Swimming = Subpar.

Even though there are a lot of amazing and beautiful sites in England, there are still a few facilities where Canada beats them hands down. Skiing is one (obviously) but surprisingly, pools too.

Swimming is the primary way I work out (because I grew up in swim team) so I was anxious to find a good pool. And that's what I found. One pool. One square length swimming pool (oh and another little learner square pool, but you are not allowed to go into it unless you can't really swim!) no hot tub, no kiddie pool, no waterslide, and definitely no wave pool! Sad times. I love to go for a 5 minute dip in the hot tub after a good swim...no can do, my friend. And I can just picture taking my niece here and in her little 5 year old voice saying, "where's the pool for kids? and the slide?" :)

The standard for a general recreation swimming centers is much different, let's just say that (at least in Oxford but from talking to my British friends, it's pretty standard). Here you can compare:

http://www.gov.chilliwack.bc.ca/main/page.cfm?id=407

And:

http://www.oxford.gov.uk/leisure/ferry-sports-centre.cfm
(the picture is the entire swimming facility I was there yesterday)

So yeah...little disappointed with the swimming scene here in Oxford, but alas, it's not the end of the world.

The skiing difference is much more stark...Tom and I had a good laugh when we visited their 'indoor' (first clue) skiing facility at Milton Keynes. It costs 20 pounds an hour to ski there! Granted I know they are not blessed with huge mountains like we do, but still, 20 pounds?! An hour?! Here's two pictures just for fun.

However, to redeem the UK, here is the difference between our version of 'old' and their version of 'old'.

UK: Exeter College - (where Tom goes) Established 1314. (Not even the oldest college!)

Canada: St. Mary's University (considered a seriously old uni by Canadian standards) Established 1802.
I won't even mention my university that I went to...SFU: established in: mid 1960's. Haha!