‘England’ archive

Easter Weekend in Charmouth, Dorset

Posted on 25 April 2011 in England | View Comments

The weather this weekend was so lovely that I skipped making the promised simnel cake in favour of relaxing in the garden. I opted for my mom’s apple crisp instead, which is always a crowd pleaser.

We spent Easter weekend at Chris’ dad’s house, which overlooks the sea in Charmouth, Dorset. Charmouth is a really interesting place because the cliffs are made out sedimentary rock, built up since the Early Jurassic period. The yellow colour at the top of the cliff is Cretaceous (the geologic era that followed Jurassic), so you’re looking at 100 million years of history.

On Saturday afternoon, we walked along the coast to Lyme Regis and hunted for ammonite fossils on the way.

Ammonites died out with the dinosaurs, but their fossils are still commonly found on the beach in amongst the rock. Neil found me an ammonite fossil and Chris found me a bit of pyrite (fool’s gold).

The weather and lighting were cooperating perfectly and I had to keep stopping to take photos…

On our way back, the tide was coming in and I slipped on an inclined rock covered in seaweed and slid into the water, camera and all. It was like something from a movie. Thankfully my camera and phone both survived!

That evening, Neil prepared us a roast chicken dinner, complete with a huge jug of Pimm’s Lemonade.

We enjoyed our dinner as we watched the Easter bunnies hiding chocolates in Neil’s garden…

… and woke up to this!

Sunday afternoon we ventured to Chideock, a village just east of Charmouth. We walked around the village and saw some really nice churches and cute thatched roof cottages. Everyone seemed to have a green thumb and I was really inspired by all of the beautiful, fragrant wisteria.

We also saw lots of wild garlic and blue bells growing along the side of the road.

Privately owned Chideock Manor opens to the public only once per year, so we were very fortunate to be able to visit it. We began our tour of the manor gardens with some tea, cakes and a short sit-down.

The vegetable patch in particular caught my interest. It was too early to see much in terms of crop, but I really liked the box hedge that defined the perimeter and the use of branches to construct tipis and sweet pea trellises.

The orchard was equally stunning, with row upon row of fruit trees in full bloom.

The wisteria on the side of the manor was gorgeous – the best wisteria we saw all day!

The manor gardens also featured several rows of trees that had been trained into arches. I absolutely love this kind of a feature in a garden. It was stunning.

We arrived back to Neil’s house sunburnt but happy and enjoyed a delicious ham salad feast prepared by Neil. Sadly, I didn’t get a good shot of our feast as I must have been too ravenous after all the sunshine and walking. After an elegant sufficiency of Easter goodies, reality set in and it was time to head back to Wiltshire.

What a perfect long weekend!

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What I’ve Learned About The British

Posted on 21 April 2011 in England | View Comments

As an outsider living in the UK for three years, I think I can make some pretty decent generalizations about British people, hopefully without offending them!

They value food freshness.

As a result, everything is sold in small quantities. The normal way of living here is to go to the supermarket once every few days to get the things you’ll need for the next few meal(s). Also, caged chicken eggs are frowned upon here – it’s much easier to find free-range eggs (and they taste better, too!).

sausages in kent 600x398 What Ive Learned About The British

They love picnics in parks.

To be compeletely honest I was never much of a picnic person, but in a place where sunshine is scarce and many people don’t have gardens, I totally get its appeal. Disposable barbecues are very commonly enjoyed in the park after work. It’s also noteworthy that if you’re not disturbing anyone by quietly enjoying a bottle of wine or a few ciders in a park with a friend, the cops usually won’t bust you for it.

They treat their pets like royalty.

Cats get fresh meat and wet food as well as dry. They also tend to live a lot longer. When I first moved here, both Chris and Max’s childhood cats were still alive and 20+ human years old!

amy with blackie 450x600 What Ive Learned About The British

Amy with Chris's beloved 22 year old cat, Blackie

They are still pretty apathetic about recycling.

I think it’s a combination of laziness and lack of government support that a good deal of recyclable material still goes to landfills. Councils should definitely put recycling bins in public places, especially parks for picnic waste!

garden rubbish 600x449 What Ive Learned About The British

Our garden full of rubbish during renovation. Don't worry, it got recycled!

They like name brand fashion.

