This video is very interesting. It appears to be a pilot for a show called Unfinished London that will chronicle building works in London that never happened.

The first video is about a branch of the London Underground that was never built and all the interesting things that prevented it from happening.

If you’re into London at all – then check out this video. I hope it gets made into a TV show – I’d certainly watch it!

Unfinished London – The Tube: What the Northern Line on the London Underground could have been is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Last year I wrote a post on my blog Anglophile’s Digest about Poppy Day, I had actually forgotten about what I had written, but when I was going back to check out what I had written about last year I decided to repost it here. As I have mentioned before, my husband is in the Royal Navy so Poppy Day is really important to him and both of our families.

Today is Armistice Day. I didn’t realize until now that this is the one non-religious holiday that America and Britain share. In America, Veteran’s Day is also commemorated on the day of the Armistice. Having experienced both holidays in both countries I am sad to say that America’s observation pales in comparison to the honor which the British bestow upon their veterans on this day. If you asked the average American civilian what date Veteran’s Day is, if they aren’t looking at a November calendar chances are they couldn’t tell you. I am sure this morning when everyone turned the page on their day to day desk calendar, more than one office worker turned to a coworker and commented “Hey, did you know today is Veteran’s Day?” I find it sad that Americans need a small italicized reminder on their calendar or date book to remember such an important day in our history. By contrast, if you asked a British citizen what date Armistice or “Poppy Day” falls on they will quickly answer “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”.

For about a month leading up to Poppy Day, everyone wears a paper poppy on their lapel. The proceeds go to the British Legion and one of the most amazing things is that every single television personality makes the poppy a permanent part of their wardrobe for the month leading up to Armistice Day. Even the contestants on The X Factor (Britain’s version of American Idol) wear a poppy on their outfits on stage. I guess it could be compared to the American flag lapel pin, no Member of Parliament would be caught dead without one pinned to their suit.

I suppose here both World Wars quite literally hit closer to home. The British isles were heavily bombed by the Germans and there are still reminders everywhere of the death and destruction. Here in the North, one of the biggest reminders is the depressed economy.

Before the World Wars, Hartlepool was a major English port and a hub of industry with several dozen shipping companies calling the port of Hartlepool home, accounting for nearly 250 ships. Hartlepool’s position as a major British port made it a strategic target for the Germans. On the morning of December 16, 1914 Hartlepool became the first town in Britain to be bombed by the Germans. On this day over 1000 shells rained down on Hartlepool from German ships. Guns on the Heugh (pronounced “Yuff”) Gun Battery in Hartlepool fired back around 150 shells with more accuracy than the German ships and initiated the first and only land to sea attack from the British mainland and severely damaged the attacking ships. Despite this contribution, World War I and the following Depression crippled the once robust Hartlepool shipping industry only to be revived again during World War II. Yet again, this prosperity made Hartlepool a prime target for the Nazi forces and Hartlepool was raided from the air 43 times during the course of World War II. This once and for all cut off the Hartlepool shipping industry and it has never recovered since.

Hartlepool’s story is similar to many other British towns, which is maybe the reason that Armistice Day and honoring their veterans is such a hallowed tradition here. Particularly in the working class towns of the North where the economic effects of war are still relevant decades later, these stories still hit close to home and in many cases the people who lived through them are still around to remember.

I am sitting here in my front room, I live in an old Victorian home on the sea front that was converted to flats. I imagine that the residents of this house would have had a front row seat for that first bombing in 1914. As I sit here I can see the peninsula of the Headland much as it would have looked back then. Although it is a misty day I can see a few cargo ships out to sea, but I have seen naval ships out here as well and ships of war look much different from the merchant ships the residents of this house would have been used to seeing from their front windows. I can only imagine what it would have felt like for whoever who sat right here and watched the shells being launched from the German ships onto the Headland from this distance, far enough away that the falling shells probably didn’t make much sound to penetrate the quiet of that early December morning, but close enough to see the flashes and smoke. It must have been horrific to watch.

A plaque at the Headland War Memorial with the names of the men killed in the December 16th Bombardment of Hartlepool. A Remembrance Day service is held at this memorial every year on the Sunday before the Armistice.

