My former partner is British. She had a work visa in the US when we met. When her visa expired our only (mostly legal) option for remaining together was to move to the UK, that was 1997. We were one of the first couples to successfully apply through the (then) Unmarried Partners Concession that Blair's government put in place. It took over two years to resolve, during which time I couldn't (legally) work or leave the country as my passport was in the longest queue in Britain (in Croydon at the INS).

Unfortunately our relationship crumbled under the strain and power imbalance, though we lasted through and beyond the process.

I returned to the US when my step-father passed away suddenly, leaving my family amidst huge grief and disorder.

I miss blighty & all my people there - MUCH.

LOL, Ender, we don't have that here, not at any delicatessen that I know of. But I could most probably deal with white pudding much easier than black pudding.

I suspect that a sausage made with what is essentially lard would be pretty rich for my tastes, though, and would probably give me indigestion no matter how much I liked it.

Roast beef baked in a big stockpot with onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. My mom always used to sear the meat on all sides first, then sprinkle a packet of dry (instant) onion soup mix on the beef before she put it in the oven. I have no idea how much water she put in the pot, probably a cup or two.

Incubus, lashings of ginger beer makes me think of storms with rain lashing down. Thanks for telling me the reference, and for defining Toad in the Hole and butty!

Here is the description of the "bacon" from All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Heriot.

LOL. Yes i remember. At first Siegried was all excited -- good old english fare. LOL.

Oh and the descriptions of when James would visit the city vet and his wife and overeat and get drunk. . . . those were great.

You guys really like james herriot dontcha ?

What about ab fab ?

Looove Patsy.

Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served? are prolly my favorite British comedies though.

i also have enjoyed:

Jeeves and Wooster -- i love Stephen Fry but i am a little sad that he is dating that child.
Rumpole of the Baily
Inspector Morse
Cadfael
Prime Suspect
Sharpe

i cannot stand Mr. Bean although i like Black Adder. But Mr. Bean evokes such revulsion that i actually was a bit squicked when i saw Rowan Atkinson at the Royal Wedding.

What British shows do you like? What shows from other countries?

Am not a television viewer really.

Cold case
Ncis
LA ink.

Used to watch wonder years when I was a child.

Winnie - sigh xx

I am slightly embarrassed to say, so don't tell, Gav and Stacy

Oh...What's occurrin'? :winky:

thank you for your condolences he was a good man and it was very difficult to be so far away at the time.

I left in late 2004, arriving a mere five days before 'W' was re-elected against home grown candidate John Kerry. It was a depressing 'welcome home' event. :|

I have NOT been back since then, I am terribly terribly remiss. The exchange rate has been so poor, and then in turn I became so poor.
I'm hoping to meet a group of my London friends in the Autumn though, location to be determined.

Yes, I did travel around Europe when I lived there.
Admittedly I am a sun seeker....so I made multiple trips to Italy and Spain; I also saw a bit of France and the Netherlands.

Have you traveled in North America before?

I actually hadn't done very much traveling in the US until I came back from Europe.

Oh the temptation to turn right around was GREAT!

I did love Amsterdam, the people are so warm and friendly, the town is so easy to navigate and it was close enough to make a long weekend of it easily.

I visited Spain almost every year and most of my travels were in Catalunya.
I was also entranced with Gaudi's work and would visit annually to check on the progress of Sagrada Familia; which is AMAZING!!! Over 150 years on and still building to his plans.

And then I discovered Sitges! :D I usually stayed in Sitges and made day trips on the train to Barca and Figueres and all around the Costa Dorada and Costa Brava. I love the high speed train lines in Europe. So easy to get around.

San Francisco is definitely well worth a visit (or ten).
I hope you make it over here sometime.

The hard thing about travel, IMO, is deciding where to go...the world is full of so many amazing places. When I lived in the UK I had to balance my desire to see everything and go everywhere in Europe, with my need to also come home and see my family over here. Now that I'm here, I'm balancing my desire to travel far as opposed to the places that are much nearer (but seem so... common, so known). Does that makes sense?
It's a hard life :D

I am eating home made cheesecake whilst perusing this thread.


And am enjoying the wealth of shared information.

You might like to check out Jam and Jerusalem...written by Jennifer Saunders and starring the great and good of Brit actresses including JS herself, Joanna Lumley and Dawn French.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_%26_Jerusalem

i am not a Dr. Who fan though friends are and were all excited about the new one that came out recently.

thank you -- anything Stephen Fry is good. :)

re Dawn French, i am hot for her.

Dr.Who is fabulous...the new series is just a couple of episodes old and is shaping up to be as exciting as usual.

If you like Stephen you'll love QI. Have you read his books? :chaplin:

Am Dr. Who addict. I joined getglue simply for Dr. Who stickers. I've decided I really want to grow up to be Captain Jack and date River Song.

But I like pretty much any BBC creation. My current faves are Dr. Who and Demons. I am waiting patiently for Bedlam and I want more Sherlock Holmes. To tell the truth my tv is set to turn on BBC America. I also am an online devotee of BBC 4 radio broadcasts particularly radio plays of Terry Pratchett and others.

I'm a "Spooks" ("MI-5" is the American title) addict.

And I love most anything French & Saunders!

French and Saunders sketches are brilliant.

Am glad you guys have BBC America .. It's nice to share programmes.

When I was a kid I LOVED "Danger Mouse"
Oh crumb!

YES!!! Yes, yes..