In Bath, a lot of emphasis seems to be put on how smartly you dress. I am very casual most days (unless we have a client coming), but I do notice that both young and old here are very fashion forward. I’m not surprised, considering how trendy affordable shops like M&S, H&M, Primark, etc are in comparison to somewhere like Wal-Mart. T-shirts and hoodies make North American foreigners like me stick out like a sore thumb!

They value and appreciate history.

In a World Heritage city like Bath, it’s hard not to appreciate the history, the architecture and those who built it. The National Trust properties dotted around the country are proof that Britons still like to stop and think about how life used to be for their ancestors. Television programmes about royal/archaeological/natural history frequent our Sky Planner; there always seems to be some sort of new angle that hasn’t been discussed before. This emphasis on history is one of the big reasons I love England. I’m so looking forward to the royal wedding!

There really are a lot of regional accents.

When I was a kid, I used to think that all English people sounded like Liverpudlian Neil Buchanan from Art Attack. It wasn’t until I was immersed in the accent that I began to realize and start to actually recognize the different accents. Just take a 10 minute journey from Bath to Bristol and you’ll see what I mean.

They’re not afraid to complain.

If food or customer service is not up to the expectations of the customer, they’ll say something. As a Canadian, I used to just grin and bear it, rather than troubling someone to fix it. Here, though, if you’ve ordered a medium-rare steak and it comes well done, you send it back. I think this has affected how people view Brits as tourists, but I don’t see anything wrong with expecting quality when you’re paying for it. Please note that I did not complain about the below dish! Yuuuummmm…

There are other things I’ve noticed as well, but these are the things that stick out in my mind at the moment.

In other news, it’s nearly Easter weekend! I am playing softball tonight with my Bristolian friends and then I’m going to spend tomorrow making a traditional simnel cake. Unless the cake ends up a complete disaster, you’ll be reading about it tomorrow!

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Things I didn’t like before I moved to England

Posted on 1 October 2010 in England | View Comments

I’ve grown up a lot in two and a half years. I’ve dealt with moderate culture shock and even lived to tell about it! At first I was very stuck in my ways, but with time I’ve grown to love the customs and food! My grandma used to always told me that my tastes would change, but I refused to believe her. I was so wrong! Here are a few examples:

Olives
My first experience with olives was when I was seven years old, at a friend’s Halloween party. I was told they were eyeballs as I blindly dunked my hand into a bowl full. Since then I’ve always seen them as weird little eyeballs. They look especially gross in the huge cheap jars. I tried some at Pizza Express once and I’ve been hooked since then. Green, black, pitted, stuffed – I’ll have them any which way!
Tomatoes
When I was a child, tomatoes used to make me gag. My mom will attest to me picking every single bit of tomato out of the garden salads she used to make. The texture and taste were both equally repulsive. It wasn’t until I had a few cherry tomatoes in a European style salad that I realized how tangy and delicious they are. I recently made 2 kgs of green tomato chutney! It’s funny how tastes change
Bread with olive oil & balsalmic vinegar
This is another European staple that I would never have tried before but have now come to love!
Cider
Before moving here, I thought cider was just a christmassy warm apple juice. Now I can officially say “oi love me a point ‘o coider!”
Lamb
In Canada, most families eat traditional chicken, beef, pork or turkey. I have always been scared of trying new meats because I was never fed them as a kid. I reluctantly tried some lamb & mint burgers and was instantly hooked. Delicious little baby animals! (Sorry, Kristen)
Bacon
Streaky bacon is a thing of the past! British bacon is so much better!!!
Baked beans
This was an acquired taste, but I now thoroughly enjoy baked beans on toast. I actually like all kinds of beans now, too: kidney, black, chick peas, etc.

There are probably more, but I am late for my date with rosé wine and a friend! Oh crap, that’s another for the list…

Happy weekend everyone!

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Things I didn’t know about England / British people before moving here

Posted on 26 March 2010 in England | View Comments

Call it ignorance or cultural differences – whatever you like. Here are a few of the things that dumbfounded me two years ago. Yeah, I know right – two years already!!

