ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 153

Posted on June 19, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Country songs

I’ve been listening to a lot of country music recently in America-land and I love it!

I surely do!

What gets me is the stories in them and they are pretty chirpy most of the time. Best of all, I love the song titles.

For example:
I Don’t Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling?
She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy
She Got the Ring, I Got The Finger
Tequila Makes Her Clothes Fall Off
Rednecks, White Socks and Blue Ribbon Beer
She’s Looking Better Every Beer
If The Phone Doesn’t Ring, You’ll Know It’s Me
How Can I Miss You If You Won’t Go Away?
Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?
Honky Tonk Badonkadonk
Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In The Bed
You’re The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly
My Wife Ran Off With My Best Friend and I Sure Do Miss Him
Did I Shave My Legs For This?
Get Your Tongue Outta My Mouth Cause I’m Kissing You Good-bye
Mama Get A Hammer (There’s A Fly On Daddy’s Head)
She’s Actin’ Single and I’m Drinkin’ Doubles
I Liked You Better Before I Knew You So Well
I Wouldn’t Take Her To A Dog Fight, Cause I’m Afraid She’d Win
I’m So Miserable Without You; It’s Like Having You Here
I’ve Got Tears In My Ears From Lying On My Back Cryin’ Over You
If I Had Shot You When I Wanted To, I’d Be Out By Now
My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, And I Don’t Love You
You Done Tore Out My Heart and Stomped That Sucker Flat
You’re the Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly
Her Teeth Were Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure
I Ain’t Never Gone To Bed With An Ugly Woman, But I Sure Woke Up With a Few

Excellent, creative song titles! Sure beats some of the pop crap that’s about at the moment 😉

It also makes me want to go to Nashville A LOT. Raising that trip to the top of the bucket list…..

Cowboys hats

In addition to country songs, I love to wear my cowboy hat in the USA. Admittedly, it’s a seagrass effort bought from Marks and Spencers before I left the UK, so it’s not that authentic, but I am trying….

There is just something I love about a cowboy hat, and some people wear it so well. I fear I may look like I’m auditioning to be a Club 18-30 Ibiza party rep when I wear mine, but who cares!

Tim McGraw sure knows how to wear his cowboy hat….

Wonkers

I came across a new word in the USA that I am going to use a great deal in conversations.
‘Wonkers’ – a combination of ‘bonkers’ and ‘w*nker’ apparently.

Urban Dictionary examples of its usage:

I love her! She is wonkers!
He lost his phone…man, he’s wonkering (or going wonkers).
He’s totally wonkers.

Mom

Harry referred to me as ‘mom’ in a conversation with his peers the other day.

My heart skipped a beat.

No more British ‘mummy’? Am I now a ‘mom’?

I asked him if this was to be a forever-thing, and he advised me that is wasn’t. Honestly? I’m relieved.

As long as he doesn’t do this – that would drive me wonkers!

Pronunciation USA/UK style

Two words spoken by Americans in the past 24 hours have stood out for me….

Lesiure – Americans say it as ‘lee-sure’ and we Brits – well, we say it like this…

Gala – some Americans say it as ‘gay-la’ and we Brits – well, we say it like this… I think some Americans also pronounce it like us Brits, but with more emphasis on the first ‘a’. Fascinating!

Posted in Travel | Tagged accents, America, American, Americans, British, country music, country songs, cowboy hats, Culture, Family Guy, hocoblogs@@@, Marks and Spencers, mom, mummy, pronunciation, Tim McGraw, UK, USA | 10 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 152

Posted on June 19, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Tea cup politics vs Wine glass politics

Yes, the above title is how I view British politics in comparison to American politics.

So, I attended my friend Tom Coale’s shindig tonight where he declared his intention to be the Democrat candidate for the House of Delegates District 9B in Maryland. In the UK, that would be the equivalent of someone aiming to be the Labour party candidate for a seat in the Welsh Assembly (just in terms of size). Cool.

