this and that

Living over here has given us the chance to observe some differences between Australia and America. Here is a summary to date:

Cool stuff:

• Sprinklers are allowed! So are slip 'n slides! Lucy is going to have a great summer
• You can post your letters directly from your house by putting them in your mailbox and putting up the little red flag for the mailman to collect
• U-turns at traffic lights are legal and acceptable and encouraged
• Right turn on red
• Free shipping from most companies

Brickbats:

• Tipping. At the Westin in LA the following tipping scheme was enforced for room service: 15% tip + 8.25% tax + $4 delivery. It makes it very difficult to calculate how much things cost
• Adding tax to the 'final' price
• Minimal recycling. Plastic bags are the norm at supermarkets and often there is only one or two items per bag! This makes for a lot of bags. Paper is an option, however the packing girl advised us to use plastic as paper cuts down trees!!! Also outside of the defined city limits (central Wilmington) there is no pick up of recycling - you have to drop it off.

Observations:

• Our kitchen has no vegetable peeler but it does have a pizza cutter and an electric can opener
• Kettles are not popular but coffee machines are
• Cribs come with bumpers
• Diapers are not boy/girl differentiated
• Lots of cars don't have separate indicator lights - the brake light flashes instead