(no subject)
Dec. 22nd, 2009 09:22 pm |
Mince pies The seasonal food of my people, fresh out of the oven. |
Randomness
Sep. 5th, 2008 07:49 pmMy dishwasher appears to have died; at least, it did half a job of washing the last load and failed to drain completely. So that's yet another request I have to make of Maintenance ... and in the meantime I have three days' worth of dishes to hand-wash in a tiny kitchen with effectively no counter space and a double sink of which neither half is quite big enough for a dishpan.
Our mailing room informs us that the Post Office may return mail with addresses longer than five lines. Given that my sister's has six in conventional British format (Name, number/street, village, city, postcode, country) I found it hard to believe that this should apply to international addresses, but apparently it does, and one is supposed to put postcode and city on the same line. I just hope that the Royal Mail wouldn't then send it back for being improperly addressed, as they have fairly firm views on the Postcode getting its own line. (I also hadn't realized I'm supposed, nay, required, to put my full first name, not just the initial, in the return address field. I even have several sheets of labels lying around with the initial.)
The dewpoint dropped below 50F for several hours this afternoon, signaling that we're moving into the post-monsoon phase of summer. It's also hotter than it's been for a while, but dry heat tends to be somewhat more bearable.
I need a better DVD storage solution. I think the best use of the available space would be a long, low cabinet with drawers, to go in place of the apology for a coffee table that stands beside the recliner and from under which I just belatedly removed two crates of yarn oddments and abandoned crochet projects. Failing that, boxes or crates to go under the table would work, I suppose.
Our mailing room informs us that the Post Office may return mail with addresses longer than five lines. Given that my sister's has six in conventional British format (Name, number/street, village, city, postcode, country) I found it hard to believe that this should apply to international addresses, but apparently it does, and one is supposed to put postcode and city on the same line. I just hope that the Royal Mail wouldn't then send it back for being improperly addressed, as they have fairly firm views on the Postcode getting its own line. (I also hadn't realized I'm supposed, nay, required, to put my full first name, not just the initial, in the return address field. I even have several sheets of labels lying around with the initial.)
The dewpoint dropped below 50F for several hours this afternoon, signaling that we're moving into the post-monsoon phase of summer. It's also hotter than it's been for a while, but dry heat tends to be somewhat more bearable.
I need a better DVD storage solution. I think the best use of the available space would be a long, low cabinet with drawers, to go in place of the apology for a coffee table that stands beside the recliner and from under which I just belatedly removed two crates of yarn oddments and abandoned crochet projects. Failing that, boxes or crates to go under the table would work, I suppose.
Vocabulary meme
Apr. 2nd, 2008 06:53 pmvia ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
intertext
I grew up in the north of England, lower middle-class with working-class grandparents, but I've spent the last ten years in the Southwestern US, and my reading and TV incorporated a fair bit of American output for years before that.
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
stream or brook
( Read more... )
intertextI grew up in the north of England, lower middle-class with working-class grandparents, but I've spent the last ten years in the Southwestern US, and my reading and TV incorporated a fair bit of American output for years before that.
1. A body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks.
stream or brook
( Read more... )
(no subject)
Feb. 5th, 2008 09:51 pmDo they have cue cards for the chants at the post-election speeches, or is it pure spontaneity?
Home thoughts from abroad
Jul. 4th, 2007 09:05 pmI just watched the second half of the BBC/PBS Jane Eyre, and now I'm homesick. Those were my hills, my moors, my rocks and heather. Not that I'd be able to walk on them right now if I was there, with all the rain, but it still hurts to be stuck here in the relentless bone-dry heat.
Where things belong, part 2
May. 9th, 2007 07:19 pmIn conversation on the way home, I was reminded of another of those odd little cultural differences. In the UK, the default place for the main phone in a home is in the entrance hall/lobby. I have no idea why, unless perhaps it's there for the greater convenience of strangers knocking on the front door and asking to use it, or because that's where one deals with outside incursions in general. If there isn't an entrance hall, or (as in the case of my London flat) the entrance hall is unfeasibly tiny, the phone will probably be in the living room. (There might be an extension in the master bedroom.) Around here (I have to be careful about generalizing, because my personal experience of people's homes in the US is limited to Arizona and Colorado), the main phone is most likely to be in the kitchen, which I suppose was handy in the days of stay-at-home, sink-bound housewives, though there'll be a phone jack in each bedroom as well. Of course, I've not seen many -- if any -- establishments in these parts with what I'd recognize as a hall.
Does anyone have any insights? Other places where the phone might be considered to belong, in the pre-cordless days?
Does anyone have any insights? Other places where the phone might be considered to belong, in the pre-cordless days?
There's been a fascinating culture-clash discussion going on lately, in certain newsgroups. It kicked off when a British poster mentioned having a tumble dryer in the kitchen, and an American poster expressed bogglement and incredulity at the very idea, whereas all the Brits think this is a perfectly normal and obvious arrangement. (I'm actually surprised that most of the Brits seem to have embraced tumble dryers or at least combination washer-dryers by now; they don't figure much in my experience of British homes, though my sister has one.)