I am being a bit mean to UK politics because when I think of it I think of dreary suits and comb-overs and people talking in voices that drone on and on about park benches. I can kind of say this because I worked in PR in several UK councils. They aren’t all like that, of course, and sometimes it was rocking and fun and exciting, but tonight’s announcement was just utterly cool in the USA-stylie.

Tom’s USA announcement tonight looked like this: Asian Fusion food, vodka cocktails, heels, smart dresses, funky people, trendy wine bar, people whooping and cheering! Yeah!

Tom runs for Delegate!

Go Tom!

Delegate for District 9B

Joan Lancos and me in red!

In my head I visualise the UK equivalent taking place in a Jam and Jerusalem / WI church hall that has a damp wind passing through it from either a crack in the wall that’s never been repaired or the elderly organ player. Everyone is drinking extremely milky tea (the milk having been brought directly from udder to stainless steel milk jug by Dora, straight from her farm). The tea has passed many times through an urn that everyone proudly comments was used in the Second World War. People sip their tea from cracked pale green china-effect tea cups with mis-matched saucers and applaud quietly (since they are reserving their real enthusiasm for re-runs of Richard Whiteley on Countdown later that evening) and try not to drop their 99p custard creams when Roger announces his candidacy for Somewhere-upon-River.

And that is how I, rightly or wrongly, view the difference between USA and UK politics 😉

This is the sort of thing 🙂

I am, of course, being incredibly rude to the UK WI and people who make things happen in the UK. Tongue in cheek and all that…. 😉

A man named Skip

I don’t know anyone in the UK called Skip. It is truly an American nickname.

I made sure I introduced myself to Tom’s dad, Skip, and told him that he was the first Skip I had ever met (actually, I think my dad had a dog named Skip, but I never actually met him).

Anyway, now I have met a Skip, and very charming he was too.

Isn’t Skip a poppet?!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Asian Fusion food, British, church hall, councillor, Countdown, custard creams, delegate, District 9B, hocoblogs@@@, hocorising, Howard County, Jam and Jerusalem, maryland, milk, Politics, Richard Whiteley, Skip, Skip Coale, Tom Coale, TV, UK, UK councils, USA, WI | 12 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 151

Posted on June 17, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

You’re welcome!

Now, I like the phrase ‘you’re welcome’, but it doesn’t come naturally to me because I am British.

For example:

I am packing my own grocery bags in the grocery store. Usually the person on the checkout does the packing as that is way it works in the USA, but I’m used to Tesco in the UK, where they really can’t be arsed / don’t want to / it’s not in their job description.

When I’m packed up, the checkout girl says to me, ‘Thanks for helping.’

And I say, ‘That’s okay.’

And she says, ‘You’re meant to say ‘you’re welcome’. But I guess that’s just our cultural differences.’

And she’s right, it is.

When I say ‘that’s okay’ I mean ‘no problem’, but it’s like I did her a massive favour, and to be honest, I really do not have an issue packing my own bags at the checkout, all said and done, so ‘you’re welcome!’

He’s not going to be much use packing, me thinks…

Private medical insurance is driving me crazy!

a) You have to give the same info about yourself and your details over and over and over again to many, many different people
b) I am not used to calling in yourself and giving the same info about yourself and your details over and over again to get an appointment
c) I miss the NHS

I miss you

I get that it’s great to have private medical insurance in the USA, and I am lucky to have it, but bloomin’ ‘eck it don’t half take some time to get an appointment sorted!

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, British, checkout, Culture, expat, grocery store, hocoblogs@@@, maryland, NHS, private medical insurance, UK, USA | 6 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 150

Posted on June 17, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Pride in Baltimore

Today we took in Baltimore Pride and by stepping into Druid Hill Park, we stepped into a truly colourful, harmonious, proud group of 10,000 people supporting Baltimore Pride 2013, and I couldn’t have been prouder to be part of it.

Baltimore Pride was a festival of epic proportions today, and made history. ‘There’s a mass wedding,’ two very proud PFLAGS (Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays) told me with excitement as we neared the entrance. This I had to witness and share.

