Posts Tagged "UK"

A Few of My Favourite Things: UK Edition

Posted by cafebebemama on Nov 3, 2011 in American Mum Me, Little Miss Adventures, Motherhood, NaBloPoMo | 8 comments

A lovely blogger suggested to me that I share some of my favourite things and/or praise of the UK in addition to the rants and criticism that I am quick to publish. She’s right, you know. In general, no one praises GOOD THINGS enough. We’re quick to point out fault and lay blame and shout when we feel that something is WRONG but we seldom take the time to CHEER the good stuff and give credit where credit is due. So, here are a few of my favourite things about the UK.

• Tea: I’ve never been much of a coffee drinker and to be fair, I drink tea the builder’s way: strong, splash of milk and 2 sugars. But I love the ceremony surrounding tea. Brewing a POT of tea (I rarely brew it in the cup) and enjoying it when it’s semi-hot is one of the great pleasures in life. I have found, when I’ve gone back to the US and even taken our favourite brand of tea (Twinnings Everyday Tea if you must know), the taste is never the same. Maybe it’s down to the milk or the water but one of the first things we do when we return home from a holiday is make a PROPER cuppa. Delightful!
• Appointments at our GP: Although I’m not overly fond of the capabilities of the GP’s at our local surgery, one thing is for sure, I’m always able to get an appointment either on the day that I ring or at minimum, within that week. Sure, I don’t always see my “assigned” GP but I get seen and get treated when I need it. This may be down to the area in which I live but it’s very helpful to be able to speak to a human at the other end of the line and get the services I am in need of.
• Our local village preschool/school: Ella’s preschool is literally a 5 minute walk away from us. We walk through the footpath at the end of our cul-de-sac, across the road, down a secluded, public footpath leading directly to the back of the school and we’re there. This makes the morning school run exceptionally easy and painless. When I had to pick up Ella early from school one day (she was poorly), I only had to dash out the door and I was there. No fuss, no muss. The childcare staff at Ella’s preschool are lovely, friendly and professional and always communicate what’s gone on in the day and how Ella is progressing. It’s the perfect transition to school and a different routine for us. Next year, Ella will go to the “Big Girl School” which is another 10 feet away from the existing preschool. I know her transition there will be a smooth one, thanks in part to the lovely staff and the brilliant experience we’ve had thus far.
• Family Time: I love how, in the UK, night-time and Sundays are Family Time. Shops shut at 5:30-6pm on the week nights and by 4pm on Sundays. This paves the way for families to be together and not have the lure (with the exception of Christmas shopping) of late night shopping every night of the week. Sure, it’s not always convenient but you learn to schedule yourself accordingly. In the US, most shopping malls, stores and groceries are open until at least 10pm (11pm-midnight during the Christmas shopping season) Monday through Sunday and many supermarkets are open 24 hours. Is this REALLY necessary? I think not.
• NHS: Yes, I am pretty critical of the care I’ve received with my pregnancies, however, I am so grateful that we have the NHS. We cannot afford private health insurance, full stop. The NHS is for everyone, regardless of income or circumstance. No, it’s far from perfect. But what is? The fact that we have FREE medical care and children, pregnant women and special cases get FREE prescriptions is pretty bloomin’ amazing. Thank you for being there when we need you NHS. We would never have the same treatment in the US.
• Weather: Call me crazy but I LOVE the weather in the UK. We live in the Midlands so it’s pretty mild here. I come from Wisconsin in the US. It can get many degrees below zero (Farenheit) regularly in the winter and the first snows can come as early as October and last until April or May. The ground FREEZES in Wisconsin. Autumn brings death…of grass, leaves, anything green mostly (except pine trees). Snow is something that is taken care of with GIANT SNOWPLOWS and school is never cancelled unless there is 3 feet of snow on the ground and windchill warnings from the Weather Service. I don’t have that here. I love the weather we have here. Don’t mind me laughing and giggling when more than one inch of snow is on the ground here…I do find the paralysation of the UK rather amusing with the threat of a few snow flakes!
• Bank Holidays: Bank Holidays are a thing of bliss and glory! They do not exist in the US. There are “national holidays” like Martin Luther King Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc but they are not always “days off” for everyone. Often they are, but sometimes they aren’t. Bank Holidays in the UK are plentiful and necessary. Come to think of it, the way the UK approaches holiday in general is far more healthy (albeit less productive economically) for employees and residents. In the US you are LUCKY if you get more than 2 weeks holiday (often unpaid) in the year. In most jobs you have to work for an employer for a set period of time (often a year) before you are even granted ANY holiday/vacation. Here in the UK it’s a minimum of 21 days which pretty much works out to around 4-5 weeks of (usually) paid holiday each year. And aren’t we all better off for it!

