PalenQ

Ah those British tabloids always add interest - especially in London where the touts sell them by yelling out the scintillating headlines it seems everywhere

or yelling GET YOUR EVEN STANDARD HERE

And reading the tabloids - i never buy one but they lay all over town and on Tube trains, etc. so i pick one up just to see how silly they are

But reading the 'drive by' media papers is also always fun and a great way to get insights into British culture

I look forward to buying the Guardian every morning down at the Indian-run newsstand by my usual B&B - and looking at the several other papers like The Telegraph, The Times, The Independent, etc. and reading their headlines

Once when i took the Guardian back to my B&B the ole biddie who ran the place said "You got to have a mind to read that one" as she clutched her Daily Mail. And it seems Guardian readers have been tainted like NYT readers in U.S. as being hopelessly liberal

flanneruk

You can't be "tainted" as liberal in Britain. You can be tainted as "illiberal", and being a Liberal implies - well, quirkiness.

But being called "liberal" in Britain is - as in the US when the Founding Fathers thought tolerance a virtue - to receive a compliment

waring

Yep, liberal in the UK means open minded.

PalenQ

So there is no stigma attached to Guardian readers other than perhaps being too intellectual

not like NYTimes readers who the right wing ubiquitously touts as latte-sipping, Burkenstock-wearing, etc. liberals

yes liberal here has gotten a connotation that liberal politicians now eschew that name - some say progessive but most will not admit being a liberal or it could be a death knell anywhere but Massachussetts

thanks for the edification chaps

Cholmondley_Warner

So there is no stigma attached to Guardian readers other than perhaps being too intellectual

not like NYTimes readers who the right wing ubiquitously touts as latte-sipping, Burkenstock-wearing, etc. liberals>>>>

That's pretty much the stereotype of the Guardianistas - veggie, tofu munching, bearded, sandal wearing feminist basket weavers who all work as social workers.

So yes there is a bit of a taint.

flanneruk

...but the taint lies in reading the Grauniad. Not in being called 'liberal', - a term even us Thatcherite fundamentalists regard as a term of praise.

The English for what Americans call liberal is usually leftie or pinko.

But isn't it tragic that something Jefferson would have been proud to be described as is now a term of American abuse?

Cholmondley_Warner

There is a bit of a taint in being called a liberal (or more usually a "wishy-washy liberal&quot. It does imply a certain otherworldliness, do-goodery and ineffectiveness.

Or maybe that's me, and I work in the public sector so i'm surrounded by the sods.

flanneruk

nah, it's the "wishy washy" bit that taints. Or - just maybe - "a (insert obscenity of your choice) liberal"

But just "liberal" is always fine. Unlike, of course, "Liberal"

GreenDragon

Hmmm... what I love about the UK

Windy, twisty roads with interesting ruined abbeys at the end. Also with harrowing stone walls right up next to them - covered in vines - and the huge lorry barreling down at you in the opposite direction, when you KNOW there is no way you have room to pass eachother.

Delicious tea every morning (tastes worse at home) and Full English/Scottish breakfast.

Finding sheep in every pasture/cows on every corner.

Exploring London using the Tube. "Mind the Gap!"

Seeing 1000 year old buildings next to modern skyscrapers, and just being speechless in wonder.

Trodding where my ancestors trod.

Seeing a ruined castle as the sun sets, making everything golden and magical.

Deciphering accents like Glaswegian or Cockney - and realizing what was said 2 minutes later.

PalenQ

WALKING TOURS
In cities like York or Bath, etc. i enjoy taking the ubiquitous walking tours offered by the local TIC (Tourist Information Centre), usually led by OAP volunteer tour guides from the town

Though tours give one the local view on things and sights.

Most also seem to have Ghost Tours at night.

THE EXPERIENCE
I kind of like tacky things and i find the xxxxxxx Experience that every tourist town seems to have are a lot of Schlock and a lot of fun.
I guess they appeal mainly to schoolkids and families but these carnival type rides where you often board a car, or in Edinburgh's Whiskey World or whatever they call it, a large whiskey barrel that runs on a track thru several re-created scenes with various effects.

I'd appreciate hearing on anyone's experience at the Experience in any town!

lifeofmytime

Baked scones with clotted cream and strawberry jam... mmm.

waring

Pork pies!!!

hopingtotravel

What I liked:

Seeing people bring their border collies into the pubs.

Hearing sheep and cows through the open window at night.

Looking in shop windows on Kensington High Church Street (I may have the name wrong, but it's the one with antique shops).

Seeing the wind-driven trees in Cornwall.

Watching a cat jump up on a flower-covered garden wall in Dorset.

Walking the Spey path and seeing fishermen in their tweeds.

Being allowed to touch the standing stones in the Lake District.

JudyC

Gardens.

Well-marked walking trails in countryside.

Music in old churches.

Concerts and free lectures in London.

Mild weahter.

Dislike: Tube and rail systems, dead town/village centres in the nights during weekdays and the riots around weekend.

BTilke

Hedgehogs

Cat patrol...stroll around a suburban residential neighborhood at dusk and you'll be scrutinized in detail by all the neighborhood cats, each on their turf and passing on the supervision to the next cat down. Nothing escapes them. The Berkshire suburban cat patrol should be the pattern for every (human) Neighborhood Watch.

Fast trains to Paris and Brussels

RM67

Custard tarts.

Rain (I love rain!).

Guy Fawkes night.

Cornish place names (Lamorna, Zennor, Lostwhatsit).

annhig

Hi RM67,

the ones you memtion are GREAT cornish place names, but you've missed out my favourite, familiar to all travellers on the A30 -

VENTONGIMPS.

pronounced as it reads.

regards, ann

bilboburgler

I like the way that buying something in the UK requires three "thank yous". No really next time you are here count them.

I dislike the fact that with credit cards they only need 2

annhig

I don't know about 3 thank yous - here in cornwall we can have a whole conversation with just one word, repeated 5 times.

here's an example, [with translation]

alright? [hello - said with upwards inflection]

alright [hello to you too]

alright? [I'm fine, how are you]

Alright [not so bad myself]

alright [bye for now]

alright [see you soon].

regards, ann

Merseyheart

TTT