Proud PFLAGS

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake rocked up to officiate the mass wedding for same-sex couples. It was a statement of how far Maryland had come as a state toward equality.

Look, I know not all of America is comfortable with this. Not all of the UK is, but this is history and times, well they are a-changin’…..

Hooking up for their wedding

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland, which organized the celebration, had announced last week that Rawlings-Blake would serve as grand marshal for the event in recognition of her support of gay rights, and, boy, did the crowd love her! They whooped and cheered her and shouted ‘we love you’ as she took to the stage (albeit 20 minutes late!).

They loved the Mayor!

Baltimore Pride can pat itself on the back for organizing this celebration – it was the first time for a mass same-sex wedding ceremony in the state and more than a dozen couples celebrated at Druid Hill Park today, with the local faith leaders and LGBT supporters cheering the officially named ‘WeDo Baltimore’ marriage event. If that’s not harmonious, I don’t know what is.

My favourite line of the day from the announcer on stage: ‘We want to thank everyone! Especially the straight people, because if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here today!” 🙂

I overheard some people commenting that it would be a while before they saw this sort of thing in their state. It amazes me still how states can have such different laws on so many different things.

But whatever your view on same-sex marriage, today was an extraordinary, uplifting thing to behold, and a real sense of unity and pride swelled within the Baltimore crowd as history was made.

With faith leaders, politicians and members of the LGBT community standing side by side, it made me realise just how far we’ve come. My view? It’s definitely in the right direction.

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, Baltimore, British, Druid Hill Park, hocoblogs@@@, LGBT, marriage, maryland, mass wedding, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Pride 2013, same-sex wedding, UK, USA | 4 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 149

Posted on June 17, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

The Derecho

Derecho came and went. He was a stormy kind of tornado, which I pronounced as “DEREKO’ (my thoughts were that it was like a male version of Irene and all those female storms….). But it is not pronounced like this.

A derecho (pronounced similar to “deh-REY-cho” in English) is a widespread wind storm that is associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms. And that’s what we got. Destruction wasn’t as bad as expected in Columbia, Maryland. But it came, it made an impression and it went again, which was just as well as I was popping out to DC and a bloomin’ storm wasn’t going to stop me.

Derek-oh!

Tipping in bars

Oh dear, tipping….it’s still a tough one to get right.

I can’t quite fathom the process. It might be simple if it’s part of your culture, but it’s just not part of the UK culture and I am a bit awkward with it all still.

I get that the wages in bars suck and the etiquette is to tip. I get that great service = tip. But bad service? That does not equal tip, especially if you’ve been totally and utterly rude.

Mr Smith’s in Georgetown….rude bartender. Not waiter. Bartender. I approached him and requested drinks. He was rude and had then he requested a tip. Well, you ain’t getting one now, SonnyJim!

Enough said!

RSVPing

Oh my, I also can’t get my head around why in general Americans do not RSVP to things. We’re talking etiquette and cultural differences again! Oh, some do and that’s great and super helpful when you are organising something, but it is certainly not super helpful if people don’t reply, or they then reply on the day to say, ‘Oh, I might come,’ or ‘I can/can’t come’.

Us Brits tend to RSVP at the drop of a hat. To be clear: ‘Yes’ means I will come, and ‘No’ means I won’t come, but thanks anyway. Personally, I think it’s rude not to say something…… It’s as rude as not sending a thank you card or note, or email, or text……aye, and there’s the rub, I suppose!

Anyhow, The New York Times comes up trumps with an article about the death of the RSVP.

I love the last comment….

‘In the end, perhaps they [the invitees] were merely following the French literally: Respond, if you please. Left over from a time when graciousness couched demands as requests, the RSVP no longer functions. I therefore propose an update, something still French but a bit more … frank — the RVOM.: Répondez Vite — ou Mourez!

