What was different to us was that the tap in the kitchen looked like a mixer type in that you had separate hot and cold taps but the water came out of one pipe. The difference was that the hot and cold water was kept separate all the way through to the point of coming out of the pipe. You could see the "divider" inside the pipe and even feel the temperature difference between the hot and cold water as it came out. One other difference, but not mentioned in Jerry's link, was that in the two home we rented, none of the bedrooms had closets, so you had to use a wardrobe in which to hang your clothes. I understand that closets were taxed as a separate room. Not sure if that is still the case. We miss the days of village life, walking to the village store and having milk ( five types identified by the color of the foil top) and other products delivered to your door.
Sincerely,
Lee

The Earth pin is wider and longer in order to 'open' the live conection in the socket (which is spring loaded to auto close when the plug is removed....so stopping little children killing themselves by poking metal opjects into the socket) All our pipe work is earthed....so that we have a double shock safety in our damp old houses.
The first toilet I remember was a 'thunder box' with a bucket of soil next to it. You did and covered it, then Dad dug a hole in the field and burried it and put up a little cross made from sticks so that he diddn't re dig there. That was in an old Railway station that we rented. It still had trains running past so they put up a single wire fence along the platform to keep me and my two brothers safe....!(3, 7, & 9 yrs old)

What we call the toilet is the Water Closet (WC) because the bath was galvanised tin and hung up outside when not in use. Bathrooms are a late 1950's term...in the 1970's you could get a government grant to convert a bedroom into a bathroom. STILL the local councils count the bathroom as a 'bedroom' when working out rent and possible overcrowding.

'Pay as you go' for utilities is a kept for those who cannot get credit or don't even have access to a bank account. Unfortunately it is also seen as a way to increase the cost of utilities by both Landlords as well as utility companies. The meter can be manipulated quite easily.

In a place that rains as often as it does in this green and pleasant land (cause that is what rain makes) then having a cellar or downstairs 'play room' is not the best of ideas. water flows down! A shed in the garden also keeps the wife away.....you can pretend to be deaf.

The latest craze to hit New Build Houses is to build-in a garage that is too thin for car access - often the 'drive' in front of the 'garage' is your one lawn (Already seeded). They compound this idiocy by making the roads too narrow to allow on street parking and the kerb too high to allow 'on footpath abandonment'. Considering that we build on less than 10% of the land available we could all live quite easily if they did a propper job (for the money)

Still wouldn't go to the US though. Those big rooms of yours is why you shout so much. Like northeners here, but their excuse was 'cause the worked in't Mill'.

Have fun

Modern homes do have sensible facilities but the more affordable ones are very small as space here is quite stressed and land very expensive. Electric meters which take coins are sometimes fitted in rented flats to avoid large bills which maybe beyond the budgets of those renting them. Men are more likely to be the culprits of not washing their hands after using the bathroom which almost always does have a sink. We don't really need aircon except on a few hot nights in mid summer, we just open windows. There are quite huge divides between the rich, the comfortably off and the poor and hence the difference in living conditions but I believe that is the case in your country too.

By the way Jerry, the newest series of Doc Martin starts here tomorrow, 20th. I know you like this program and have access to it at some point in time.