A thousand miles apart
Since arriving in Sweden in January, I have slowly begun to notice several cultural / lifestyle / geographical differences between Sweden & the UK (apart from the language!). I have started to note down such differences & thought I would bring them to your attention:
1) Leaving bikes unattended (& unlocked!)
Not recommended anywhere in the UK unless you want to get rid of it. In fact, even with an industrial strength lock, you will be lucky if it is still in that London bike shed in the morning (it doesn’t count if all parts are not still attached!)
= SWE 1/0 UK
2) One sunny day in March, the sun is beating down & you feel its warm rays as you jog along…bliss!
The next day… 6 inches of snow?
I feel the UK wins the prize for consistency in type of weather this year (even if that was wet & windy). I think Sweden is going for the surprise factor – keeps us on our toes (…or in our snow boots)!
= SWE 1/1 UK
3) Tea!
Tea is just not the same over here & for those of you who follow me on Facebook, you will see that last week, I ran out of tea bags that I brought from England – not good. While there is an English Shop here in Stockholm, at close to £15 for a box tea bags, this is just not financially sustainable with my tea addiction! (Some wonderful friends sent us a surprise package of nearly 500 tea bags in the post which arrived today – for which I am very grateful…& panic over!)
= SWE 1/2 UK
4) Second-hand stores
There is a different view toward second hand stores & charity shops here in Sweden – maybe it is because things can get expensive. In fact, we have created a new website to help ourselves (& other people) learn how to explore Stockholm on a shoestring.
(No points for this one – points go to us for our new website – 1 to us!)
5) Cafe culture
One thing that is definitely missing from the UK is loads of independent cafes that are well run, reasonably priced & open late (I’m talking until the early hours!) I mean the UK government supports the same concept of allowing establishments to open all hours… with the 24 hour opening of… pubs/ clubs/ anywhere that sells alcohol & allows people to binge drink…oh wait…that doesn’t help society at all – epic fail UK!
Sorry – getting all political there – anyway, we are also on a mission to test the best value cafes out there too (What’s that? What a good use of our time, I hear you say!)
SWE 2/2 UK
That’s enough for now – I shall continue my research & bring you my findings all in good time. (I can tell you’re on the edge of your seats!)
I am also aware that I am not the first immigrant to land on distant shores…if you have also made the move to an unknown land, I’d love to know some of the differences you found when you first set foot on new soil.
Leave a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!
Written by Anita on 21st March 2014 in General, Life
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