Royal Ascot

This year, at the end of June, I attended the Royal Ascot which is the long standing traditional English equivalent of the Kentucky Derby. Differences being - the hats are not just for fun but part of the dress code, and a woman named Queen Elizabeth makes a daily appearance. 

 

For my foreign friends and I, this was one of those quintessentially English experiences we were eager to take part of after much anticipation and preparation.

 

Ok, I'll admit that one of my main incentives to go was an excuse to wear a fascinator!

 

The review:

 

The Weather: balmy 57F degrees and patch of drizzle. I believe my outfit changed 4 times in the span of a week in order to strike the balance of dressy but comfortable and suitable for rain, wind, cloud, sun & cold - whichever combination would appear in the span of 9 hours.

 

The Outfits: See above - I'll admit in the end I had purchased 3 fascinators and wound up returning 2 of them. My outfit changed from summery to wintery and not knowing the best place to go for a fascinator, the last minute department store sales wound up getting me a better price closer to the event.

The stress my whole group went through dressing for this event was comical. We were exchanging links and pics of ourselves in various hats. Fascinators were required of women in the Grandstand and full hats for the posh people in the Royal Enclosure where you have to know someone to be invited in.

On the subject of outfits, the people watching was outstanding. While the website clearly states the dresscode and even offers videos of example attire, there are many that take liberties.

Fascinator + mini skirt + tatoos + fake eyelashes + teased hair, does not = posh (or sexy, for that matter).  That's all I'm saying.

The Betting: I lost. Apparently, placing random small bets on the American horses only is not the best strategy.

The Food: I ate Pizza Express and drank wine. Classy.

The Venue: Ascot is beautiful, the place seemed well planned out. The mobile reception was practically non-existent which was annoying and caused some problem in connecting with friends I had left tickets for at the box office. Despite the crowds, things seemed to run smoothly and the train station is a short walk away.

The Royalty: I saw the Queen! Every day she appears for a procession from her residence at Windsor Castle, through the park and up into the Ascot stadium to wave at the crowd. This event basically takes place in her backyard, and the Queen always has a horse racing in the competition. She was there despite the drizzling rain with her umbrella matching her attire.

The Queen - there she is!

 The Tradition: Queen - check!, singing of National Anthem - God Save the Queen, check!

After the races, the crowd is invited to the bandstand out front for the "singing of traditional songs". This basically means the drunken crowd throws their arms around each other and sings karaoke style to classic American tunes like "New York, New York" (???)  Ascot Singing around the Bandstand - 2013.  Brits sure love a good sing along!

 

Royal Ascot 2013

 

 

Halloween

The English have embraced the Halloween holiday in their own way, and I think they like it because it incorporates one of their most favorite things: "Fancy Dress"

They love a good costume party and these go on any day of the year. Its not uncommon to find people in fancy dress in any given pub on a weekend and the themes can be hilarious and elaborate.

I've argued with a coworker that dressing up for Halloween does NOT mean the costume must be scary and he does not believe me. I told him I dressed as a bunny when I was his daughter's age and he dressed her like a witch anyway and sent her off to nursery school. My coworkers all have children and they've told me the schools allow the kids to have a non-uniform day and go to school in fancy dress. Apparently they're all ghouls and goblins and witches. Dress up day lacks superheros and Disney princesses. I guess you can dress as a princess any old day if you're 4 years old.

While they do wear costumes on Halloween, you won't really find kids trick or treating in England. The American tradition is frowned upon and feedback on this varies, but apparently there are sentiments and laws that imply that trick or treating is form of begging. I don't see it becoming mainstream anytime soon.

This same coworker above told me that growing up in Yorkshire, they had something called Mischief Night, which happens the night before Bonfire Night (4 Nov). No treating, just trickery... starting on the tame side - ding dong ditch and spanning to other types of shenanigans that would be deemed much worse than that.

The roots of Halloween in the UK are more deeply intertwined with its origin, All Hollows Eve, but in modern day, you'll see more and more commercialization with Halloween promotions, costumes and themed candy available at supermarkets.