If you had by chance forgotten that it is Veteran’s Day, please take a moment to reflect and to remember the veterans who fought for their countries and to protect their loved ones and families back home. I will leave you with the poem (written by a Canadian soldier in WWI) that was the inspiration for making the poppy the symbol for remembering those who give their lives for their country.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)

Dispatches from the North: Lest We Forget is a post from: Anglotopia.net

With Britain tightening immigration regulations and the dreams of being an expat in Britain seeming to become far less of a reality for many, you are probably open to suggestions of how you can recreate the expat experience in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Beyond just ordering fish and chips, finding a pub that serves Boddingtons or watching endless reruns of “Coupling” on BBC America, there are some things you can do to bring an authentic feeling expat experience to your domestic life. You might feel and look ridiculous, but an important part of being an expat is trying new things and sticking out like a sore thumb, so get stuck in!

Read the Newspaper

Newspapers are such an important part of British life, I feel like in the US the TV news, the radio news and the newspapers all occupy their own realms. Their audiences don’t overlap considerably, and to be honest a person who relies exclusively on one medium of news will probably end up with a vastly different picture of what is going on in the world. In Britain the various news mediums are deeply intertwined, and the newspaper isn’t just for bankers and businessmen to keep tucked in their briefcases, people from all walks of life read the newspaper and even if they don’t the headlines and top stories from all the major papers are discussed on the TV news. I am not even saying you need to go out of your way to get British newspapers, I think just the act of making an effort to get a daily newspaper and to compare what you read in it to what you hear on the radio or see on TV is a great way to make your day to day life a bit more British. If you really want to make the experience authentic, subscribe to an RSS feed or other daily subscription to your favorite British major daily.

Eat Like A Brit

I can think of so many ways this could be done, but I did manage to narrow it down to a few essentials.

• Introduce the Sunday Dinner- Yes, if you want to have a truly authentic British experience, start cooking a Sunday dinner. It might be hard to get your family together every Sunday, especially if you have never done it in the past. Shoot for one Sunday a month and then maybe increase the frequency from there. Even if you aren’t a great cook, making a traditional Sunday dinner is still doable. There are a few main elements to the Sunday dinner, first is a big piece of roasted meat. Beef, pork, lamb or chicken will do the trick. Next are a few different types of potatoes, you can never just have one type. I usually have mashed potatoes and potato wedges or “roasties” but any kind of potatoes will do as long as there is more than one kind or you mix it up every once in awhile. Then you need a few different kinds of simply steamed or roasted vegetables usually carrots, sprouts, cabbage, parsnips and possibly seasonal vegetables like green beans and some mashed turnip as well. Then of course you must have brown gravy to drizzle over the top, and if you are really clever in the kitchen you should whip up some Yorkshire puddings. When I make a Sunday dinner I follow Jamie Oliver’s recipes from his Ministry of Food book (called Jamie’s Food Revolution in the US version) and they are really delicious traditional recipes. If you aren’t a cook you could always get one of those cooked rotisserie chickens they sell at the supermarket and some frozen vegetables and potatoes and easily cut all the corners and still manage a good Sunday dinner.
• Add a bit of gravy- For Americans gravy is pretty much just for Thanksgiving and Christmas and other special holiday meals. On a British dinner table its a makes a much more regular appearance, especially up here in the north. Instead of putting salt or ketchup or some other type of savory sauce on your meals, maybe try integrating in a bit of gravy. I am sure cardiologists all over the country are letting out a resounding “NOOOOOOO” but if it is a bit of British life you want, you need to add a bit more gravy to your diet.
• Substitute custard for ice cream- I don’t mean permanently, Hagen Daaz and Ben & Jerry’s do very well over here, I am talking about anything served “a la mode”. If you want the British experience your baked goods need to be smothered in warm, creamy custard. This is something that instantly makes any dessert British, even something as American as apple pie transforms into something homey and altogether different if you skip the ice cream and go for a liberal drizzling of custard.

Put The Kettle On

Probably the most difficult thing to get the hang of here is putting the kettle on. I certainly offer my guests a choice of cold or hot beverages when I have visitors, but there is something about the British method of doing this that makes it difficult for me to pick it up and that is the preemptiveness. As soon as your guest has announced they are on their way, start boiling the kettle for the tea or brewing the coffee. It should be ready when they get there, and you should offer it to them almost as soon as they walk in the door. Even if its just a short visit, I think the good thing about sharing a cuppa is that it requires you to sit down and take a little bit of time. It doesn’t take long to finish a cup of tea, but its just a long enough time that you do get to actually visit with your guest. Also keep your cookie jar full so you can serve your guests a few little nibbles with their tea or coffee.

Wear A Poppy in November

Its not just Britons who should celebrate the Armistice, and it would be totally appropriate for Americans to observe the day of remembrance and to wear a paper poppy during the month of November. If you can’t find one, you can easily make your own with a simple cutout of red paper and a black pin.

