Ok, I'm back in from work (currently in China) so time for a big post full of answers.

Terrible cooks? No, I don't think so. Funnily enough, there really isn't something such as British cuisine.
As you may remember, Britain once had a large and diverse Empire and recipies from around the world have made it back here and become staples.
For example, Indian curry is seen as British as Fish & Chips
Personally, I'm a great cook. Have you seen how fat I am?
If you want to come back and have some great ribs, steak and wings, come to may place. I imported a smoker bbq and do some great southern style cooking. Then again, I did live in Texas for 3 years so I know the routine.
I honestly believe that the bad British food thing came about when so many American (and Commonwealth) troops were stationed here during WW2.
One, the army was cooking the food and two, rationing was in effect (until 1955) and you couldn't get good stuff.
Nowadays, fresh food is flown in daily. You can get anything.

Driving? I'd say our standards here are way better than the Continental US.
I've done the driving test in both countries and the US has a very low standard.
My friends daughter in Texas just got her license and apparently yhad to do 7 hours driving and 7 hours observation, then a very easy short test in a subdivision. No traffic lights, no hill starts, only stop signs and thats in an auto too.
In the UK, you learn to drive in a manual car and it takes about 6-9 months to get up to standard. The test is one hour and you have to do everything.

Indians? Hmmm. As Steve pointed out, some cities have a very high content but the population of India is 1.5 Billion so they aren't all here yet
I think that Patel is one of the more common surnames though.

The Euro? Yes, pride is part of it but the Euro doesn't suit all the countries that use it. With the Pound, we retain fiscal control regardless of what's happening in Greece or Latvia although our economy is so far in teh crapper, we'd probably be better off with the Peso :o

Side of the road? To be honest, I'm out of the UK so much, I have to be more careful when I get home.
My F150 is LHD (obviously) and I have been known to reverse out of my drive and tear off down the "wrong" side on occasion.
There's good reasons for driving on the left though.

Women? Hard to say. There's good and bad everywhere.

This is a crumpet



You are correct about the terms for the UK Pound. It's just different versions of Bucks etc. There's probably hundreds.

The Crown. Ok, stay with me on this. In 1971, the UK went decimal on it's money. One Pound = 100 Pennies, just like Dollars & Cents.
Previously to that, it was a little more complicated.
One Pound has 240 Pennies. There was the Farthing (1/4 penny) Ha'penny (1/2 Penny) The'penny Bit (3 Pennies) Sixpence (you've guessed it 6 pennies) Shilling (12 pennies) Half Crown (30 Pennies) Crown (60 Pennies) then the Ten Shilling Note (120 Pennies) and finally the Pound.
So, a half crown was also called 2 & 6 (as in 2 shillings and sixpence) and the crown was called 5 Bob (with the bob being a shilling and there eind 5 shillings to the crown)
The Ten shilling note was called a 10 Bob Note and you also had Guineas, which was 1 Pound and 1 shilling.

Confused? So were we and that's why we went decimal in 1971

Metrication. It's creeping in but we still use Miles for distance and speed.
Old people can't do metric. Young people can't do Imperial.
I'm of the age when we had to learn both in school so it just seems natural to convert it in my head.
I think in (Proper British) Imperial measurements though.

HP vs BHP? It's the same definition you have. An engines brake horsepower would be the number achieved on a dedicated engine dyno (or brake) without ancillaries.
HP would be measured on a rolling road with the accosiated losses through the drive train.

Well, like anywhere else, you can rent furnished or unfurnished.
I have heard of people moving out and taking the toilet roll with them but never the toilet itself.
I'm saying busted on that one.

I love that film.

Quarter Pounder here. We don't like Metric

Dental care is free for under 18's, full time students and pregnant women.
Everyone else pays something so it's not socialized.
All kids have braces these days. They feel left out if they don't.
Again, I think it may be a WW2 thing combined with a bit of comedy folklore.
I saw as many people with bad teeth in the USA as I do here although it seems that everybody on TV and Film there has had some kind of veneers or work done.
Maybe we aren't as vain? My teeth work and are reasonably straight and white. Why would I spend thousands to look like Donny Osmond? It's a but Ghey if you ask me.
And yes, I do brush them. Every morning and night.

Got to have tea. It's the law. You can't beat a nice biscuit with it either.
A good cup of tea cures everything. Wars have been won on the strength of the tea.

No, the place doesn't shut down for the ritual. Should do though.

 

As an American that travels to Great Britain regularly I have to say I always look forward to several pints of good beer and a curry. Some fish and chips is nice too. There are plenty of beautiful girls there. They drive a lot better than we do. Driver's Education is taken much more seriously. I think they take family life more seriously as well. Most shops close at 5 so families can enjoy evening tea (dinner) together. Pubs are open of course but if you go downtown in most areas everything else is closed by 6.
I enjoy every visit. I went to Blackpool on Halloween. I have been to York and Chester. I love walking the old city walls.

 

I like a the Accents on nice looking British Girls, they just don't like me.

 

Thanks for the answers to your money! I hear those terms all the time and never think to look it up!

