Two questions for the U.K.

[mme_hardy]

 The OMT for Doctor Who is "watching from behind the couch".   In every American house I remember, the couch/sofa/davenport is firmly against the wall.  A child who wanted to watch from there would first have to push it forward several inches.   Are British houses differently arranged, or is this just an image?

We were watching QI last night, and the panel were marvelling about American drivers' custom of stopping* when they heard a siren.  (My family: "We don't stop!  We pull over and stop!")   What do Britons do when they hear a siren?  As my daughter exclaimed in outrage, "What is a siren FOR, then?"

* Some of them**.  If they don't have anywhere important to get to.
** When I first moved to the New South, drivers always pulled over -- in both directions -- when a funeral went by.   Ambulances were much more hit and miss.   

Comments

[recessional]

Canadians pull over, too; not just customary, it's actually the law. (How many people OBEY it, mind, depends on local driving culture....)

[perennialanna]

Sirens? Look around, assess, make space. This may involve stopping, but equally may not (this is what I was taught in driving lessons earlier this year).

Behind the sofa - I've always lived in very small houses where sofas are against the wall (actually, usually bookshelves, but this is not usual), but in larger houses they may be arranged around a coffee table, so that some are more towards middle of the room, or have a tall light behind them, or even a console table. When I was a child I used to crawl behind the sofa (it sloped backwards, so that only the top actually touched the shelves) into the cave-like space there to read books I wasn't sure I was supposed to have. I always assumed then that behind the sofa meant in that cave, peering round the side rather than over the top.

[legionseagle]

The sofas we've got at present are pressed back against the wall, but my general impression is that where space permits they are quite likely to be arranged away from the wall, around the hearthrug; not least because it makes it easier to vacuum behind them.

Also, if you've got a dining table in the same room, the sofa can be used to delineate the boundary between living room and dining space.

WRT sirens, what perennialanna said.

[sollers]

Also go for look around, assess, get out of the way (this may include driving very quickly past a traffic island)

The house where I grew up was small, but the armchairs and sofas were clustered around the fire. Originally it was a coal fire, but even when we changed to gas we wanted to be as close to the fire as possible. Also there needed to be space behind the sofa to get to the upright piano.

[perennialanna]

Apart from dual carriageways and motorways, British roads are generally going to be a lot narrower and bendier than North American roads. So just stopping, or even pulling over and stopping, may well cause problems rather than solve them.

As a pedestrian I stand well back from the crossing/edge of the pavement, with my arms very firmly around whichever children are walking rather than being pushed, to make it absolutely clear that we're not moving anywhere. We live nearly between the police station and the hospital, and just down the road from the fire station, so sirens are frequent.

[viktor-haag.livejournal.com]

In Canada, drivers are required, as soon as it's safe to do so, to pull over to the shoulder and come to a stop to let emergency vehicles pass by un-impeded. If unable to pull to the shoulder, you're supposed to "make a lane" and halt your vehicle: this might require pulling over to the middle of the road if you must, you're supposed to head to the right (outside) of the road.

Stiff penalties are in place for getting in the way of an emergency vehicle.

The siren isn't necessarily the important part -- if the vehicle has its lights flashing, you're supposed to still pull over and stop. The siren is for added warning to surrounding vehicles.

[shaggydogstail.livejournal.com]

Sofas are usually against a wall unless you have a "lounge-diner" type arrangement with the dining table behind the sofa. Even so, watching from "behind the sofa" was never really meant to be taken literally.

As my daughter exclaimed in outrage, "What is a siren FOR, then?"

It's to let you know there's an emergency vehicle nearby so you can get out of the way if needed. Equally confused what else it could be better used for, really.

[seraangel.livejournal.com]

In Australia here. Depends on if you're driving or at a set of lights. If you're driving, you simply change lanes and let them past. If you're at a set of lights, you change lanes if you can, or you pull off to the shoulder. (Sometimes the Ambulance/Police/Fire Engine will use the breakdown lane to get past people as well.