toronto vs london: Part 1

I've been in London for just over two months now, and ever since I started walking on British soil I've been mentally collecting a list of everything different from Toronto. Some of these things are noticeable within the first couple of hours and any tourist would see them too, and some of them you wouldn't know until actually living here . This list is constantly growing, so I figured I'd break it down into segments. Furthermore, there's so much I could write about the differences of being an actor in London vs. Toronto, but that's for a whole other list. 

Without further ado:

1. Driving on the other side of the road. (I still catch myself looking left instead of right when crossing the road. You don't realize how engrained such a simple act is until you're expected to flip it around indefinitely.)
2. Service Charge. Most restaurants have a service charge for staying in to eat (but tipping isn't expected). 
3. Council Tax, which is basically a tax for living in a certain area. The amount varies depending where you live. I still don't get it. I mean, London isn't expensive enough, right?
4. Lack of mailbox- or rather, the mailbox is the front hallway because there's a slot on the front door which the mailman slips the mail through. This means when you come home from work you're likely going to have to avoid stepping on a bunch of envelopes. 
5. TRANSIT. Its so much more efficient, however its also much more expensive. London is divided into zones 1 thru 6. Zone 1 is the centre, where most of the touristy stuff is. Zone 6 is the outskirts of London (like Etobicoke in Toronto) and is where Heathrow Airport is. Your tube journey is priced depending on what zone you are travelling to. For example, the cheapest journey would be travelling within your zone, and the most expensive journey would be travelling from zone 6-1. Considering most Londoners work in the centre and live in the further zones, you can imagine how expensive it is just to commute. 
6. Washing machine in the Kitchen. Yes. The Brits wash their clothes in the kitchen. 
7. Supermarket Hierarchy. This isn't so different than Toronto, because anyone knows Nofrills is at the bottom of the barrel, where Longos and Metro are at the top. It's the same in London, however I'd argue the differences between the nicer supermarkets and the cheaper ones are a lot more noticeable. Iceland is the cheapest most basic Supermarket there is. I went in there once and they didn't have broccoli, so I'm never going in there again. Waitrose, however, is the nicest, biggest, luxurious, and most expensive Supermarket. I went in there once and I swear I heard angels sing. I tend to stick to mid range, basic Tesco. Tesco is nowhere near comparable to Waitrose, however its infinitely better than Iceland. There's also so many more of them for some reason, so its a lot more likely you'll be living close to a Tesco than any other supermarket. 
8. Drip coffee isn't a thing. If you're coming to London for the first time, don't expect to order drip coffee at any coffee shop. I hope you enjoy Americanos, because that's as close as you're going to get to your cuppa. (I do recall this being a Europe wide thing, and not just in the UK, however.)
9. Everyone is going on Holiday. I should clarify, Holiday= Vacation. Maybe its because its so cheap and easy to travel anywhere from the UK, maybe because Londoners get 28 days of paid Holiday for a 5 day work week (Ontarians get 2-3 weeks), but I swear everywhere I go someone is going on Holiday, or has just gotten back from Holiday. In Canada if we are going on vacation, we need to plan and save up for months in advance because flights are stupidly expensive. In London, its so easy to go anywhere. 
10. Pub Culture. This is perhaps my favourite because I absolutely love London's relationship with alcohol. Firstly, lets clarify that Pubs and Bars are very different. You go to a pub after work with coworkers and drink a pint. Pubs close early, typically around 10, or 11. You can bring kids into pubs. You can drink outside a pub with your mates. If you're walking the streets of London during happy hour you will see on every corner a crowded pub with people drinking on the sidewalk outside. Bars, on the other hand, are typically what we're used to in Toronto. They're usually open later and are generally for 18+. I find the UK much more open about alcohol than Canada. We keep it under lock and key and are so strict about public drinking (or lack thereof.) The UK isn't. It still has regulations, of course, but they're much more open about it, and I think it's a much smarter approach.