I think you are missing an opportunity here; this is the perfect excuse to buy lots and lots of books. I have have run out of shelf space and have to choose what to pass on before I can buy any more...tough choices. :-)

Add in Hiberno-English; Long pants are English trousers Shorts are English men's underwear (boxer type) English shorts are Irish short pants Togs are English sports shorts. Swim togs are English swimwear To tog out is an Englishman changing into his sportswear. Also means to get yourself ready, gather up all that's needed for whatever it is you plan to do. A press is an English cupboard or wardrobe. A hot-press is an English airing cupboard (both usually have immersion tank in them). St Stephens day or Stephens Day is the same day as England's Boxing Day (26 Dec) Going to the bog is cutting turf for fuel, an Englishman would be visiting the toilet. A boreen (in a town) is an alley(-way) or lane (way) in England. A flat in Ireland is local authority/public accommodation An Irish apartment is privately owned/rented A shift is not a period of work hours .... Going for a ride does not mean you going for a drive for pleasure .... Having a fag is smoking a cigarette - I shudder to think what the Americans interpret that as !

marivon1 helpful to know, thank you. The UK does not use European/metric sizes. I have not looked into buying Ikea beds in the past as I don't like being restricted to their bed linen, although in the end I don't find much I like in the UK anyway and end up buying linen in Europe, the US or Australia. I had a look and yes, you are right ... last year (2014) Ikea started to stock the smaller UK imperial sized beds but you can still get the European metric ones online. From what you say they have also changed their bed linen to the smaller UK sizes, which makes sense (kind of). http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/12/ikea-booms-britain-uk-size-smaller-beds-sales http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_GB/pdf/bed_frame_%20size_%20guide.pdf

If you scroll through this link you will see my photos. I ordered this for my kitchen. My completely inexperienced contractor installed the floors over existing 50 year old asbestos vinyl. We used the Atrafloor cold weld. The seam is almost invisible and the product is water tight. Your installers are using old technology and old methods. It is very usable for a home installation. Mine have been down about 3 months old and look great. My installer also made a small measuring mistake and I ended up with a 2nd seam, but it is not noticeable at all. You cannot use the type of adhesive sold in USA it is old fashioned and old technology. Mine was not stiff at all, but I did keep it inside the house to acclimatize before installation. It is soft a pliable. Atrafloor answered all my emails.