'I'm a US mum, here's everything weird about UK and odd custom about your homes'

19 November 2023 , 19:01

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Mrs Wilkinson moved to England from Utah in August (Image: ourmicroadventures/Tiktok)

A mum who moved to the UK from the US has shared the things that she finds weird about the UK, including one custom about British homes that she finds really odd.

Mother of three Jessica Wilkinson moved from Utah to the UK in August with her husband and children and has shared her family's journey of moving across the world on TikTok. The videos have become quite the subject of humour to people in the comments - attracting discussion from both sides of the pond.

In one video she shared, Mrs Wilkinson described how the family's first few days in England had been both "incredible and exhausting". She said: "We're trying to set everything up (so much harder than expected!!) while taking breaks to adventure."

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In the video, she shared three things that she found strange about the move to England, the first being how parents in the UK register their children for school. She said: "Whatever you do, don't try to register your kids through the school, you have to go through the city and be prepared to wait a long time for your placement."

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She said this process was "MUCH harder than expected" and she told how she has since learned it is usually better to apply for schools before the January deadline, though the family did not know they were moving at that point in the year.

The woman was shocked to find no outlets in the bathrooms (ourmicroadventures/Tiktok)

Mrs Wilkinson moved to England from Utah in August (ourmicroadventures/Tiktok)

But the thing that really got the ex-pat raging was British bathrooms and their lack of plug sockets. She said: "There are no mirrors or outlets in our bathroom. So I can't plug in a blow dryer or a straightener, que extension cords!" This strange British quip was the one to attract the most attention in the comments, with users warning Mrs Wilkinson of the safety risks of using electricals in a bathroom.

@Meatballthescousepug said: "Please don't get an extension for the bathroom... we have much higher voltage electricity here... just dry your hair in your bedroom mirror." Another user said: "I can't get over why so many Americans struggle with us not mixing water and electric", to which Mrs Wilkinson replied: "It's because we've gone our entire lives plugging things in in our bathroom and never ONCE have we gotten it wet."

The third difference that Mrs Wilkinson listed which baffled users in the comments section was the narrow country roads, and how you have to "be prepared to pay attention to oncoming traffic." User @hollyloses said: "It's wild that you've had to learn to be prepared to pay attention to traffic."

Mrs Wilkinson also shared the difficulties of getting a bank account in the UK without a UK phone number. She said she couldn't get a bank account without a phone number, but also couldn't get a phone number without a UK bank account.

Lydia Stephens