Don A Paper Crown at Christmas

I know its possible to find traditional British Christmas crackers at some specialty shops, but even if you can’t find them they are incredibly easy to make and one of my favorite things about celebrating Christmas in Britain. The rest of the day is pretty much the same, this is the one thing that I feel really makes it different. So this year with your family try something a little different and bring along some Christmas crackers, or just fashion your own paper hats and allow yourself a bit of whimsy. I did some googling to see if I could find a great reference for making your own Christmas crackers and paper crowns, and there are so many I couldn’t narrow it down. So do some googling and find the one that suits you best, they range from really simple (toilet paper tube, wrapping paper, two pieces of string) to the complicated versions that actually involve buying the “snap” bit from the internet and making your own crackers that actually crack. Either way you go, they are easy and fun to make, especially as a project for kids.

Enjoying Christmas dinner while wearing my paper crown

Place a bet on the Grand National

Mark you calendar and make sure to place your bet for the British Grand National on April 10th 2010. Before placing your bets be sure to peruse all of the betting guides, but most importantly go with your gut and if you want to be truly British do absolutely no research at all and put your money on the horse with the silliest name. Even for Brits that don’t regularly follow horse racing, the Grand National is a huge national event that almost everyone watches and most people also place a bet. You don’t have to be in Britain to place a bet, you can place bets online through both American and UK betting sites.

Cheer On England in the World Cup

August 2010 might seem like a far way off, but people are already talking about it. Keep up with the latest news and stats by checking the Sky Sports News website often. The great thing about the World Cup is that it is widely televised in the US. England has already qualified, so they are definitely going to South Africa for their first shot at glory since 1966. I think one thing about the World Cup in America is people support all different teams and they aren’t afraid to show it. This may be the one time that you can show up at a pub with a cross of St. George painted on your face (or belly if that is your style) and everyone else will look equally as ridiculous as you.

During the last World Cup I fondly remember sitting in The Globe Pub in Chicago (which by the way is THE PLACE to watch football in Chicago, and also serves delicious traditional English food as it is owned and operated by two Brits) and there were fans from all nationalities crammed into the bar at 7am all bedecked in patriotic colors of the nation of their choice and it was really fun for everyone, even me and I am not a football fan by and means.

Visit Anglotopia Often

So this is obvious, but whenever you need to live vicariously through expat experiences, visit Anglotopia and check out the columns and the other great content here, before you know it you will feel like you are in Blighty.

Dispatches from the North: Have the Expat Experience without the Visa is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Maybe delicacy is an inappropriate word. As with most “local delicacies” like Italian Beef in Chicago or Clam Rolls in coastal Massachusetts, “Parmo” is fast food. You can get a Parmo at pretty much every pizza place and fish and chip shop in the Teesside area.

Parmo is a term that has been shortened over time, the original name was Parmesan Escalope and now it is just called a Parmesan or colloquially, Parmo. It is kind of like the delinquent nephew of veal or chicken Paragiana in Italian cuisine. It is a piece of chicken or pork beat down until it is as thin as possible and about the size of a small dinner plate. It is then breaded, fried and covered in béchamel sauce and melted cheese and served with chips and a bit of salad on the side. Here in Teesside we like to put garlic sauce on everything, its kind of a cross between garlic mayonnaise and ranch dressing, so its usually served with a side of garlic sauce (because two layers of fatty topping just aren’t enough). Funny enough, although its called a Parmesan, there isn’t actually even a gram of Parmesan cheese in a Parmo, leave it up to Teessiders.

Photo from Wikipedia by Karl Bomersbach

When I first moved here I thought that Parmo was an English thing, but I just recently discovered that its actually a very local thing that can pretty much only be found in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough and the adjacent towns. There is really nothing like it anywhere else and its totally unique to this area.

The thing I find the most unique about this dish is that it hasn’t taken the same path as most of your local fast food favorites. Most of these unique local foods usually start out in a greasy spoon or roadside stand and now we are seeing these types of foods showing up on fine dining menus with a gourmet twist. Its all the rage these days to take something like macaroni and cheese with gourmet ingredients, add a little bit of luxury with some lobster tail or filet mignon and put it on a plate next to some kind of foam or puree and charge $40 for it. Parmo is the exact opposite though, it is an adaptation that took a fine dining dish off the fancy plate and transformed it into an inexpensive, fast food dish served in a pizza box and best consumed after a night of drinking. It is kind of a rare thing for a dish to actually regress from fine dining to pizza shops and burger stands.