Actually, I think our "HP" figures from the factory is more "net" figures... Meaning, the engine hooked up to a dyno with all of it's ENGINE accessories attached. So, the Alternator, water pump, AC pump etc.. It still has no trans or drive train attached as opposed to a chassis dyno that takes the numbers from the rear wheels.. So, BHP is just the running engine itself... Like how the US used to rate it's engines up until the early 70's..

Now I'm curious about the Monarchy and all.. As I understand it, you elect all of your countries 'Officials' like we do for our Congress. Do you also have city Mayor's or how about Governors? Do you have Provinces or is it all one big county with lots of cities?

Getting back to the Monarchy, we all know the Queen has had the Throne for some 50+ years and is probably only going to leave it when she passes.... Will the Throne automatically go to Charles in that case? Could the Queen 'appoint' anyone she wants to take over for her before she passes? Like say she wanted to give it to William instead of Charles? Could that happen?

Does the Queen have all that much say (power) in the running of the country? Or is it much like our Presidency, where sure, he has control over the military for the most part, but HE himself can't just say he wants this law and it's a done deal....

If so, then it must be real similar to our own Government to a point... But, you just can't elect a new one every 4 years! (not that that does the US any good anyway!)

Mitch

 

Are you more comfortable approaching an intersection or round a bout? If I remeber correctly, isn't it illegal to eat while driving?

 

Then there's the Magic Roundabout! http://www.stephensdrivingschool.co....lHempstead.gif

A little more on it here: http://www.armin-grewe.com/holiday/w...roundabout.htm

I've driven enough roundabouts in Ireland and New Zealand to be fairly comfortable with them, but this one? I think you have to have a lot of trust in the "give way" lines?

But, back to an earlier post - real fish and chips! Yum!

- Jack

 

We have a very similar system to yours actually.

There are 2 houses. The Houses of Parliament and the House of Lords.
The Houses of Parliament contains Members of Parliament who represent constituencies throughout the country.
Most reasonable sized towns have an MP to represent them and bigger cities or geographical areas may have more than one MP.
These MP's are elected by public ballot and a term of parliament cannot go on for longer than 5 years.
There has to be an General Election at least every 5 years although if could be less than that if the Government decides to go to the people earlier.

The House of Lords used to be exactly what it says. These people were hereditary Lords with the family title being passed through father to son.
Nowadays, many of those are gone and have been replaced by people who are appointed to the position, usually through merit.
The Upper House (The Lords) have to ratify all acts and laws passed by the lower house (parliament where day to day business is done) and acts a a series of checks and balances.
If they don't agree with something put forwards by the lower house, the bill would be sent back for change.

The Queen is head of state and is not elected. This is a hereditary position and the title (King) will pass to Prince Charles when the Queen dies.
The reigning monarch can abdicate their duties and pass the title onto whoever they chose within the family but this is very very rare.
The Queen, even though head of state really has no actual powers.
She can however ask the Prime Minister to dissolve parliament and call a general election if she thought that they were making a massive ***** up of things. Again, a very rare occurrence.

Either. Roundabouts or intersections make no difference to me.
Roundabouts are really quite simple. As we drive on the left, you give way to traffic on the right.
If there's nothing approching, you may enter the roundabout and continue. If there's traffic approaching from the right, you give way until it's clear to proceed.
We have roundabouts instead of 4 way stop signs but you always know who has priority.
Intersections generally have one road as priority and the intersecting road as give way. The less busy road would be the "give way" road.
If both roads are equally busy, the put a roundabout in

Eating whilst driving is in itself not illegal but we have 2 laws to cover this.
One is called "Driving without due care and attention" and the other is called "Dangerous driving".
This is a deliberately gray area and at the discretion of the Police and courts.
So, you can drive along, peel a banana and eat it and everything is fine.
But, say you were to swerve into a bus stop because you weren't paying attention while peeling the said banana, that might be driving without due care and attention.
If you happend to kill a bunch of nuns waiting for the bus, that's dangerous driving.
Each offence, if convicted, carries a different minimum and maximum sentence, although you could be charged with one and convicted of the other depending on how your day in court goes.
Pretty much anything can be had under driving without due care and attention if the police want to charge you but it does have to go to court with a jury.
The police can issue fines for speeding etc but you can always elect for trial by jury and contest if you want to.

 

this thread is "tops" Adam. Thanks for the answers and explanations. When all follow the rules the round a bouts work well. I have another one. Which name is most used and accepted, UK, GB, or England? Why so many names? I've want to tell you I've been to GB several times and had "heaps" of fun each trip. the "dames, lassies, and birds" are just as beautiful there as anywhere else in the shinking world. I served side by side with some Tommy Boys and if you have not heard it lately, Ya'll are an irreplacable ally. Moving on, is the animosity toward the POMEs subsiding? I think that grudge will last another century.

PS. Nice diagram and clip Jack. I have not negotiated that beast yet.

 

I miss crumpets ,page 3 and a good cuppa tea.

