A Comparison in Pictures

Even though we've been here for four months or so now, every other waking moment I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness, I'm living in America". I dare say I'll get used to it eventually.



Water towers are everywhere. One does see them in the UK, but not very often.




This is a fire hydrant. You may recognise them from cartoons as being dog-urinals. The exact shape and colour varies between districts. In England, fire hydrants tend to be under the pavement (sidewalk), with only the cover showing and a nearby "H" sign.

In the UK, any numbered road has it's own unique number. Different sections of a road can have different numbers, but a single stretch cannot have more than one designation. For example, the A50 just east of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, suddenly and for no apparent reason, becomes the A511. It then turns back into the A50. At no stage is it ever the A50/A511. In the US, a road can have more than one number designated. One of many possible examples of this is where the I40 joins with the I85 between Greensboro and Durham. During this stretch, it is the I40/I85.

British houses tend to have letterboxes in their front doors, through which the postman posts letters. The postman collects letter from postboxes that are situated at convenient places around the neighbourhood. (As an aside: each postbox bears the insignia of whichever monarch was incumbent when the postbox was made. This one was a George V box (1911 - 1935).) Here, the postman collects and delivers letters via mailboxes (red flag up means that there is mail to be collected). Each home has its own mailbox.

The other thing worth mentioning under this topic is the way newspapers are delivered. Have you ever seen, in films, a paperboy/girl who goes round on their bike, just throwing the papers in the general direction of each house? When I was younger, I put it down to the paperboy/girl in the film being too lazy to get off their bikes. As I grew older and saw it in film after film, I put it down to just being a film-cliche (like the tramp with the booze). Now I realise that the films depict it this way because it's actually true -- papers are just thrown onto people's driveways! This is yet another example of how moving to the US is like leaving real life and entering the world of TV and films.

Flags are everywhere -- even on the front of private homes! In the UK, flags only tend to come out for special occasions. I guess the recitation of the Pledge of allegiance in schools can also be mentioned here. In the UK, most schools have Assembly at least once a week. The whole school meets together in the school hall. This used to be to pray (and still is in many schools -- especially those with religious affiliations), but these days the praying has mostly been displaced by other activities.


Pecan pie and Thanksgiving. 'Nough said.




Yes, there really are big yellow school busses like the one Otto drives in The Simpsons!




Long, straight roads that stretch out into the distance. One can bang the car into cruise control and just enjoy the ride.


Feel free to add your tuppence worth. If I can get some more pictures, I may one day get round to doing another post like this one.

Here Kitty Kitty

For a number of years now, Emily and Lauren have recited the famous children's mantra, "Can we have a cat?" Initially, the answer was to which the answer has always been, "No". The main reasons for this (from my viewpoint) were:

• "Our house is too small. Where would we put their beds/litter trays."
• "They're too expensive, especially the vet fees."
• "There's no way I'm doing any litter training or cleaning litter trays for the next however-many years."

Mark and I both grew up in housholds with cats, so the stance was bound to soften. It turned out that Mark wanted a cat too and agreed that he would clean any messes. Then, the move to America loomed. We knew that we'd be moving into a bigger house, so that excuse was gone too.

"No way," became "When we're in America". "When we're in America" became "After we've settled in", which became "You can have one each as Christmas presents", which became "We're going to England for Christmas, you can have them after Christmas".

Memory

Rosalind

Hence, they could hardly believe it when today, we finally decided to go to the cat shelter. We now have two additions to our family. They are both 5 months old and may be from the same litter. (They were both found, abandoned, along with seven other kittens and two adult females. The shelter staff couldn't work out which kittens belonged to which mother.) They are both already litter trained and have been neutered. The people at the shelter named them Memory and Rosalind. Emily and Lauren have decided to keep these names.

You Say "Pajama", I Say "Pyjama"

Today was Pajama Day at Emily and Lauren's school. All the children (including E & L) went to school in their pyjamas and dressing gowns. (By the way -- I hadn't realised, until we moved here, that the spelling "pyjama" is peculiar to Britain. It seems that the rest of the world says "pajama".)

In England, almost all schools have uniforms. The schools my girls attended regularly had non-uniform days. These were fund-raising events, wherein children pay a small fee (50p or so) to be allowed to go to school in their ordinary clothes. As their current school does not have a uniform, such fundraising opportunities are not open to them.

The pajama day, however, is not a fundraising event, but an anniversary celebration. Around this time last year, many teachers and about 300 children had to sleep the night at the school because the roads were too icy to be passable.

The Brown Paper Bag

Last week Charles Kennedy resigned as leader of the Liberal Democrats. His party had lost confidence in his ability to lead them because of his poorly controlled alcohol problem. This inspired The New York Times to publish an article (11 Jan '06) about alcohol consumption in the UK.