I am sure you are probably not jumping out of your seat to come visit Teesside and sample a Parmo, after all you can always go to an Italian restaurant and order a chicken or veal Parmigiana and get something that is similar and probably better quality. However, Parmo is set to make its national debut and soon it could be available outside of our little corner of this island. Earlier this year, Asda (part of the Wal-Mart conglomerate) began selling Parmos in their Teesside supermarkets. It has been so successful that they are considering rolling out the product in other areas of the country. Still, even with the convenience Asda version available in supermarkets, nothing will ever be as authentic as a greasy, saucy and cheesy parmo from a Teesside shop. Maybe some day Parmo will come to respresent British street food the way chip butties and bacon sarnies do, but for now it remains Teesside’s shining beacon of culinary innovation (sort of).

Dispatches from the North: Parmo- Teesside’s Local Delicacy is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Nudity in a public place is not, of itself, an offence in English law.

This statement may seem surprising to some people, but it has always been so – and remains the case despite the introduction of a new offence of “Exposure” in the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

English law operates on the premise that you are free to do anything which is not specifically prohibited, but you have to take the consequences of your actions.

If you are simply enjoying social and recreational nudity – whether that be swimming, sunbathing or walking, on a beach or other open space (including your own garden) and doing so with reasonable consideration for others, you have every reason to defend your right to continue should you be challenged by a police officer or a representative of the landowner or local authority.

In this, there is no difference between “official”, ” traditional”, or “tolerated” beaches.

However, if public nudity is intended to cause “harassment”, “alarm” or “distress”, to “insult”, or is thought likely to cause “a breach of the peace” then a offence may be being committed.

How your behaviour is interpreted is likely to depend not only what you are doing, but also on the circumstances in which you are doing it.

Let’s put it this way:

If you are in the habit of sunbathing without clothes on a quiet stretch of beach, perhaps one with a long history of such activity, then you are very unlikely to find yourself in trouble. On the other hand, if you attempt to walk naked down your local high street you will, within a few minutes, be coming into contact with the police.

Basically, you aren’t breaking the law in the act of simply being nude in public, however if your nudity causes distress or offense to another person you are then breaking the law. Its a bit confusing, and in a way a naturist can never be certain whether or not they are breaking the law as the law doesn’t address the activity itself but someone else’s reaction to the activity. Even though as the quote above points out there is no difference between an “official” nude beach and a place commonly known for nude sunbathing, the solution to the ambiguity of the law is to designate naturist beaches. Usually they are placed on secluded beaches and since the naturists don’t actually need the permission of the council to be nude on the beach, the main function of designating the beaches is so the council can put up signage warning passersby that they may encounter nudity and the naturists can enjoy the beach without worrying that they may offend someone and end up stuck with criminal charges.

You may be wondering why on earth I am blogging about naturism. No, its not because I myself am a naturist. I began looking into the subject a few weeks ago when a story made headlines that a local naturist petitioned to designate a naturist beach in the North East as there currently aren’t any in the area. (To see the BBC News story, click here) Well, the beach in question is of course the beach that I live on. Luckily the proposed nudist area isn’t the one directly outside my home. The proposed beach is just about a quarter mile down the beach from us and is an area that is shielded by sand dunes. The area is proposed because of the protection offered by the sand dunes so passersby can easily avoid viewing the beach. However, these dunes aren’t high enough to shield the beach from my view since I am about 4 stories up. I suppose should the vote go through and the beach becomes a designated naturist area I should be very careful when surveying the beach with my binoculars.

The issue of naturism in the UK seems to be a slippery slope. On one hand, this is Europe, but on the other hand this is Britain. Whereas continental Europe is very blasé  when it comes to nudity, the British make a bit more of a fuss out of it and often find it be more humorous than natural. The other issue which I find to be the most puzzling is that this isn’t the south of Spain or the French Riviera. This is Northern England where even in the summer the temperature rarely climbs over 75 degrees and our pebbly rough beaches are a far cry from the sugar fine sand of many of the places in Europe that seem to inspire people to get in touch with nature. I honestly can’t understand why anyone would want to be nude on Seaton Carew beach, and I most certainly can’t see anyone wanting to skinny dip in the North Sea (sober).

