Many Brits exhibit a well-practiced disdain for America, as in, "America is just filled with places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds" or, "It's so big!" or, on occasion, "Do you know anyone who actually voted for Bush? Did you vote for Bush?"
But the truth is that the British culture, as a whole, loves America. At the moment House is playing on the telly (at least star Hugh Laurie is a Brit, though he does a darn-good American accent). Just before that was Friends and Scrubs. At a Shrove Tuesday pancake party, a friend asked me if I was following the American presidential campaign. "Of course," I told him, and he then unleashed a surprising knowledge of the American political process. When I told Joel I was impressed, he got a sheepish grin on his face.
"I wouldn't know anything, except I'm really into The West Wing," he said. "I just finished watching all of the seasons on DVD."
As I tap this entry out, a commercial (or advert, as they say here) just rolled past on the television screen, flashing the names of famous movies in front of the cities they're named after:
"Maid in Manhattan," "Viva Las Vegas," "Sweet Home Alabama," "Miami Blues," "Chicago." Then came the tagline for an American tourist agency. "You've Seen the Films, Now Visit the Set." Most of my English friends have actually been to the States at least once, actually, though almost all of their visits are to south Florida.
However, not all of the adverts and TV programs are American. One of my favorites is for Shreddies breakfast cer, which are "lovingly knitted by nanas" who are, of course, wearing reassuring strings of pearls and woolly cardigans.
I enjoyed reading your story in the Sun-Times this morning. I ran across an email the other day that I sent you right before you left. Glad to hear your adventure is going great. I look forward to reading your blog.
Hi Cynthia! It's great to hear from you--it helps bring my former life back at Pioneer into conjunction with my current life here in England as a volunteer, expat and freelancer. I'm always excited when my various "worlds collide," as I like to put it.
I just ran across your Blog doing a Web search for something else (that's one of things I like about the Web) and found it quite interesting to read. I am also a journalist, working at Denver TV Web site. I live in Colorado with my wife and daughter, who are both dual citizens, and we plan on moving to England in two years when I retire. I'm on several American expat forums in the UK and I noticed they complain about no
Ziploc baggies (can that be true?) and no saltines in the UK. When my friends ask why I'd want to move to England ("They've got higher taxes, health care sucks and don't get me started on their teeth!") I tell them it's mostly because they have better bacon.