You Know You're in Durham When...

• You're drink is never served with ice...unless they pick up on the fact that you're American and they try to get some ice to you ASAP
• Several streets are only 1 or 1.5 lanes but aren't one way
• People park on the sidewalks
• People often drive on the sidewalks to get around others in the way
• You drive around 5 roundabouts in a 5 min. trip across town
• The City Centre closes down at 19.00 (7.00p)
• You give a £20 note for something that costs £12.45 and you receive a handful of change (no notes under £5)
• You carry around that pocketful of change to pay for parking, food, etc.
• There are NO free parking spots...unless they are a 30 min. walk away
• The street names are not clearly marked and often change as you travel down them
• You can't just walk into a bank branch and open up a checking account (as an international) -- we've heard it may take up to 2 weeks to get one set up
• Your children are the loudest ones everywhere you go
• You can get out in the country (in any direction) in less that 10 minutes
• More than half the buildings are over 100 years old
• Central heating is looked at as odd because radiators are much more trusted
• Clothes dryers are very rare because clothes are put out on the line to dry (even though it rains every other day)
• There are no apartments and every house is 2 or 3 stories high, and almost all of them are built touching the one next door
• A garden (yard) is an amenity and can be grass, or flowers, or weeds, or rocks, a concrete slab, or all of the above
• All sinks have a hot faucet and a cold faucet...no way to get warm unless you fill the sink
• Showers (when available) are electric and there is hardly any water pressure
• You have a view of a 900 yr. old cathedral from any part of town