We have had visitors from the UK recently. On a day out to Philadelphia they came across a homeless person sitting on the pavement/sidewalk holding a sign that said “Homeless Vet.” “Oh,” said their 13 year-old daughter, “but I thought vets earned a lot of money.” I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Of…
C is for Commercial break
In the last day or so I’ve done a bit of digging on why we have commercial breaks on TV in the States but adverts in the UK. So far, no treasure. Both seem to have french roots but I can’t find any more information or any funny stories to tell about it. So instead,…
E is for Emergency Flashers
Child 1 sat and passed his driving test last month. This is frightening in many ways. For starters he is still only 16 and even though he has had a broken leg in the past year and showed no interest in getting his permit for months after his 16th birthday he has still managed to…
B is for broil
It is not every day that I have cause to pull my copy of The Riverside Chaucer off my bookshelves. In fact, it is so little disturbed that I can clearly see the colour fading from its spine and outer edges at the left and top sides – undeniable evidence that it has not been…
V is for Vitamins
This is not a very serious blog post. In fact I’m not sure how well this – in my mind – totally hilarious episode will translate to the written word. But here we go. Last week Child 3 and I were over in Edinburgh for Spring Break (Easter Holidays) and staying with my mum (mom)….
S is for Sweet Onions and Shallots
There she weaves by night and day A magic web with colours gay. She has heard a whisper say, A curse is on her if she stay To look down to Camelot. She knows not what the curse may be, And so she weaveth steadily, And little other care hath she, The Lady of Shalott….
C is for Cilantro
Sometimes it’s the small capitulations that signify the beginning of the end. Who said that? Nobody. But I feel some famous smart person must have said something pithy in this regard once upon a time. Today felt like that to me. Today was the day that I texted child 3 that I had just bought…
R is for Roy G Biv
What the… I hear you say in the U.K. Roy G Biv?? What on earth is that?? But everyone in the U.S. (I bet) knows exactly what this is. Yet we have lived here for 8 years now and I only found out about this phrase YESTERDAY! It came about like this: Child 3 and…
U is for Ugly Sweater
Once upon a time in the US there were Christmas sweaters worn by sad Dad characters like this one: That’s Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation from 1989. By the turn of the century, even the love interest could wear a Christmas sweater, as demonstrated by Colin Firth in Bridget Jones’ Diary in 2001:…
T is for Thanksgiving
So I am a week late with this but I have been mulling over a few aspects of Thanksgiving, perhaps because of my new perspective as a US Citizen. Thanksgiving was not mentioned on the list of 100 facts about the USA that we learned off by heart (and are already sadly forgetting) in order…
