour scheme but changed to the European standard many years ago.

For many years the USA has used the following colour scheme: the covering of the live conductor is black (or occasionally red or blue), that of the neutral conductor is white and that of the ground (earth) is green. However, according to some sources the USA is now changing to the European standard, especially for equipment which is distributed world-wide.

I suspect that the colour scheme used in Canada is the same as in the USA.

Electrical Safety.

USA: Underwriter's Laboratory UL logo

UK BSA 'Kite Mark' logo

Mobile Phones (Cell Phones).

USA: CDMA/TDMA are the predominant wireless technologies.

Everywhere else: GSM 900/1800

Phone Dialling.

UK area codes start with a '0' (zero) so think 0213-555 -1212

US phone numbers start with a 1 so it's 1-213-555-1212

BUT when you call a number in the UK from the USA, you have to lose the zero.

UK country code is 44

USA country code is 1

UK country code comes after Romania, Austria and Slovakia. Why? Long story but Britain arrived late at the conference. No seriously.

International Dialing Code in the UK is '00'

International Dialing Code in the USA is '011'

To call a number in the UK from the USA it would be 011-213-555-1212 (you lost the '0' right?)

To call a number in the USA from the UK it would be 00-1-213-555-1212

UK emergency services (any type) 999

USA emergency services (any type) 911

Phone Wiring.

Land-line phones, answering machines and fax machines imported from the USA don't work very well in the UK unless they say they are UK specification. The UK has different dialing tones and line voltage which gives US specification phones a really bad hum.

If you're travelling with a US modem in the UK, they work OK but if you're having problems connecting, the first thing to check is the cord. Get to down to a stationery store and get a UK one. The wiring of wall boxes and lines is different in the UK and a USA RJ11 cord doesn't work.

UK phones use BS6312 431A plugs to connect to the wall anyway. The latch is on the side.

UK phones cords are hardwired. You can disconnect the handset but usually you can't replace the line from the base unit to the wall. Only one end has the plug, the other is hardwired into the unit which is a pain if you want to make the cord much longer without a big lumpy connector in the middle of it which someone will step on and crunch underfoot.

Southwestern Bell, a US phone appliance maker, also makes UK phones but these are UK specification.

Electrical Switches.

USA/CANADA: Off is DOWN

UK: Off is UP (except for some equipment intended for the world market and imported into the UK.

Radios.

Portable radios are compatible between the UK and the USA/Canada, except that there are no long wave transmissions in the USA or Canada.

Radio stations are 9 kHz apart in the EU. In the USA it 10 kHz. Digital tuners often have a switch.

What the British call Medium Wave is called AM in the US. What Britain calls Long Wave is AM too but Long Wave is something else in the US. If you want to get the main UK stations on a US radio, it just needs to have VHF.

Mail (Post).

In the UK no mail is collected from your postbox. A pain if you live in rural area.

In the US your mail is collected if you put the flag up on your mailbox.

CANADA (BC at least) has no deliveries on a Saturday.

UK delivery is six days a week Mon-Sat. Sometimes twice in one day.
Special Delivery is not on Sunday, Saturday Special Delivery has a surcharge.

US delivery is six days a week; Mon-Sat.
Special Delivery is on Sunday too.

Read this essay about what happens when you don't put enough postage on a letter in the UK and why Britain should do what the US does and put a return address on every piece of mail which isn't required in the UK.

In the UK you can't send a letter to Canada without a return address.

Gas/Petrol Stations.

Unlike in Britain, in the USA and Canada most petrol (gas) pumps do not switch on automatically as you lift the hose out of the pump. Instead, you have to pull a lever up, turn a lever, or press a button to switch the pump on. Then with self-serve you have to wait for the pump to be cleared down by the operator before you can start filling.

You can’t put unleaded in the leaded car in the US but in the UK you can’t buy leaded anyway.

In the UK you can easily make a mistake and put petrol in a diesel car. Big Mistake. It'll cost you £5K if you have a Landrover.

If you really try, you can also put diesel in a petrol car. Not so bad, makes lots of smoke though.

Sales Tax/VAT.

UK sales tax/value added tax included in the retail price unless at a wholesaler or trade store.

VAT is different from sales tax though in the way it is collected.

US & CANADA, sales tax is on top of quoted price.

In UK, if Business to Business, prices exclude sales tax/VAT.

In a petrol station in the UK they might ask you "do you want a VAT receipt". Why don't they just give everyone the same receipt with the VAT and non-VAT breakdown, which is what it is?

Fast Food.

In the US you get heaps of free condiments. Totally groovy by me.

