No outdoor shoes on in our house. My kids have slippers and also a pair of dedicated indoor shoes that they use for inside school too. I always wipe the dog's feet when he comes in; he knows to stop and wait as soon as he enters the house. My children are very well trained with the shoes off at the door-- much better than my husband I must say.

Getting back to the horrible habit of kissing people you don't even know, (yuk), regrettably I find that many Brits are doing it now. I blame the TV. Horrid.

I used to have a cat that liked to be dried, only he didn't wait outside. If it was pouring with rain he'd come in through the catflap, race round the house until he found me, jump up on my lap and stand there waiting to be dried. Of course I rarely had paper towels on me so I'd have to get up, go to find the towel roll - closely followed of course by an anxious soggy moggy spreading his dampness everywhere - and then I could dry him, or at least try to, while he rubbed his wet face against mine as a thank you. And then he'd bound off while I surveyed his muddy pawprints all over the floor.

I miss that cat!

I forgot to mention that the bise between guys in France is with relatives or really close friends and not always. It is a generational thing though.

If you're a fifty year old guy and you're visiting your beloved uncle who's an eighty five year old, you probably wouldn't just shake his hand in France.

Now in my family in America, the men hug and even amongst my son and his friends, they hug and shake hands. I think it's wonderful. Well, they might not always do it every single time but when they haven't seen each other in a while.

You'll see Obama give this type of hug to people. It's true that it's a church custom for some people, but, not always.

I'm totally mystified by most of the fork switching and tines up or down or knife on the top of the plate at an angle to indicate you're finished...I just do what my grandfather once advised me as he was a preacher and invited to many receptions and dinners. When in doubt, look at what others do. Only problem was, that one time at a very formal dinner, he had no idea and looked a the men who were using forks and the women were using spoons, so he just used a fork!

Aww - flopsymopsy that sounds like a wonderful cat. Mine would kill me if I tried such a thing!

Y

I hate eating pizza with my hands, I always use a knife and fork! Now that we have more and more American(-style) chains that deliver pizzas, I think the way to eat a pizza has changed slightly. The American chains serve their pizzas cut into pieces, which encourages using your hands to eat the pizza.
Before that, you'd order a pizza at an Italian restaurant that had a take-away section and it would not be pre-cut, so you'd just use a knife and fork to eat it.

As for pizza (for me), I had a slice in New York City, and had to use a fork as it was such a huge slice. I'm so used to just grabbing a slice and eating it with my hand, but after dealing in it for almost eight years, I'm not much of a pizza fan anymore. I have no problem satisfying others' pizza fixes, but I'll pass at this time.

May have been said [new to forums] but looking at those Italian earthquakes, the people at the funeral clapped and made lots of noise. Now, here in Australia that would be seen to be, at best, eccentric, and at worst downright rude [are you applauding the person for dying because you hated them etc...] .

But that must be the Italian culture. I am not having a go at Italian people. I understand that cultures are different.