Only in England you say...pity

Overlooking Regent St

Cheerio mates!  Lor' luv a duck!  We've been here almost a year and our British indoctrination is almost complete.  We've got our brolly and Wellies in the boot, no more faffing about and jolly well fancy getting a decent cup o' tea at tea.  So, settle in with a cuppa so I can tell you all about our education and our appreciation of things British.

Firstly, I am grateful to my Brit-speak interpreters at the school gate encouraging my learning through exercise. They have been so helpful in teaching about things British. They'll let me practice extensively with words like "layovers" and other less used British vocabulary.  "Layover"and "stopover"  have whole different meanings. Who knew when you invited Fanny, Minnie and Willy to a party at Uncle Ted's, they weren't people?

Other Canadians, have had to learn the hard way, but have served to help us. A certain woman, referred to as "Vee" to protect her  identity, broke her wrist.  This caused  logistical conundrums to her work and play wardrobe. She decided to share this with her new British boyfriend's parents on a car outing.  Raising her arm in a cast she declared, "Since I've broken my wrist, I haven't been wearing any pants!".  Umm, maybe you didn't want to share TMI quite yet.  You see,  this is what was probably going through Boyfriend's Parents' minds.....

  

I'm sure Vee was thinking......

As a result, we’ve been REALLY careful about not confusing our pants and trousers. 

Here's saluting things British that we've come to love already.  "Only in England you say... pity".

Transportation

Big red buses and the Tube

As for transportation, might as well know when you're going to get hit by a bus, they're big, red and have a great view vantage from the double decker.  I'm obsessed with all things Tube related, the logistics fascinate me.

Isn't this the epitome of a London scene from a double decker on a rainy day?

Roundabouts

Despite driving on the wrong side of the road (thank you Napoleon for getting the rest of the world to drive on the right), they've got roundabouts and even mini-bouts sorted out like nobody's business to keep traffic flowing.  If you don't really know where you're going, you can just keep going round til you build up enough centrifugal force to be spit out of the vortex.  What part of R&D (rip off and duplicate) has North America not figured out?  I'm mounting a lobby against stop signs when we return to Canada.

All things horses 

 To the Queen's delight, horses are taken very seriously here. They have right away on ALL the roads (well, probably not the M25).  They come trotting right down in front of our house, in the city!! 

E riding Gonzo, our friends' horse

Horse cross-walks (never too safe)

Have you ever seen a horse cross-walk sign?  This cracks me up every time I see one.  Making sure everyone looks right before they cross.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/icaewpressoffice/4381890464/

Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Hanley

Isn't it cool that we have a knight living in your 'hood, as you never know when you'll need rescuing on one of those white horses riding down our road.  Well, actually, he did rescue E & I when we were running late for the tube.  He has a white car, ok, his wife, the Viscountess, has a white car.  Modern white horse.  And he is ever so charming too.

Polo at Sandhurst

Stomping divots on the polo field

British Education 

Uniforms - for everything

E is not so keen on her school uniform as you can see her running away.  But we think its the best thing since crumpets.  

Ballet exam uniform

Even British Army officers wear uniforms off-duty. Nice checked shirts and chinos, boys 

School Alcohol Policy

We love E's Church of England school.  Its got a great community feel and so many parties.  This is the Vicar running the Booze Tombola at the Christmas Fair.  We think this more relaxed approach fosters better parental involvement in school activities. The academics seem pretty good too.

And this is Karen, taking care of us at the school Sports Day.

It's Pimm's O'Clock - and that would be 10 am at the school Sports Day.  God Save the Queen and Karen!

Shopping!

On-line grocery orders and delivery

I don't know how I'll survive without grocery delivery in Canada.  The Brits have delivery of whatever you need sorted out.  Order on line - delivered the next day.  

Groceries delivered right to my door.

And then marched in to my kitchen!  I have the pool boy, Juan, visit weekly too.  Wonder if Adrian has noticed we don't have a pool?

Harrods!

What is shopping in London without the eponymous Harrods?  They never fail to surprise.  

Harrods knows how to throw a Champagne tasting.  That's Karen on the left drinking Dom Perignon surreptitiously poured by the 2nd blond when Monsieur Queue de Poule wasn't looking.  And how angry can you get at a Harrods client even if they almost emptied a GBP 200 bottle?  Small world when we met these other ladies who happen to live in my 'hood and I got an adventurous taxi ride home with them.  That's me holding a bottle of Krug.  

How about when Delisa and I got locked in the the wine cellar after the Bordeaux tasting?  It was surreal like being in Mannequin.  We eventually found someone to escort us up the staff stairway, Downton Abbey style, through the salon to the darkened store! Obviously we were too sober as we should have hid out in the cellar. (Somehow the proof pictures have gone MIA)

There is the Christmas Grotto for the kids at Harrods, where you get ushered into a private room for your visit with Father Christmas.  

Hangin' after seeing Father Christmas.

Honorable mention goes to Fortnum & Masons because it is an architectural icon with really neat stuff and the ice cream samples come in itty-bitty waffle cones.

Pubs

What is England without a pub cliche?

Cool tourist sights

Like Big Ben and cute kids.

Marie-Ange was channelling her English-lady from another life when in London.  Frederic had to confiscate her bag of flowered prints from Liberty of London before they headed back to France.

Nothing says London like the Changing of the Guards. Liz gets to watch this from her window every day.

Free museums like the Victoria & Albert in the summer and winter.

Interesting art installations at the V& A if you pay attention to detail. Here is a Chinese artist's stone and village scenes.

English Gardens

Flowers in February - no explanation required for Canadians

English roses - everywhere

Being blasé about exotic cars

We might be driving around like the Clampetts in our beater Vauxhall, but we don't even bat an eye at Bentleys, Ferraris, Maseratis, Rolls Royce's anymore. I bet there are more German luxury cars here than in Deutschland!

These were in the "consultant" parking when I went for my physio appointment.  I obviously studied the wrong thing.

More similarities than differences

In the end, we really have more in common than differences.  Like, England has their morons just like Canada.

Stay tuned for more of our favourite things - as there are so many more!  By the time our tour is over, we'll have a side order of chips with everything and be toasting the Queen at every dinner.