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> England... Yes, we have faucets and call them taps. What's astounding about the houses? I'm interested in the differences you noticed. I remember being in San Francisco six years ago and being surprised all the houses were built one inch apart.
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> Incidentally, Essex is a county. It is to the east of Greater London, (also called Middlesex) and borders it. It covers a pretty wide area and is probably about 10,000 square miles or so. It contains the World's longest pleasure pier in Southend-on-Sea and Britains Oldest recorded town, that being Colchester. It also borders Kent to its south and Suffolk to its north. To the east is the North Sea. Lizzie can probably tell you more...
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> Bea 'At work so I'd better go do some' sty

It's been about 12 or 15 years since I've been to England, but I say houses built with the framework on the outside! Some of the row houses I saw in Wales were incredibly small. A lot of the differences were because houses around here are almost never over 200 years old, but in England they date back many centuries. I loved the old stone houses with thick walls that get thinner as you go up, and doors that vary greatly in size from one part of the house to the next. In public buildings, the steel beam are sometimes round where we would use an I-bean. I noticed that as soon as I stepped off the plane at Heathrow. My sons are both building contractors so I notice different styles of construction. Here a brick house is a woodframe house with a one-brick-thick layer of bricks on the outside. Over there a brick house is a brick house. Roofs seem to be steeper, and most houses have a chimney or two.

I call a faucet a faucet if it is over a sink, but if it's outside it's a tap. It's sort of like stairs inside and steps outside. Stairs have risers and steps sometimes don't.

Houses in San Francisco are not typical of American houses, but they surely give the place character. Maybe they build them close so they won't fall over when the ground shakes.

I think you just put Essex on my must see list. I never got past Greenwich. Is the official name Essex or Middlesex? I spend a lot of time in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
I guess that's where they got the name.
How"that travel bug is biting"ard