The representative of the local naturist club who was interviewed by the media (nude in his hot tub of course) continuously uses the rationale that “if its warm enough to be on the beach in a swimming costume it is warm enough to be on the beach without one”. I certainly agree, however I can only think of maybe a grand total of 5 days in the past year where a person would be able to comfortably sunbathe on the beach in a bathing suit. Of course I have seen children darting in and out of the frigid waves on some of the warmer days, but I can honestly say I have never seen a single adult stripped down to anything less than shorts and a t-shirt. Even on the warmest days there is a very cool breeze coming off the water and I certainly would never feel the need to get into my bathing suit and lay out on this beach. I can see why some naturists in the warmer areas of the country like Cornwall and Devon might want to walk about as nature intended, but its not an activity that is very conducive to the North East climate.

All of these arguments aside, I don’t see a problem with them using this beach for their clothing-optional recreation. I suppose if they are dedicated enough to that lifestyle that they would brave the North East climate in the nude, more power to ‘em.

Dispatches from the North: Clothing Optional is a post from: Anglotopia.net

As I have mentioned in past posts, I have finally gotten around to taking driving lessons. I am in the midst of my third week of lessons, I take two lessons a week for an hour and a half each. So far my progress is very good. I am quickly learning and with each lesson I feel a bit of my driving prowess coming back as I get more comfortable with the vehicle.

I am flabbergasted at how expensive this process is, even for me and I don’t need nearly as many lessons as someone learning to drive for the first time. When I was 15 and took driving lessons we took them through school. You could take private lessons if you wanted but they were very expensive and most kids went through the school program. I couldn’t tell you how much the course cost, my parents would be able to vouch for that, but given the fact that all sophomores took driver’s ed and not just the wealthy ones I have to draw the conclusion that the course was nowhere near as expensive as driving lessons in the UK are. For the average new driver in the UK the full driving course costs around £1000, including all of the licensing and testing fees.

Everyone here has to take lessons through a private instructor, there are some larger driving schools that have franchises in several towns but for the most part the driving instructors are small private companies with 1 or 2 instructors. On one hand I like this, I was able to ask around and choose the instructor I wanted and I am so happy with the instructor I chose. The major downfall is the cost, its quite an investment for me to learn to drive.

When I learned to drive for the first time 10 years ago our driving teachers were mostly teachers at our school, I am not sure what kind of classes they had to take to also teach driving on top of the other subjects they taught.  One of the instructors was a (certifiably) crazy middle school social studies teacher named Mr. Rathburg. This man had a moldy bagel hanging from the ceiling of his classroom and would have us flip through the social studies book at the beginning of each chapter and give a running commentary on the pictures such as “There is a nudey beach behind that mountain” and “They are growing pot on those terrace farms”. This is the man who taught most of the kids in my hometown to drive.

Also, we shared cars. Each driver’s ed class was split into groups of 3 and we would have a classroom session with the whole group and then schedule time for driving during the week with our group of 3. I was 15 and the dreamiest guy in school was in my group. He was a transfer student from South Africa with a fascinating accent and I got to spend 1/3 of each driving lesson sitting in the back seat of a little sedan with him and while I was behind the wheel every time I looked in the rear view mirror, there he was. Looking back its a miracle any of us learned to drive at all.

I guess you get what you pay for, in high school I learned to drive by taking my driving instructor through the McDonald’s drive thru. Here, my expensive driving lessons are tailor made for me. There is no sexy teenager in the backseat to distract me, and my instructor is a qualified professional and not a mentally unbalanced history teacher.

I am still having a very difficult time with some aspects of learning to drive… again. Driver’s ed was tough for me the first time around but I got through it and learned and became a really safe and proficient driver. Now every time I make a mistake I can’t help but admonish myself and think that I have been driving for 10 years and I shouldn’t be making these mistakes. On the surface I see that I should be making these mistakes, when you learn a new skill you do so by learning from your mistakes. However I can’t get past the feeling that this isn’t a new skill to me. Before this experience I took great pride in my driving and I am embarrassed and ashamed by each mistake I make.

I am incredibly nervous about taking the driving test. The written theory test is fairly extensive and requires quite a bit of studying. I will be tested on everything from what the catalytic converter is to how to handle passing a horse and rider. As part of the theory test I also have to take a hazard perception test where I will have to view a video simulation and touch the screen every time I see a hazard. After I pass the theory test I have to take the practical test which is infamously difficult. The current pass rate is 43% which is a scary statistic. Most people fail the test at least once. I am hoping my experience will make me one of the rare first-time passers. After all, I failed my first driving test when I was 16 so I have paid my dues right? Somehow I doubt the examiner will see it that way.