( Musings, reminiscences, and possibly off-base thoughts. )
( Musings, reminiscences, and possibly off-base thoughts. )
When did that happen?
Feb. 11th, 2007 02:31 pmI just trotted down to the grocery store for laundry and dishwasher detergent, and was startled to realize that nearly all the laundry detergent on the shelves was liquid rather than powder. I'm fairly sure this is a recent development; the UK switched to liquid (mostly 'concentrated' liquids) some time in the early 90's, but when I moved here it was pretty much all powder. At the time I put this down to the primitive nature of American washing machines. (Sorry, but to European eyes the basic top-loading US model really does look primitive; the first time I saw one, I thought it must have been rescued from a commercial establishment. Of course, lots of people in the UK still manage without a tumble dryer, so it evens out.) I found a store-brand that worked for me and stuck with it, so I haven't really been paying much attention since, and that is still available, but the shelf placement this time suggested it may be on its way out.
I just hope the manufacturers discover the wonders of the dosing ball before they phase out the powder forms completely; coin-op machines don't really lend themselves to the 'add detergent and clothes while filling' method. Or maybe they do, and I'm just too lazy to want to mess about like that while loading multiple machines in a busy laundry room. (Hmm. Maybe my mother still has some of my old Persil balls?)
I just hope the manufacturers discover the wonders of the dosing ball before they phase out the powder forms completely; coin-op machines don't really lend themselves to the 'add detergent and clothes while filling' method. Or maybe they do, and I'm just too lazy to want to mess about like that while loading multiple machines in a busy laundry room. (Hmm. Maybe my mother still has some of my old Persil balls?)
Small cultural aha! moment
Nov. 6th, 2006 11:18 amWhen I first moved here, I realized rather quickly that the American usage of 'Excuse me' in circumstances of interpersonal collision or near-miss differs from the British, but I've never quite been able to specify the difference. Thanks to a post elsewhere on LJ, I think I've got it now.
Americans say 'Excuse me' when they've already bumped into you (for values of 'bump into' up to and including 'pass within four feet', which is deeply confusing to a former Londoner.) The English, on the other hand, tend to use it pre-emptively, as fair warning to the other person to get out of the way before being bumped; the proper thing to say after a collision is 'Sorry.'
Therefore, to a British ear (at least to mine) the American usage comes across as a mildly snarky reproof, though I don't think it's meant that way. I have no idea what the pre-emptive British usage does to American nerves, but I do wonder if the reported Canadian usage of 'Sorry' on being bumped into is an odd hybrid of the two. Or is that just a myth?
Americans say 'Excuse me' when they've already bumped into you (for values of 'bump into' up to and including 'pass within four feet', which is deeply confusing to a former Londoner.) The English, on the other hand, tend to use it pre-emptively, as fair warning to the other person to get out of the way before being bumped; the proper thing to say after a collision is 'Sorry.'
Therefore, to a British ear (at least to mine) the American usage comes across as a mildly snarky reproof, though I don't think it's meant that way. I have no idea what the pre-emptive British usage does to American nerves, but I do wonder if the reported Canadian usage of 'Sorry' on being bumped into is an odd hybrid of the two. Or is that just a myth?
Cultural difference
Aug. 8th, 2006 11:12 pmMy US colleagues have been commenting on the paucity of drinking fountains around here, which I hadn't even thought about.
It isn't that the water isn't safe. (Though I grew up with the notion that public drinking fountains, the few that existed, were unsanitary.) It isn't that buying bottled water is an entrenched part of the culture, though it's becoming more common.
It's just that casual public consumption of plain water isn't part of the culture -- and in the mild climate, it isn't a huge health issue. The British will consume hot tea and coffee at every opportunity, for sociability and warmth as well as thirst, but water? Newfangled American habit, almost as bad as excessively-iced soft drinks. My mother and I carry thermos flasks of hot coffee when we go hiking.
It isn't that the water isn't safe. (Though I grew up with the notion that public drinking fountains, the few that existed, were unsanitary.) It isn't that buying bottled water is an entrenched part of the culture, though it's becoming more common.
It's just that casual public consumption of plain water isn't part of the culture -- and in the mild climate, it isn't a huge health issue. The British will consume hot tea and coffee at every opportunity, for sociability and warmth as well as thirst, but water? Newfangled American habit, almost as bad as excessively-iced soft drinks. My mother and I carry thermos flasks of hot coffee when we go hiking.
Holidays and Cultural Differences
Jul. 2nd, 2006 02:19 pmThere are some differences between the US and the UK that take a while to appreciate. For instance, there's the whole business of holidays.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
I was setting up to do laundry, and the quarters box came up short of what I needed. That happens sometimes. This time, the pockets of current jackets didn't yield enough to fill the gap, and even after raiding coats I haven't worn in months or years I was still one short.