Crumbs DM!

Si Baroni

Penfold, shush!



Although Cap'n Jack was introduced to us on Dr.Who, he really came into his own in the spin-off Torchwood (which is of course an anagram of Doctor Who).

The most recent series of Sherlock was fantastic, better than any of it's previous incarnations throughout the years imho.

Radio 4 is my default channel and I love the Archers and the 6.30 funnies in particular. Just a Minute, Sorry I haven't a clue, The news quiz and Fags, Mags and Bags are all worth looking up.

Dear americans,

No google or wikipedia answers I want this from your own personal perspective . .

Thanksgiving . . Explain this to me please. And what does it mean to you ? X x

I found I preferred Jack in the Doctor Who Series and the first season of Torchwood. Later on he became moody and unJackish. In a very Doctor Who style of course. I never quite caught on to The Sarah Jane Adventures.

I also am a devotee of Red Dwarf. Use to get up two hours early for school to watch it.

For me Thanksgiving is a celebration of stolen land, broken promises, and Puritan intolerance.

Wow, Thanksgiving.

What Incubus said is the party line....

But if I think about it in that vein I have to go with it being a celebration of the stealing and raping of the central part of the North American continent by colonists.

So, I try to go with it being a day to reflect on those things I am thankful for like my friends, my job etc.

While the other nationalities are the first colonizers the Brits are who get remembered on Thanksgiving. In my family we decide that the holiday really is a precursor carb loading time for the madness that is Black Friday.

Merlin?

My heart feels torn about many American social holidays, mainly because of social rituals and identity. It's a slippery slope in my mind, celebration of a holiday. I like Thanksgiving because it's a nice time to come together with people you care deeply for (family, friends, relatives) and I cannot help but think of people who have no family, friends or relatives to spend a holiday with.

I think everyday should be a 'holiday' - one in which we feel invited for who we are, where we have a place at the 'table' to sup with one another. There's nothing like good food, conversation that enriches the soul, and a social bonding that brings us together in ways that stands the test of time.

What about you? Is there a particular holiday that means a lot to you?

Personally, I think birthdays are important holidays. . .

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving in the US, when traditionally the stores open insanely early and have insanely great bargains to start the insanely crazy Christmas shopping season. The truth is that the season starts in September now, much to the dismay of those who believe Christmas is overcommercialized.

The day got the name Black Friday because it was so often the first day in the year when store revenues flipped from being in the red to being in the black; the sales from the day often were a store's only chance to begin to make a profit for the year.

That's what I read on wiki...I thought Black whatever was a stock market crash not Christmas shopping season. :cheesy:

What Thanksgiving means to me has changed over time. When I was a kid, it was all about the Pilgrims and Squanto, the Autumn Harvest, four days off school, eating the best food on earth bar none, and trying to stay the heck out of the way because my mother was a crazy woman.

When I was a teenager, it was about church and then a big stress-filled family dinner, involving impossible cleaning schedules, impossible cooking schedules, waaaayyy too many relatives crammed into the space allotted, a screaming mother, eating two hours after the scheduled time, and the best food on earth bar none. (You might imagine I had some mixed feelings about it all by that time.) I still believed in the Pilgrims and Squanto and I still recognized the Autumn Harvest.

When I was a young adult, Thanksgiving involved walking in on this stress-filled scene three quarters of the way through when my partner--who was persona non grata--dropped me off, to then go on to her own much calmer family dinner where I was persona non grata. I still believed in the Pilgrims and Squanto and the Autumn Harvest, and I still ate the best food on earth bar none.

When I was in my thirties I said no more family angst and learned to roast my own turkey--the one thing I hadn't already done--and my partner and I stayed home by ourselves. I had learned the truth about the Pilgrims and Squanto by then and had done some serious reading of accurate history; I felt guilty with every bite, even as I did my best to remember those who died as well as giving thanks for my own blessings and the Autumn Harvest while I ate the best food on earth bar none.

When I forty-four I lost everything that had meaning for me except for Ladybug and my online community. I was forced to move back in with my mom as a charity case. I discovered then that Thanksgiving had a meaning for me that I had never articulated before: it wasn't about where I was, or whom I might be with; it wasn't about where I lived or whether had my own place; it was entirely about what I did. Thanksgiving was cooking the best food on earth bar none, decorating the house, bringing the gift of "holiday" to the people I fed. I still remembered those who had died, I still counted my own blessings and acknowledged the Autumn Harvest, and I still felt guilty with every bite.

When I was 49 I moved to Kansas and made my home with Gryph, who has native American heritage and who did not celebrate Thanksgiving. I listened to his music and read more accurate history and nearly perished from the guilt of it all............

...............and I subverted Gryph anyway and cooked Thanksgiving dinner for him.

Because you know what the best food on earth bar none is, the traditional food of Thanksgiving in the US? It's the gift of thousands of years of Native American farmers and gardeners, a gift to the world from the continents of the Americas--turkey, cranberries, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green beans, corn, wild rice, tomatoes, winter squash, chestnuts, pecans, pumpkin.

The Autumn Harvest is the gift of the First Nations to us, and so every year as I give thanks for my own blessings, I give them on what I call First Nations Day and Gryph and I celebrate with the best food on the face of the earth bar none. I still feel an everpresent sadness and anger at what has happened to the first peoples of these continents, but I no longer feel guilt over celebrating the bountiful harvest of Autumn, just gratitude to the first farmers for their incredible gift to the world.