Couple of questions for you Brits

[Marsha]

Hi folks, got a couple questions bugging me and I need a Brit to answer them. I think,
1st; I'd like to know what time it is in England, it's 7:08 PM here in Ontario.
2nd; and ya may all find this funny and if you do please don't laugh out loud, I will hear you and it WILL hurt my feelings, I'd like to know if batteries are the same in Britain as they are in Canada. I will be sending a clock to Scotland and I need to make sure the recipient can get the batteries for it.
TIA
Marsha

[chrispuzzle]

Marsha -

We are five hours ahead of Ontario. It was 00.08 when you were writing.

Mostly we have the same batteries, eg AAA, AA etc. What sort are in the clock?

Chris

[Marsha]

Thanks for the quick reply Chris, I'm pretty sure they're AA.
and BTW I did hear a little snicker.
Thanks
Marsha

[Gill]

Hi Marsha

Here's a useful site for you to calculate the differences between various time zones:

http://wwp.greenwichmeantime.com/time-zone/usa/eastern-time/index.htm

At 7.32 EST in Canada, it's 00.32 (half past midnight-ish) here in Blighty.

I should imagine your friends in Scotland will be able to find suitable batteries; after all, many scrollers over here import clocks from suppliers in the USA. We use batteries that are given codes such as AA, LR6 or MN1500, so if you're familiar with those classifications in Canada the chances are that you're using the same batteries as us.

Hope this helps.

Gill

[PuzzledMoose]

We use batteries that are given codes such as AA, LR6 or MN1500, so if you're familiar with those classifications in Canada the chances are that you're using the same batteries as us.
Gill

OK AA and AAA I understand, Gill, but how did I survive 49 years in the UK without hearing of LR6 and MN1500 - they sound like robots .... What are they? Watch batteries?

[PuzzledMoose]

Marsha -

We are five hours ahead of Ontario.
Chris

Yes you are right now - there is one week in the year though when it's 6 hours difference because in the Spring UK Daylight Saving (BST) started a week before Ontario's.

However, just to make things more "interesting" I just read this:

"NEW! In 2007 Daylight Saving Time will begin three weeks earlier on the second Sunday in March and end on the first Sunday in November. Currently Daylight Saving Time starts on the first Sunday in April and ends on the last Sunday in October. This pattern will be followed by all provinces which observe daylight saving time and each province is amending their legislation to reflect this change."

[workin for wood]

That was a pretty good question Marsha, because far as I know, they have a different household electric system than we to here in North America.

Can we verify that toilet water flushes counter clockwise in Australia too?

[PuzzledMoose]

That was a pretty good question Marsha, because far as I know, they have a different household electric system than we to here in North America.

Yup we do - 240v is standard. None of this weedy N American voltage ...

Can we verify that toilet water flushes counter clockwise in Australia too?

As far as i know that's a myth .. see here .. http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/coriolis.html

I've only been S of the equator once and I forgot to look ..lol

[workin for wood]

That's an interesting site, but they don't really say for sure what's up with the toilet water. Perhaps an Auzzie would know for sure. What makes sense to me is north of the equator is clockwise, south is counter and if your at the equator the water goes straight down, lol. I need firm proof with an Auzzie flushing the toilet right now. New Zealander would work too of course. I've driven a million miles with this question debated in my head, it's time to put it to rest.

[CanadianScroller]

Those are good questions Marsha.

We had a portable phonograph....Yes I AM OLD... which we brought from England back in 65. It used large square batteries which we could not get here in Canada.. Oh I forgot. it was really old because it had Tubes in it and in England they call them Valves.

It is amazing the differences in the things we take for granted .
TV signals in UK and Europe us a system called PAL here in North America we us NTSC, which the people on the other side of the pond calle Never The Same Color.

Technologies on both sides of the pond have evolved at the same rate, yet we drive on different sudes of the road, use different voltages in our houses and even different cycles in our electrical systems. It is amazing we can even communicate with each other on the net.

[Gill]

It is amazing we can even communicate with each other on the net.

Sometimes we don't !

Gill

[CanadianScroller]

always =

I think we really need a sarcasm icon

[PuzzledMoose]

We had a portable phonograph....Yes I AM OLD... which we brought from England back in 65. It used large square batteries which we could not get here in Canada.. Oh I forgot. it was really old because it had Tubes in it and in England they call them Valves.

Hey I remember those batteries - but then I'm older than you ....lol It stretched the definition of portable having those things in radios ..:-) I rember valves in TVs too - and having to wait while the set "warmed up" .. not to mention the fact that early TV pics made everything look as if events were always happening in severe blizzards..

I didn't realise until I moved here that DVDs were in a different format in N America. The DVD player I had in England was a multiregion one so anything would play on it - the one here had to be "hacked" to get it to play UK DVDs.

we drive on different sides of the road

Well in theory - I wish someone would tell some of the geriatric farmers round here which side to drive on - grrrr!!!

It is amazing we can even communicate with each other on the net.

The net's OK .. it's written communication..lol It's spoken English that's the problem for me at times . I was recently talking to one of my neighbours and he mentioned a relative called Dawn .. or so I thought .. it actually turned out to be Don! So out of curiousity I asked Sue how she pronounced the two words and found that around here at least they're phonetically identical!!

On the other hand there IS a difference between the words bear and bare when she says them.

I'm just glad I'll never have to teach about homophones in a N American school ...

[utbva]

Yes, it does get confusing. I do mechanical design of large machines to shred tires and depeding upon where the machine is going to be used or where it is manufactured, I have to convert from english measuring system to metric or visa versa. I just wish we Americans would get with the rest of the world and switch over to metric. It is so much simpler. It guess it is just too hard to train and old dog.

[BobD (Archive)]

I agree! My job would be so much easier if we switched to metric! I spend hours searching through articles to stack fractions!!!

Bob