I only know one squattie in the UK, which an acquaintance of mine installed for herself on principle (there's a normal bowl next to it in the same room).
There are "
dual mode" toilets available here, which are designed to sit above the floor and connect to standard "throne toilet" plumbing, but I don't know if you can get them in the UK. Another alternative is to use a "squat stool", like
this for example.
I don't think I've seen a full service shoe store in years...
In Australia, it is still normal for shoe-shops to have assistants who measure your feet, bring you the shoes etc. The only places where you buy shoes self-service are Target, K-Mart etc., and hardware stores for rubber boots, work-boots etc.
Australians don't pay for things in one dominant way. Cash payment is still common (and often the quickest), or you can use a debit-card (often called an "eftposs-card" here from Electronic Funds-Transfer Point-Of-Sale) or a credit-card. Many people have a single card that can be used as either, and you select which function you want to use at the payment terminal, or on older systems, the check-out person will ask: "cheque or credit?" and select it on their terminal before swiping your card. If you pay by eftpos you enter your PIN, if by credit you will get the option to validate the transaction either with a PIN, or by signing the docket which older people sometimes prefer. The electronic signature pads on supermarket "bag your own" check-outs are notoriously unreliable, and I haven't seen anyone use one for ages.
There is no social stigma associated with paying by credit-card here, and the banks of course positively encourage it with all sorts of discount schemes, fee-rebates, frequent-flyer points etc. Retailers are not always so keen on the cut that the banks take, and (since 2003 when the law was changed to prevent credit-card companies from writing contracts prohibiting the practice) some shops add a surcharge to the bill if you pay by credit-card. Unsurprisingly, the surcharge is always well
above the fee that the credit-card companies actually charge. It is normal for retailers to point to the fees charged by Diners Club in justification (though the surcharges comfortably exceed even those), when the mass-market Mastercard and Visa have much lower fees. As always,
let the buyer beware. I regard credit-cards as being like power-saws; very useful but potentially dangerous; you have to take care to keep your fingers away from the blades.
No bank-issued card is acceptable for ID purposes in Australia, even where it carries a photo, which most do not. Your driver's licence, or an equivalent "undrivers license" photo-card with the same security features, issued by the state-government motor-registry is the standard thing.
When I first had to refuel a car in the USA, the "pay first, then pump" system confused me thoroughly. Here, you normally pump first, then pay at the counter. Some servos have POS-terminals built into the pump, where you "pre-authorise" the
maximum amount of money you expect to spend. If you pump fuel to a lower value, you only pay the lower amount,
but the bank charges the total pre-authorised amount to your account immediately, and then pays you back the difference between what you bought and what you pre-authorised. The system has a not-so-good reputation for hassles and delays in the repayments. Personally I never use Pay@Pump, mainly because the terminals cannot process supermarket "loyalty cards" so I'd miss out on the discounted fuel price "earned" by my grocery shopping. The terminals can't process "fleet cards" either, making them useless for a lot of professional drivers, tradesmen etc.