Britpick Question

[amberfocus]

Over here we have quickie marts or corner convenience stores called 7-11's that sell a ridiculously large amount of soda from the fountain in a container called a Big Gulp.  Do you have an equivalent to that?  It's probably 96 ounces of soda.

Comments

[angelab85.livejournal.com]

I've been in many corner markets in the UK (I spent 6 weeks there during the past 8 months in England, Scotland and Wales) and I don't recall ever seeing a self-serve type of drink machine at all. The corner markets just sell bottled drinks and sometimes coffee. Even places like Burger King and McDonald's which have self-serve in the US do not in the UK. There may be some restrictions on it by law. The fast food places certainly sell very large drinks just like they do here.

I have seen them other places in Europe. Sweden has shops like that almost always near train stations and I know Norway even has actual 7-11s.

If J&R are in Scotland then probably they would get such a drink at a fast food shop where a worker fixes the drink behind the counter.

Enjoyed the latest chapter on the train by the way. I've taken the train from Scotland to London before, but not the sleeper because hubby wanted to see the country. It was nice and we saw areas we had not been to like Newcastle. I think only certain trains in high traffic commuter areas have WIFI service not all of them, but if you have a mobile card in your laptop you can get service most of the trip because mobile phones work. In the non-sleeper cars some seats are around tables and the tables have electrical outlets so you don't have to run off the batteries.

Also another amusing point was the WCs have buttons which open and close the doors but they aren't in the same location on all the trains. So on a multi train trip when a bunch of us switched (we had some train issues because of engine failure so the entire train changed)we had a search for the exit from the loo activity with everyone else who was waiting to go in because no one wanted to be the idiot who couldn't get out. About half a dozen of us were looking in the door of the handicapped accessable WC trying to find the button before any of us would use the WC.

Sorry for the long comment, but I hope it's helpful.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I may just use the not being able to find the button info at some point in time in a story.

[crimedoc1.livejournal.com]

I've never seen one, alas. Generally if you want a soft drink "to go," you buy a can or bottle from a shop like Pret a Manger or something. And btw, in general, restaurants in the UK do not do "free refills" on soft drinks. You order a soda in a restaurant, you generally get one can's worth and that's it. I seriously cut down on my diet Pepsi intake when I was over there last summer because of this. And because almost everyone sold Coke, not Pepsi. *sulks*

BTW, the biggest size in most 7-11s is 64oz (a half gallon of soda!!!) Even with my serious addiction to diet Pepsi, I tend to go for the size below that, which is 44oz. :-) Below that is 32oz, and then 20oz (I think) is the smallest.

[amberfocus.livejournal.com]

They have a Mega Big Gulp here that is 96 ounces. It's ridiculous. Ah, well, it was just for a throwaway line, anyway.

[crimedoc1.livejournal.com]

Well, it is an alternate universe, isn't it? So perhaps in that universe Scotland does have Big Gulps. :-)

[capemaynuts.livejournal.com]

Don't have any info for you, but wanted to tell you that I love your Brit Pick questions. I'll probably never get to the UK, but love learning all the differences and similarities between our countries. Plus I just love useless (to me at least) trivia!

[morgaine-nicely.livejournal.com]

never say never! i used to think that...and i've now been :)

Wait a minute . . .

[invisigothds.livejournal.com]

Slurpees are for just regular sodas in Australia? What do you call the slushie stuff there?

When I was in England last fall

[susanb03.livejournal.com]

The only thing I saw in convenience stores were the half liter bottles.

[maniacalshen.livejournal.com]

It's pretty funny that there are apparently no 7-11s in the UK, since they're all over Japan.

[morgaine-nicely.livejournal.com]

no but there's like Tesco everywhere...lol. (and those little Marks & Spencer Food stores :) (with the yummy yoghurt!)

[electrictoes.livejournal.com]

Short answer: Nope.

If it was just for a throwaway line there's probably something you could substitute it with, though.

And, not answer your questions at all but, I really wish we did have them & I'm now quite jealous.

[morgaine-nicely.livejournal.com]

When i was in London in January most everywhere I went was bottles, Boots had just bottled water, soda/popp etc. Pret was just similar (only ate at that place at Heathrow lol) the only place that i DID get a soda like that was Burger King (and i only at there once at Victoria Station...with all the pigeons lol) it's actually probably a GOOD thing they dont, probably why they dont have all the fat people (myself included in that) like here cuz of the big gulps, the icees, the sonic blasts and/or the biggie drinks. I actually quite liked the fact that they all had bottles, and some of them were smallish lol. (god i miss london :(