If you're a British binge drinker who's thinking of moving to the US, you may want to bear this in mind:

• Although supermarkets here sell wine and beer, you can't get spirits or liqueurs unless you go to a liquor store. These are few and far between. One has to really, really want one's G&T, vodka or after-dinner brandy to be able to get it. In England, we always had a fairly healthy looking drinks cabinet. Here, we haven't yet got around to visiting the ABC liquor store that is about 3-4 miles from our house. It's the only place in our immediate vicinity that sells anything stronger than sherry or port.


• It is illegal to have an open container of alcohol in the car, whether it is being consumed or not. I think that in some areas alcohol can only be transported in the boot (trunk) of the car and isn't allowed in the carriage at all, but I'm not 100% sure about this.


• In some areas, it is illegal to have alcohol in one's possession in a public place at all. In such areas, when alcohol is purchased, the shopkeeper places it in a brown paper bag, so that it cannot be publicly seen that one is carrying alcohol. This shed some light, for me, on something one often sees in US films and TV programmes -- the drunk character on the side of the road drinking booze from a bottle that is in a brown paper bag (when something strange happens, they look at what has happened, look at the bottle, then either shrug and take another swig or throw the bottle away).


• If one serves alcohol at a party, then allows a guest to drive home while under the influence (here it's known as Driving While Impaired(DWI)), one can be sued or can face criminal charges if that guest causes any damage after they have left the party.

The strange thing is that, despite these laws, individual attitudes to drinking and driving (according to what I've encountered thus far) seem to be lax. I don't drink alcohol at all if I'm intending to drive. If I have to, I may drive if I've had less than a glass of wine. This is because, regardless of legal limits, I have a strong moral objection to drinking and driving.


In the UK, there are clearly defined drink-drive limits for blood alcohol level. Three units of alcohol will tend to put most people over the limit, so most people who are intending to drive will have one or two glasses of wine, then move on to non-alcoholic drinks. Other alternatives to having a designated driver include using a taxi, or (if you're in a big city like London) get a scooter-chauffeur. These are people who have small, fold away scooters. They can pick you up from an establishment of your choice. They fold their scooter into the boot of your car, then drive you home. This means that you don't have to go back for your car the next day.

Although recommendations are given, the limits here are not set in stone. The courts can choose to lower the acceptable limit for an individual if they have been convicted of previous DWI offences. The flip side of this that an individual at a party may think that they can set their own limit. They can drive home, thinking that they can handle their drink perfectly well, not thinking that one doesn't necessarily need to feel intoxicated to be intoxicated.

As far as binge drinking is concerned -- well, obviously it's a very unhealthy lifestyle and I wouldn't recommend it.

January 28, 2006

Today I managed to visit the ABC Package Store (Package?). It's the only place that one can buy good, hard booze and it has restricted opening hours. I bought four bottles -- one whisky, one brandy, one vodka and one gin; and guess what they put it all in? I was more than a little pleased to see them put the bottles into four brown paper bags, so that I could carry them out of the shop and put them into the boot of my car.

The other thing, is that I went to see the film Fun with Dick and Jane today. (Not as good as the original, but has a lot of good laughs if you can get past it being Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni instead of George Segal and Jane Fonda.) The film has in it a character whose feelings of guilt and remorse turn him to drink. I was pleased to see that he drank his booze from within a brown paper bag!

March 29, 2009

Just when I thought that I knew it all, I recently had a new experience at the ABC store. Because having to go all the way to the ABC store to get our booze is such a polava, we have developed the habit of going only once every couple of months and stocking up. This time, the Elijah Craig whiskey was on special offer, as was the Cointreau and the Drambuie, so we decided to buy a bit more than usual. When we got to the till, the man asked us if we were having a party (hmmm... a funny sort of party where the only drinks on offer are whiskey, sambuca, Cointreau and Drambuie), but we explained that we find having to make time to go to the ABC store so cumbersome that we tend to try and stock up. It transpired that there is a limit to the amount of alcohol that one can buy at one time without a special permit (4.5 US gallons; 3.75 Imperial gallons) and we had exceeded that. We had to fill in and sign a Special Occasion Storage and Transportation Permit for them to be able to sell us the booze. With this permit, one can buy up to about 10.5 US gallons.

It may well be that the UK has some sort of laws limiting sale of alcohol, but it's not something that I have ever discovered or tested. Perhaps this is because in the UK one doesn't have to go to a specialist store to buy alcohol, so one doesn't need to stock up.

Martin Luther King Weekend

Today is Martin Luther King Day. It is a federal holiday to honour Martin Luther King Junior. It is supposed to be a day of service to others, but we didn't quite get that memo in time and decided to take an exploratory trip -- our first since we've been living here. On Saturday we packed our weekend bags and headed to Asheville, a small city that lies just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We stayed the night in a motel in Asheville.

