Month: June 2016

Where to begin?!

Until the middle of last week, a large majority of Americans had no idea what was going on with “Brexit”: no idea why such a vote was happening, and no idea what the consequences would be one way or another.  Which, to be quite frank with you, didn’t make them any different from a large majority of Brits.

Now, of course, there have been huge moves in global markets, so many more people know something has happened.  As the local Brits, people are asking us what’s going on, and what our opinions are.  It’s hard to put our personal situation (long sterling assets, still) aside and give a dispassionate answer, and it’s even harder to give a clear explanation about why it actually matters so much – either to Britain or to the world.

It’s almost certainly the case that the UK vote won’t matter as much in the longer term as it seems like it does today, that markets are overreacting as they always do, that those people who are calling for a European banking collapse are hyperventilating drama merchants, and that equities and currencies will rebound given some time.  Don’t forget that Europe would take the gold medal in an intergalactic fudging competition: when Ireland rejected the treaty of Lisbon in a referendum in 2008, the result was conveniently put aside and another referendum was held the following year, which received the “correct” result; and in 2005 France rejected the EU constitution in a referendum, which has had no impact at all.

One comment doing the rounds on social media is that Britons have had a bit of superiority complex watching American politics and the improbable rise of the orange man with the stuffed weasel on his head.  “America might be the land of the free, but at least in the UK we aren’t stupid enough to consider voting without considering the long-term consequences.”  Ah well.

Talking of The Donald, the hilarity of the week to date has been his recent trip to Scotland, where he congratulated the locals on voting to leave the EU….errrrr…. except Scotland wanted to stay in.  Hence Scots took to Twitter to insult him.  The problem here is that the language used this abuse is peculiarly British.  So I’ve had to answer the question from my colleagues “have you actually called someone a spoon?” and “what the hell is a c*ckwomble?”  I was more than happy to explain, as you can imagine – and I have actually called someone a spoon, yes.

Finally, I might have mentioned that we have plenty of sport on TV in the office.  Unfortunately this means that I saw the “other” Brexit, as a bunch of clueless idiots bumbled their way out of Europe…

Another guest post this week, courtesy of Alice (the last member of the family to contribute; the bunnies have already written their article):

I normally wake up at about 7am, because school starts at 8.05am. School in America is different to my school in England, for many reasons. We have no morning break (recess) as we have lunch at 11am. Sometimes we have burgers and fries, Mexican food or South Carolinan food (cornbread, grits and fried or breaded chicken) and there is always a yummy salad bar with vegetables, fruit and pasta. After lunch we have recess for 30 minutes and play outside where it is normally very hot. After that, we often have PE which is every day of the week. We also have French three times a week, and science and ballet once a week. We have a snack at 2pm, which can be practically anything apart from peanut butter. I sometimes take in fruit, humus and crackers or chips. Home time is at 2.45pm.

So America is the land of the automobile: apparently there are 253 million cars and trucks on the roads over here – something like 80 for every 100 people, compared with 52 per 100 back in the UK.  Being a car owner here is so different than it is in the UK: the main difference being that there are actually enough places to park.  Anyone who has tried to get into the John Lewis car park in Kingston-upon-Thames on a Saturday afternoon will know what I’m talking about here…

Anyway, being the Land of the Car, everything is set up towards car use.  Even at school, there’s a car pool lane for drop-off and collection.  No standing round chatting at the school gate: the teacher recognises the car pulling up, and calls the pupil out of the school to hop straight into the car.  The ideal scenario for the antisocial parent!

The Land of the Car also means Drive Thru’.  So far, I have discovered:

• drive-through (sorry, I can’t bring myself to write “thru”) barbecue restaurants
• several different drive through burger joints
• drive-through Starbucks
• drive-through Chick Fil A (for the uninitiated, Chik Fil A, with an advertising campaign featuring three cows exhorting you to “Eat Mor Chikin”, is like KFC except staffed almost exclusively by students)
• drive-through Baskin Robbins for ice-cream
• drive-through pharmacy
• drive-through ATM and drive up banking (this is awesome – you talk to a cashier through a microphone, and money flies back and forth through plastic tubes in a little container).

Theoretically you could drive through the bank, withdraw some cash, drive through the burger joint, drive through the ice cream shop, then drive through the pharmacy to get some Alka-Seltzer on the way home.   That’s a lot of driving through.  The only one I knew of in London was the truly terrible drive through Krispy Kreme by the A3 (!)

