Hi Everyone. It’s me. Today we are talking about something that’s a little bit spicy. So this is your warning. Because today we are talking about things that America does better than the UK.
Now obviously the UK is not devoid of natural wildlife, of flora fauna?
-> Obviously not, but it’s certainly not the same or certainly not at the same scale. I did see a study online. Since the 1970s, it has been shown that 41% of all UK species studies have declined since the 1950s. The number of hedgehogs hedgehogs have declined by 95%, while turtle doves have crashed by 98%, and even numbers of the common toad have fallen by 68%. Now, it’s not all depressing. Those numbers are kind of alarming, but I did read Beavers. The Beaver has been successfully reintroduced into the UK after 300 years of being hunted to extinction. North America definitely has more wildlife than the UK, but we’re seeing promising signs that animals can be reintroduced successfully. So fingers crossed, because if hedgehogs become extinct, I will scream similar to it. Natural diversity this guy misses raccoons and honestly, same raccoons aka trash pandas are just a really funny animal.
->They’re quite vicious even though they look absolutely adorable and I do miss them. They’re very smart though I remember. So I used to park my car back home in Canada near our bins, like our outdoor like green bin and blue bin and that kind of thing. And I remember waking up one morning and they were a little dirty footprints on the hood of my car, and I realized that a little trash panda climbed on top of my car so he could reach the green bin and open the green bin easier and get in it. So after that, we had to start putting bricks on top of the green bin because they were opening it and like using my car to get up and open it. They can also like untie. They got kind of freaky little fingers. They’re very smart.
just does better and that has to be aircon?
Or as the Americans like to say, air conditioning. If you have watched any of my videos in the summer months, you would have heard me complaining about the aircon.
I’m so sorry. It’s a personal failing, but it’s definitely something that North Americans take for granted. It’s just kind of assumed that it’s going to be there. So many homes in North America have air con by default. It’s just there. It’s just functioning. It’s just part of the home. And so before I was always a summertime girly.
A lot of Brits say we don’t need it and I already know. I already know there are comments that British people are saying we don’t need it, you only use it for two days out of the year. I hear that every year. I don’t think that’s the case. Old English homes are built to retain heat. This property is hundreds of years old and let me tell you, when it is hot, humid, sticky, I’m sitting at my desk. I’m trying to work. I’m actively sweating on my keyboard.
It sucks.
If I could have aircon in this country, I would. I would. I miss it. But it’s also one of those things where if you grow up with access to it, it becomes like second nature. Whereas I think if you, you know, are 60, you’ve never had aircon in your home, it’s hard to understand what life could be like because you haven’t had that.
 Does that make sense?Anyway, I miss aircon.
What’s an American thing that Britain needs?
->Now, one British person said something that America does better and they wish they had it in the UK. Was a porch with a swing, which was adorable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a home here in the UK with a big porch and a big swing. Leave a comment down below if that exists. Saying that though, I think the main point, the overarching point for this is that homes here in the UK are just so much smaller. Where you have more land in America, you can have a bigger house, and they typically do. You can have a big porch with a big swing and just hang out. It doesn’t matter. I do remember, though, having a friend who had a big swing on the porch and, you know, in the summertime, you know, summer nights. And it was really nice outside. And we’d sit out there and you’d be on the swing and maybe you’d be having snacks and listening to music, and it was just like a really nice, cozy spot.
But I can’t say that I’ve ever seen that here in the UK. Something that America does better. Insect screens. Now this drives me crazy. And actually it drives my British partner insane. I visited my brother in Colorado when he was doing a postdoc, and the sliding patio doors had insect screen doors so you could get ventilation and not have to appreciate the local biodiversity up close. Blew my mind. On a hot British day, we’ll get flies, wasps, gnats, bumblebees and every other buzzy guy joining us indoors because we have opened a window. I want these screens on every opening window yesterday. Now, this one is kind of funny because at first I loved that British homes typically don’t have screens on the windows. I had never seen that before. Back in North America. Every window opening, even if it opens just a crack like there will be a screen in there. And so moving here and I had these beautiful big windows and I could open them, and there was nothing there. You could just see through like an unobstructed view.It was awesome. And then the flies came and the bumblebees and the mosquitoes and all sorts of creatures. So on one hand, I love that there’s no screens because it feels, I don’t know, it feels really nice in the summertime. You got the windows open, you can see you don’t feel so constricted. Maybe. But the reality is that all the local biodiversity buzzing insect guys do come in. And then once they come in, they don’t know how to get out. So this one in particular drives my partner insane. In the summertime when the flies come in and they’re buzzing around and then they can’t get out and you’re trying to like, shoo them out the open window and they just can’t figure it out. Or when I’m filming, I close the windows and I close the blinds. Right. Like I’m trying to keep a closed environment for, like, sound and everything
