Strange British Things.

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Surprisingly affordable the wilco towers. Down town Chicago is a bit shit though is probably why
Do you mean shit as in rough, shit as in boring, shit as in overpriced? The times I visited I was mainly just bowled over by the incredible architecture. Went to some cool bars and restaurants and stuff, dunno if they were life-definingly wonderful or anything, although the view from the restaurant at the top of the Hancock Tower was pretty special.

@padraig (u.s.) to thread, please!
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
Ah yeah, years ago I dated a girl who lived in a big 1950s block in Chicago and there was an arrangement like this (except it was on, like, the 20th floor).

Edit: tell a lie, it was from the 60s. Cool place, awesome views across the city.

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The architect behind these towers studied under some world leader in mid century modernism who preached clean straight lines and 90 degree angles exclusively. After a while the student got bored with that and designed the buildings in your post. The use of lines that bend a little was such a devastating turn that it ended not only their professional relationship but decade spanning friendship as well.
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Ever had a ..... cucumber sandwich? You haven’t lived

The laundry room phenomenon is more to do with US new builds and having the physical space for such a facility. You get them here, but again they tend to be new builds or converted older structures

The stock apt blocks I knew down the US east coast had a shared laundry thing (if at all), basement/cellar area. Homes that were built from the 80’s/90’s onwards also had the boiler put in some kind of peripheral facility, so the plumbing was different even if gravity works the same
 

Leo

Well-known member
the main strange British thing I've found is houses with shit heating. you live in a place that's always been rainy/damp 10 months of the year yet have these pathetic little metal things on one wall that is supposed to warm the room, yet you still need to wear a sweater and socks indoors and coddle your cuppa so your hands don't turn blue. why is it so hard to install proper fucking heating systems? everyone else around the world manages to do it.

we go overboard in the other direction, of course, with big-ass radiators that pump out heat to the point that you have to open the window in January to balance the indoor temps.

my English wife grew up in a old stone farmhouse that was even less heated than most, and to this day tries to compensate for her traumatic childhood by cranking our heat all winter. I'm guessing @IdleRich would find it hard to give up that warm Mediterranean climate to return to England. And forget about @blissblogger, soaking up the SoCal sun for decades.
 
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WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
You can’t compete with us for stone and brick work and I don’t mean the grandiose or some pastoral idealist scene. All that slatted, boxy, borderline chipboard crap you throw up everywhere. There are exceptions compounded by the same 10 chains in a strip mall opposite. Not being right next to France (parts of the south and French Canada doesn’t count) and all your overhead wiring and cabling is an absolute eyesore and engineering travesty

I love New Jersey though and Philadelphia. Fighting Phils. Hoagies. Drunken card nights. The heat and snow. Whiskey and Bourbon Sundays rinsed til all you can navigate is the sound of ice on glass in front of you
 

linebaugh

Well-known member
Do you mean shit as in rough, shit as in boring, shit as in overpriced? The times I visited I was mainly just bowled over by the incredible architecture. Went to some cool bars and restaurants and stuff, dunno if they were life-definingly wonderful or anything, although the view from the restaurant at the top of the Hancock Tower was pretty special.

@padraig (u.s.) to thread, please!
Shit is probably the wrong word. Its nice just not a spot Id want to live. Very pretty buildings, a nice park, great museums and a river walk but once youve seen the sights theres not much in the way of culture beyond what looks to be business brunch spots out of my price range and suped up 'dine in' versions of fast food chains .
 
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Leo

Well-known member
it's as if proper heating would potentially make you all a bit less miserable, and you can't have that.
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
washing machines in the kitchen are quite normal here as well, it's because the bathrooms not always have the right connection for draining and stuff like that. i also know some friends who have their shower in the kitchen.
 

Leo

Well-known member
we facetimed a bunch of times with a friend in the midlands and noticed she was often wearing a fleece hoodie. we though maybe we'd just caught her as she's come back from walking the dog or something. then we visited one Xmas and realized it's actually because her house is literally unheatable (if that's a word).
 
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WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
Flooding and heatwaves. If recent southern Med temperatures unfurl north this country really isn’t designed for anything close to that. Air conditioning is something I associate with occasional work environs. Office space here and there

3 melters in a row was brutal. As a hybrid species we long for warm summers, then complain/can’t cope when they hit. We even have amber weather warnings for rain now. Rain. The element we thrive in, ambered woohoo. Shattered isles
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
my English wife grew up in a old stone farmhouse that was even less heated than most, and to this day tries to compensate for her traumatic childhood by cranking our heat all winter. I'm guessing @IdleRich would find it hard to give up that warm Mediterranean climate to return to England. And forget about @blissblogger, soaking up the SoCal sun for decades.
Yeeees, but Portuguese houses have literally no heating. It's almost warm enough to get away with that but not quite, so in winter I'm colder here than I ever was in UK (or Russia obviously where they have airlock style double doors and fuel is super cheap) - or we were until got aircon installed, we actually find that handy for a few days in summer but vital in winter
As far as I can work out, many Portuguese households just buy a shitty and incredibly thirsty electric heater and then in winter they turn it on, pull down all the shutters to keep heat in and cluster around it for two months. Classic example of how if you're too poor to make a relatively large payment in one go you buy a 'cheap' alternative that ends up costing more in the long run.
 
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sus

Well-known member
The architect behind these towers studied under some world leader in mid century modernism who preached clean straight lines and 90 degree angles exclusively. After a while the student got bored with that and designed the buildings in your post. The use of lines that bend a little was such a devastating turn that it ended not only their professional relationship but decade spanning friendship as well.
"In every statement of self-expression lies a smouldering reaction"
 
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