The next day, we went to the Biltmore Estate. It is a huge estate with, amongst other things, its own high-end hotels, restaurants, stables and winery. It can best be described as a stately home on steroids. It's not that old. It was built just over 100 years ago by a Mr George Vanderbilt, who one day said to himself "I have shedloads of money. I wonder what I can spend some of it on?"

We started off looking around the stable's museum, then went wine tasting at the winery. We had intended to check-out the maze, but instead decided to look around the house (about 4 miles from the winery). The house boasts four stories (one of which contains the servants' quarters); and a basement that includes an indoor swimming pool, gymnasium and bowling alley. Mark was mostly envious of their library. Because of the time in which it was built, the whole house was able to be built with electricity and plumbing throughout. This also meant that the tour of the house was also able to include architectural plans and construction photos.

We were very impressed with the value for money. We got to see a large proportion of the house (compared with what's open to the public at your standard National Trust or English Heritage site). In addition, all the furnishings were the Vanderbilts' original furnishings. By the time we finished we were the last members of the public to leave the house. Our car was the only one left in the car park and it was dark as we drove around the estate trying to find the elusive exit.

The next day we went to a small town called Black Mountain, set in a valley, with mountains in the distance.


We drove up into the hills a bit, then visited a lake called Lake Tomahawk. After lunch we headed home.

The Fall

(Source)

One of Mark's favourite bands is The Fall. When we were students, much of our courting involved going to various gigs. This included moshing at various of The Fall's gigs. The Fall is Mark E. Smith and whatever backing lineup he happens to have at the time.

(Source)

The turnover rate of The Fall's band members has now exceeded 40, so The Guardian decided to try and hunt as many of them down as possible, to find out what had happened to them. The resulting article, "Excuse me, weren't you in The Fall?" (pdf version with lots of pictures) describes this hunt.

It describes the tracking down of each ex-member, from the easy (e.g. Marc "Lard" Riley), to the more difficult (e.g. a drummer, Karl Burns, who disappeared after leaving the band in 1998 and was last seen a "while back" looking like "a tramp"). It's quite a fun read -- especially if you like The Fall.

According to The Fall's website, they're planning a US tour this year. We're a bit too old for moshing these days, but we still enjoy going to gigs to listen to the music. As Mark is such a fan, if they come anywhere near here, I know that we'll have to pull out all the stops to try and go.

(Another good tour coming up is The Wedding Present, who we're hoping to go and see in March.)

Swearin' & Cussin'

WARNING: This blog is about swearing. If you're likely to be offended by the discussion of bad language that includes references to specific words, you may not want to read on.

(Source)

The British swear and curse. Americans cuss. So what's the difference between swearing and cussing? It seems that the same subtle differences that exist elsewhere between British and American English extend to the use of expletives. Thus, although many expletives have the same level of impact in the US as they do in the UK, there are differences.

I don't swear an awful lot, although I have to confess to not being entirely whiter than white on this front. I have noticed that on children's programmes in the US they freely use a word that I would be reticent to utter (w****r). This made me interested in finding out why Americans don't find this word offensive and the British do. Perhaps it means something different in the US?

(Source)

A quick google search later, and I had found that there are many swearing dictionaries out there, but I couldn't find much in the way of cross-cultural studies (at least not much that was freely available on the web without having to buy a book). I did, however, find this BBC article:
The Origins and Common Usage of British Swear-words. It also has some interesting discussion topics posted that you may want to read.

I thought it might be interesting to compare the severity of words between the UK and US as a guide to what is or is not acceptable. Personally, I consider religious swear words as the most offensive. I think that most British people find these least offensive, but I have fairly strong religious beliefs and am offended by inappropriate use of certain words. Although I don't advocate their use, I find sexual swear words less offensive.

I would also differentiate between swearing generally (e.g. when you let out an expletive because you've dropped a hammer on your foot) and swearing at a person (e.g. the use of a term that accuses a person of having an oedipal relationship with their mother). I consider the verbal denigration of others as being far worse than the former.

My own views aside, I thought I might try and create an American-British comparison scale (see below). As you can see, there aren't many words featured on it because:

• I wouldn't know where many words would go on each scale.
• I don't particularly want to go trawling through endless swear words to get an exhaustive list.

It's fairly crude, but hopefully you'll get the gist. It's not very informed, so if you have any insights, let me know. Perhaps I can then create a better version of the scale.

Epiphany

(Source)

Today is the day we celebrate the Wise Men giving their gifts to Jesus. Unfortunately, it also marks the end of the Christmas season.

(Source)

The twelve days of Christmas are from Christmas Day evening to Epiphany. Twelfth night is the 5th of January. Thus, today marks the official end to the Christmas season and the decorations have to come down until next year.

(Twelfth Night also happens to be one of my favourite Shakespeare plays -- probably mainly because the heroine's name is Viola.)