Dispatches from the North: On the Road… Again is a post from: Anglotopia.net

English weather is a pretty standard topic of conversation, but I am not just talking about the climate. I am specifically talking about meteorology, or the lack thereof really. I have not seen a single Doppler radar map in about a year now. I am sure by now the American local news channels are probably up to Doppler 7 Million, but here all we see is a pretty crude map with some misty looking clouds superimposed over the map to show where there might be clouds and rain. That is all. No pretty green to red scale to show me coming storms or that animation that looks like bacteria growing on the map. Just a plain old map that really doesn’t tell me anything. Oh, and there is no Weather Channel.

On top of the lack of informative weather maps, I am also hard pressed to find an accurate weather forecast. For example, I will put the forecast from the widget on my laptop next to the forecast I have on my iPhone so you can see the difference.

Wednesday- Laptop: 81 and sunny, iPhone: 75 and rainy
Thursday- Laptop: 79 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 73 and partly cloudy
Friday- Laptop: 74 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 68 and rainy
Saturday- Laptop: 72 and rainy, iPhone: 66 and rainy
Sunday- Laptop: 67 and rainy/sunny, iPhone: 64 and partly cloudy
Monday- Laptop: 66 and partly cloudy, iPhone: 62 and rainy

I haven’t found one of these forecasts to be more accurate than the other and often both are way off. I think the weather man probably starts off the day throwing darts at the wall and choosing the forecast that way because there seriously can’t be any science to it. I should also add that when I check these same sources tomorrow they will probably have a completely different forecast for the next 5 days.

I have pretty much given up on trying to find an accurate weather forecast. You may wonder how I plan my day when I have no idea what the weather will be and I can’t rely on British “meteorologists” to tell me. The truth is that Brits get their weather report by simply looking out the window and they always prepare for the chance of rain and should it happen they go about their business as usual. As long as the weather stays within the “normal” range and there isn’t a snow storm or a heat wave people will go about their day impervious to changes in the weather. The same goes for domestic holidays, compared to the intense planning that goes into a day out in America to accommodate changes in weather, its not nearly as important when Brits plan a day trip.

Usually this que sera sera approach to predicting weather works out okay,  but I have seen it have some pretty disastrous consequences. For example a couple weeks ago this region was hit with very heavy hail storms. Of course there was no warning there might be hail that morning because the weather man’s dart didn’t land on “hail storm” that day. I watched as some very unfortunate pedestrians tried to scramble off the beach with their dogs while being pelted with fairly large hail. I am sure had they had some warning there might be heavy hail they would have stayed in.

I suppose Midwestern weather has a greater effect on the daily lives of people since the weather can quickly turn very severe. As a result, even young children could probably interpret the greens and reds on a Midwestern weather map. There could be a blizzard, an ice storm, a tornado, a severe thunderstorm, flooding, triple digit temps; all of these things are a regular part of life in the Midwest. In Britain the most dangerous weather phenomena are basically limited to thick fog, hail, flooding and strong winds and it ends there. Other more severe weather, even mild thunderstorms, are extremely rare so I suppose spending too much time forecasting generally mild weather would be a waste of time.

Not knowing what the weather is going to be like has taken some getting used to, but it is also a bit fun especially on a day like today when it is sunny and beautiful and I get to go out on the beach and get a tan. I suppose its nice to be surprised when these lovely days pop up than to look forward to it for days and risk being disappointed and having my plans dashed by rain.

Dispatches from the North: Weather, or not… is a post from: Anglotopia.net

Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, York Minster, London Eye, Stonehenge, the list goes on. There are far too many important structures in Britain to even begin to list here. Britain probably has more iconic sights crammed onto one island than any other country in the world. One of the lesser known structures is the Angel of North, not because she is any less important I think there is just too much good competition in Britain and she often gets lost in the shuffle. When she was first built there was a lot of controversy and she wasn’t accepted by all Northerners, but since she has become the symbol of Northern England. Because she was built in Hartlepool before being assembled onsite in Gateshead I thought it was only appropriate that I should share some facts about her. 

