Why I Love England

This post was supposed to be written yesterday, on St. George's Day, but I got side tracked by a wonderful blog called My Friend Oprah so it was post-poned til today. (when I say English I mean England- I am not using the preferred term of British because I am not including Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland- though I've been to all three of those countries as well and while beautiful, they aren't England. IMHO)

This post is all about why I love England. The first time I ever set foot in England was in February 2003. It was love at first sight. My then boyfriend, now husband, was stationed in the very top of Scotland with the RAF, and though I flew to see him via Ireland, I flew back to the US via Heathrow. My first glimpses were of driving down the M11/M25 from Stansted to Heathrow and I could not get over all the sheep on the side of the road! The next visit was in May 2003 when Russ had been discharged from the RAF after 15 years of service. This was a proper touristy visit and it was amazing! I spent time living in England before and after we got married, and since moving back to the US permanently in 2006 we have been back twice to visit family and friends and it is still my favorite holiday to take. These are my reasons for being in love with England:

1- They produce some of the best people on the planet including my husband, my dual citizen daughter, my best friend, my fantastic in-laws, my husbands friends....I've met some really incredible people born and bred in England.

2- The history. I have stood in The Shambles, which is mentioned in the Domesday book and is at least 900 years old. I have had a pint at the Kirkstone Pass Inn which was built in 1496. I have stood on Hadrien's Wall and been to Vindolanda. If you are a history nut like me, England is one of the most inspiring places to be. I stand at Stonehenge and feel peace and contentment.

3- The Pageantry. Watch the changing of the guards, or the changing of the horse guards and tell me you don't get goose bumps. I don't believe you. No one does a royal wedding or funeral better than the English.

4- The food. Fish and Chips. Parsnip croquettes. Bacon butty. Cheese and onion pasty. I can guarantee you the best meal you'll ever eat is lasagna from any pub in England. They don't do it in layers like we do- it's one layer of minced meat, one layer of pasta, covered with a cheesy bechamel sauce. Heaven. Sticky Toffee Pudding. Here's another thing to love about English food. Cheese is a dessert. Or a full meal. You gotta love a country that can turn cheese into either option. And these are people who can't be arsed with whipping their cream. Oh no- they prefer to just pour it straight onto their dessert. Have you ever had a gooey, warm sticky toffee pudding covered with thick fresh cream? Please- before you die- have it just the once. You will love it. I promise.

5- Gardens. You can go pretty much anywhere in England and find a garden to roam about in. It's one of my favorite things to do.

6- The National Trust and English Heritage. No paving over historical landmarks in favor of another Walgreens or Starbucks for these people. They actually care about, preserve, and protect their national historical treasures. And we get to be the beneficiaries of that by visiting any number of NT or EH sites located around the country. I don't remember the exact figure but it is something like 60% of British people belong to either the NT or EH. When we lived in England, we belonged to the NT.

7- Spring Watch (Autumn Watch). My husband and I are amateur bird watchers. We love all aspects of the natural world, but particularly the birds and little animals. So a show like Spring Watch and it's autumn cousin Autumn Watch are right up our alley. We first watched it when living in England but since moving back to the US we watch it via UK Nova. I love a country where the night badger watch camera showing on an obscure BBC channel in the middle of the night has one of the largest audiences all year long.

8- TV. There's a reason why some of the best US shows on tv are actually re-worked British shows. This is a country that has given us The Office, BlackAdder, Fawlty Towers, The Royal Family, Gavin and Stacy, Phoenix Nights, Dad's Army, Max and Paddy's Road To Nowhere, Top Gear, Red Dwarf, etc etc etc.

9. Jane Austen

10. Beer Gardens. I love the fact that in nearly any town, village, or city in England, you will find at least one, more like 2 or more, pub with an attached beer garden. A beer garden is a grassy plot of land attached to the pub with picnic tables and more often than not a swing set and climbing frame for the kids. There is nothing nicer than sitting in the beer garden on a nice day supping a pint and eating a plate of chips.