Then I had an inspiration. One of the trinkets on the side table is a little copper box I brought back from Chile in 1991, containing a small collection of exotic coinage from my travels. And yes, among the Dutch and French and Irish and South African coins were one quarter, one penny, one nickel and one dime, which may well have been there since my first trip to the US in 1994. Problem solved! I probably need to pick up a couple of rolls from a bank some time before the next laundry day, though; the natural replenishment rate isn't quite enough, and each close call eats further into those forgotten reserves. (There is the collection of state quarters, one of each up to Nevada, but those are strictly not for laundry.)
Then I had an inspiration. One of the trinkets on the side table is a little copper box I brought back from Chile in 1991, containing a small collection of exotic coinage from my travels. And yes, among the Dutch and French and Irish and South African coins were one quarter, one penny, one nickel and one dime, which may well have been there since my first trip to the US in 1994. Problem solved! I probably need to pick up a couple of rolls from a bank some time before the next laundry day, though; the natural replenishment rate isn't quite enough, and each close call eats further into those forgotten reserves. (There is the collection of state quarters, one of each up to Nevada, but those are strictly not for laundry.)
Monday notes
Mar. 6th, 2006 07:04 pmJust because I wrote a few pages over the weekend, I do not need to go out and buy piles of notebooks, pens, and binders. Really. If I want a notebook to scribble in on the bus, I'm sure I can find one lying around the place.
I happened to look up noise-cancelling headphones on Amazon today, and their recommending engine immediately started offering me men's shirts and grooming aids. As I am feeling quite tiresomely female at the moment, this was mildly amusing.
After living in the US for eight years, my writing is split between the two flavours of English; I still default to UK spelling (and no-one who hears me open my mouth has any doubt that I'm not from around here), but I've developed a strong tendency to use US-style euphemisms and idioms. Maybe I can get around my current dilemma by having my heroine change in the 'convenience'.
I happened to look up noise-cancelling headphones on Amazon today, and their recommending engine immediately started offering me men's shirts and grooming aids. As I am feeling quite tiresomely female at the moment, this was mildly amusing.
After living in the US for eight years, my writing is split between the two flavours of English; I still default to UK spelling (and no-one who hears me open my mouth has any doubt that I'm not from around here), but I've developed a strong tendency to use US-style euphemisms and idioms. Maybe I can get around my current dilemma by having my heroine change in the 'convenience'.
No more fries for me
Feb. 5th, 2006 09:13 pmOn Phoenix weekends, I've been in the habit of eating lunch at the one outside-security restaurant at Terminal 2. I always had the same thing, a chicken salad sandwich, which came with a side of hot, salty french fries. That was pretty much the only time I ate fries, and I'd started to look forward to them. The last three times I've been up, though, I've been taken out to lunch instead. Today I headed for the restaurant as usual -- and it wasn't there; where it had been was only bland cream-painted hoarding. Something is going on at T2, the oldest and smallest in the perenially-under-construction airport; all the rental car counters have gone, replaced by signs directing people to catch a bus to the 'rental car center', and now this. My only remaining option for lunch was an unexciting packaged salad from the coffee kiosk.
Something else odd and disconcerting happened today. As I was getting off the bus near my apartment, looking up at the fading afterglow of sunset on the Santa Catalina mountains, I said to myself, 'Tucson is home.' That brought me up short, because I don't think I've ever said that to myself before, and I still don't think I mean it in more than one or two of the multiple senses that the word acquires for rootless academics; mainly, at that moment, I just meant that Phoenix isn't.
Something else odd and disconcerting happened today. As I was getting off the bus near my apartment, looking up at the fading afterglow of sunset on the Santa Catalina mountains, I said to myself, 'Tucson is home.' That brought me up short, because I don't think I've ever said that to myself before, and I still don't think I mean it in more than one or two of the multiple senses that the word acquires for rootless academics; mainly, at that moment, I just meant that Phoenix isn't.
British or American?
Jan. 5th, 2006 07:26 pmI'm in the throes of revising a paper for a journal whose editors are happy with either British or American spelling, but not both in the same piece. I had to make a decision between color and colour, and suddenly realized I wasn't sure which one I went for in the first place. I think it's American, due to the presence of an 'artifact', where in my unperturbed state I would have had 'artefact', but I'm not entirely sure I've got the polarity of that argument right.
I am also entirely bemused by the discussion next door about 'comma splices' and the British addiction to them. I'm not entirely sure what one of those is, but if it consists of using a comma to join two sentences that could otherwise stand alone I'm fairly sure that no-one ever taught me that that was correct. If a semicolon seems too formal, I'm more likely to go for an em-dash.
I am also entirely bemused by the discussion next door about 'comma splices' and the British addiction to them. I'm not entirely sure what one of those is, but if it consists of using a comma to join two sentences that could otherwise stand alone I'm fairly sure that no-one ever taught me that that was correct. If a semicolon seems too formal, I'm more likely to go for an em-dash.
Mexico, continued: 31st October 2000
Nov. 1st, 2005 08:46 pmSorry about that: I ran out of steam half way through the story.
( Continuing adventures of a visa applicant in Juarez )
( Continuing adventures of a visa applicant in Juarez )
Back in Sheffield
Aug. 18th, 2005 10:09 pmI'm home again, with my visa approved, somewhat footsore and full of inchoate musings about London, which I can't post right now.