 

Here's my "take it for what it's worth" inputs on England as I also get to visit several times a year! I love it there!! As for comments on the Pound vs the Euro...regardless of the state of economies around the world today (in the short term) the Pound has been and remains to be one of the, if not the strongest economies on the planet. Why would they want to convert? People in Spain are losing their **** over the Euro and in some respects are begging to bring back their old currency. It's not all it's cracked up to be. What would you do if someone accuesd Americans of their stupid pride for not converting to the Euro? Plus, a common currency is one of the signs in Revelations.

Driving there is awesome. As a biker, England has got to be the most pro-motorcycle country I've ever been in, even with the weather.

Round-a-bouts are so natural it's rediculous. Americans would f-it up, but they're the way to go. We've got it all wrong over here.

The entire countryside is gorgeous!

The history is amazing.

They speak English. (For you rednecks out there, so do we. "American" is not a language LOL

They gave the world Aston Martin and Land Rover.

And last but not least, two words...Kate Beckinsale

As for questions, I have one. I have and/or know a small handfull of British people here in the US permanently and have had experiences with many that think highly of the US, even if we are yanks. Do you guys not have the same pride in your country as us? Are there different levels of opportunities that drive people out? Or am I seeing half the story and there's probably jsut as many that would love to be British? I personally don't know as many people wanting to migrate to the UK as I do the opposite? I am the only person I personally know actively trying to move to England. Not saying I want to stay indefinately or become a citized, but definately want to experience it for some period of time. Still hard to beat the good 'ole US of A.

 

This one is quite simple, if a tad confusing.
Technically, the whole shebang is Great Britain. This is comprised of 4 (seperate) countries, those being England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland (or Eire) is a seperate country with it's own parliament although it is phisically joined to Northern Ireland.
Each country has it's own regional assembly in politics (except England) and H.M Queen is head of state for the whole lot.
Hence, we are the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

That's the politics side. If you ask individuals though, the vast majority will tell you that they are English or one of the others. National pride runs deep.
Very few people would describe themselves as British and virtually nobody thinks of themselves as European

[/QUOTE]

No, it isn't. The British are hated everywhere, just like you are. Sometimes with good reason, sometimes not.
I was born in 1961 and personally have never imported slaves, caused a potato famine or shipped convicts to the other side of the world.
I've met Scots who hate the English and it's usually because "we" went and killed their sheep in 1272 or something.
Time to get over it, methinks.
Personally, I don't hate the Italians because the Romans invaded Britain in 44 AD or the Scandinavians for what the Vikings did. That's all history.
I also have many German friends and co-workers. Can't blame them for what their grandfathers may have gotten up to. It's stupid.

We have lots of pride in being British although the government seems to be on a different agenda and is trying to drive that out of people.
Our own history is not really taught in schools anymore
As for opportunities, there's probably more in the USA than back home but you can still get on if you want to and have the drive.
Most people who want to emigrate usually have a false sense of what it would be truly like.
For example, they go to Spain or Florida and have 2 weeks great holiday with lovely weather and then think that life would be like that all the time.
Obviously it's not and I speak from example having lived and worked in Houston twice and travelled the US quite extensively.
Having said that, I would quite happily move to the USA as for all the places I have been, you are the most like us.

 

We have this problem in Canada also Adam, with the French and the Aboriginals, and a tiny % of black people I know.
It's like people have this "Malcolm X" type of entitlement attitude and feel they deserve some payback for their ancestor's being wronged in history.

Everyone wants to be compensated for getting the ****ty end of the stick in history.

Here's a perfect example, and this one makes me laugh...
Before the First European settlers came to Canada (Jacques Cartier & the gang) here are the Indians minding their own frikkin business.
They are living on the land, making hats out of beaver fur, eating caribou, and just living a peaceful life.

So the French show up and steal their land, rape their women and animals, and just cast them aside after murdering a million of them.

So next come the non-French Europeans who go to war with the French, steal their land, rape their women and pets, and cast the French aside (which is why they are clustered in Quebec)

So basically everyone gets their turn trying to be king of the hill, and everyone gets knocked off.

Fast forward to 2009, the aboriginals have land claims for what happened 100+ years ago, they want special considerations, and they want the government to pay. Same thing with the French and their 'distinct society" BS, they want reparations for being cast aside when they had their land stolen from them by white settlers, it's a giant hypocrisy.

Honestly, and I know this entitlement mentality goes on a lot in the states with their aboriginals and African Americans, but enough is enough already.

If my great great great great grandfather kicked some Frenchman’s *** in Upper Canada during the war of 1812 or whatever, then who really gives a flying f---?

I didn’t do anything wrong, stop holding my tax dollars hostage for something that happened long before I was born.

I think in those early pioneer days when lands were being discovered and settled, this is how things were done.
People fought for the land and resources, the winners took the prize and the losers died, that's life, time to move on.

For how many generations must this entitlement attitude and paying for the sins of our fathers go on? Everyone wants a free ride and it gets tiring.

I know the slavery thing sucked, and so did the Holocaust, as well as other moments in our human history that make me ashamed and embarrassed knowing these things happened relatively recently, but jeez, time to move on and get over it already.