In case you're not familiar with the twelve days of Christmas, here's the Wikipedia entry.

Cultural Adjustment

There is an interesting article entitled Cross-Cultural Conflict and Adjustment about the emotional roller coaster that someone moving countries gets onto. It's taken from a book by Deena R. Levine and Mara B. Adelman, entitled Beyond Language: Cross Cultural Communication. I have to admit that I haven't read the book yet, but the article was interesting.

It describes the adjustment to life in a new country as a number of stages. The following is an extract from the article:

1. Honeymoon period: Initially many people are fascinated and excited by everything in the new culture. The newcomer is elated to be experiencing a new culture. Interestingly, this level of elation may not be reached again.


2. Culture shock: The individuals are immersed in new problems: housing, transportation, employment, shopping, and language. Mental fatigue results from continuously straining to understand the new language and culture.


3. Initial adjustment: Everyday activities such as housing and shopping are no longer major problems. The visitors may not yet be fluent in the spoken language, but they can now express their basic ideas and feelings.


4. Mental isolation: Individuals have been away from their family and good friends for a long time and may feel lonely. Many cannot express themselves as well as they could in their native language. Frustration and sometimes a loss of self-confidence result. Some individuals remain at this stage, particularly if they haven't been able to find a job.


5. Acceptance and integration: A routine (e.g., work, business, or school) has been established. The newcomers have become accustomed to the habits, customs, foods, and characteristics of the people in the new culture. They feel comfortable with friends, associates, and the language in the new country.

These points refer to learning a new language and, in spite of small differences between American-English and British-English, I think that having a common language must make our integration into the US considerably easier than it would otherwise be. Nevertheless, I know that for all of us, our emotional states keep changing with every turn of the tide, but we rest assured in the hope that we will successfully integrate.

Thanks to Michael for telling me about this article and book.

Happy New Year

Is it just me, or does everyone have the experience of time slowing down as it approaches midnight on New Year's Eve? Every New Year, before midnight the time seems to go really slowly. I keep looking at my watch and wondering why midnight can't hurry up so that I can go to bed. But then midnight arrives and instead of going to bed, I get a second wind and the party really begins.

This year, as usual, just before midnight we popped the telly on and the children gathered around it with their party poppers at the ready. The children led the chorus, counting down the last ten seconds. "...3...2...1...Happy New Year". We all toasted the New Year with champagne and party poppers, then watched the pyrotechnic display that was being televised from The London Eye while The Scissor Sisters played in the background.

The great thing about putting the telly on just before midnight is not just the accuracy of the countdown, but the solidarity that is experienced with the rest of the country and Europe. One gets a glimpse of other concurrent celebrations which makes one feel a part of something bigger.

We switched the TV off and sent the children to bed. The adults continued to party, but with the volume on the stereo marginally turned down. I, despite having been saying all evening that I was far too tired to stay up much past midnight, finally went to bed at about 4:30am or so.

On New Year's Day we had lunch with my sister, then set off to stay in a TravelLodge near London. The next morning we set off back to the US and arrived home that evening.

It's Chriiiiistmaaassss!

Snowball Fight

You will need to read the title in the manner of Noddy Holder.

After a long journey (3 hours drive to the airport; an 8 hour flight; another 2 hour drive; and endless hanging around at airports) we finally arrived at my mum's house. We had a couple of days of seeing family and friends (seeing as much of my Mum as possible because she was flying off to Chennai, India on Boxing Day).

Playing in the snow

Christmas morning we were treated by my brother-in-law to a breakfast of muffins, poached egg and poached haddock. After exchanging presents with my family, we set off to Mark's parents' home in time for lunch. After watching The Queen's speech at 3pm, we exchanged presents. At 7pm we watched The Christmas Invasion. Although it didn't snow on Christmas Day (so was not officially a "white Christmas"), we were treated to ample quantities of snow over Boxing Day and the following days.

We stayed there until the 28th, when we headed off for Birmingham to visit friends. On the 29th we headed to my sister's house, ready for a New Year's party on the 31st.

For a Canadian view of Christmas in the UK, you might want to read The Anglo File, Too.

Mark's parents' home in the snow.

The Christmas Invasion

On Christmas Day we watched The Christmas Invasion. It was so flagged-up that the Radio Times devoted a full ten pages to it. It did not disappoint.

This is what Charlie Brooker had to say about it in The Guardian's The Guide:

...it's possibly the greatest Christmas episode of any programme ever.

...David Tennant...immediately and effortlessly makes the character of The Doctor his own. If anything, he's even better than Eccleston was -- which ought to be impossible.

...At this rate, I hope and fully expect to see Russell T Davies immortalised on our national currency within my lifetime.

I couldn't have put it better myself.

Getting Excited for Christmas

We fly out to London tomorrow -- Hooray!