For those friends of mine who plead a lack of high school French, allow me to translate. Respond Quickly, or Die!‘

😉

Howl at the Moon

Let me explain: Howl at the Moon is a duelling piano bar and a piano bar has been on my bucket list. A piano bar where the staff join in with it all and dance on the bar and you all get jolly-ly sloshed and sing along. And Howl at the Moon in Baltimore did just that. It felt a little bit like a being in a movie-mix of Coyote Ugly and Glee, which is a most excellent experience!

This is the sort of bar where the true Baltimore atmosphere seeped into your pores (as well as the vodka-jelly-shots….).

The songs were awesome, the crowd rocked it and the whole party-going-on-outside of Downtown Baltimore on a balmy summer’s evening with British and American friends will be a long-lasting memory….(most of it anyway!)

We certainly howled something!

Fluff ‘n’ nutter sandwich

Today I ate a Fluff ‘n’ Nutter sandwich without realising what it was. I sort of loved it, and am now sort of feeling horrible about myself because of that.

A darstadly Fluff ‘n’ Nutter

B&O station

Trains. Not my bag. History. My bag.

Luckily the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum was swimming in history of American railroads. Phew.

And lots of flags there were too, which always makes for a good few pics!

The Solo Cup

In America these are called ‘Solo Cups’ because they are made by a company called ‘Solo’.

A Solo cup

In the UK we call them simply ‘cups’ or ‘plastic cups’. Interesting. There is song about Solo Cups. More interesting.

My Facebook discussion about them made me realise that brand calling is very apparent in both our cultures. In the UK we call a vacuum a Hoover when that is a brand. This red cup is associated with partying and drinking. Solo also makes the plastic cup in blue, however, parties are not nearly as fun with blues ones I am told. The actual comment was ‘the beer always tastes better in a red solo cup.’ 😉

And then today I spotted these….classy!

Cheers!

Baltimore behind the scenes

Someone asked me today when I said I heading out early on a Sunday morning to get some pics of Baltimore backstreets ‘don’t you ever stay home?’. I thought about this and I guess, quite simply, I wouldn’t have anything to write about or share if I was just holed up in bed on a Sunday morning.

And I am so glad I saw the backstreets of the city on a Sunday morning. Mesmerising it was, and for a while there I wondered if I was really only 20 miles from my Bubbleland……

When pictures speak louder than words…..

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, B&O museum, backstreets, Baltimore, bars, blue solo cup, British, Columbia, Coyote Ugly, Culture, Derecho, Downtown Baltimore, expat, Fluff''n' nutter, Georgetown, Glee, hocoblogs@@@, Howl at the Moon, maryland, Mr Smiths, New York TImes, Red Solo Cup, RSVP, storm, tipping, Toby Keith, tornado, UK, USA, Washington | 9 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 148

Posted on June 13, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Bugs and bites

Flippin’ bugs! This tropical weather, which I declare is like a moody young teenager (since I cannot determine how it will play out during the course of the day), has been the bringer of all things BITING.

How I love the sun and climate when it’s warm, and how I love to sit on the deck of an evening and pretend I am very much on my holibobs in the balmy warmth as the sun makes its way to set………and how those damn mossies like to bloomin’ well bite me!

Chuffin’ mossies….

Maryland, I love you dearly, but I suffer at the hands / blood-sucking mouthparts of your mosquitoes.

The Phenomenon of Indicating

I am introducing a new phenomenon to roundabouts (“rotaries”) – it’s called ‘indicating’ and I am using my ‘turn signals’ to do this……

That is, I am indicating with my lights to show the intention of my direction when I enter and drive round a roundabout, which in theory should help out a lot of drivers in the vicinity and consequently speed up traffic.

I cannot do this single-handedly, Americans – let’s indicate together! 😉

An American roundabout (rotary)

(Okay, I know some of you already do it….I’m just saying, that’s all!)

More storms

Tomorrow we are going to be without power, so the weather reports say. More storms. More tornadoes.

Yikes.

