Brittania Missives

• A recent commenter on here made me start thinking about jolly old England.



• There may be example of a parent country and former colony becoming as good allies as we but, I'm not aware of it. When the world devolves into a bloodbath quest for survival of civilization, whether it's against zombies or religious nuts- we'll be standing there shoulder to shoulder.



• A funny thing historians have sometimes pointed out is how useless/senseless the War of 1812 was- they missed the whole point: it took that to convince the King the US really was for better or worse independent- get over it. Until that war England thought the result of the Revolution was basically a fluke. I think our relations would have solidified over the years and we would have become allies but, I think it really was necessary to keep the war for indepence from being an unresolved sore spot from the Crown on down to the general population.



• There's one thing that surprised me I learned fairly recently- in the years leading up to the Revolution even run of the mill Brits but, especially those in higher English society not just the Empires leadership were hot for the colonials to be put in their place.



• What do English schoolchildren call the Revolution?



• A woman can be a pig or a man an ugly slob but, put an English accent on them? Whoa baby, the average American can't get enough of them. Some of the ones I know continue to play off their accents and lay it on thick even after being here for 20-30 years.



• Had a friend once who could work the girls with an English (or sometimes Australian) accent like nothing you've ever seen before.



• He was born in Fort Worth Texas.



• Can name plenty of contributions of English culture to the world but, can't name a single thing about their tastes that appeals to me and that I have or would apply to my life.



• Jaguar cars in the right models and years are pretty awesome though and I do have an open mind about the culture in general.



• Need to learn more though and would love to visit. Had a friend years ago from Hampshire and he hung out with me in Texas and I was supposed to go visit him but, you know how those things go...



• At least I'm pretty sure it was Hampshire: he called it Hamps or Hants? when he would get on a roll telling stories about home.



• He went to school in high school to be a groundsmen on golf courses. One day we were out on my motorcycle and I took him out to look at a rich guys private zoo in Decatur TX. We turned near the golf course he said," STOP the bike, stop stop stop!" I obliged and he took off at a dead run toward the groundskeeper (I'll never forget the look on the guys face as he raised the tool he was holding in preparatory self defense) who was at the hole closest to the road and started talking. When he came back he gave me a full rundown of the differences and similarities of our two systems of sod maintenance- very interesting.



• Not



• We had pancakes one morning. Bleary eyed he said,"Is it pancake day?" Evidently they have a pancake day over there. I said,"Dude, EVERY day is pancake day here!"


• Another memory of Adam- 100mph on my KZ1000 motorcycle and him pounding me on the back shouting,"Woo Hoo- Unbelievable. This is brilliant, it's bloody brilliant!"



• Allow me a brief heresy: not a great Beatles fan.



• Still remember exactly what I was doing and where I was when I first heard the Sex Pistols though.



• I love Brit coms although I plain, flat do not understand Chef although I tried when it first came out. All he did was scream at, berate and belittle his staff and others- didn't seem funny. I'm pretty sure it was meant to release some social tensions for guilty whites and self conscious blacks because he was black and raged constantly against a largely white cast of characters but, I'm not sure.



• Red Dwarf, Black Adder, Waiting For God, Fawlty Towers = genius.



• The more shaky the science or historical accuracy of an educational program- the more like they are to use an English narrator.



• That country will essentially be the first modern, civilised nation to fall to Islam and there is nothing that can (or will?) be done to prevent that.


• "The British version of the product is a sticky, dark brown paste with a distinctive, powerful flavour, which is extremely salty and savoury with umami qualities, somewhat comparable to soy sauce. This distinctive taste is reflected in the British company's marketing slogan: "Love it or hate it." It is similar to the Australian Vegemite and Swiss Cenovis." wikipedia definition of marmite


• Oh my. See what I mean about their tastes and my lack of adoption thereof?



• Thanks for inspiration Marmsie. You were a muse for a day even if never before or again.