There! A few of my favourite things about living in the UK. I love living here and would not change our living arrangements for anything right now. Who knows though? There may come a day when we decide to (or have to) move to the US. There would be a lot of adjustment back to what I knew for so many years and I’m sure, Mark and Ella would find a whole new level of appreciation for some of the difficulties I have experienced here. We’ll cross that bridge if and when we come to it. For now though, raise your tea cup and give a toast to the UK. It’s a pretty brilliant place to live wouldn’t you say?

Countdown to Christmas-Our Winter Wonderland

Posted by cafebebemama on Dec 21, 2010 in Blogger Love, Countdown to Christmas | 3 comments

The UK is blanketed under inches and inches (or centimetres and centimetres if you’re English) of snow. It’s not the normal Christmas scene here. In fact, in the 5 1/2 years that I have spent Christmas here, only the last two have been snowy.

Of course, being from Wisconsin in the US, it’s not a proper Christmas for me unless there’s snow. I watch gleefully when the snow is falling and marvel at its beauty while the rest of the country curses and panics. I am fully capable of driving in a white-out blizzard and have done sp on a number of occasions in the Midwest of the US. I know what snow is. Usually I would say, this is not snow but finally, this Christmas, the snow in England is worthy of being classified as snow.

I am, however, gobsmacked over the almost complete inability of this country to function in the snow. I know, I know…there hasn’t been this amount and type of snow for AGES. Still, we know it’s coming. We know that people still need to get to work and go on holiday. Yet each of the past two winters, the country has ground to a halt over some fluffy white stuff. RIDICULOUS! I would be happy to put in a word with the State of Wisconsin or Minneapolis International Airport (in Minnesota…another winter weather state) to see if they can send over some trainers to teach England how to cope with a bit of snow. I’m sure they would be happy to oblige! And I believe that if we took a few thousand pounds off of the salaries of each and every MP in the UK, snow plows could be purchased to handle the snow and get people back to work. A much better use of our tax dollars don’t you think?

Anyway, I digress! While the majority of the UK is covered in beautiful, white snow, my corner of Cambridgeshire/Lincolnshire is virtually devoid of snow. We had a few flurries on Friday which left us with ground cover but it has now been replaced with a very thick covering of hoar frost. And that’s it! Unbelievable really. I think there’s a bubble over our corner of the Shires! It is a gorgeous scene that has greeted us the last two mornings though and I thought I would share that with you today. I give you…Our Winter Wonderland. And as ever this month, enjoy the 100+ links below for more views of Christmas in the blogosphere.

US vs UK Christmas

Posted by cafebebemama on Dec 15, 2009 in American Mum Me, Little Miss Adventures | 13 comments

Little Miss' First Christmas 2008

As our fair Josie at Sleep is for the Weak is taking a holiday sabatical from the Writing Workshop, we here at Cafe Bebe are struggling for inspiration.  I’ve gone to Josie for a personal prompt and it’s a good one!  Her advice, US vs UK Christmases?  Which one is better?  What’s different??  Are you ready for a bit of Christmas cheer??

Here is what my Christmases were like in the US…it should be noted that I DO NOT SPEAK FOR ALL AMERICANS!