Stones

Lots of people in England actually still measure their body weight in stones, with one stone being 14lbs. It’s very confusing, especially if your mental math is lousy.
Don’t call a mobile phone from a landline or phone booth

I’m sure this varies from plan to plan, but it costs way more to phone a mobile from a landline or phone booth than it does from another mobile. Also, landlines usually have a set number of minutes that you can use each month (although recently ‘unlimited’ minutes is becoming popular). There’s no such thing as “long distance” within the UK, so you can call anyone in any area code and it’s the same price.
VAT

Tax on things you buy is called VAT (equivalent of GST, in Canada). It’s 17.5% and the nice thing is that it’s included in the ticketed price of things you buy. So if you see something that’s £10, you walk in and hand them £10. Good times.
School lingo

School goes from age 5-16 (“Year 1″ – “Year 11″), followed by GCSE exams which mark the completion of compulsory education. The next two years (“Sixth Form”) are optional and lead up to “A-Levels” which are tests you take prior to University. Coincidentally, private schools are referred to as “public schools”. Also, “school” isn’t used as an umbrella term here, so if you use it when referring to university, people will correct you. Oh and school busses don’t seem to exist (at least not in my area), so everyone drives their bloody kids to school. How I love half term!
Sink within a sink

Many British people have a plastic tub that fits neatly inside their kitchen sink, in which they place dirty dishes to soak. This seems weird to me as the sink could do the exact same thing and it has a drain, too! I don’t know. I guess it’s because the tubs are portable and sinks aren’t.
Tipping

You aren’t expected to tip in a bar or pub, even if they bring the food / drinks to you. Bar and restaurant staff make normal minimum wage (as opposed to below minimum wage in Canada) so they don’t depend on tips to survive. Someone told me once that you only tip on the food in restaurants, but I’m not entirely sure on the accuracy of that. Also, the typical tipping rate is 10-15%.
Speeding

Instead of using police officers and speed traps, they use speed cameras to catch you speeding in the UK. They have cameras that track your speed using some lines painted on the road and if you’re speeding, they send you a ticket in the mail. Sneaky, eh?

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My love for British words

Posted on 9 October 2009 in England | View Comments

When I moved to the UK a year and a half ago, I was immediately struck by how many different ways there are of saying the same thing. What I didn’t realize is that they don’t all mean the same thing and the English spoken here is more articulate.

In particular, I’m a fan of the adverbs (both formal and informal!) spoken in the UK. I’m sure I’ll be corrected on these, but below are five different ways of expressing hunger, in order of intensity:

I’m rather hungry. I’m hungry to some extent.
I’m quite hungry. I’m hungry to some vague degree.
I’m well hungry. I’m hungry to an appropriate extent.
I’m awfully hungry. I’m exceptionally hungry.
I’m right hungry. I’m hungry to the extreme.
I’m bloody hungry. I’m hungry to the extreme.

There are a bunch of verbs that I have fallen in love with as well. I knew some of these before moving here, but I didn’t really use them in speech.

prod - to poke or jab with or as if with something pointed
nick – steal
bodge - make a mess of, destroy or ruin
tread - to step, walk, or trample so as to press, crush, or injure something
leg it – run!
waffle – ramble on about nothing

I’m sure there are more, but that’s all I can think of at the moment…

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Recycling in the UK

Posted on 16 September 2009 in England | View Comments

20 years ago, Canada embarked on a program to cut waste by 50% by the year 2000 using the three R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. As a young school child at the time, I was encouraged forced to recycle. We had intense recycling within the school, with prizes for classes with the least amount of waste. Each classroom had its own bins for aluminum, glass, plastic and paper/cardboard and realizing what could be recycled was ingrained from an early age.

Though gaining more and more importance in today’s world, day-to-day recycling still seems to be a low priority for most British people. I suppose this is because it is still seen as voluntary rather than compulsory and heck, 20 years ago Britain wasn’t as concerned – they just chucked everything in a landfill in China rather than educating the younger generation (maybe that explains the apathy here?).

2973069710 a2016af7a4 Recycling in the UK

"Warm up to recycling" by Toban Black

In Canada it’s not uncommon to see public recycling bins accompanying regular garbage ones along the streets and in parks. From what I’ve gathered in the UK (in my area, anyways), there are no public recycling bins except in privately run parks. This is something that is being introduced in London at the moment, but how long before it catches on nationally?

pb Recycling in the UK

As well, many supermarket items in Canada are sold in larger, plastic containers as opposed to smaller, glass ones. Take, for example, peanut butter (Fig. 1). Here we have the most delicious peanut butter in the world, Jif (510g in a plastic container) vs. Sun-Pat (sold most commonly in 227g but in this diagram, 350g in a glass container). Manufacturers in the UK must spend a fortune and produce a heck of a lot of waste… Shouldn’t there be some laws governing that?