Harry declared that the Oklahoma tornado had scared him.
Goodness, thought I, he is very up on current affairs.
Did you see about Oklahoma on the news? I asked, gentle concern filling my voice.
No, I mean Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, he replied……..

That is pretty scary

Our Maryland storm will be minor in comparison to the devastation recently caused to Oklahoma by the tornado last month.

Let it be said, though, that weather in the USA is definitely more extreme than the UK.
Colder, hotter, bigger rain and snow, tornadoes, earthquakes.

And, as we know, it is a land of extremes in more ways than just the weather…………….. (more to follow on this subject matter shortly, dear readers, but now it’s time buckle down and prepare for the storm – fyi, importantly, the laptops are fully charged for required TV series watching when the lights go out 🙂 )

Posted in Travel | Tagged America, American, Americans, bites, British, bugs, Culture, Dorothy, driving, hocoblogs@@@, Howard County, indicating, maryland, mosquitoes, Oklahoma, rotaries, roundabouts, tornado, UK, USA, weather, Wizard of Oz | 18 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 147

Posted on June 12, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Tornado time

Last night lil’ ol’ Howard County was on tornado watch, and as the sky darkened and the rain lashed down, for a while it felt pretty hairy-scary.

It was a mild tornado, but there was still debris circling the air, and ginourmous rain puddles leaving the ground still sodden today.

Mr Dennis Davison of Woodbine, Howard County, got this wreckage as remnants of the tornado…..

That was his shed. And his car.

The Baltimore Sun had a little chat with Dennis, who in my opinion pretty much took it all in his stride.

Thankfully, when we heard that the tornado was on its way and that there might be power outage we ensured that the most important things were taken care of to make our lives as comfortable as possible.

Therefore, we took great pains to make sure that both laptops were fully charged so that we could indulge in the last episode of season 3 of Game of Thrones. (To be honest, it was the most disappointing episode to date, but that’s for another discussion….).

Hanging out at the Lakefront

The Lakefront in Columbia is fast becoming one of my favourite places to dawdle and mooch and drink strawberry and mint iced non-alcoholic cocktails. Oh yes, and meet people.

And today I spent my afternoon in the company of a delightful 72-year-old gentleman who regaled me stories of America-land and how it had changed in the past 50 decades. Amazing stuff….

And there just happened to be another political convention taking place, so up popped a dozen other people (amongst the gathering throngs) whose paths I have crossed since I have lived here, and all at once I felt like an outsider who had been accepted into a community.

Politics at the lakefront

This time it was Allan Kittleman doing his thing to become Howard County Chief Executive.

It felt uniquely American again; there was nothing British about it at all, but of course there wouldn’t be, because this is politics American style.

It interested me – his 21-year-old daughter spoke and was almost in tears talking about the time he drove four hours because she was a bit homesick at uni and needed some dinner. I’m thinking ‘that’s lovely’, but to be brutally honest, I’m also thinking ‘just Skype her and tell her to order a pizza.’ But the story was heartfelt (I know this because there were almost tears) and the crowd loved it.

The crowd also got to chant a response when asked ‘What time is it?’ All-but-one responded ‘Allan Kittleman time.’ That all-but-one was me, who shouted ‘Dinner time!’ because I thought we were playing What’s The Time Mr Wolf….

Anyway, politics in the USA is FASCINATING and I intend to see much, much more of it as the battle for 2014 unravels…. 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged Allan Kittleman, America, American, Americans, British, Chief Executive, Columbia, Columbia Lakefront, Culture, Dennis Davison, Game of Thrones, hocoblogs@@@, Howard County, maryland, Politics, Skype, tornado, UK, USA, What the time Mr Wolf?, Woodbine | 2 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 146

Posted on June 9, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Honestly, what’s the HonFest?

HonFest is a new-fangled thing to me, being British.

I’d spent that last couple of weeks telling people I was going to HonFest, pronouncing the Hon’ as in in ‘honest’. Wrong! It’s ‘Hon’ as in ‘honey’, because now I know that’s what it’s celebrating. Honeys.

