Category: UK/England

…play by play for a wedding.  Jeezzzz.

image from epsosde via flickr

On Wednesday Cyndi too passed her practical driving license exam. She had 3 minor faults (I had 4).

Image from davey brown via flickr

Cyndi and Isaac weren’t feeling well on Sunday so I took Lydia to McDonald’s for lunch after church.  On the way in, I saw this advert for a Cadbury Egg McFlurry.  Cadbury Eggs are my favorite candy right behind Reecees Cups so I decided I’d try one.  I was pleasantly pleased…it tasted like a cadbury Egg in ice cream.  I don’t know if they have them in the US or not…but if they do, you should try one.

The picture to the left is from February this year.  Today, I saw petrol (gas, diesel fuel) for 1.419 pounds/liter.  That works out to 6.45 pounds per UK gallon or 5.36 pounds per US gallon (yep, they are different).  That works out to $8.62 per US gallon.

I think this is some of the most expensive gas I’ve ever seen.

Image from London Permaculture via flickr

Cyndi tells me that I’ve killed my tastebuds because I put hot sauce on my food.  I’m sure the guys at Subway think I’m crazy when I ask for more jalapenos on my sub 3 times.  I just like my food to taste.

When I moved to the UK, my view of British/English food was that it was fairly bland.  That was reinforced when I went to an indian takeaway for curry.  I asked for it to be made hot…Isaac could have eaten it and not batted an eye.  It was so not hot at all.

Today though, the BBC has an article about a new record-breaking chilli.  And it is grown in the UK.  I can’t believe it!

Image from graibeard via flickr

As the song goes “…sign a song of six pence….”  But what exactly is it?  A penny farthing is named for the largest and smallest coins in circulation at the time, but what is a farthing?  And a shilling?

Well, for the answers to those questions, you’ll have to read the Wikipedia article on when the UK experienced decimalisation (or Decimalization in American English).

But why am I writing about this now?  Well, the 15th of February 2011 will be the 40th anniversary of when the UK decimalized.  If you’d like to read more about it, I would suggest starting with this recent BBC article.

On a side note, you’ll also find out why a 10d nail is called a 10 penny nail.

Image from duncan brown via flickr

I had to reboot our router tonight.  When it came back up, our internet was way faster.  12.8 mbuts/sec!  Wow!

…we didn’t feel it.  For those who haven’t heard, an earthquake hit western Scotland today.

Image from dave schumaker via flickr

Come to the UK and one of the first things you notice (after looking right – left- right when you cross the street) is that most every sink has two taps (aka faucets).  Why?  I have wondered about this since we got here.  I mean, to me, it makes sense to have one…then you can mix hot and cold then wash your hands in kind of warmish water.  Here, you either freeze or burn.  Sure, you can use the plug to mix the two in the sink…but who wants to run a sink-full of water to simply wash their hands?

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

Well, I have my answer.  According to this answer on yahoo’s uk answers site, it is against code to mix hot and cold water like I am used to.  Now, this is quite interesting because on our tub, there is one spigot, but one half of it gets really hot and the other gets really cold.  You can even feel the hot and cold water separately when it is flowing.

2011 marks the 400th anniversary of the publishing of the King James Bible.  The BBC–and others–here in the UK are doing some special events to mark this.  Even if you don’t care anything about religion, there is more to this than you might think.  One of the things I found out when I read the book on the left–In the Beginning: The Story of the King James Bible and How It Changed a Nation, a Language, and a Culture –was how the translation helped shape English just as it was really beginning to take shape.  Many of the words and phrases we use were English translations of Hebrew idioms and phrases.