• The official Christmas shopping season begins the day after Thanksgiving.  Every shop in the land is open at 5 or 6am with “Door Buster” sales and all sorts of incentives to get silly shoppers out of the house at ridiculous o’clock.  Thanksgiving is usually the 4th Thursday in November- this past year it was the 26th of November so “Black Friday” was 27 November.
• We usually got our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving and decorated it then.  My brother and I would help with the decorating along with my Mom.  Dad did the technical stuff like stringing the lights.  Outside decorations usually were hung when it was pitch black and howling with snow for maximum effect.  I recall making hot chocolate a few times for my Dad while he was stuck outside in the misery.  But, oh, it looked so pretty when he was done.  In addition to the tree and outside decorations, we also had a nativity set that was placed under the tree.  It generally was my job to set it up…occasionally I messed about with the figurines and put them in odd places.  You have to have a bit of levity at Christmas!
• Advent calendars of the chocolate variety were a tradition thanks to school fundraisers.  I seem to recall more than one season where all of the chocolates disappeared within days of Advent beginning.  I do not recall how that happened.  As I was raised Catholic, Advent was a bit of a big deal in the church we attended…Christmas was about Jesus after all, not SANTA!  I didn’t really care who it was about as long as presents were involved.
• Christmas Eve was when most of the fun happened in our family.  When we were younger, we attended the Christmas Eve Children’s Mass at our church (my brother is 6 years younger than me) which was always quite entertaining.  And I was always happy that church was out of the way!  We would then go home and usually have my Grandparents over for present opening.  You see, in our family, the main present opening took place on Christmas Eve.  I know a fair few American’s who did this!  I don’t know exactly why that was our family’s tradition but it was.  My brother and I would take turns passing out presents which were under the tree and then the fun would begin.  We would all take turns opening a present and ooh-ing and ahh-ing over everyone’s presents.  My Grandpa would always ending up wearing whatever he got which was quite amusing as the layers accumulated!  I would stack my presents in an orderly pile and take extra care opening the paper (don’t tear it!) and not peeking as I didn’t want to spoil the surprise.  We usually had to have an intermission part way through (sometimes the present opening took 3 hours) and we’d always have hors d’oeuvres to keep us sustained through the marathon present opening.  Christmas Eve dinner was usually pretty casual.  No turkey for us that night…it was usually a Christmas Day feast.
• Christmas Day we would come down from our rooms to find that Santa had visited and left us “Santa” presents in our stockings.  These were usually the smaller presents or “stocking stuffers”.  I never knew that Santa was supposed to bring us our big presents.  I do remember the year that I figured out that Santa wasn’t real (DISCLAIMER…SPOILER!!!).  I looked at the gift tag on one of my presents and realised that it was my Dad’s handwriting…fun over.  No more Santa.  I had it sussed!  I never spoiled it for my brother though.  I think he still believes…don’t tell him!
• Christmas Day was usually about food and playing with presents and napping.  Not a bad sort of day.  In latter years, as a family we would go to a movie on Christmas Day.  I recall seeing “Hook” one year.  There was also American Football to watch and traditional movies like “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” or “A Christmas Story” (two of my ALL TIME favourites) as well as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street”.  I always looked forward to the children’s Christmas movies- “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”, “Frosty the Snowman”, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”…ahhh…childhood.  By the way, there is no Boxing Day in the US.  The day after Christmas is when everyone starts taking back the Christmas presents they hated or capitalising on the After-Christmas-Sales to shop for the next Christmas.  Don’t you love American capitalism??

Our First Christmas Together 2005

My UK Christmases- 2005 to Present:

• In the UK, Christmas Eve IS NOT CHRISTMAS.  But in our household, it is.  On Christmas Eve we have, since my arrival in 2005, had our own, private Christmas on Christmas Eve.  It’s when we give each other our presents but as we can’t afford to give each other presents anymore, it now becomes when we open the pressies from the American side of the family.  Little Miss’ second Christmas will begin Christmas Eve at our house with the presents we have for her.  That’s enough Christmas for us!
• My Hubby’s family is where we spend Christmas Day and Boxing Day and on and on.  We head over to his parent’s house (all of 5 minutes away) in the early morning.  This year my Hubby’s twin sister and her family will be here from Australia to enjoy the holidays with us.  There will be 3 children + Little Miss so it should be great fun!  And as Little Miss will understand a bit more about presents this year, there are bound to be lots of photo opportunities.  Before present opening, their family tradition is to have the following for breakfast:  Crumbed Ham, Pork Pie, pickled onions and a few other bits and bobs.  As I’m not keen about pork pie, I mainly have a ham sandwich…for BREAKFAST.  I’m still not used to this tradition.  I believe we will have a Little Miss adapted breakfast of either Eggy Bread or Pancakes.  Maybe that will become the next tradition.
• Present opening with my Hubby’s family is much like mine, thankfully.  Everyone takes turns and oohs and ahhs.  The children get the most, the rest of us get a few.    My youngest nephew is the constant recipient of “Sit Down”, “Stop Twirling”, “Don’t kick your brother/sister” and I’m sure this will remain the tradition this year.  He’s 8 now so those kicks hurt a bit more. 
• After present opening there’s a few hours of down time for present playing, napping, eating while my Mother-in-Law prepares the Christmas dinner.  Christmas dinner is traditional English- turkey, stuffing, potatoes- mashed & roasted, parsnips/carrots, leeks in white sauce, bread sauce, brussel sprouts (yuck) and assorted other veg.  Christmas pudding, mince pies and my niece’s birthday cake are the dessert options.  I’m not a fan of Christmas pud or mince pies so I feel a bit sad when it comes to pudding…there’s always my niece’s cake though!
• I love Boxing Day!  I love that there’s just one more holiday after Christmas here in the UK.  We generally spend it with Hubby’s family and it is centered around eating most of the time.  I really think that the US needs to adopt Boxing Day…it’s a lovely holiday.  Do you know the historical significance of Boxing Day?  Apparently, back in the day, it was the one day off each year for the servants.  The masters/mistresses would bring the servant’s presents in a BOX and they would get the day off.  Hence, BOXING DAY.  If you know another answer, let me know.

