I'm only going to assume that most of my dear readers have never lived abroad, so I'm going to let you in on what life is like... As with everything.. there are pros and cons to it all.. I'm not going to do this as one long post, just whenever I come to realize a difference.. I'll let you in on it!
But before I can begin that.. we have one event I want to talk about... Everett's Birthday!!!! Since March 1st has come and gone, I hope you guys got the chance to wish him a happy birthday in the various forms available... and if not, then I can tell him for you! From what I can tell it was a good birthday for him.. he certainly was busy!! He of course had to work, which was a bummer, but he picked me up on his lunch break so that I could get some things done on base during the second half of the day.. One which included actually buying him a birthday present... I'm terrible at keeping secrets from him so it's safer to have little amount of time between the purchase of a gift and the giving of a gift! As soon as I picked him up from the class he had to teach, we zipped over to RAF Lakenheath (where I got to watch a few F-15s take off which is always a good time) to go to the grocery store to pick up some essentials I didn't have to make his "cake". Then it was time to go home where I prepared some Chicken Parmesan (he is on a chicken and salad only diet until his PT test later this month..) and a cherry cheesecake. He had to quickly eat dinner before running off to his basketball game, which they lost : ( By the time he got home, all we had time to do was blow out the candles, open presents, and eat cheesecake before going to bed! He refused to allow me to put 27 candles into his cheesecake, so I made him compromise with a 2 and 7 candle.. which of course didn't actually stay in the cake.. So he had to hold them up while holding the cake up for the picture... Fire hazard?? Nah.... I made sure to give him as many spankings as I could get in for the day.. but I believe my count was only up to about 12... Overall a good but busy day!!
Ok... back to life in England...
I reserved a copy of the 7th Harry Potter book at the Newmarket Library.. and have been waiting a few days to go get it since I have been without a car.. I decided that through hell and high water I was going to get this book today because I have been so excited to read it, so I made the 3 mile roundtrip journey to downtown Newmarket and back to get it. This 45 minute walk gave me WAAAAYYYYY too much thinking time, so now I get to share with you what I thought about/experienced..
When borrowing books from a library in the states, it always requires a short visit with a librarian in order to check out books especially if you have reserved one. So, when walking into a library in England, who do I head straight for? Yes.. you guessed correct... the librarian... well... I guess that was my first mistake...
While waiting in line for the librarian to become available, I noticed a sign that said "Checkpoint for reservations" over two computers... Right as I noticed the sign, the librarian asked me what I needed, so I confirmed that I was supposed to be over by the sign... she said yes.... that all reservations were on the shelf in order by surname... STILL thinking I had to have some sort of permission to get my book off a reservation shelf, I go to the computer, scan my library card, and sure enough... It tells me my reservation is there.. to go pick it up... I hesitantly walked over to the shelf, feeling extremely guilty for getting into the reservation shelf, grab my book, then wonder what the heck I do next!! So I sit there and watch a man who just grabbed a book as well to see what he did. He walked up to those computers, scanned his card, scanned his book, and walked out the door... So.. I gave it a try.. scanned my card, scanned my book, printed out a receipt for good measure.. then looked around for someone to give me an OK that I could go... After a few seconds, I realized this wasn't going to happen, so I sneakily left... still uncertain about whether or not I had just stolen a library book...
Now most of you are probably thinking "Cool! A 'self checkout' at the library.. sounds convenient!!" But that's not what I thought.... I was thinking... Why would they do that at the library?? People could steal books and they would never know!! But then I have to take a step back and realize... this is England.. where people are held accountable for their own actions, and 95% are responsible for themselves.... Let's think about America... is there probably a reason why we don't have a self checkout at the library?? Could it be because most Americans aren't even responsible enough to borrow from the library and actually return their books?! Not to go on a rant against Americans.. I just think it's sad that we aren't raised to be more responsible! Although I'm sure everyone reading this does not apply.... : )
And this isn't the only time I have witnessed how the British allow their citizens to be held accountable for their actions, or just trust each other.. Here are a few other examples:
- While waiting in the long line for the librarian, the young man in front of me who was probably my age or a few years younger was returning a late book. He told the lady that he knew it was late, but didn't have any money on him to pay the fee. Would there be any way he could come back tomorrow with the money? She said of course, and he was off without any other questions... Come to find out he only owed 12 pence which isn't even a quarter, and if I had change on me I would have paid it for him! But the fact that she had no problem letting him leave, no condescending look or rude tone of voice... I just thought it was nice!
- On the roads here they have speed cameras placed randomly. Instead of having cops hid out on the road to speed trap people, they use these. The cameras measure how fast you are going based on the time it takes you to cross these little lines in the road. If you are going too fast, it takes a picture of your license plate and you get a ticket in the mail... Much similar to the Running a Red Light cameras they have been putting up in the States. The best part about these speed cameras, is that there are SIGNS telling you when you are about to get to one... They give you all the warning in the world to slow down! So, if you don't, it really is your fault and you do deserve the ticket! I just think it's such a nicer thing that sneaky cops wanting to catch you doing bad... Once again.. they are giving their citizen's a chance to be held accountable for their own actions..
Well.. Before I get onto something else, I guess I better get off this!! Until next time!!
While I agree with your sentiment about people being held accountable for their actions, I have to tell you that the Lawrence Public Library has a similar system. You pick up your own reservations off a line of shelves by last name, and the self check out station is right nearby; same process, scan your card, scan the book, get receipt. And, I had an overdue book once with a small charge (less than fifty cents). When I said I wanted to pay it, she was like, oh, okay, but you can pay it whenever you want. I did think that was rather unheard-of though, thought for certain I wouldn't be allowed to check out more books without paying. oh, and happy birthday to everett...i remembered about five days to late, so i decided to just let it go, but now I feel badly about it. glad it was a good one!
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