Photo from Flickr

• She is 66 feet tall and weighs 200 tons. At 178 feet, The Angel of the North’s wingspan is greater than the height of the Statue of Liberty. 
• The sculpture is anchored to rock 20 meters below the surface by 600 tons of concrete. She can withstand winds of up to 100 MPH. 
• The wings are angled 3.5 degrees forward. The artist designed the wings this way to create a feeling of embrace.
• She was designed by English scultpor Antony Gormley who has also designed several other structures around England, including Another Place near Liverpool. Another Place is an installation of 100 iron figures spread out over 2 miles on Crosby Beach which are submerged and revealed as the tide comes in and out. 
• Production on the structure began in 1994 at Hartlepool Steel Fabrications. It was built in three parts the body in one, and each wing separately.
• She was assembled in 1998 on top of a hill in Gateshead with the A1 motorway running alongside. The A1 is a main artery and is the primary route back and forth between the “North” and the “South”.  Around 90,000 motorists pass by the Angel of the North every day. 
• The Angel of the North is built on the former site of a colliery. The artist Gormley commented “The hill top site is important and has the feeling of being a megalithic mound. When you think of the mining that was done underneath the site, there is a poetic resonance. Men worked beneath the surface in the dark. Now in the light, there is a celebration and visibility of this industry.”
• She may look like a rusty airplane but she is actually made of an incredibly sophisticated steel alloy called Corten. This material reacts in a special way to weathering, and poor weather actually continuously regenerates a protective layer which dramatically slows the corrosion. This material isn’t the prettiest, but actually as the structure ages the surface is supposed to become smoother and shinier. Essentially, it will appear to age in reverse.

I think this quote from Antony Gormley really sums up what the Angel of the North means to the people she watches over. â€œPeople are always asking why an angel? The only response I can give is that no-one has ever seen one and we need to keep imagining them. The angel has three functions – firstly a historic one to remind us that below this site coal miners worked in the dark for two hundred years, secondly to grasp hold of the future expressing our transition from the industrial to the information age, and lastly to be a focus for our hopes and fears.”

(Many of the facts and figures posted above were found on Wikipedia and angelofthenorth.co.uk)

Dispatches from the North: Angel of the North is a post from: Anglotopia.net

I don’t actually drive in the UK yet, I have tried and I just can’t get the hang of driving a manual transmission. I am embarassed that after 10 years of driving I am going to have to take driving lessons to learn how to drive all over again. The UK driving test is infamously difficult and it is very common for people to fail it multiple times. I am hoping my driving experience will help me in this as all I really need to learn is how to operate the gears. I also have the advantage of knowing how to navigate roundabouts. I went to Michigan State University which had roundabouts that were designed using British specifications. I never thought that of all the education I received at MSU, driving in roundabouts would turn out to be one of the most useful bits of knowledge I gained there.

There were a lot of stereotypes about driving in Britain that I was prepared for. One thing I wasn’t expecting was the condition of the cars in this country. In the US I am used to seeing front yards with old cars up on blocks and old bangers barely putting down the road. On average, the cars in Britain are in great condition. The reason is that annually every car has to have a check up and pass an MOT (Ministry of Transport) test which ensures the vehicle is in full working order from the exhaust system all the way down to the suspension. If the car doesn’t pass its MOT, it can’t legally go back on the road until all the issues have been fixed. In the US people drive cars that are decades old, burning oil and with bald tires, simply because they can. Since it would be illegal to drive a car with that many problems in the UK it is usually more expensive to make all the repairs to the old beaters than to just scrap it and buy a newer vehicle. 

Recently the British government introduced a “scrappage scheme” whereby cars over 10 years old can be turned over for scrapping and the owner will receive £2000 toward buying a new car. The same incentive was introduced in Germany and resulted in record breaking new car sales and the program had to be extended to meet demand, something the struggling auto industry is in dire need of. This scrappage scheme has two major benefits, the first is to jumpstart auto sales. There are thousands of cars sitting on lots right off the cargo ships just collecting dust because nobody wants to buy a new car in this economy. The second major benefit is scrapping the older, less efficient vehicles which benefits the environment by recycling the metal and replacing the car with cleaner and more efficient fuel and exhaust systems. The manufacturers are taking this idea and running with it, many sweetening the pot by offering the £2000 incentive to cars eight years and older instead of ten or by offering £5000 toward a new vehicle instead of the £2000 allowed by the government.

A similar scheme has been introduced to the US congress for consideration, and I think it would be a huge advantage to the struggling US auto industry.  It is a great way to get old derelict cars off the road and moving new cars off of the lots. 

There are many differences in the way cars are registered and insured in the UK, I couldn’t begin to describe the differences, but one major difference is the car tax. Every car owner has to pay an annual car tax and recently the tax code was changed so now car owners pay based on the vehicle’s CO2 emissions. Cars that are already registered have an annual tax of anywhere from £20 to over £400 based on CO2 emissions. This is similar to renewing your license plate in the US, except on average the annual car tax for a car in the UK is much more than the cost to renew your plates in the US. You have to display your current tax disc in the left corner of your windshield to prove you have paid your car tax, and cars without a current tax disc can be impounded.