My housemmate and neighbor, Becca and Kate, made me dress up as zombie doctors with them last night. Against my will, I had my face painted and wore blood spattered scrubs. Not going to be sharing those photos here!

Driving on the Flipped Side v1.0

My blog got its name the week I got behind the wheel in the UK for the first time. 

Apparently the English drive on the left because:

• Back in the day you kept your sword in your left side, leaving your right hand free to pull out the sword across your body, and your left hand to use the shield
• Soldiers marched on the left for this reason - if you passed someone you passed on the left so you could draw your sword easily.
• A horse is mounted on the left
• To make my life more interesting

This article in the guardian gives a whole bunch of "I heard its because" statements  http://www.guardian.co.uk/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-19385,00.html

I don't know... there is no right answer and I'm sure plenty of historians will give you a different answer related to battles and Napoleon. I'm not sure I really need to know, but for me, this historical evolution into driving motor vehicles on the left hand side meant I had to reorient myself. And quickly.

Many people back home have asked me how I find driving on the left. Before I could drive a company car (which I have only temporarily which is a whole other story) I had to take a 3 hour "UK Driving Orientation Course" with an instructor.

Getting in the car for the first time last summer was definitely an odd experience. First thing my strict "I love the rules" supervisor for the afternoon asked was if I knew how to drive a manual car. Thanks to my Dad for making me learn 10 years ago, leading me to drive a manual car for the past decade. (Yes, I'm admitting you were right about this life skill, Father!)

We went over the basics of roundabouts on a piece of paper before he unleashed me into the left side driving world. Of course, the weirdest part of the switch is your sense of depth perception. As evidence I very promptly ran over the curb (spelled kerb here - odd?) driving out of the parking lot and my instructor sighed in a very "oh, here we go..." fashion.

I came out of the 3 hour session being labelled "medium risk"(!). Apparently my hands weren't at 10 and 2 enough even though I was extra conscious of it, I approached the roundabouts too quickly and tended to drift to the left with this depth perception issue...  Well then. I was just trying to remember to shift with my left hand in the opposite direction than I'm used to, while concentrating staying on the left side and looking in the rear view mirror where it looked like there were headless drivers in the cars behind me because they weren't in the spot I was accustomed. I thought I didn't do too shabby.

After 2 weeks I was pretty comfortable and after 2 months it felt natural. Now, I'm a completely ambidextrous driver, but I still don't have my UK license. The law is that my US license is good for one year, expiring soon, and I'm completely dreading this process.

Step 1: Obtain Provisional License (a permit)
Step 2: Pass the theory test
Step 3: Pass the driving test
Step 4: Obtain UK Driver's License (apparently they're going to take away my U.S. license which I don't understand at all...)

I plan to take a lesson or 2 with a driving instructor on "how to pass the driving test" which I'm sure will be expensive but probably less expensive than taking the test multiple times. There are all kinds of crazy rules during the driving test that you would have no idea about if you didn't learn how to pass with an instructor. More on what I learn later... with an average 40% FAIL RATE... I think I'll take the studying seriously.

I feel like I'm 16 again.

TV LicenCe

If you own a TV, you must pay the fee. Every household in Britain pays a TV License (spelled Licence, but the plural is apparently licensing with an s, which is probably why Americans changed the spelling – one of many).

The fee to the Government is £145.50 per annum per household and when I first arrived I thought this was just another way to tax citizens, but alas there is a method to the madness. It pays for the BBC. I suppose its another way of paying for the same thing… TV channels. At our house, we don’t pay for cable channels, so the only payment for “free view” is this £145.50 per year. If you’re over 75 years old, your licence is free. If you’re blind you may qualify for a 50% concession.

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/

What does your licence fee pay for?

TV Licensing is committed to making it quick and easy for you to pay for your TV Licence in the way that suits you. The fee you pay provides a wide range of TV, radio and online content, as well as developing new ways to deliver it to you. Click on the devices below to find out more.
All of this content – and the television channels, radio stations and online spaces where audiences can find it – is paid for by the licence fee, allowing BBC's UK services to remain free of advertisements and independent of shareholder and political interest.

