Sycamore asks the British

[elSicomoro]

Finally! I've felt so uninspired to write anything new in the past month or so...I wound up killing two newer threads that I was dissatisfied with last week.

Until the mid-90s, I didn't realize how different things were outside the US. I knew about a few things like temperature scale and distance measurement, but the internet has truly been a horizon broadener to me. And el sicómoro is fascinated by the most trivial things--in high school, my friends used to call me Cliff Clavin.

For some reason, the temperature issue came to my mind this week, and I meant to ask someone a question about temperature on ovens, but forgot. Tonight, I happened to stumble upon the TV licensing issue on the BBC's website, which jogged my memory. I knew about the TV licensing fee there, but nothing in detail.

And so, I have some questions I would like to submit to our British friends. Would you mind entertaining a goofy American for a little bit?

(Sheppsie, if you want to chime in here as well, go for it.)

1) What do the temperature dials look like on ovens in the UK? On my own oven, the temperature starts at 200 degrees F (considered a "warming" setting), and goes up in increments of 25 degrees up to 525 degrees. Beyond 525, there is a setting for "broil". A good chunk of our food is cooked between 350 and 475 degrees.

2) If you have cable or satellite in the UK, is your licensing fee included in the cost of the service? Or do you still have to pay the TV fee on top of the monthly cable/satellite fee?

3) What are "standard sizes" over there? For example, if I want to grab a soda at a convenience store for immediate consumption, I might grab a 20 ounce or a one liter bottle. If I'm at McDonald's, I'll buy a 32 ounce cup. A canned soda is 12 ounces. If I'm buying soda for a week, I'll either buy a couple of 2 liter bottles or a pack of 12 12 ounce cans.

4) I understand that the UK still uses miles. Is the country trying to transition over to metric, or are they holding firm in using miles? What about metric measurements on other items? For example, we tend to use imperial measurements on everything except for soda and water, which are sold in liters (though almost every item is double-marked: imperial and metric measurements).

More questions as they come to me...