Setanta wrote:Yes, people lock their cars, except perhaps for certain isolated rural areas--but that is a thing of the past in most places, even rural.
That idea came from watching countless scenes where heroes/villains just open the doors of an apparently random car and drive off. Probably a Hollywood thing, then.
Quote:Few people walk anywhere, and, especially in rural and suburban areas, there often are not sidewalks.
I'm staggered that two friends living a few streets apart would have to drive to each other's houses, or risk being run-over by walking on the road. What about kids, old people and anyone else who can't drive? Could this partially explain why the US is one of the fattest countries in the world? Conversely, the UK is getting fatter, btw, and we have loads of pavements everywhere.
Quote:Most houses are wooden framed, although some have false brick siding--and no, most people do not own a home, although perhaps a higher proportion than elsewhere, i really couldn't say. If the poor own a house, they likely inherited it. They're not cheap. I've noticed that American houses are roomier than those in Canadian cities, let alone Europe, but i've also noticed that houses in small towns in Ontario seem to be about the same size.
I should have made it clear that I was including rented property as well (sorry) - presumably the rent reflects the property size also. Most houses I've seen (on TV) in places like Compton (which I understood was a fairly poor area of LA) are larger than many houses in the UK occupied by middle-income middle-class families in a quiet suburban neighbourhood.
Don't fires spread rather quickly in wooden framed/fronted houses? Nearly all houses here are brick, although most internal walls and floors are wood/plasterboard. Maybe it's a climate issue, given how crappy the weather here is?
