The nearest CVS closes at 8. The nearest Walgreens closes at 9. The nearest pharmacy to me, though – by a number of miles – closes at 6. So, on most days, do the hardware stores, the office supply, the bookstores if not sooner, the auto supply stores, the bicycle shop, some of the groceries (though the grocery nearest that Walgreens is open till midnight). The building supply/lumberyards and the car repair places close at 5. The used goods store closes at 4.
One of the farm supply stores is open till 7 most days, and another one till 9, though.
Pretty much anything I want to shop for, save small mom & pop shops or specialty shops, which do often close at six or so. Most are open to 9, with some open until 10 and a few open even later, such as grocery stores (typically 11) drugstores and Wal-Marts.
Maybe it’s a big-city thing, but my whole life, the majority of shopping has always been able to be done after working hours.
Once, after spending three weeks in balmy southern France, I arrived in Paris for a few days before heading home. All of a sudden I, wearing shorts and t-shirts, was confronted with cold, rain and wind. But it was Saturday, and the unions had closed all clothing stores and department stores. I finally located a GAP that was open. I still have my “GAP PARIS” hoodie.
Sorry- I guess I wasn’t clear. I meant what sort of shopping are you looking to do in the early evening while you’re on vacation.
I’ve always been able to shop after work too - just not in my neighborhood. Where my response to the local business association’s slogan of " Shop _____ Avenue" has always been " Maybe if you stayed open past 6"
To be fair, most shops in the UK shut around 6pm (except supermarkets). Sunday trading is more restrictive, with major stores only allowed to open for six hours. Supermarkets included. Most open 10am-4pm, or 11-5.
Is that for internal US flights? The flights I’ve taken have almost all been international and they’re really strict about your carry-on fitting into the little cuboid.
It would definitely be very annoying, I’m with you there.
IME in England there’s always a corner shop open till 11 even if you live in an area where there aren’t small supermarkets that are open till 11 (sometimes 10 on Sundays). It’s been that way since the mid-90s, when a law change allowed shops that were under a certain square footage to stay open till 11 if they chose to, though the small branches of supermarkets have really proliferated in the last ten years or so. There are even three 24-hour corner shops within a five minute walk of my flat, but that is fairly central London so I wouldn’t expect that to be very common.
There could be rural areas that are more restricted and everything shuts at five, I guess, but it doesn’t fit my experience of living here and travelling in England pretty extensively - I’ve been to pretty much every major city and always had to do some basic shopping in the evenings there.
We have pedestrian tunnels in Chicago and although it is not unheard of for homeless people and/or puddles of pee to be in there, it’s not ubiquitous. I’m sure violent crimes have happened, but they tend to be in pretty busy areas, so they’re not ideal spots to lurk for victims.
When I was in Sweden years ago it was common to have bathrooms with a single room for the shower, sink, and toilet with no shower wall. The whole room was waterproofed and smooth (no tile with grout lines etc) and there was a floor drain in the shower area. After your shower you were expected to squeegee the whole room down with the provided long-handled extra large sqeegee tool which I have never seen sold elsewhere. Took three minutes. No crevices to collect mildew and grime, simple to clean, easy to air out …
I think that’s called a wet room, appropriately enough. I was in a hotel overseas about 25 years ago where that’s how the bathroom was setup. I was looking for a place to put the toilet paper so it wouldn’t get wet.
Roundabouts are different from traffic circles, as traffic engineers will rush to explain.
The old traffic circles or rotaries were quite large, and often had confusing right-of-way rules—or traffic signals to avoid right-of-way rules.
Modern roundabouts have radii just longer than the average auto, with the idea that you can see the one or two vehicles already occupying the roundabout and adjust your speed to first yield and then take your turn without coming to a stop.