I've just finished my Christmas shopping and am now starting to feel really Christmassy -- carols on the radio, frost on the ground, Christmas decorations up and the prospect of going home. I've also started the packing and all the presents are wrapped and ready to take. Emily and Lauren are almost bouncing off the walls with excitement. I don't know how we're going to get them to sleep on the plane (essential if Christmas is to not be a total washout).

Generally speaking, in the UK, there aren't a huge number of Christmas lights adorning people's homes. However, this US tradition is becoming more widespread. In Mark's parents' neighbourhood a number of people (including one whole street) have clubbed together to extensively decorate their homes with outdoor lights (not quite to the extent depicted in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation). They collect donations for charity from those who go to view their lights. Over recent years, a tradition has developed in Mark's family that every Christmas Eve night we go and look at the Christmas lights.

This year, we won't be at Mark's family's for Christmas Eve, so I don't know if we'll get a chance to take a tour of the lights (although hopefully we will). We thought we'd take a video of our local lights here in our neighbourhood to show them.

Our itinerary is:

• My family for the 23rd to the 25th
• Mark's family from lunchtime on the 25th to the 28th
• Birmingham friends from the 28th to the 29th
• Mark's Grandad on the 29th
• Back to my family from the 29th to the 1st of January, with what is bound to be an excellent party on the 31st. If there's anything any of my brothers and sisters can do, it's throw a party.

Merry Christmas!

How to Cope without British TV and Radio

Today you have a special treat -- a guest entry from Mark:

When we first arrived in America, I decided that I would not cling to all things English. I was expecting to miss The Guardian, Radio 4, FiveLive, BBC1, BBC2 and Channel 4, the politics, the football, the cricket, but I thought I’d be able to cope. We were coming to live in America, and I wanted to enjoy America for America, to learn to live with and to love the best of its media and its culture. I did not expect that to be difficult because I have always so enjoyed visiting the USA in the past. When I hire a car, I want to get American radio on. When in a hotel room, I am keen to get American television on. Viola and I have always enjoyed the best of American film and TV too, so we were looking forward to catching all the best films as they came out, and seeing the new television months before it comes out in Britain.

For the first three weeks or so, I found it pretty easy to cope. We’d put American TV on each morning in our hotel room, we listened to American radio in the car and there was too much to think about to miss all things English (and you don’t miss good tea, black pudding, toast and marmalade so much when you’re learning to love root beer, jerky and hush puppies). But as the weeks went on, I surprised myself by just how much I began to miss home, and I have had to learn the secret of how to survive as an English person in America. Just in case there are others out there in the same predicament, or others considering the move, here’s how I have managed.

I had never realized how fond of Radio 4 I was until I hadn’t got it any more. Waking up in the morning means the Today programme. Friday evening means Any Questions? Saturday mornings mean The Week at Westminster. Sunday night means The Westminster Hour. When do you laugh as much as when you listen to I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue? I am not a gardener, but I always listen to Gardeners’ Question Time. It rarely speaks to my situation, but Money Box is a staple. If you leave the UK and you’re a Radio 4 devotee, you will really miss it. But the good news here is that it is perhaps the easiest problem to solve. Everything is available on-line, not only to listen live, but also archived.

Of course, you’ll need a computer for this, but then you probably have one of those if you are reading this. Ideally you need some decent speakers too, and ideally a good broadband wireless connection and a laptop. With the laptop, you can take the radio around with you. If your laptop is like mine, you can close the lid and carry on listening. And if it seems like a right business going to the web and finding the link each time, just add a button bookmark for Radio 4 and Radio 4 live at the top of your Firefox browser.

I do the same for Five Live and of course one could do it for any other channels one listens to regularly. One problem with Five Live, however, is that many of its sporting events, including all the football, are unavailable on-line. And, alas, the thing I have really missed recently is Test Match Special. The BBC did not have the rights to broadcast the recent England v. Pakistan series abroad. I am hoping that that will change in the summer.

Si-Link FM Transmitter

Speaking of Five Live, the audio feed tends to be that bit weaker than for Radio 4, and this raises the general issue of listening on the laptop: sometimes it’s just not loud enough. But a couple of weeks ago I found a great little gizmo for $15 (reduced from $30) which you can plug into the ear-phone socket of your laptop and it broadcasts a local signal for you to pick up on your radio. This was a revelation. You have to place the laptop pretty near to your radio, and you have to do a little tweaking, but once you are used to it, it is a great way of getting the radio feed from your laptop loud and clear. It’s called a Si-Link FM Transmitter and is a great investment.