11. The White Cliffs of Dover. If you have seen them, you know what I am about to write is true. If you haven't seen them, then let me just say you will get goosebumps and start singing out loud "there'll be blue birds over...the white cliffs of Dover....."

12. Next, Monsoon, Boden, Accessorize......the high street shopping is lots of fun in England.

13. Markets. Any town anywhere in England will either have a market or be near to a market. A market is a huge collection of outdoor (sometimes you do get an indoor market) vendors selling everything from meat to cheese to fresh produce to clothing to lighters ("Six for a pound- Your GASLIGHTERS"- my favorite vendor in Lancaster, Lancashire). Going to the market is a really fun day out.

14. Car Boot Sales. You know how sometimes on a Saturday in the US you'll get the paper and you'll mark up all the garage sales in your area, then you'll plan your route to drive to each one. By the time you get to the third you're sort of sick of driving everywhere and when you try to park at each garage sale, you wind up parking on the road a block down? Well, the English have brilliantly solved this problem by having car boot sales. You take a field, then everyone shows up with all the stuff they want to get rid of. You park up once then walk up and down the rows of parked cars looking at everyone else's stuff and buying the things you want. We sold most of the stuff we weren't taking with us when we moved back at our local car boot sale.

15. Guy Fawkes Night, otherwise known as Bonfire Night. November 5th they celebrate Guy Fawkes trying to blow up parliament by building effigys and burning them on huge bonfires then having a fireworks show. You've never seen fireworks anywhere on any fourth of July anywhere in the US that can rival any small town in England's Bonfire Night fireworks. Period.

16. Newspapers. Want a fun few hours? Pick up a selection of English newspapers. Find a beer garden. Order a pint. Now sit and read. And giggle. and smirk. English newspapers are rude, vulger, funny, inspiring, truthful and ludicrous. I love nothing more than spending a few hours reading The Telegraph, The Sun, The Daily Mail, and The Guardian.

17. Continuing on a theme- magazines are great as well. You haven't lived til you have read an OK magazine cover to cover.

18. Accents. Most people in England don't sound like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. There are so many different accents and dialects located around the country it's pretty fun to listen to them speak. I have to defer to my husband on this one, but apparently if you put three people in a room and only told them they were all from northwest England, they could immediately realize that one was from Chorley, one was from Manchester, and one was from Burnley just by accent alone.

19. Beer. They have the best beer, bar none, in England.

20. Cheese. I don't want to hear any arguments about French cheese. British cheese beats any cheese anywhere hands down.

21. Blackpool. Blackpool Illuminations. Chips with curry sauce eaten stood up on the street of Blackpool with the beach across the street, the sea breeze hitting you in the face. You walk further on and for the heck of it you get a warm bag of donuts. Proceed to eat said bag, let husband have last donut so you can lick your finger and eat all the sugar on the bottom. Fight with husband in the street over bits of sugar at bottom of bag. Head to the fair ground. Try to ignore strip club signs while laughing over the ridiculous get ups of Hen and Stag nights.

22. Coronation Street

23. Take That

24. Boots nose bleed plugs (Mary has serious nose bleed issues)

25. Footie songs

26. Black cabs with the doors that open out backwards

27. the local butcher

28. Feeding the ducks along the canal in Carnforth

29. The fact that very few tv presenters in the UK are below size 10. Nothing better than flipping on the tube and seeing Fern stood there. Makes you feel good about yourself instead of pissed off that you ate those donuts at Blackpool.

30. Builder's brew.

31. British men. Lovely.

I could probably go on and on all day like this but I will end this by stating my #1 favorite thing about England: the fields and fields of sheep. 3 miles from the center of London? Fields of sheep. Driving along the M1? Fields of sheep. Crossing the border into Scotland? Fields of sheep. Literally very few places in the UK where you won't see fields of sheep. Bliss.