Sunday, August 10, 2008

Lifestyle differences between Nordic countries and the UK

This is a place holder for my forthcoming list of things that struck me as being different between the UK and the two countries I have been visiting.

1. Work/life balance - Business stops in Norway in the evenings and at weekends. If you call a business after five pm, you get an automated message suggesting that you try their website, not a call center person. Saturday afternoon and Sunday are both very much days for relaxing with the family because the shops are closed. I like this, it improves the quality of life.

2. Commercialism - see WWW co-founder Robert Caillard's telling pair of photos here.

2. Advertising - much less a feature of the street scene in Norway and Sweden. In the UK, every surface seems to carry a message, all of which makes for noise pollution/semiotic overload