UK Tax Disc (photo from Flickr)

I will be learning to drive over the next couple months. My husband will be deployed for six months coming up in August, so it is a necessity for me to start driving since I won’t be able to rely on him to cart me around and taking public transport everywhere can really add on a lot of travel time. I have to quit beating around the bush and finally learn how to drive a manual transmission. The concept still terrifies me, 10 years of driving automatic vehicles has spoiled me and I have so many fears about driving. So far I have only tried driving with my husband as a teacher, so I hope once I get behind the wheel with a professional instructor it will come easily. I am after all a girl from the Motor City, I should be ashamed that I can’t drive a stick shift!

Dispatches from the North: Baby You Can Drive My Car is a post from: Anglotopia.net

The sun set on the British Empire in the early 20th century, but their are still outposts of ‘ol Blighty out there, pledged to Queen and Country.

One such place is the remote island of Tristan Da Cunha. Located in the South Atlantic ocean, thousands of miles from anyway, it definitely qualifies at the most remote British village in the world.

It only has a population of several hundred, and is only accessible by boat, but the island still has a thriving community.

Isolation has created a unique outpost of British Civilization thousands of miles away from it’s motherland.

Check out a series of cool pictures featuring the island as well as some interesting facts about it on this website, Dark Roasted Blend.

Pictures from the Most Remote British Village in the World: Tristan da Cunha is a post from: Anglotopia.net

I was browsing some Expat forums recently and came across an interesting thread. It asked the question: What do you wish you knew about Britain before you moved there?

There were some pretty interesting nuggets of information I thought I’d share with all of you. I’m sure most Anglophiles dream of living in the green and pleasant land that is Britain one day. So, here’s a list of some practical things you may not have thought of. Credit is due to their original authors on the forums I came across. It is by no means an exhaustive list.

If you want to add something to these Life in Britain facts, feel free to leave a comment!

Anglophile Factoids or 25 Things You May Not Have Known about Britain

1. Don’t expect any kind of closet space, there isn’t any

2. You can’t declaw your cats in England, it’s illegal

3. You can’t get large quantities of OTC meds, so stock up if you want them.

4. There is a dampness here that gets in your bones and makes you colder than the actual temperature.

5. They don’t refrigerate the eggs at the store!

6. Another thing about the eggs: they’re brown.

7. You don’t have to tip nearly as much, or as often.

8. Brussel sprouts are mandatory Christmas table garnish.

9. Dry cooking ingredients are measured by WEIGHT not volume.

10. Toilet handles are on the opposite side.

11. Light switches operate the opposite way.

12. Pants are trousers and nice trousers are pants.

13. “b*tch”, “tit” and “pussy” are acceptable animal terms.

14. A “fanny pack” is something you do not discuss in polite company.

15. Nudity and swearing is common on regular TV.

16. The British school year is divided into three terms. Autumn(and they don’t EVER call it Fall here, by the way)-September-December. Spring term-January-Easter and Summer term-Easter-till the flippin’ END of July! Every term has a week long break called half-term. There are two weeks off for Christmas and Easter. And the Summer holiday is about six weeks long. Of course if you’re using private schools, the vacations are longer.

17. Electric sockets have on/off switches

18. A Fortnight = two weeks. They use that term a lot.

19. Don’t bring many summer clothes. I haven’t worn them at all in 3 years up here. Don’t bring many pairs of shorts (nobody wears them here) and so many hot weather clothes, they’re just sit around taking up space (which there isn’t a lot of).

20. You have to pay a tax to own a TV (the license fee) and TV’s have radios built in.

21. Don’t bother bringing your pans, they won’t fit in British ovens.

22. Research use of your small appliances on British Voltage. Many people take appliances (including computers) thinking will work and the don’t. Cheap voltage converters don’t always work right either.

23. While it’s okay to bring over some of the foods you’ll miss, you can find the same or equivalents in British grocery stores.

24. They don’t have extreme hot or extreme cold. It stays mild year round thanks for the Gulf Stream waters from the Caribbean. They have been known to have a cold spell occasionally. A white Christmas in London is VERY rare. It gets much colder in Scotland. Very much colder.

25. Traffic always comes from the RIGHT in the UK. So, always look right. Also, always stand to the right on escalators.

For the original thread or to read stories from Americans who moved to the UK, check out the UK Expat Forum here.

Feel free to leave your own nuggets of information in the comments below.

Anglophile Factoids: Things You Wish You Knew about Britain Before Moving There is a post from: Anglotopia.net