HonFest is a local tradition and the Bawlmer term of endearment, Hon, embodies the warmth and affection bestowed upon neighbors and visitors alike by historic working-women of Baltimore. HonFest is an annual celebration in honour of these women.

Since 1994, HonFest has grown from a tiny Baltimore’s Best Hon pageant behind Café Hon, to a nationally recognized festival that covers four city blocks on Hampden’s very own 36th Street. And this year marked a big anniversary for the street festival: 20 years of all things Hon.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but it was brillopads!

And I was out to see some real Honeys, and they didn’t fail to impress.

A total honey!

Cafe Hon

My friend,Vyv, said this would be in 20 years’ time…. 🙂

Me and Elvis….

There were beehive hairdos, bright-blue eye shadow, spandex pants, cats’ eyes glasses and leopard print in abundance. And hot guys, too, which was an additional top rating score for HonFest!

I think I need to watch a bit of Grease now….

HonFest had it all sorted out. If you had turned up wearing your regular, drab clothes – get your ass in the Glamour Lounge and get yourself a beehive, listen to talented local musicians, and check out the work of local artists, while you stroll down The Avenue.

Step in the Glamour lounge for your Hon transformation!

Total hon again

The buzz, atmosphere, pride and sincerity of HonFest was pitch perfect.

From watching an Elvis impersonator Tommy El work the crowd, to hearing men compliment women on their Honey outfits, to feeling like I’d stepped back in time to the 1950s, to remarking on how great it was to see different age groups having a great time together (there were kids and grandparents rocking out together!), to the Mashed Potato dance contest, the vibe was just right.

Quirky, boho, interesting, friendly and fabulous. The Honeys have it.

Honeys on tap

Honeys that lunch

My favourite honeys!

Cute honeys

Honeys have doggies too

What kind of Asian are you?

I can’t explain this – you just have to watch it. As a Brit in the USA, it made me laugh 🙂

Posted in Travel | Tagged 1950s, accents, America, American, Americans, Baltimore, Bawlmer, British, Culture, hocoblogs@@@, HonFest, maryland, The Avenue, UK, USA, What Kind of Asian Are You? | Leave a comment

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 145

Posted on June 7, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Donut Day and Running Day

Today is National Donut Day in the USA. It occurs two days after National Running Day. Coincidence?

Perhaps they could work together and you could do a really long run to a donut shop?

Sticky doughy donuts

So what about Donut Day in the USA? It started almost 100 years ago with a group of female volunteers with the Salvation Army giving doughnuts to World War I veterans.

It’s morphed into a global celebration of the doughy delicacy that is marked each year with free treats for everyone.

The following facts are courtesy of Lamar’s Donuts, a chain based in Kansas City, Missouri.

* In the USA alone, more than 10 billion donuts are made every year.

* The US donut industry is worth 3.6 billion dollars.

* The largest donut ever made was an American-style jelly donut weighing 1.7 tons, which was 16 feet in diameter and 16 inches high in the center.

* Per capita, Canada has more donuts shops than any other country.

* The hole in the donut’s center appeared in the first half of the 19th Century and allows the donut to cook more evenly.

* The Dutch are often credited with bringing donuts to the US with their olykoeks, or oily cakes in the 1800s.

* Adolph Levitt invented the first donut machine in 1920.

* The Guinness World record for donut eating is held by John Haight, who consumed 29 donuts in just over 6 minutes.

Is it doughnut or donut? You may have noticed a little of both above. Yeah, that was on purpose. It doesn’t matter. They both work. It really kind of depends on where you’re buying them and what they call them.

Martin for President!

Marvellous Martin O’Malley is going to make a bid for President! Oh my! (Faints, swoons.)

If I could vote, which I can’t, I would vote on buffness alone.

UK / USA things we do

There’s a load of fun stuff going round about things the USA should do that the UK does or has and vice versa.