This is how I’ve celebrated Christmas in the US and in the UK.  Which one is better?  Well, the Christmas of my childhood when I didn’t have to worry about money, health, fitness or happiness!  All I know is that Christmas is about family and children and I’ve got a great one in store next week.  Little Miss celebrating her second Christmas, my sister-in-law and family home from Oz, all of the immediate family present and healthy…what more could we want?  Well, maybe my American family to turn up on the doorstep as well but I’m guessing I won’t get that wish.  I’ll settle for a phone call and a “Happy Christmas” from my gorgeous girl.  That’s all I need to be happy this Christmas!

My Hubby Christmas 2005

Driving in the UK

Posted by cafebebemama on Dec 7, 2009 in American Mum Me, Motherhood | 20 comments

UK Motorway Sign

I’ve been living in the UK for 4 years now.  I’ve been driving in the UK for 4 years now.  I’ve never driven on the motorways save the wee ones around Peterborough in the 4 years I have been driving in the UK.  I’m frightened you see.

Mind you, in the US, I became a qualified driver at the age of 16…on the first attempt and everything!  I drove successfully in the US for 18 years with only 1 or 2 speeding tickets (everyone has at least 1!).  I didn’t drive initially when I moved to the UK in June of 2005 because we couldn’t find a company to insure me until I had a UK driving license.  Non-UK residents are permitted to drive on their foreign license for up to a year before being legally obligated to take the UK driving test.  We did eventually find an insurance company to cover me before getting that illusive UK driving license and my hubby got me a gorgeous 1991 Mini for me to putter about in.  It was a lovely car…

My Glorious Mini

I killed it!  In a sleep deprived, brain addled state after a brilliant holiday to Malaga in 2007, I left work and on a tight bend off a roundabout I clipped an oncoming car, careened into the dirt and throughly killed my Mini.  Gone…in a flash.  Sob!  That spring, forced to ride the bus to work, I began preparing to become a licensed driver in the UK.  We had a friend who was a driving instructor and after 7 lessons, I felt I was ready to attempt one of the hardest driving tests in the world.  And on that first attempt in May 2007, I passed!  With flying colours.  Woo hoo.  Part of my driving test was driving on the motorway around Peterborough.  That’s about as far as I have come since then.  The A1 runs around Peterborough and I’ve been on it a few times but mainly only to skirt around Peterborough to Stamford and vice versa.  My hubby is a brilliant driver and when we go places together or as a family, he almost always drives.  And you’ll never catch me driving into London!  God no!  That’s what public transport is for!

One of my Mummy Blogger friends, Claire of Being A Mummy, invited Little Miss and I to a Mummy Blogger Tea last week.  I decided that the time had come.  It was time to tackle the motorway.  Let me explain my fear to you:

I’m used to driving in the US on highways that are very straight, very wide and very well marked.  You get mileage signs telling you how many miles to the next destination, highways are North, South, East and West and very obviouly signposted.  It’s a bit hard to get lost as there’s on and off…THERE ARE NO ROUNDABOUTS!!!  Now that’s not entirely true as some roundabouts have made their way into the American Motor System which is actually brilliant…American’s just don’t understand them!  The challenge I have with the UK Motorways is the markings…why are all the markings ON THE ROAD…how are you supposed to see that properly??  I know it’s more about knowing where you want to go and watching for the sign on the approach to a roundabout to know which lane to be in but still…I keep wondering every time, “WHY ARE WE IN THAT LANE??”  Hubby isn’t brilliant at explaining that…he just drives and I watch.

A UK Roundabout

So, Little Miss and I braved the A1 on our adventure and guess what?  WE SURVIVED!  In fact, even though I got a bit muddled after exiting the A1 for St. Albans, I managed to use my brain, read signs and negotiate St. Albans to get to my final destination.  I was so proud of myself.  Now, I don’t think I’ll ever be ready to tackle London but I managed to get from one point to another all on my own and live to tell the tale.  Maybe we’ll try another adventure some other day?  If you’re a “foreigner” in the UK, what do you feel about the motorways, roundabouts and driving?  If you’re a British Citizen, do you ever struggle with driving in the UK?  Share your HORROR STORIES…I’m hoping we won’t have any to add!