Television, though, is a bigger problem. When my brother Jonathan came over to see us a couple of weeks ago, he brought with him a video of some of the highlights of British TV since September, and it was fabulous. It’s strange how even the sound of the links between programmes can make you just a little homesick. Outside of treats like that, though, what does one do? There are several things worth mentioning. The first is BBC America, which comes in most cheap cable and satellite packages. (We have Time Warner Cable, but will be changing in due course to Dish Network – see below). I had my hopes a bit too high when we first got this, imagining that it would give one the best of current BBC television. What it actually gives is endless repeats of Monty Python and Benny Hill, and a few other bits and bobs of interest, but stuff that is usually already some months old. We enjoyed catching Viva Blackpool, which we had missed when it was on in the UK; and it featured new Dr Who David Tenant. But you won’t get the latest series of Little Britain, at least not for some months, or Newsnight.

There is some TV that you can catch on the internet for free, albeit via a shaky realvideo link. The two that I watch, usually on the archive rather than live, are Question Time and the new Andrew Marr programme Sunday AM. I learned of the latter, which started after we had left the UK, because of a pastiche it has in its opening credits of the cult 60s TV series The Prisoner. I dare say that there are other BBC programmes one could watch on-line, but I don’t know of a list anywhere, and those are the only two I have found so far.

So it’s straightforward to get your fill of British politics, and you can top that up, of course, by reading The Guardian Unlimited. But what about sport? I’ve already mentioned Five Live, but there is good news on the TV front. If you are a football fan, there’s a whole channel devoted to it even on the basic cable packages. It’s called Fox Soccer Channel and broadcasts a lot of live premiership football. One of my staples has become the 5 pm GMT (12 pm ET here) live match every Saturday. In fact, I am now watching more premiership football on American TV than I was on UK TV, because you have to subscribe specially to Sky TV for the live Premiership stuff in the UK. Fox Soccer Channel gives you the Sky commentary, but overlays it with an American introduction, which always refers to the “EPL” (English Premier League), “soccer” and “game” (never “match”), e.g. they have a “player of the game”.

Cricket is initially more of a problem, but I think I’ve found the solution. It seems that Dish Network has the rights to the UK test matches for the next four years or so, and the good news is that Dish is much cheaper than Time Warner Cable. It’s around $30 a month. You have to pay a premium, something like $70-$90 for the cricket for the season, but since that is now also the case in the UK too, with Sky taking the home test matches, it’s not so much of a big deal. So at some point soon we are going to be making the switch. It’s a fantastic thought that I will still be able to watch cricket in the summer. I could hardly hope for more.

Don’t get me wrong. I am enjoying building on our love of some American TV series and films by learning more of American politics and sport. I went to my first Duke basketball match on Sunday and loved it, especially the atmosphere (but where were the cheerleaders?) and NPR radio is a staple when I’m driving, and sometimes in the house too. But it’s much easier to enjoy all that America has to offer when one has access to a lot of what one misses from the UK too.

April 25, 2006

You can find an update to the parts of this post that are pertinent to football at:
How to cope without British TV and Radio: Football Supplement

The Hidden Cost of Living

Before moving to the US, almost everyone we met told us how much we'd be financially better off because everything in America is cheaper. Now that we are here, we realise that although some things are cheaper here in the US, many things are more expensive than they are in the UK.

Everyday Living

In England, higher end food shopping is done at Waitrose or M&S; middle range are Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda; and the low end is Kwik Save, Lidl and Aldi.

When we first moved to the US, we went shopping for basic supplies in the first supermaket we found. The prices were in orbit and we were surprised that the fruit and veg. were not all gold plated or studded with diamonds. This place was Harris Teeter and we have since found out that there are cheaper places to shop (Kroger, Food Lion, Walmart, Target). In addition, prices are greatly reduced with the use of loyalty cards (these provide on-the-spot reductions rather than points for spending later).

However, even in these "cheaper" places, the prices are, at best, the same as UK prices and are often more expensive. For example, the cheapest loaf of bread we've managed to find was $1.50 + tax; the cheapest 2 quarts of milk (I think that this equates to about 2 pints, but I'm not really sure) was about $2.30 + tax.

Utilities (landline phones, mobile phones, gas, electricity, water, TV, internet) are all more expensive here than they are in the UK. Clothes can be cheaper if bought from a lower-end shop like Walmart. However, bought from a Mall (unless in a sale), they are about the same or more expensive.

"But, some things must be cheaper, otherwise how is this myth propagated?" I hear you ask.

You're quite right. Some things are cheaper. Electrical items and petrol are a lot cheaper here than they are in the UK. Staying in hotels and eating out are also a lot cheaper. Houses are also cheaper in that one gets a lot more for one's money. For a similar price as our ex-council house in Birmingham, we've got a 0.46 acre plot with a fairly large house. However, it must be said that many houses in Britain have stood the test of time better than any I have yet seen in the US (some that were built back in the 15th century are still functional). The values of houses, at least in this part of America, depreciate with age. Buying a house here is not the investment that it is in the current UK climate.

