All things British

Over 5 years of interacting with the British people, I've come to my conclusion some interesting characteristics.  I have to say that London, being such a cosmopolitan city, majority of the people I meet and hang out with are not Brits.  It's a great place to meet people from all over the world.  Nonetheless  here goes Bel's list of characteristics of the British people that she has encountered... not in any order of importance or preference.

1) Giving cards for every occasion.  There is this love for cards which I notice about the Brits.  Card shops do very well here.  Everyday during lunch when I walk past the card shops, they are always packed with office workers.  With shuffling feet, everyone'e eyes are furiously running past all the cards trying to pick the one they like to send to their loved one.  Because of this blooming market, you can find really beautiful cards for ALL occasions.

2) Fancy a cup of tea?  I have probably caught up with drinking tea, the English way.  Back home, my family drinks tea.  Every morning my aunt would brew a pot of english tea, our favourite being Earl Grey.  However we drink it black and with sugar.  In England, they drink tea with milk and seldom put sugar.  Now I have to say that I don't put any sugar in my tea and would really prefer if I have some milk in it too, thank you.  :)  I guess the weather plays an important part for nurturing my love for a cuppa tea.  The weather is mostly cold and you yearn for something warm.  One of our friends gave us a tea set for our wedding and I was so happy.



3) Of course everyone knows about the British weather.  Before I came, people told me it's easy to strike a conversation with a Brit - just talk about the weather and you won't go wrong.  After 5 years, can I say it works EVERY TIME.






4) Have a drink (or two) at the pub.  Thursdays are always drinks day for everyone.  Work colleagues would typically arrange an after work drinks session at the nearby pub for any reasons - birthday, farewell, pre wedding, post wedding, welcome colleague, or any reason really.  And Friday mornings you would see one or two colleagues coming in nursing a hangover and having a craving for a big "fry up breakfast" to make them feel better.  By 6pm they would heave a sigh of relief and leave saying they are "knackered" and need to go to bed early tonight.



5) Love for bunting.  I LOVE bunting.  They love putting up strings of bunting flags for occasions.  For example for the Queen's Jubilee celebrations where were buntings big and small all around.  And yes I have bought some bunting flags myself, big and small too!





6) They love the Royal family and are obsessed with Kate Middleton's fashion style
For any royal family public engagement, there would be people queueing up way in advance ready to cheer them on.  Ever since Prince William married Kate Middleton, the popularity of the royal family has soared amongst the media and people here.  People adore Kate and whatever she wears for every public engagement, the media would go crazy and the dress would be sold out within hours.  The shopping website would also be jammed due to the unexpected increase of visitors.  Especially during the recession days, people love that she wears high street clothes and are affordable for the mass public.  She wears Zara, Topshop, LK Bennett.. you get the idea.  When she was pregnant, all the maternity clothes were flying off the shelves following her style.. and oh the moses basket she bought for her baby?  Sales of moses baskets all over the country (including Asda) rocketed after it was reported what she bought.  It's really funny.  See this- an analysis on her wardrobe!

The next royal family event would be the christening of Prince George on 23rd October by the Archbishop of Canterbury.  No doubt there will be ample press and media coverage :)

I'll stop my list here today.  Might update if I think of more.  Happy weekend everyone!