This fee is serious business – the government pretty much has to collect from every household in the country. And as you can imagine, plenty of people try to get out of it. You still receive channels streaming through your flat screen, even if you’re not paying the fee. After your licence has been expired for 2 months, and you have not paid, you will receive a notice saying something along these lines (err...don’t ask how I know this):

“YOU ARE HERBY GIVEN OFFICIAL NOTICE: Your Property is now under investigation. Maximum fine: £1,000 plus legal costs.”
Visit: Enforcement officers may be authorized to investigate your case and a visit to your home may be scheduled. If you’re found to be watching TV illegally, you may be cautioned and interviewed in accordance with the Police and Criminal Act 1984.

Good thing we just paid our renewal.

Thanks BBC, you’re one of the only good things I see about British TV. Although I might not be judging fairly considering we don’t pay for 200+ channels or DVR at my house (I miss my TIVO!).

Christmas Cheer

My neighbor has taken gaudy lawn ornaments to a new level. Please observe the front garden (= yard, or more aptly described, walled in piece of grass and concrete in front of this "period" house). Every time I look at this picture I notice something new. The giraffe, the lady bug, the chariot, an alien. It's like Where's Waldo, although in England, it's called "Where's Wally". 

The brick walls are even covered with randomly placed figurines, toy trains, books... the look this person must be going for is "trinket shop tornado".

Lawn Ornament Hell

I can't even begin to imagine what the inside of the house looks like and I'm shocked that it appears no one one has stolen anything, although with the plethora at hand, I'm sure they wouldn't notice that anything was awry. Living in a college town, you'd think there would be students shopping for dorm room decorations at this house some time after midnight, but luckily for this neighbor it seems our quiet side street is keeping these treasures in their place.

Aside from this dismal display of gaudiness, I haven't seen many Christmas decorations at homes and certainly no Griswold light displays in the front of houses. The cost of Christmas lights in England is out of control. That Christmas spirit is rarely displayed in the form of lights and cost is probably a big reason. M&S sells icicle lights for 29.50 = $47. For a strand of lights! I've heard the prices are even higher in London.

At least London's Regent Street hasn't skimped on the Christmas Cheer! You're unlikely to find Christmas lights anywhere other than on these shopping streets, and the few skimpy strands thrown on the tree at Trafalgar Square.

I'm enjoying being home for a few weeks so I can enjoy the tacky Christmas spirit in the USA. I can't imagine what my neighbor's house would look like if she got her hands on some good ol' American style lit up Christmas lawn decorations. That would be a sight to see!

A Very Hardy Groupon Deal

I couldn't resist... Today's national Groupon deal is for Ed Hardy Core t-shirts, available in 13 tattoo inspired styles for men and women. Normally priced at £90 each you can grab them at a steal, £25 a pop. It's a shame I saw this too late in the daily countdown. I could have stocked up for you all.



***For those taking notes, the appropriate name for the clubbing Ed Hardy t-shirt wearers in England is "Chavs". They are much the same as those that might wear the Hardy Core apparel in the USA... same idea, different accent.

Yorkshire Pudding

I don't understand Yorkshire Pudding. Let me explain...

Yorkshire Pudding is cooked by pouring a thin batter made from milk (or water), flour and eggs into oiled then preheated baking pans or muffin tins.

Yorkshire Puddings are a staple of British cuisine and are found frozen in the grocery store and on platters of food at the pub.

But why is it called Pudding? It’s a tall (no less than 4 inches tall), fluffy, yet rather thick and hearty pastry that’s cooked in a muffin tin so it always is the shape of a cup or a bowl with a hallow middle, but you don’t but put anything inside the middle space, so why is it shaped like a bowl? Why not fill the batter in completely and have it be a regular biscuit shape?