I think that the myth propagates because visitors to the US stay in hotels, eat in restaurants and see the big US houses; and go home thinking that everything in America is cheaper. Conversely, US visitors to the UK stay in and eat at the more expensive Brisish hotels and restaurants; and they visit British people in their small British homes. Then they carry home with them the report that the UK is expensive.

Tax

The other thing to consider is that in the UK the VAT is 17.5%. Generally speaking, in the UK, the price you're quoted is the price you pay.

Here the taxes added onto purchases add up to only 7% (this varies from state to state). What still takes me off guard is that all the prices quoted are without tax, so when you go into McDonalds and order an item from the dollar menu, it costs $1.07.

A good example of hidden costs was our Time Warner Cable bill. We expected the advertised cost to be the cost we'd pay, but when our first bill arrived it had added expenses for equipment hire (normally included at no extra cost in the UK) and 7% tax (normally included in the quoted cost in the UK). We have since found several services that are cheaper than Time Warner Cable, but the hidden costs still exist.

Tips

I have already talked a little about tipping in the US. This can be considered another hidden cost.

So, what's the moral of this story?

If you're planning to make the big leap across the big pond, you can probably expect the standard of living to be higher than you've been used to (after all, you're probably moving because you've been offered more money than you're currently on), but don't expect the overall cost of living to be lower.

The other thing is that if you're selling your UK home and buying a house in the US, you might want to keep some money aside to facilitate your re-entry onto the UK property ladder if/when you need it.

(By the way, you might like to read Michael's blog entry about exchange rates.)

March 28, 2006

It seems that according to ECA International, the US had a higher cost of living than the UK. At least they did six years ago. Here's the article:

UK Continues to Hold Its Own As One of the World's Most Costly Locations

A Lament

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This morning, I awoke to news that the State of California had executed Stanley Williams by lethal injection at San Quentin prison. The Romans, an ancient superpower, had crucifixion. The USA has lethal injection.

I don't know if you're familiar with Corrie ten Boom. Her book, The Hiding Place, is about her experiences during WW2 -- how she and her family hid Jews in a secret room in their home in Holland. They were all caught and arrested. The blurb on the back of the book recounts an incident that occurred while she was in a Nazi concentration camp.

Corrie Ten Boom stood naked with her older sister Betsie, watching a concentration camp matron beating a prisoner."Oh, the poor woman," Corrie cried."Yes. May God forgive her," Betsie replied. And, once again, Corrie realized that it was for the souls of the brutal Nazi guards that her sister prayed.

In the same way, my lament is not for Mr Williams, but for a Nation that leads the world in many different ways, but still is capable of such barbarism.

Here's the Campaign to End the Death Penalty website's links page.

Doe Deer!

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There are a lot of deer where we live, but I hadn't seen any apart from one on the side of the highway that had been hit by a car -- a sad sight. That is until today. We were driving along the interstate when we saw a deer dashing out across the road. It basically just ran and hoped for the best. (I must admit that I think that closing one's eyes and running for it is probably the only way to cross eight lanes of fast moving traffic.) It didn't stop on the central verge, but just continued its mad dash and was narrowly missed by more than one car. At one stage, its hooves skidded on the tarmac (pavement to Americans) and I thought it was done for. However, it got back up and continued its dash. We all breathed huge sighs of relief as it made it to the other side.

Pleasantville

Pleasantville (IMDb)

The film Pleasantville is about two teenagers who leave their sitting room and enter the 1950s sitcom on their television. If you're thinking of moving from the UK to the US, be prepared to step out of real-life, through your TV screen, into the world of film and television. There are the post boxes with the little red flags outside each house; the sort of fire hydrants that dogs relieve themselves against; people who say "Y'all"; and the long, straight roads with double yellow lines down the middle where you can bang your car into cruise control and sit back and enjoy the ride.

Wisteria Lane

Our Street

We have taken this step and entered a world that looks not so much like a 1950s sitcom, but more like Wisteria Lane. I'm talking about the look of the place. I don't yet know the inhabitants well enough to know whether the neighbourhood contains a Gabrielle, a Lynette, a Susan or any other Desperate Houswives equivalents. For evidence, compare the picture of Wisteria Lane with our street.

There is also an element of Stepford about it. I don't mean that all the wives on the estate are perfect and I suspect that they're really robots. But, we have moved into an area with an H.O.A. (Home Owner's Association).

There are similar areas in the UK (e.g. Bournville Village Trust in Birmingham), but I think that they are less common in the UK than they are here. This is the first time we've lived in such an area. One pays monthly fees that go towards general upkeep of the common areas and common facilities (our common facility is a swimming pool). They also have regular meetings and various committees that one can be on. There are also lots of rules and politics which I caught glimpses of when I attended a meeting.