My initial reaction was something along the lines of “why do you need a drive through when you can just park up and walk?”  But after five months, I have started to realise that there are at least a few reasons.  Yes, you could still park up and walk.  But when it’s 30+ degrees C outside, it’s a lot more comfortable to keep the air-con in your car on.  And when it’s torrential rain, like Tropical Storm “Colin” which passed over yesterday, it’s a lot drier to stay in your car.

To be really useful, someone should invent a drive-through supermarket, a drive-through gas station, or perhaps a drive-though office…

The aircon in this car is low-tech.

A Guest Post by Charlotte

I am a well-travelled person, and love the challenge of absorbing new places. After all, I learned from the best. My parents were living in New York when I was born, and we travelled back to live in the UK when I was six weeks old. As a child, we had a map of the world fastened to the kitchen wall and I would mark a spot every time my mum travelled to a new place. It became quite a busy picture. I lived in South America for a year during university, and then Chicago for my Masters. So moving abroad is not a big deal for me. But relocating as a family, with a young child and a husband felt completely different. We had established friendships, a routine, a life.

However, from day one of this adventure it has always felt like the right thing to do. There have been some hiccups, but Alice is very settled in her school and beginning to pronounce a few words like a true American. Chris has a great job that he really enjoys, and spends a lot of his free time in the neighbourhood pool pounding out laps. I have made so many lovely friends, and have three amazing part-time jobs. But there is so much more that has made this transition feel so seamless. Here are a few of the reasons.

Fashion (I know not essential, but it does enhance ones wellbeing :))

Did you know that many of Alice’s friends here in South Carolina are dressed in Mini Boden? Boden has its own US website and distribution here in the US, so you can order it with local or free shipping and have it to your door within a few days. It’s very popular here, and I must admit came as quite a nice surprise. I can still dress Alice in British styles, even though she really wants to dress like an All-American Girl.

Asos is the same, as is Topshop and Zara. Although my husband will remind me at this point that we are really not supposed to be spending money. And let’s be frank, there is more than plenty of great shopping in the US without these brands but it is nice to have that option.

Communication (An obvious one, but so important)

When my mum was working at the United Nations in New York in the 70s, she was away from her family in the UK. If she wanted to call her parents, she would have to call the switch board and see if they could connect her. Flights home were possible, but not as normal or accessible as they have become. Steve Jobs and Apple have changed that for all of us. I can FaceTime my parents every week, or even daily. We can text them, call them and email them with a lot less bother and expense. Alice keeps in contact with her grandparents and friends. Social media makes us feel like we are closer to our friends living around the globe. However Alice, Chris and I still do write letters and cards, as you can’t beat the old-fashioned way of communication. But even a handwritten letter can arrive pretty quickly.

TV (some would say crucial…)

So when we were living in the UK, Chris and I pretty much only watched US TV shows. Since coming here, we have watched BBC productions of Happy Valley, The Night Manager and almost anything else British we can get our hands on. Although I have to say not Downton Abbey and Grantchester, which comes as a great shock and possibly disappointment to our Anglophile American friends who have watched every episode and are more familiar with the English actors than I am. But I did have a very good chat with a friend the other day about famous redheaded British actors. So you see, even television shows are globally friendly. And Chris and I are still obsessed with US TV shows.

Last but not least…Food (another essential…)

I am pleased to say that we still have a pot of tea and biscuit (or two) every afternoon. After trial and error with tea, we have found Yorkshire Gold tea leaves in a upmarket shop about 10 minutes from the house. Scones are readily available in most supermarkets and bakeries. And of course Cadbury’s has been bought by Kraft, so I get our supply of Fruit & Nut from Target on a regular basis 🙂 Ice Tea is a Southern Drink, but hot tea drinkers are increasing and I think I may have to make Tea & Cake Day a US National Holiday.

As we know globalisation has indeed changed the world, and makes it feel almost smaller and more accessible place. Of course we are not yet true Southern charmers – we do have British accents, and can’t give our loved ones a hug whenever we feel like it. But that was pretty hard to do in the UK anyway with the busy lives we all lead. Our new friends are not just from South Carolina, and whilst many are – others are from New York, Delaware, Adelaide, Switzerland, Germany. It turns out my new hairdresser is originally from Newcastle, via Bermuda and one word in ten sounds Geordie. What’s more, the lady working in the department store last week (I wasn’t shopping Chris, just trying on…) was from Huddersfield and offered to be Alice’s babysitter. Everyone, whether native to Charleston, or a transplant like us, has been so welcoming. It just proves that the UK is really now just a hop across the pond.