Small Things

This country is full of small things.

SMALL ROADS. I think we've touched on that one already.

Our apartment, surprisingly, is not so small. Our rooms are decently sized. The second floor is an open plan - kitchen, living room, dining room with adjoining sitting room with a view of the river. It was renovated to be this way. Apparently, the apartment next door is divided up into separate rooms. Probably with doors into each room.  That would make the same space feel very small.


So, let's start with the fridge.  Do you recognize it?

This is the refrigerator we all bought for our kids to use in their dorm rooms at college. But even those often had a freezer built in. This one does not.  But we, apparently, are lucky, because the expat who lived here before us said that one tiny fridge just would not do, and she asked the landlord for a second fridge. And he bought one. That one sits on top of the counter.  So, I guess it really is a blessing that there is no Costco nearby, because we certainly could not put in the large boxes of salads that I am used to buying plus anything else.


Next, the food. I think this is a chicken or the egg question. Which came first? Is food packaged in small quantities because there is no room in the fridge? Or is the fridge small because the food industry packages everything in small quantities?  It's interesting.






Almost everything is packaged. I do not see loose fruit and vegetables very often. Apples, peaches, nectarines, etc  are packaged 6 small ones to a bag. Grapes are about a pound to a container. Even bananas are bagged. I cannot just pick out 3 - I must take a bag of 6. So, as a result, I have 3 bananas darkening on my counter.

(this is 5 tiny chicken thighs)

All the containers are small. Small mayonnaise, small milk, small laundry detergent. Even the paper towels are small.  And I don't mean the select-a-size ones (I love those!) Here, the paper towels are actually half the size.

 

And the washer and dryer!  Hobbit-sized (as Leslie says). I can put in 2 regular bath towels, 2 hand towels and 2 washcloths. Full. Probably too full. Here is a picture of a top sheet inside the washer.

I am a little afraid to put anything else in with it.

Oh! And it takes over an hour for the washer to do a regular wash!! I do not know why. So, it literally takes all day to do a couple of loads of laundry. Small loads of laundry. Not the once-a-week loads. More like every-3-days loads. I cannot imagine how people with families - children - multiple loads of towels - multiple sets of bed sheets ....

Oh. Never mind on that one. They don't actually use sheet SETS. They do not use top sheets here. Surprise!  But they really love duvets!  And duvets really are wonderful. So, there is a bottom sheet and a duvet.

Which leads me to the next small thing. The Scottish people (and this may actually affect the whole UK) think their beds are "king" sized. They aren't.  I thought at first that our landlord had made a mistake when she told us there was a king and two double beds. Woohoo! We jumped up and down because we love to sleep in a king bed and we relished the idea of having one for a year and half. But it is not a king. We know what a king looks like. It is large and wide and takes up the whole room and you can roll around on it and never touch another person. This is definitely not a king. It is a queen. We know this because we have slept on a queen for 32 years. But they insist. And all their bedding packaging says it is! In fact, you cannot even BUY anything that says it is queen sized!  I heard someone say - and I don't know how much truth there is in this, but it seems like it could be true - that maybe the reason they don't have "queen" beds is because only The Queen sleeps in the queen bed.  So, if you come to the UK and think you are getting a king sized bed, be prepared to be disappointed.

So, to review, here there are single beds, double beds, king beds and super king beds. Yep, the 'super kings' are our king beds. Makes me wonder what would happen to the bed sizes if and when Prince Charles should become king....