An Australian now living in London has shared some of the culture shocks she has faced since moving abroad.
Jenny Tian, from Sydney, has been living in the capital for a few months and has already shared her opinion on the differences between the two islands.
These included her surprise when her experience on the Tube did not meet her expectations, the narrowness of London’s roads – and her problem with British toasters.
Jenny said she had been particularly excited to travel on the Tube during her time in Britain, before her friend told her how dirty the Tube actually is.
‘He said: ‘Enjoy your snot turning black’, I thought: excuse me? He said there is so much soot in the tunnel that you end up breathing it in and then your snot turns black,” she said on her TikTok account. @nomnomjenny.
Jenny Tian from Sydney has shared her biggest culture shocks after moving to London
‘What? I get the nose of a chimney sweep! Is this normal for everyone in London? That’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’
Some Londoners in the comments refused to believe this was true, adding that they had lived in the ‘Big Smoke’ for decades and had not noticed it.
Others said it had happened to them, explaining that it is a build-up of brake dust and is caused by friction between the train and the track, as London has the oldest underground network in the world.
Jenny was also taken aback by how dirty the seats in the Tube were after wearing light wash jeans one night.
When she got home, she noticed that she had been sitting on a dusty chair because her pants were covered in black stains.
She said: ‘Now I see everyone on the Tube, they’re wearing dark trousers, they’re smart, they’re Londoners and they know it!
“I heard London was dirty, but I didn’t expect to find actual dirt on the seats.”
Last year the city suffered a bedbug crisis, with commuters refusing to sit on seats and filming the pesky pests crawling around Victoria line carriages.
The comedian also hit out at British toasters, asking: “What’s wrong with bread in Britain?!”
Jenny was also stunned by how dirty the seats in the Tube were – after wearing lightly washed jeans one evening
The 29-year-old was baffled that some slices of bread sold in supermarkets were too large to fit in the toaster, leaving some of them soft while cooking.
‘What psychopath designed this? Hey, United Kingdom, can we please unite in the fact that this is an abomination,” she said.
However, some Britons were quick to respond, telling her to try turning the bread on its side or buy a larger toaster.
They wrote: ‘Turn the bread slices on their sides. Then they fit’;
‘Usually this is because the toaster is made in another country, where the bread size is smaller. Buy a British-made toaster and it will fit’;
‘This is a toaster problem, not a bread problem’;
“I used to work with someone who went to buy a toaster and took a cardboard template from a slice of bread to test toasters.”
The 29-year-old was baffled that some slices of bread sold in supermarkets were too large to fit in the toaster, leaving some of them soft while cooking
Some Brits were quick to respond, telling her to try turning the bread on its side or buy a bigger toaster
Jenny said she also finds the concept of seeing wildlife – such as foxes and squirrels – on the street strange, describing London as a ‘Disney movie’.
She said she couldn’t believe how many different supermarket brands there are and believes this means there is a ‘healthy level of competition’ between stores, leading to affordable prices.
Westfield shopping centers also exist in Australia, but Jenny says this is usually a place where kids skip school and ‘kiss in the parking lot’.
But she described the British locations as ‘glamorous and respectable’.
Another thing she noticed was the ‘extremely narrow roads’ in London, and she was shocked that there was only one lane in each direction.
She said: ‘London drivers, how do you get healthy blood pressure?’
This attracted a lot of responses from Londoners trying to explain the road infrastructure – and disagreeing with her about the ‘affordability’ of supermarkets.
This attracted a lot of responses from Londoners trying to explain the road infrastructure – and disagreeing with her about supermarkets being ‘affordable’.
One wrote: ‘As a Londoner… Westfield isn’t luxurious… That’s just how it seems.’
Another wrote: ‘I live just outside London and flat out refuse to drive there! Trains and metros all the way.’
A third said: ‘The really narrow roads are through the city itself. London is about 2000 years old and was crossed with horses.
“So it would have been impossible to change the roads to get less traffic.”
A fourth commented: ‘Groceries are not affordable.’