On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me… a sky high electricity bill
When I was a kid, at the bottom of a hill down the road from our little cul-de-sac stood what could only be described as a bungalow on stilts. It was the kind of house whose owners had a year-round commitment to proving the old adage that you can have all the money in the [...]
A spoonful of sugar
Some of the traditions that America has are completely different than those in the UK. Like stopping an important sports game two thirds of the way through for the singing of the national anthem. Or, indeed, knowing all the words to the national anthem in the first place. Some things are exactly the same; ‘a [...]
Just making sure we’re all on the same page
I think we can all agree, o learned readers, that diversity is a good thing. The world would be a terrible place if we all looked the same or acted the same. The fact that each one of us likes different flavour crispschips, different football teams or different music is categorically ‘a good thing’. And [...]
E-coli all ye faithful
I’d like to think that I’m not all that particular about my food. I’m pretty adventurous in my eating habits, and will happily (if sometimes squeamishly) tuck into strange parts of strange animals if they’re proferred in my general direction. Blood, guts and entrails are all happily welcomed on the Brit Out Of Water menu, [...]
Expect the unexpected
Like Drew Barrymore and her endless ability to score the lead roles in sappy rom-coms, A Brit Out Of Water would be nothing without a stereotype. Don’t get me wrong, I like to tell it as I see it, but sometimes you just have to fall back on good old-fashioned exaggeration to get your point [...]
Good Friday. Or ‘Friday’, as I now call it.
I could never claim to be the most religious person on this planet. Don’t get me wrong, I think there’s plenty to be said for the sense of community that churches, synagogues or mosques can provide. And I think if it works for you, then more power to you. But personally, I find it difficult [...]
Happy New Year
Watching the countdown to midnight shows as we played games and chatted last night, I was struck once again by the difference in scale between the UK and the US. In Britain, the New Year’s Eve shows generally feature Angus Deayton or that woman from Hear’Say. Maybe you’ll get a performance from Daniel O’Donnell or [...]
Bah humbug (or a guide to rampant commercialism)
Halloween be thy name
It’s Halloween, and I have to say that I am scared. Not by ghosts, vampires, ghouls and lost spirits, but by the scale of America’s commitment to the Halloween tradition. Although I recently read a news story that said that UK spending on Halloween-related products has risen by more than 1000% to 120 million pounds [...]