In the UK condiments nearly always cost extra. A gouge really. I've seen unsuspecting Americans pile their tray with condiments in a self-serve cafeteria and freak out at the check-out (till).

Holidays.

USA has seven bank holidays.

New Year’s Day
President Day
Memorial Day
Independence Day
Labour Day
Thanksgiving Day
Christmas Day

Most people in the USA only get ten to twenty-one days holiday (vacation) from their workplace per year.

In the UK, four weeks is around the basic. The British don't only get fewer public holidays; they also have the least statutory annual leave in Europe.

The UK has up to 8 bank or public holidays depending on the calendar in comparison with the European average of 10.8

There is no statutory right to time off for bank and public holidays in England and Wales. Any right to time off or extra pay for working on a bank holiday depends on the terms of an employee's contract of employment.

Law.

Whenever you talk about the law in Britain, you have to remember that Scotland has its own legal system and so what goes in England and Wales may not apply there. A bit like Federal and State law.

If arrested in the US you have the right to remain silent and that is respected. Google Professor Duane for his lecture on YouTube.

In the UK, you have the right to remain silent but jury attitudes tend to consider that an admission of guilt (I served on a jury and that's all I base it on).

Money.

The US uses absolutely brain-dead bank notes: all denominations have the same size, feel and color. Furthermore, the largest denomination is only $100.

UK pound coins weigh a ton and wear out the pockets of your pants (trousers).

When writing cheques (checks) in the US you write the dollars and the pennies as fractions of dollars e.g. twelve dollars and 25/100

In the UK you write: twelve pounds and 25 pence.

Did you know that Nat West and Barclays and some other UK banks will take a US dollar check from US certain banks and convert it at the interbank rate? It's good to ask your bank first; you can save a bundle on fees if someone sends you money from the US. You can also walk into almost any Canadian bank a get a cheque for UK sterling with very little markup which is cheaper than an ATM.

You can't go overdrawn in the US without a pre-arranged line of credit. The bad check just gets sent back and you get an NSF fee.

In the UK, if you have had an account for a year or so and suddenly go one pound overdrawn, they tend to let it through but charge huge fees and over 30% APR.

To deposit a check in the US you have to endorse it on the back. You don't do anything in the UK except enclose a deposit slip.

Directions.

Americans have a strange obsession with the points of the compass. Frequently inside a building you will find signs like "This elevator is out of order. Please use the one on the North side of the building." How am I supposed to know where North is? Why can't they just tell me where the elevator is?

Floors.

A confusion arises between the two forms of floor numbering in use worldwide. In most of Europe, and thus British usage, the floor at the ground level is the ground floor, and the floor above is the first floor, which maintains the continental European use dating from the days of the construction of palaces. For example, in French, the term for the ground floor is rez de chausée. But in North American usage, the floor at the ground level is the first floor and the floor above is the second floor; this system is also used in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union. Perhaps the Russians thought, "some day, some day."

Furniture.

American 50's and 60's modernism was a bargain once upon a time. I used to buy stuff for my apartment cheaply at Deseret Industries and when I shipped it to my new home in the UK, it was the envy of several antique dealers who were buying in the US and selling in the UK. I nearly plotzed when I saw Steelcase 'tank' desks and old steel medical cabinets on sale in London for 1200 dollars which I could find for ten dollars in the US.

Clothing.

There a lots of US/UK clothing size charts out there. I need not go into that. Google them.

Beds.

US bed sizes are totally different than the UK ones although they have the same names.

I've been in touch with the UK Sleep Council (an association of furniture and mattress makers) and they told me they don't have any official standard sizes in the UK although there are some standards; these are not any kind of legal standard.

The UK hotel industry doesn't have any standardized sizes either. If a place advertises 'King' beds, it could be anybody's king. Hope it’s not the king of Lilliput.

Now IKEA in the UK has slightly different sizes of sheets than you would buy in John Lewis or Sears for example. IKEA sells different sizes in the US than it sells in the EU as it learned that, sorry guys, Americans are a tad bit heavier than Europeans. Must be all those free condiments.

So, if buying linens for friends in another country; get very specific about measurements and don't just go by the names for things.

Copyright.

Way too complicated but remember;

In the United States, typeface designs are not covered by copyright, but may be covered by patents if sufficiently novel.

In the UK, typefaces can be copyrighted. So if you borrow someone's fonts and publish something with them, you could be in twubble.

Tax Filing.

For an UK employee, the end of the UK tax year is April 5th and you can file as late as January 31 following.

US tax year is Dec 31st and you file by April 15th.

Thanks go to many for info and corrections.