Nice tale, JohnB. I always relate as well. Some years ago I saw an interview with a high ranking Chinese official. The interviewer commented that he had seen a road gang of 30 people digging, laying tarmac and doing general road building stuff by hand. He asked why they didn't get machinery and cut the workforce down to around 5 people.

The official looked a little puzzled and then asked "What would the other 25 do then...?"

Getting back to the point I worked for an American company in the UK as well. My collegues across the pond did seem to have less holidays and work longer hours as stated but when I rang late at night or at weekend to someone on call they generaly were working from home - something that we are not really into in the UK. There was also a lot more made of the 'Work/Life balance' thing which isn't, again, something that few UK companies appreciate.

My 2 penn'th anyway.

Cheers

DtG