The name… Yorkshire. This I understand as self-explanatory, it is from Yorkshire. Pudding… this is a mystery. The Brits often refer to Dessert as Pudding. If you see “Puddings” on the menu, it doesn’t mean what Americans would think of like Jell-o pudding snacks. The term Pudding encompasses all Dessert type foods including a mousse, which is rather pudding like, or a cake, a gelato, a brownie etc….

So… why do they call this bowl shaped biscuit served with the traditional Sunday roast lunch a “Pudding”?

The Parental Visit

My parents made it to England last month for a short, yet action packed visit. We made the most of the days and did a ton of walking so I think I may have wore them out but they were troopers and post knee surgery Dad made it through.

The first full day, we took a quick loop on the open air bus sightseeing Oxford tour because my parents had some free tickets from their hotel.  For lunch, I brought them to one of the most famous and oldest pubs in Oxford, the 13th century Turf Tavern.   For Americans, this pub is etched in infamy as the place where Bill Clinton supposedly/maybe/possibly "Did not inhale". That's right, the Turf Tavern, down a discrete alleyway, nestled in between centuries old university buildings and the original city wall is where Clinton may have done a little experimenting in his Rhodes Scholar days.
 
After that city and pub orientation, we decided to hop on a bus to London for a bite to eat and a show. Rock of Ages won out over the others, and we had fantastic seats.  It was a really fun, energetic show and I was glad we picked it (even though Mom and Dad had already seen it.)  ;-)

After getting home very late from London, we were up early again to drive to Stonehenge and Bath for the day. Stonehenge really is right off the road in the middle of nowhere. I have to say from the pictures I've seen, I thought it would be much bigger, but it was impressive nonetheless.

In Bath, I had purchased a package with the Roman Bath tour, Pump Room lunch and Thermae Bath Spa 2 hour admission.  A perfect way to spend the afternoon. After lunch, we toured the Roman Baths where the 2,000 year old ruins have been preserved fantastically, and you really get a sense of walking in their footsteps.

After the tour, we soaked in the Thermae Bath Spa for a few hours. The roof top view was amazing and there were several pools to chose from, scented steam rooms and waterfall type jets to sit under. I think I need to go back sometime soon...

I had decided Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Winston Churchill, just outside of Oxford should be on our itinerary long before my parents came. I was happy to find out however, that the weekend they were here was the Blenheim International Horse Trials.

A decidedly English event, we headed to the palace to see the cross-country horse trials and take in a new sport. The spectator uniform was clear: we weren't wearing tweed coats and wellies, and we forgot to bring our dogs along, but we did have a good time checking out the competition. For some countries, this was a London 2012 Olympic qualifying event and it was interesting to watch the jockeys in action.

Blenheim Palace's grounds are massive and after a few hours of watching the trials, we headed over to the palace to see the Winston Churchill rooms and take in the grandeur. They have a deal with the ticket purchase that you can enter the grounds for 12 months after buying a day pass and people will bring bikes and picnics and go for runs and walks around the lake on the palace grounds when the weather is nice. I'm hoping to get back there sometime soon and take advantage.

That night, we were back in Oxford for Bill Spectre's Ghost Trails tour. This guy was entertaining and quite the story teller with a few tricks up his sleeve (literally). Highly recommend his ghost tour, you won't be let down!



The last day we took in Oxford Castle, and took advantage of Oxford Open Doors. Once a year, Oxford opens up its doors to the public with a weekend of activities and free tours and access to the historic buildings. With some colleges and activities only available at certain times, we were only able to see a few things on Sunday but it was a nice leisurely end to our long weekend. We also were able to see some gymnastics and fencing demos (Dad loved this one) at Oxford Town hall. Most colleges are open where you would normally pay to visit, and others are open that are otherwise always closed to the public. It was nice to see beyond the street front of some of these colleges, as most have hidden gardens and courtyards that you can't see from the front of the building.  I learned that not only does Oxford have an open doors weekend, but there is also English Heritage Open Days country wide, which I'll have to keep in mind for next year.

   

It was a great visit! Two months until I'll see everyone again at the holidays. Anyone else want to hop a plane to England?

