My New Vocabulary

There are a few things that I usually like to do when I travel and one is trying to learn bits of the language of where I am. Apparently England is no different even though everyone here is speaking the same language as me. :-) But honestly, sometimes I swear they aren't.

We were on the train from Birmingham to London and the announcer came over the speakers and at the end I turned to Alex and asked if that was English. I didn't understand a word.

A few sayings are similar and they're ones you can figure out on your own. Others are words I've never heard before.

Steady On : "Steady on, mate." Used after a sneeze or coughing fit. 'Calm down' is the common translation. This makes no sense to me because a sneeze isn't something that a person gets worked up over, it just happens. So to say 'calm down' afterwards doesn't compute in my head. Although it is like when we would say 'bless you'd and not really mean to bless someone.

Natter : "Let's go down the pub and have a natter." Pronounced with more of an a sound at the end than er. 'Nattar.' One of new favourite words. We were walking around in London and kept seeing these groups of people outside pubs, chatting away and having a good time. I really wanted to part of these excellent conversations and then Alex told me they were all having a natter. *bing!* I want a natter! Natter natter natter. So much fun.

Youalright? : A greeting said when first seeing someone. "Y'alrigh?" I'd say it would be interchangeable with our 'how you doing' in that we don't really expect a full blown response and it is used more as a hello.

Yam Yam : "They're Yam Yams." A description of people from the Black Country. Instead of 'are you' they say 'you-am' and it's squished together so it sounds like "yam yam." For example, "Youam having laugh?"

Yao : "Yao talks funny." Means 'you.' I've never heard this but it would probably come from a Yam Yam.

Ring road : "Take the ring road." It is a main road circling a town.

Queue : "You have to queue up." Means line, or line up.

Pull a pint : "Pull me a pint, Dave." To pour a beer from a manual pump-flow tap instead of an automatic gas-flow tap. We were at an old pub and Kate knew the owners so she asked if Bruce could pull a pint. The 'real ale' pubs have the old pumps where you have to pull the beer lever up and down to literally pump the beer from the cask to your glass. They say that the new world-y gas pressure pumps make the beer taste funny, so ale enthusiasts prefer hand-pumped beer.

Takin the Mick : "He's takin' the mick." Translated as someone is making fun of someone or something, but usually refers to a person. Like 'he's poking fun of you.'

Nicked or Pinched : "I nicked a tart from your mum." Stole or thieved. We're on our way to the airport now and I grabbed a bunch of mini muffins and stuffed them in my purse. I told her I nicked them and was well chuffed.

The Savoy, London

Posh.  Super posh. Whatever adjective you want to put infront of it, the Savoy hotel was ridiculously posh. And we stayed there for two nights.

Don't ask how we got these amazing rates (it won't be happening again) but for your average night the rates are about 500 pounds. Right now the exchange rate is 1.7 Canadian dollars per British pound. I don't need to explain how pricey that actually is... And we got upgraded!

I will add some pictures and more description later. Just wanted to throw this out there for now. And merry Christmas! Xoxo

We're Ready for Some Boozing

Sorry if this picture is crap but my phone isn't the best. I hope what should come through is the amount of wine that Doug & Mary have ready for us. It's like they're expecting a hoard of wineos... which they're actually likely to get. I've already had my fair share and it has been, what, a day or two? Anyways, we had to go out today and I thought I'd contribute and buy half a case. Costco has booze! Also bought myself a nice bottle of Brunello for cheap. Exciting. And it's only going to get worse. ;-)

On Our Way!

We're all settled in one of the airport lounges. I'm enjoying a glass of wine and terrible free food (although the cookies are good) and Alex is shopping at duty free. Buying booze for his parents I suspect. Yes, it will be an interesting trip. ;-)

All the flights from the UK are late because it has started snowing there. I hope the snows aren't like what they were last year or I might be showing up to work on Monday instead. That would suck. Mom & Bruce (M&B) might have a harder time because they're leaving on Sunday. Could be a snow build up by then. BUT it'll make for a gorgeous white christmas when we're there! Pantos, balti, and mulled wine - here we come. :-D

Cadbury World

What can I say about Cadbury World? Well, let's say that it wasn't all I was hoping for and was a bit of a let down. But we did get free chocolate.

The first little bit was kind of interesting. We went through the "Aztec Jungle", which was just a bunch of plastic bushes with plastic people and plaques describing the discovery of cocoa beans. Very educational. Then we were told about John Cadbury's quest for the perfect chocolate. It seemed a bit much of propaganda to me, but I suppose, how else would they have it? A lady hologram was talking and asked if we could imagine a world without Cadbury's, and I figured Nestle would be happy.

The packaging plant area was such a let down as it was not operational. We couldn't even really see the conveyer belts because they blocked the view with boxes of Cadbury chocolates.

The Beanmobile ride was okay. You sat in a little car and it took you around "Beanville" and all the little cocoa beans sang and twirled around. It reminded me of "It's a Small World Afterall" in Disneyland. So what if some of the beans were broken? It was the magic of it all that counted!

There were some cool interactive things near the end that kids (big and small) liked. There was this one screen that you could stand in front of and pose, then it made you into a little chocolate sculpture. You could grow your own cocoa beans and test your green thumb through this video game.

I do have to say though, that the biggest scam of all was the 'make your own chocolate' bit. That's not what happens at all! You have 6-8 different fillings to choose from (popcorn, biscuit pieces, rice crispies, mint crunchies, etc), you can only choose one, and then they put it in a little cup and fill it with liquid chocolate. That's your amazing creation. You can't even mix the fillings. What a swizz.

This place should really have been called "Cadbury Dairy Milk World" because all of the chocolate that they talked about and sold there was made with their Dairy Milk chocolate. I was expecting to see more kinds of chocolate bars than just Dairy Milk, Flake, and Buttons. Although, that being said, I did spend a lot of money in that store. :-)

My First Balti

I have yet again been exposed to something that I've never heard of before and is so popular over here. A balti. It's an Indian dish that resembles a curry but it's cooked in a special bowl and eaten with nan bread. It is said that balti was first derived in Birmingham for the English palate and there seems to be many different ways it came about. More info on the Balti Experience.

I loved it! The balti that Alex and I shared were two mini ones, so we could have a taste of different types. The cute little bowls that they came in I wanted to take home with me. They're like little woks. I'm not a huge fan of curry, simply because it's usually too spicy for me, but this was great!


Check out the size of that nan...

Merry Chirstmas & Happy Boxing Day!

Merry Christmas... from England.