How do things work in your district/country?

amother

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 2:38 pm

I live in London.

Here we have a house with a driveway next to our house. Our house is on a street and anyone who parks their car on the street at a particular hour during the week has to pay the council for parking.
Parking is a big problem in our neighbourhood so for those doing shopping where there are jewish shops it is not easy to find a parking space and if you are lucky to find one, it is quite expensive to pay in order to shop.

We have three different large wheelie bins, one is for general rubbish, one is for recyclable items and the other one is for food items. These bins are kept on our property but out of sight of others.

Our post is delivered through our door about 3 times a week. It used to be every day but not any more.

We have jews and non jews living on our street, but more jewish families.

How do these things and other things work where you live?

amother

Vanilla

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 4:17 pm

I live in a major urban center where one building can have 50, 100 or more apartments. It's an old neighborhood, not prestigious or especially prosperous, though there are some quite prosperous people living here. Many buildings date back to the 1920s or earlier. Newer buildings are going up in formerly vacant lots or on the sites of demolished older buildings, and some of these are quite tall indeed. I have no idea how many apartments they hold. Mine is old and has about 75 apartments. It used to be mainly Jewish if not necessarily observant, but that has changed. Now there are many doors with scars showing where a mezuzah used to be. It's very sad.

People with cars either rent spaces in garages or commercially-owned lots, or take their chances parking in the street and moving their cars on days when the streets are supposed to be cleaned. Many people don't own cars and rely on public transit, which is extensive if not necessarily pleasant. The scarcity of parking spaces is legendary, and even more so since during the height of COVID many eateries built shed-like annexes in the street to allow for distancing.

Recycling is the law, though not everyone complies. The building has separate bins for different classes of recyclables and bins for all other trash, but unfortunately many people ignore the rules and just dump whatever they like wherever they like. It's disheartening for those of us who conscientiously separate our recyclables. In some locations they also collect certain kinds of kitchen trash for composting, but my building doesn't.

Mail is delivered once daily Monday through Saturday. I'm told that in the early part of this century mail was delivered twice daily.

The population is mixed. There are "Jewish" neighborhoods here and there within the city but all that means is that a lot of Jews live there, not that it's an exclusively Jewish enclave.

Because the Jewish population has declined , Jewish businesses and services that once thrived are long gone. There is no kosher bakery, butcher shop, shomer shabbos grocery or Judaica store. There is a pizza shop and a couple of eateries. One supermarket carries kosher meat, poultry and baked goods, and has a extensive kosher aisle. Prices are high, though. Many people with cars travel to other neighborhoods or nearby towns where there is better kosher shopping.

mha3484

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 4:36 pm

I live in a big city but my area feels a lot more suburban then city like. The area is a mix of houses, townhouses, two and three flats and one large set of high rise condos. There are a lot of parks in walking distance. I walked home from the mikvah and it was dead silent other then kids coming back from a program.

Driveways are a minority but at least half the houses have garages and some streets the parking is really easy. People don't tend to park on my street to shop as I am a few blocks north of the main street that has stores on it. I do live across from a public school so there is less parking during the day time but its not awful.

I have both garbage cans and recycling in the alley.

We are supposed to get mail everyday but the post office is awful so I get as much as I can electronically.

My neighborhood is heavily Jewish. Some block are all Jewish. Mine is probably 50%.

We have tons of shuls, food choices, multiple schools. Clothing stores, a Jewish library. Mikvaos.

amother

Vanilla

Thu, Sep 15 2022, 9:31 pm

Loaf of bread, 16-24 ounces, anywhere from $2.99 on sale to $5.99 or even more for some of the "artisanal" and other fancy breads. Milk is seldom sold in pints, mostly in quarts, half gallons and gallons. Price fluctuates; today it was $4.89 for a gallon. A few weeks ago it was $5.19. A few months ago it was $4.29 IIRC. A dozen eggs, depends on size and of course which store you patronize. Also fluctuates like mad. They can run as high as $9.99 for extra large organic or free-range. I just bought a dozen large for the fabulous price of $2.49 on sale. Fabulous, ha. Just a few years ago, pre-COVID, you could get a dozen extra large for $1.99 and sometimes on sale even less than that. Prices I quote are at a regular supermarket in a very plebeian neighborhood, not a vendor with words like "gourmet" "boutique" "emporium" "discriminating taste" and "elegant" in its ads.

amother

NeonOrange

Fri, Sep 16 2022, 4:48 am

In the UK we say "a pint of milk" but nowadays the (cy kosher) milk is sold in litres. 1 ltr, 2 ltr, half litre.

London is a big place OP, the things you describe in your post are not the same across London. Different boroughs have different refuse collections and parking restrictions, house prices and rent vary etc.

Royal Mail Post across the UK is delivered Mon - Sat and sometimes Sunday too. Our postman definitely works every day, obviously some days we don't personally get post because no one has post us anything but he definitely delivers mail every day!

amother

Aster

Fri, Sep 16 2022, 5:06 am

amother OP wrote:

Just out of interest for those who live in America or Israel, how much does it cost to buy a loaf of bread? How much does a pint of milk cost? What is the cost of 12 eggs?

In Yerushalayim
a loaf of bread 7shekel
3 liters of milk 12 shekel
eggs I buy in trays of 30. 25 shekel a tray.

garbage is central bins - they recently switched them from open style skips to underground closed bins. Collection is every day sometimes twice a day. There are central recycling bins about a 2 minute walk away. Apartment blocks, central parking lots, many people don't have a car. Excellent bus service, parks next door.

Mail is every day but they are so bad. You can't rely on it at all and more often than not I get someone else's stuff that I have no idea what to do with.

kosher shopping is easy. Makolet in every direction, big supermarkets about a ten minute walk.
The neighborhood is 90% charedi. The other 10% is dati leumi.
Why are you interested?

amother

Fri, Sep 16 2022, 10:11 am

I am interested in what the basics cost in other countries because here in the U.K. as has been already written about, the cost of small everyday items and unfortunately the cost of living has gone up so much that I am interested in comparing the cost of basic necessities with the Ima's living in other countries.

I often wonder what life is like living in America . How many lanes are there on a motorway? (or whatever it is called in America) Do those who drive feel safe with so many cars on the road?

How common is antisemitism while doing everyday chores?
Have any of you experienced antisemitism yourself?

Are there gemachs/organisations for everything?
If a couple have young children, do parents buy toys and books for their children or do they borrow from a library or from a gemach or do they swop toys with other mums?

GLUE

Fri, Sep 16 2022, 10:43 am

amother OP wrote:

Are motorways closed roads?Roads that you need an entrance ramp and exit ramp, we call those expressways.
How many roads that depends on were they are, some have only 2 lanes each direction others can have more then 10 each direction, depending on how much traffic uses it on a daily bases and how much room there is to put in lanes.

Were I live I don't see antisemitism on a daily base, I really don't think I ever experienced antisemitism in my life

Were I live there is a G'mach for everything from alligator cutters to zebra center pieces any crazy thing that you need you could find(I should know I ran a few crazy G'mach myself like the spice G'mach-at that time my DH was interested in different types of cooking so we had every spice under the sun people would come to my house to get a tea spoon of what ever weird spice the magazine recipe called for no need to spend $$$ on a spice you will never need again)

I do buy some books every year,but most of the books we have in the house come from library's-I know of a lot of people who are the same way.
I swap toys with my sisters not so much with neighbors