Mind the Taps

I really have managed to adjust to a lot of things in this country. The brands in the grocery store are different, the customer service is different, my refrigerator is the size I had in my dorm room, the roundabouts are confusing...

But one of the most perplexing things I have encountered: The 2 tap sink.

Yes, I've travelled a ton and seen them before of course, but the English... they love their 2 tap sink like no other.

And what's not to love? With the 2 tapper, you have 2 lovely options - Scalding or Freezing. One blue hand, one red hand. Burn your face or shock it with a splash of ice cold H2O.

Doctors recommend washing hands in soapy warm water, and the solution with the 2 tap, is to 1) put the plug in the sink 2) turn both taps on 3) rinse your hands with soap in the warm water 4) unplug the sink and 5) either rinse again in cold or hot to get rid of the soap or repeat steps 1-3, minus the soap.

Quite hygienic sounding in a public bathroom situation… isn't it?

There are several theories for the reasons behind sticking with the 2 faucet sink and they're all quite bewildering as the rest of the world has seemed to make this modern convenience switch.

Despite all the defenses I've seen online with specifics on water pressure, plumbing, technology, age of pipes, fear of bacteria in hot water containers etc... I do think there just HAS to be something ingrained in the British culture that mandates that 2 taps are more esthetically pleasing or tug at the "keeping with tradition" mindset. In other words, they just aren’t bothered. They just don’t wanna.

Some say it is a "water saving measure" as you will wash your hands quicker and want to turn the water off due to its too hot or too cold temperature. I don't buy this.
1) The most obvious quick 2 spout solution for people like me, is to run both taps (more water running!!) and cup their hands while racing them back and forth in order to get the right temperature.
2) Cold water doesn't kill germs as well as warm/hot water
3) Filling up the basin with both taps running to achieve tolerable water temperature doesn't seem to me like the best way to save water either.

This bugs me the most I think because of the daily routine...the flat I am living in is new construction built from the ground up in 2002!!  Why, I ask (to myself, on a regular basis), did they put in 2 tap sinks?!?  If this were a restored Victorian bathroom I would certainly not moan and would respect it, but this building was built in the new millennium!

They do have them… these “mixer taps” exist here, although they’re not mixed in a tank, the hot and cold comes from different sources and mix together at the tap so you sometimes struggle to get the right temperature going but I’d much prefer to have one in my bathroom, that’s for sure.

I can live without the electric outlet in the bathroom (another UK rule) ...  but these sinks really do drive me batty, as other foreigners say in the article below!


Old-Fashioned Faucets: Unique British Standard
By JAMES R. HAGERTY
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
From The Wall Street Journal Online

LONDON (Oct. 31, 2002)—During a wartime visit to Moscow in 1942, Winston S. Churchill discovered a marvel of modern technology: hot and cold water flowing from the same faucet.

The plumbing in the villa where he stayed as a guest of Stalin was unlike the primitive British standard of separate taps for hot and cold. Rather than having to fill up the sink to achieve the right blend, the British leader could wash his hands under gushing water “mingled to exactly the temperature one desired,” as he put it in his memoirs. From then on, he resolved to use this method whenever possible.

His countrymen have been slow to take up the single-spigot cause. Most bathroom sinks in Britain still have separate hot and cold taps today, 60 years after Mr. Churchill’s conversion and decades after nearly all dual taps were scrapped in the U.S. and most vanished from continental Europe. For reasons of thrift, regulations and a stubborn attachment to tradition, the British have resisted the tide of plumbing history. Even when they renovate old homes, many choose two-tap systems, and builders often install them in new, low-end housing. Separate taps account for an estimated 40% of all bathroom-faucet sales in the U.K.

“It’s very strange to me,” says Ayelet Langer, who moved to London from Israel last year and found two faucets mounted on the newly installed bathroom sink in her apartment. “I thought I couldn’t really cope with it at first, but now I do.” Worried that the water from the hot tap will scald the fingers of her one-year-old son, she washes his hands in the kitchen sink, which has a single spout.

