Blog Archives
Swingball
The weather here has been absolutely fantastic and so we’ve spent more time this weekend in the garden.
And yes, we have brought back out the Swingball.
For the uninitiated, Swingball is a British Tether ball-style game, but uses a small tennis type ball and plastic tennis racket-shaped rackets. It’s certainly harder to hit than tether ball and is much easier to get hit (in the face, or the body) by said ball (especially in two-person games), but it’s great fun. We bought ours stateside on Amazon.com a couple of summers ago for about $30 and it’s been solid.
Now I just need to buy a bottle of Pimms and summer can officially begin.
When your car breaks down …
I felt like Chris Pine on the freeway. Without that gross sweat stain.
This week, on my way home from work, my car suddenly stopped accelerating on the freeway. I was pressing on the gas, and it just slowly lost steam. 55-50-45-40 and so on, as I made my way to the right hand side of the road, onto a graveled hard shoulder. I parked it and when I tried to start it up again, it wouldn’t budge.
I was stuck.
I called AAA and they said they’d send a tow truck. I called my husband and he was ready to drive over and pick me up, but as it turns out, you have to wait with your car in order for the tow truck to pick up the car, and so I was indeed stuck there indefinitely.
“Aren’t you supposed to get out of the car in this situation?” he asked.
I really didn’t want to. The highway was bustling with activity. The last thing I wanted to do was attract the unwanted attention of some drive-by trucker psycho killers. I’ve seen the movies.
But while I waited, I did call the California Highway Patrol, just to get a straight answer. Was I safe sitting in the car (well, aside from possibly drowning in my own sweat)? The answer I got was that I would be fine, if I felt safe sitting there. The operator just recommended that I buckle my seat belt. A CHP officer later stopped by to make sure I was okay and again concurred that I would be okay where I was.
As it turns out, in the UK, you really are advised to get out of the car and to get all of your passengers out of your car if your car breaks down on the motorway. Of course, it also advises staying far out of the way of traffic and away from the front of your car. One article suggests that only if you’re in danger should you get back in your car. Another article suggests that you should only get back in your car if a nice cup of hot tea and a scone is awaiting inside.
Okay, maybe I made that last part up.
AAA arrived an hour and 20 minutes after my call, and I’ve never been happier to see a tow truck.
And for the gearheads in the room who were wondering what exactly was wrong with the car? A faulty fuel pump was to blame.
Freestyle or crawl?
Our kids have started swimming this week – the weather is glorious and I’m getting that giddy “school is almost out for the summer” feeling. There’s nothing quite like it!
Did you know that the freestyle stroke and the front crawl is the same stroke despite its different names? Probably not surprising that the Americans had to incorporate the word “free” in their version … I’m still trying to track down a history behind the two names …
Which do you use?
Happy anniversary, Will and Kate
Who can resist the Will and Kate anniversary Barbies, with presumably ambiguous anatomies?!
This Sunday, Will and Kate will celebrate their first wedding anniversary. *Collective sigh*
In celebration of this momentous occasion, Royal Wedding anniversary souvenirs are flooding the web.
You can see the tasteful selection, which include celebratory iPhone cases, pet T-shirts and Will and Kate anniversary Barbies, which I will admit to crushing on just a bit.
Shirt tale
So my husband and I have an ongoing debate over the definition of shirts. Specifically, the button-down shirt.
As an American, button-down shirts apply to anything that, well, has buttons down the front. Simple as that. 
In Britain, that’s just called a “shirt” (In America, I think we think more broadly and anything that covers one’s torso falls under the “shirt” umbrella – even a shirt that resembles an umbrella). To him, a button-down shirt is a shirt that has a button-down collar.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think most Americans think this much about button-down collars. Are they popular? Does the average American give them much thought? Are they readily available? Do Americans ask for them by name?
Inquiring minds want to know – I want to know!
Brits’ favorite brands
I’ve known Brits to be pretty obsessed with Kellogg’s Cornflakes, Cadbury chocolate and Coca-Cola.
Now a marketing research agency has confirmed it.
Read the full story and see the top 20 brands that Brits can’t live without.
PG Tips tea advert
My MIL sent me this link to the latest PG Tips advert (translation: commercial), starring Al and Monkey. So fresh and funny!
Quick translation guide
This graphic has been making the rounds online … some of it is true, some of it is pure bollocks. Guess which ones are which!
British retailer does vintage Americana
I was amused to see this new Marks & Spencer’s line called “Vintage Americana.” This limited collection is described as “a quirky cool summer trend inspired by 50s Americana styling. Colours are bold, prints are fun and silhouettes are unashamedly feminine!”
I’m thinking they’re trying to go for a Mad Men look, perhaps, but not all of the clothes follow that lead. What do you think?
42
Beautiful Ipswich, where the average resident has sex 18 times a year.
Hey, let’s shake things up a bit and play this, Jeopardy style, shall we?!
Question: 42
Answer: What is the number of times a year the average Brit has sex.
This according to a recent poll of 2,000 people by Dulux. They even broke it down by town with Ipswich being the #1 town to have the least amount of sex, and Bradford being the #1 town to have the most.
Here are the full results – tut away!
Top 10 Towns That Have The Least Amount Of Sex A Year
1. Ipswich = 18.1 times
2. Coventry = 18.8 times
3. Cardiff = 25.7 times
4. Derby = 30 times
5. Swindon = 30.8 times
6. Preston = 30.9 times
7. York = 31.6 times
8. Croydon = 32 times
9. Leicester = 32.2 times
10. Southampton = 32.9 times
Top 10 Towns That Have The Most Sex In A Year
1. Bradford = 66.5 times
2. Aberdeen = 62.5 times
3. Doncaster = 60.1 times
4. Birmingham = 57.1 times
5. Hull / Warrington = 56.3 times
6. Cambridge = 55.1 times
7. Brighton = 53.1 times
8. Middlesbrough = 52.9 times
9. Wolverhampton = 52 times
10. Belfast = 51.5 times
Conspiracy theories? Explanations? I’m all ears…
I will leave you with one last thought – you do know that 42 is the answer to life, the universe and everything, right? Coincidence?!
BRITRISH.COM 