And, even though 9/10 households in the UK have kerbside recycling, most if not all of the Britons I know don’t actively recycle. Perhaps they’re lacking incentive to do so. Perhaps they were never taught how?

Canadians seem to, especially in places where garbage bags have to be marked with a pricey sticker in order to be picked up on the curb. When you buy beer / liquor bottles in Canada, they tack on a “bottle deposit” fee, which you get back if you bring your bottles back to the store. Incentive…

wasteeu Recycling in the UK

Despite recent efforts, there’s no doubt that the UK is significantly behind in the green movement (Fig. 2). I’ll do my part, but I sincerely hope things change drastically over the next few years. If not, I’m moving to Austria!

How To Order Things in England

Posted on 17 August 2009 in England | View Comments

I thought I’d lighten the mood with another culture shock post…

Drinks

Drinks don’t always come with ice and garnish, so to avoid all confusion make sure you ask for them. Example: “May I have a gin and tonic with ice and a slice, please?”

Beer

Most people drink pints of beer as opposed to splitting pitchers. A lot of places don’t have pitchers. Also, you can order half-pints, which are super cute.

Eggs

If you’re getting fried eggs, they come how they come. “Over easy” is not a well-known term, but most full English breakfasts come that way.

Red Meat

You have to pick one: medium, rare or well done. If you say “medium well,” people will look at you like you’re a bit crazy.

Shopping

England has adopted some things green (although the recycling system still kind of sucks). If you want a plastic shopping bag, be prepared to ask. Or bring your own canvas bag!

Coffee

If you just want a ‘normal’ black coffee, the term is “black Americano”.

Movie tickets

Make sure you arrive early to purchase movie tickets, because your tickets will have assigned seats and the best ones always fill up quickly! Also there is “Premium Seating” in some theatres, which costs more but you get a bigger seat with more leg room.

Postage Stamps

First class stamps – arrives in 1 day within UK, £0.39
Second class stamps – arrive in 3 days within UK, £0.30

Eat in / Take away

Most Canadians are familiar with the saying “For here or to go?” which translates to “Eat in or take away?” in the UK. Often times food & drinks cost more if you are eating in, since many shops are small and there is limited seating.

Sandwiches

brown sauce = BBQ sauce
mustard = Dijon mustard
yellow mustard = American-style mustard
salad cream = mayonnaise (or something similar)
tomato ketchup = normal ketchup (they just say it differently)
brown bread = whole wheat bread (this is obvious)
salad = lettuce, cucumber, tomato (usually)

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Insult someone with British slang!

Posted on 20 March 2009 in England | View Comments

Wow! It’s been nearly a year since I moved to the UK from Canada. It has had its fair share of ups and downs but I feel comfortable here and I’ve even got a grasp on the slang. Let me share a few with you.

slag: slut
chav: guy who wears sporty clothes and is a bit rough around the edges
pikey: ‘trailer trash’
bugger: jerk
git: someone with sub-par behaviour
cheeky git: lippy / rude person with sub-par behaviour
tosser: implies that the person masturbates excessively
wanker: implies that the person masturbates excessively
twit: someone who’s really dumb
nutter: someone who’s a few crayons short of a full box
ponce: someone who thinks they are overly smart / stylish (and aren’t)
todger: if you call someone this, you’re literally calling them a penis

There are many others, I’m sure, but this should get you started!

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‘England’ archive

Easter Weekend in Charmouth, Dorset

What I’ve Learned About The British

They value food freshness.

They love picnics in parks.

They treat their pets like royalty.

They are still pretty apathetic about recycling.

They like name brand fashion.

They value and appreciate history.

There really are a lot of regional accents.

They’re not afraid to complain.

Things I didn’t like before I moved to England

Things I didn’t know about England / British people before moving here

Stones

Don’t call a mobile phone from a landline or phone booth

VAT

School lingo

Sink within a sink

Tipping

Speeding

My love for British words

Recycling in the UK

Further Reading

How To Order Things in England

Drinks

Beer

Eggs

Red Meat

Shopping

Coffee

Movie tickets

Postage Stamps

Eat in / Take away

Sandwiches

Insult someone with British slang!

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