Britons don’t understand why foreigners raise a fuss over this issue. “The British are quite happy to wash their hands with cold water. Maybe it’s character-building,” says Simon Kirby, managing director of Thomas Crapper & Co., a maker of bathroom equipment in Stratford-on-Avon.

Boris Johnson, a Conservative Party member of Parliament representing Henley, congratulates “the higher civilizations” that have adopted advanced plumbing technology. But he argues that having the choice of either hot or cold for washing hands “is an incentive to get it over and done with and not waste water.”

Separate faucets are only one of the peculiarities of the British bathroom. Another is electricity—or rather the lack of it. Regulations aimed at preventing shocks forbid the installation in bathrooms of electrical outlets, except those designed for shavers. One more antishock measure bans standard on/off switches in bathrooms. The lights are controlled by pull cords hanging from the ceiling.

None of these eccentricities causes as much annoyance among foreigners as separate taps. Renee Guinivan of Bath, N.C., a retired secretary whose daughter lives in London, finds them “unsanitary.” Ms. Guinivan could fill the sink with a mixture of hot and cold before washing. But what if the last person who used the sink brushed his teeth and spat? “I hate to be fussy,” she says, though she is tempted to tote around a small package of Ajax cleaning powder and a sponge when she visits Britain.

“Perhaps it’s something Puritanical about the English” that inclines them to shun modern luxuries, says Pam Carter, a spokeswoman for the Savoy Hotel.

In keeping with the grand style of a luxury hotel opened in 1889, the Savoy’s vast white-tile bathrooms retain a Victorian look. The huge shower heads, resembling upside-down pie tins, dump cascades of water on guests. Call buttons above the tubs read “valet” and “maid” (though the buttons no longer function and guests are expected to use the telephone if they want help). To appease its largely American clientele, the Savoy has converted many of its sinks to single hot-and-cold taps, but some of the sinks retain separate faucets. Ms. Carter points to a gleaming white double-tap sink from the 1950s, large enough to bathe a midsize dog. “It would be a crime to get rid of something like that,” she says.

Many in Britain keep separate bathroom taps to preserve the authenticity of Victorian homes. The force of habit also plays a role. As the commercial director of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, Yvonne Orgill might be expected to favor frequent renovations, yet she is completely satisfied with the separate taps on her bathtub and sees no reason to replace them. “I can turn them on and off with my toes, being a lazy person” she says.
In their defense, some British cite red tape. Older British homes often have storage tanks in their attics that feed water heaters. Under certain conditions, those tanks could be contaminated – for instance, by the intrusion of a rat – and tainted hot water that flows into a mixer tap might get sucked into a cold-water pipe leading back to the public water supply, endangering the whole neighborhood. So regulations forbid mixing of hot and cold water streams inside a tap unless the tank meets strict standards or protective valves are installed.

Separate taps are also a bit cheaper. A midprice pair of chrome bathroom-sink taps from Pegler Ltd. costs about $87, or half the price of a hot-and-cold “mixer” tap of similar quality.

Even so, modernity is slowly imposing itself. British people who travel overseas often are impressed by single taps, not to mention the “lovely shower systems that blow your head off,” says Kevin Wellman, operations director at the British Institute of Plumbing. A U.S. company, American Standard Cos., is now the largest supplier of bathroom equipment in Britain and promotes modern fittings, including mixer taps.

Martin Phillips, a Londoner who sells car-industry forecasts and is married to an American, says his wife has converted him. Now when he encounters a sink with separate taps, he says, “it drives me potty.”

But there are many holdouts. One is Mr. Kirby, the managing director at Thomas Crapper. Of the mixer tap, he says, “I wouldn’t even consider it as a modernization—just a different way of doing it.”

Of course, he has a professional interest in the matter. Founded in 1861 by Thomas Crapper, the firm he runs makes replicas of Victorian bathroom equipment, including bathroom “basins,” or sinks, ranging from about $1,320 to $1,875. In a rare compromise with authenticity, the company does provide some sinks with mixer taps, but those are sold mainly to overseas customers.

