Being away from Canada for Christmas is not so bad because I am being relaunched into a discovery of everything British. Just when I thought I was starting to get used to the ways of the Britons, I'm here for the holidays and get to see how another country celebrates the seasons... so many wonderful things.
I think the best thing so far was watching the Queen's speech over a cup of tea on Christmas Day... not just because it was interesting to see what the Queen had to say, but because while sitting there I knew that I was centered infront of tele with millions of other British people, who like me were all holding their tea, maybe munching on some Christmas goodies and taking part in one of their most sacred traditions. Over the past few weeks, of the many many Christmas stories I have exhcanged with friends and colleagues, not one of them has left out something centered around the Queen's speech in some way... It's such an icon that apparently, there is a significant and noticable surge in electricity usage across the nation just minutes before the speech as millions of people switch on their electric kettles to prepare their tea. I love it!
Speaking of tea, my favorite gift of all this year was a book that I got on Christmas eve at my friend Liz' house - its a book called "a nice cup of tea and a sit down" and it is really helping me to understand all the little things I've found peculiar or have just plain been unable to understand about tea drinking and all things that come with it. From getting some insight into why people are constanly pushing their personal tea preferences on to me, to finally getting a grasp of the whole biscuit/cookie/cake/cracker division through a very helpful venn diagram - things are beginning to get a lot clearer.
No more will I call a biscuit a cookie, and get looks of dissaproval. Even more promising is the fact that I now finally understand that when, on occassion, I've remembered to use the term biscuit and used it quite proudly, I've gotten the disheartening response "no, that actually is a cookie", and found myself once again mistaken. Phew!
Anyway, its a nice light read and a treasure that I'm looking forward to adding to my cook collection when I get home. The habit of 'a nice cup of tea and a sit down' is one that I have most definitely picked up, so it will be nice to better understand that tradition that I now so often take part in.
I'm posting a couple photos of my Christmas fun below the first is of the dinner I had with my housemates a few days back (the best roast beef I've ever had in my life) and the second at Liz's house for Christmas eve's dinner.
Christmas dinner at my house above - from left to right Jess, Anja, Ben, Rich (not a housemate), Emma. They are opening the Christmas poppers... do you like our masks and party hats?Liz from Becm and her partner Barney on right (below) Olly on left (also works at Becm)
Right now I'm just enjoying my three days off work (and time away from holiday pirating), but I'm going to get the ball rolling on getting my grad school essays sorted over the next few days. Hopefully I'll get a bit more productivity out of tomorrow than I did today.
Lots for me to think about!
I'm starting to get a bit sad about how little time I have left in England (its looking like only two more months due to visa/work issues), but I'm trying to put that out of my mind so I can focus on some of the fun things coming up while I'm here, and also do a little bit of planning of some of the travelling that I might do after I leave England but before I head back across the Atlantic to Canada.
Merry Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years, etc, etc!
- Chris
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