Category: UK/England

There’s hardly any free parking anywhere here…now there’s going to be less when they make street parking pay and display.  My prediction is that people will drive farther to park for free (or park where their fee will be refunded).

Image from bartmaguire via flickr

Today, we went to see the famous White Cliffs of Dover.  Only all we saw was white.  It was foggy when we left here…as we got closer to the coast, the fog got thicker and thicker.  By the time we got there, it was so thick it was falling from the sky as a drizzle.  But, we got some pictures anyway.  Prijatno!

We went to London yesterday to see some sights.  Here are some pictures:

Lydia and her tata spitting off London Bridge. Oh yeah!
Lydia and I at Buckingham Palace. The queen was there but we didn’t see her. 🙁	Lydia with the Lions in Trafalgar Square
Me calling LMBO. He didn’t take my call though.	Cyndi in a phone booth too.
The Maxson clan and the Houses of Parliament
Cyndi and I and the Big Ben tower	Me and the Big Ben tower. Uploaded for my facebook profile

Cyndi took a picture of our tree this year:

Here in the UK, everyone I’ve talked to generally says Happy Christmas instead of Merry Christmas.  In the US, we’ll say Happy for just about everything else (“happy birthday, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, etc….) but Merry Christmas.  Anyone have any idea why?

I found this article that leads me to believe Merry Christmas is older while Happy Christmas is newer.  This jives with other things I’ve read that lead me to believe that we, in the US, have maintained older words/phrases for things than our British Cousins have.

Image from kevindooley via flickr

Wednesday, Cyndi and I went to London so I could give her Christmas present to her.  Why did we go all the way there?  Well, I got her tickets to Wicked and took her to dinner at Outbck.  Here’s some pictures and the trailer: 

Last night for desert, I had a piece of Bakewell Tart (or did I have a bakewell tart?  who knows….).  I didn’t hear what the waitress said so I asked her what she said.  She had been to the US and she took the time to explain what it was.  She said, “it’s very English.”  I said why not…I’ll try it then.  I did and it was good.

What is it?  It is a pastry–pie crust–some jam/jelly, and a sponge (kind of like a falvored angel food cake thing).  The filling tasted like almonds.  It was served warm.  With vanilla ice cream, it was good.

Image from tonydolor via flickr

When you hear the temp is -2 then you remember that it is -2 C (only about 28ishF).  So, sure, it is cold, but it isn’t really cold (like 0F or below).  But there’s still something psycological that makes you double-think things.

image from bbqjunkie via flickr

Well, I couldn’t do it.  Tonight, I went to this semi fancy shmancy restaraunt for dinner and just could not bring myself to eat like the British with my fork in the left-hand all the time.  I don’t know what it was…I spent most of my life as a child grumbling about how goofy it was to switch hands.  I’ve even done it in other restaraunts before.  But there, in this semi fancy place, I just couldn’t do it.  I felt like such a hick eating the wrong way (from an American perspective).  So, even though I heard the 2 waitresses make a comment about me switching hands, I just couldn’t do it any other way.  My parents should be proud!  Their manners stuck!

Oh…BTW…just like with units of measure (such as the cup and gallon), the US maintains the older traditions.  It is the rest of the world that moved away from us.

Image from jefe317 via flickr

Last night, we went to the Brockham Bonfire.  We had a great time and saw some really neat fireworks (in the top 5 I’ve ever seen).  Below are some pictures:

Lydia has her class bear (Bella Bear) and so she went to the bonfire too.
The Guy. Wonder if he knows what is to come?	Yep…Isaac went too
We arrived about 5…it was dark already. But there is this really neat church in the center on the green.
The Guy	The Guy waiting beside what will become the bonfire
Lydia did a good job of waiting for a 3 year old.
Going to burn the guy!	The lit fire
Isaac enjoyed the fireworks	So did Lydia

As always, all of our pictures are in our flickr photostream.  You can go directly to our Brockham Bonfire (2010) set here.

[Update 2012-11-06 13:22:32] We went again in 2012.