Suggestions about what could improve our countries include:

* The USA should have Greggs the bakery, it says. Yes, really. I disagree. The UK can keep Greggs, because I can devour four of those sausages rolls in two minutes flat.

* The UK should have graduations for kids every year at school. We know what I think about that….

In the UK we need more of this….

….but the USA does not need this (Greggs, not Adele 🙂 )

Rainy days

Today is a very wet, crappy day. It feel like the UK in October.

But rain here is different. This rain isn’t just rain. This rain is the tail end of Hurricane Andrea, which swirled and whirled its way up from Florida.

That makes it storm rain, which isn’t just any old rain.

In the UK rain is just rain and we are used to rain because we have it a lot.

An adult asked me last month if we had storms in the UK. Yes, I replied, a little indignantly (and also concerned at what I believed to be a statement of ignorance).

But now I know what she means. We do have storms in the UK (I remember that storm of 1987 well!), but here…..well, storms really are different. And wet.

The UK storm of 1987

This one’s tropical….

Posted in Travel | Tagged Adele, America, American, Americans, Britain, British, Culture, donuts, graduation, Greggs, hocoblogs@@@, Hurricane Andrea, Martin O'Malley, maryland, National Donut Day, President, rain, running, UK, UK storm of 1987, USA, weather | 2 Comments

Desperate English Housewife in Washington, chapter 144

Posted on June 6, 2013 by ukdesperatehousewifeusa

Wrong side / right side of the road

Every time (and I mean every time) I get in to the car and drive I do consciously still say to myself ‘drive on the right, drive on the right’. (Note, I still do sometimes inadvertently go round to the passenger side of the car with the intention of driving and then pretend that I was just putting my bag in / getting something / sorting something out.)

However, it is incredibly disconcerting when you are heading down a highway/freeway/road with two lanes going one way and you are in the outside lane and a flipping car is coming towards you.

(I still don’t know what the different roads are called and what the difference between Interstates/highways/freeways are – rest assured, this will be rectified via Google – fyi, in the UK we generally call those ‘dual carriage ways’.)

Anyway, as the car was coming towards me, my head went like this:

Am I in the wrong lane? OMG, how can I be driving in the wrong lane after 10 months out here?
F*ck, she’s in the wrong lane!
Argh, you crazy lady!
Woah, that was surreal.

Poor lady, she was probably having a right old panic attack. In fairness, it is quite easy to pull out into the oncoming traffic lane (even for the natives) – expecially if there is no oncoming traffic and you don’t actually look at the road signs and arrows and no entry signs……

Drive on the right, drive on the right….

It kind of messed with head for the rest of the drive, but no one was hurt, so that’s the good news. (And total relief and a little bit of smugness that it wasn’t me, the expat Brit who learnt to drive on the left/correct side of the road 🙂 )

The ways y’all say stuff

Americans don’t all speak the same, that we know. How we UK gals love the Southern accent in the USA. The drawl, the lilt, the cowboy in chaps, the check shirt, the doe-eyes….oh hang, is that just me getting carried away with current obsessions with John Ross Jr. in the new Dallas? Anyway, we love the Bronx twang and the………..um, I can’t think of any others that we love, but there we have it – at least we recognise the difference in accents.

Bad boy John Ross Jr. Mmmm, dreamy…..

I’ve mentioned that my husband is a Cockney and sometimes our American friends find him hard to understand. But sometimes there are words I have to ask to be repeated also by Americanos. And this little gem of a piece tell us exactly that – the pronunciation of many words differs greatly from State to State.

Regional accents are a major part of what makes American English so interesting as a dialect, much like British English has so many variations.

For example:

The pronunciation of “caramel” starts disregarding vowels once you go west of the Ohio River.

For whatever reason, it’s a “boo-wie” knife in Texas and DC.

Americans can’t even agree how to pronounce crayon.

The South is the only place where you’ll try to call your “law-yer” instead of your “loyer”.

It’s fascinating stuff! I always want to call the town ‘Bowie’ like we would David Bowie, but that it ain’t!