Mr. Kirby says he doesn’t find separate taps inconvenient. He dunks his hands under the cold water tap when he wants a quick wash. “If I want to wash them properly, I put the plug in” and fill the basin, he says. Isn’t that less hygienic than washing under running water? “It’s a cultural difference,” Mr. Kirby says. “We’re less bothered about that.”

Despite their clashing views on hand-washing, Mr. Kirby keeps portraits of Winston Churchill in his home and office. He isn’t surprised that the prime minister liked fancy plumbing. “You have to remember that Churchill was half-American,” Mr. Kirby says, “so he was probably a bit more open to some of these innovations.”

UK, Great Britain, England... explained

In the past this was always somewhat confusing to me...What is the difference between the UK, Great Britain and England? And how do Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland fit in? At work, I would use them interchangeably as others around me did, and my assumption was that it had to do with Scotland and Northern Ireland and Wales' relationship with England and how they're all defined. But I couldn't be bothered to actually look it up.

I came across this short but information packed video on an expat blog and it does a great job, in my opinion, of summarizing the lands of the Queen. With helpful visuals as well as detail, I thought I'd spread this youtube video further in the blogosphere but pay attention and turn the volume up because this guy talks a mile a minute. 

Living here, I've definitely heard and read enough to get a lesson in the opinions on what people should be called. British? English? Don't say a Scottish person is British, even though they technically are. They prefer not to be lumped together with their English neighbors to the south. A lot of the English definitely feel the same way and don't define themselves as British because they're SO clearly different from the Welsch and Scottish. They are English, thankyouverymuch.

Scarborough: Not Recommended

There are 2 Englands. The North and the South. It just took one trip up North to really see that divide. Of course, I didn't really get the local perspective on this very evident invisible line until after the fact when I got looks that said "You went where?".

There had to be a few rookie mistakes.

I suppose you could compare this to the Hamptons versus the Jersey Shore...?

One of my first weekends in England, my friend (who was an intern on our team in the U.S. so I've known her for a while) asked me if I want to go somewhere on the shore for the weekend. She said she had looked up places to go and Scarborough looked good. Since I had found a permanent place to live that week, and could not stay in my guest house that weekend on Saturday night, I decided to go with her the morning we departed.  That evening... 4.5 hour train ride later... we're not in Oxford anymore.

Scarborough is one of those places that looks great from far away and then you get up close and things aren’t as pretty.  

This place was the Jersey shore, but in England.  Snooki and The Situation's long lost distant English cousins surely live here somewhere.

We walked around for a few hours, walked up the hill to the castle, watched surfers try to catch waves and then were looking for things to do.

In it's heydey I'm sure the famous Scarborough Grand Hotel was all sorts of grand... but now it is anything but. The seagulls in this city have made themselves comfortable on every windowsill, gutter or available perch on this "grand" building. And they're seriously the size of bald eagles. I swear.

If you squint real hard you can imagine how great it was in the 1860s when it was built. Now it is covered in seagull poop.

 

The strip on the beach is lined with Casinos (i.e. games for kids and slot machines for adults), little markets selling cheap trinkets, cheap fish & chip stands, ice cream vendors, ferris wheels, and karaoke pubs that were bumping at 3pm.

 

We gambled a few slot machines, and promptly lost our money. In the evening we did a cheap 1 hour boat cruise that got rather boring after 20 minutes… although the sunset was pretty.

The people watching was outstanding… pretty much everyone had tattoos and were wearing interesting outfits (to say the least!!).

The accents up there are much different and I’m proud to say I’m now starting to pick up the difference in accent between regions. They definitely don’t see many Americans up there… the people in the hotel were very eager to know where I was from!

 Needless to say, I’ve seen it, but I probably won’t be going back again.

Pension Plan = Woman in a Cape

Apparently this picture is supposed to get me excited about my new Scottish Widows pension plan. So I can wear a cape in my old age and swing it about....

Isn't this what we all aspire to in our retirement?! Where is the picture of the couple on a beach with their grand kids and a Labrador retriever?

I will be really disappointed if the cape doesn't come in my welcome package.