The Stepford Wives

The H.O.A. obviously also has some sort of Lawn Patrol Special Forces to police the upkeep of lawns because last week we received a letter giving us 14 days to aerate and seed our lawn. I'm not sure what would happen if we were not to do this.

In our defence, because Mark has had to hit the ground running with his job, the unpacking of boxes has been more of an uphill struggle than it otherwise might have been. We have been so concerned with the inside of the house -- finding places for things, buying and assembling furniture, trying to get ready for Christmas etc.; that we had neglected the exterior. (Bear in mind, also, that the house had been empty for a while before we moved in and that we have had a drought and local water restrictions.) As a result, the front lawn has become rather brown and covered in autumn leaves.

We have had lawns in every house we've ever lived in and we've never had to re-seed or aerate a lawn. Normally, grass just grows and we just mow it, but I suppose that England is not as hot and dry as here. Although it needs doing and it's good to have the slight push, I'm more used to our lawns being our business rather than someone else's.

However, I don't want to be too hard on the H.O.A. Perhaps the slight draconian edge is needed to keep the area looking nice (and possibly thus keeping property values higher than they might otherwise be) and to provide a sense of community.

So, if you're thinking of moving to the US, be prepared to leave the real world behind and step into TV-land.

Doctor Who

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Many Americans reading this may not know what I'm on about, but put your hand up if you're looking forward to the Dr Who Christmas Invasion, due to air on Christmas Day on BBC1. Every time she thinks about it, Lauren gets so excited that she goes round the house singing the theme tune. When it was still online, she watched the Children in Need prequel over and over again.

I grew up with Tom Baker as The Doctor, Mark's Doctor was John Pertwee. Before the new series started (the Christopher Eccleston series), we primed our children. When it started, we sat them down and watched it with them -- after all, Dr Who is part of our English heritage. It is as British as cricket, tea and scones, or Marmite; and they needed to be educated.

(Source)

We were on tenterhooks because we weren't sure that Russell Davies could pull it off. We dreaded a travesty, like that awful film starring Paul McGann. Our fears were unfounded. The children loved it and so did the adults. Let's hope that David Tennant is as good.

The good news is that we're going to be in the UK on Christmas Day, so can watch The Christmas Invasion. Unfortunately, though, we will have to wait until the second series makes it's way onto DVD or BBC America before we can watch it.

The other thing is, who would have thought that Billie Piper would come to something? Hats off to her.

If you're feeling nostalgic for Dr Whos of yesteryear, try perusing the TV ARK Dr Who pages.

I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag ...

One interesting thing about life in the US, is how many US flags one sees. I think that we British are just as patriotic, but are quite content to be quietly patriotic. The flags only come out for special occasions. In fact, recently, the World Cup clashed with the Queen's Golden Jubilee. I think that there were probably more England flags around Birmingham than there were Union Jacks. Does this mean that we are more patriotic/passionate about our football than we are about our Royal family?

(Source)

Our children's school has a big flagpole with a US flag on it. The children are taught about how the flag should be treated (shouldn't touch the floor, should be folded in a particular way, shouldn't be burnt etc.). Each class also has a flag in their classroom. Every day at school, they stand facing the flag, put their right hands on their hearts and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

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The status quo was rocked the other week when a boy who had only recently moved to the US refused to say the Pledge of Allegiance. (I must say before I continue that this account is as told by my children, so if I discover that there are any inaccuracies, I'd be happy to correct them.) I dare say that his allegiance was probably to the flag of his home country. After some deliberation, the school decided that all American children must stand and recite the Pledge, but that non-Americans, although they should stand with the rest of the class, need not put their hand on their heart or recite the Pledge.

America is built on immigration. Non-Americans move to America and become Americans. They become Irish-Americans, Greek-Americans, Mexican-Americans (you can continue this list with prefixes that cover pretty much any country you may choose). As a non-resident alien, my allegiance is currently firmly to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, the US is currently our host country and, if we live here for a number of years, my children are likely to grow up becoming just as much American as they are British (Anglo-American?).

I told my daughter (whose class this entire affair concerns) that she can choose what she wants to do. If she wants to say the Pledge of Allegiance, I don't mind; but I also don't mind if she doesn't want to.

The Union Jack

It has occurred to me that some people might not have an understanding of the difference between the England flag and the Union Jack.

The Union Jack is made up of:
St. George's Cross for England (Source):
St Andrew's Saltire for Scotland (Source):
St. Patrick's Cross for Ireland (Source):

(Source)

These three flags are superimposed to form the Union Jack. The Union Jack represents the whole of the United Kingdom, so would be flown in such events as the celebration of the Queen's Golden Jubilee. St. George's Cross, however, is the flag of England, so would be flown to show support for the England team in the World Cup.

I don't want to leave out the Welsh, so here's St. David's Cross (even though it doesn't feature in the Union Jack) (Source):