As an anti-dote to the Things that are Weird posts, since there are (of course) more good things about living here than weird things.
1. The light quality. It’s so much softer, more restful. Still bright, but not scorching. Love it.
2. Clouds. I’ve always loved looking at clouds, I even have a Flickr set devoted to photos of them. The clouds here are fantastic. They scud across the sky, or hang there as a gigantic sky sculptures.
3. Plants. They are green and lush and just everywhere. Wildflowers tend to be the flowers I love – foxgloves, sweet pea, blackberries (OK not a flower, but I love looking at them), and ones I am recognising and coming to appreciate.
4. The cafe downstairs from work with the lovely Italian men who call me Bella, and say Bourgiorno to me every morning and make my toast and coffee without me needing to say a word. They also the best steak sandwich on the planet. Tender, juicy, right balance of ingredients. It’s been a goal to find a good steak sandwich for years. Yay Italian cafe that is a restful place in the morning just before work! Wish I could take them with me to all future employment situations.
5. Summer is lovely. I don’t care what the popular opinion is, summer is really pleasant, like a few months of the nicest September or March days in Sydney, not too hot, lovely breezes, long twilights.
4. Berries! I didn’t really get the love of berries in Australia. With the exception of fresh blackberries. English strawberries are divine, raspberries are to be consumed whenever possible.
5. Most people speak softly. This has reduced my incidence of noise sensitivity which is fantastic. One less stress point is a very good thing.
6. Variety of ingredients. Sydney – Newtown has a better selection of places to eat, but England has a much better selection of ingredients, which are easier to access. Perhaps this is why I am doing more cooking here. Which is also a good outcome.
7. In my opinion the discourse around sustainability is more balanced and advanced. This is probably the subject of a future post. Or one in a related blog if ever I get it up and running which will focus on policy/sustainability rants, rather than muddy-ing the two together.
There’s more, but 7 will do for now.
I’ve lived in England all my adult life, but as soon as open my mouth with a stranger listening I get asked ‘where do you come from?’
But I really am writing to say how much I agree with your view on the quality of light. I live by the Channel, and never tire of the light, and the clouds. I think the light is best on clear, cold days in the winter. There I days when I wish I could paint, and try to capture the beauty. It never comes across on photos.
The prevalence of people commenting on accents disturbed me at first, as there’s nothing particularly distinctive about any accents in Australia, and to comment on someone’s accent is rude. I suspect this is a result of the high migrant influx since WWII.
However, one of the benefits of mostly socialising with English people is that I realised how common it is to discuss accents. Northern, Geordie, Somerset, etc. It’s a knowledge that everyone has and they’re often quite proud of their accent. It’s not a value judgement of my background and an attempt to make me an outsider, but rather a common conversational practice.
I’m still going to sound mostly English at some stage in the next few years. Natural mimic.
Maybe this should go on a “thing that are weird” post in future.
Yes, yes there are more than 7. at least 9, at a guess…
*grin*
🙂 I’ll try for 9 next time. Then 11, 13, 15, etc. This progression could get a bit difficult to fulfill after a while.
I am curious about the “more ingredients” thing I sometimes hear about the UK (or other variants, like “better produce in the supermarkets”, “cheaper”, etc). It doesn’t sit with my past ideas about England, and (weirdly enough) increases my desire to visit. I think what I’m starting to realise is that for me, some of the most interesting things about travelling come from seeing how social structures differ and work in other places. Like in San Francisco I found myself looking at DA notices (or something similar)!
At this point I realise I am getting into absolute minutiae that is much better placed in an email to K so that no-one other than us necessarily reads this. Oh well – I’m going to go ahead and post anyway! In part because I’m increasingly unsure about how best to use all these different forms of social media. When to blog, when to email….
A few more things and then it’s totally hometime for me:
* Long twilights! Yes!
* Steak sandwiches – now you have made me think of mustard. I’m going to have to go home and find something I can put it on for dinner…
* Can I put in a vote for the sustaibility discourse / policy rant-comparison-post? I can see the argument for a separate blog, but even if you wrote it here and migrated it if/when you set the other up…. I definitely want to hear about this!
Post here, or send an email. I personally think that your thoughts on these sorts of subjects are always insightful, and we do very well bouncing ideas off each other. You did see the post about what topics I am going to cover here?
I completely agree with you on: “the most interesting things about travelling come from seeing how social structures differ and work in other places”, I think it’s the major reason we’ve not left England since I’ve been here, I’m still observing the minutiae of English society and structures and don’t yet feel the need to expand this.
Incidentally you’d love the book I found yesterday: “Watching the English: The hidden rules of English Behaviour” by Kate Fox. It’s a social anthropology of the English and I’m thoroughly enjoying the academic basis of the book presented in a way that the ‘intellignet layperson’ can understand. It’s going to form the basis of a definitional post here very shortly.
My feeling is that the increase in the diversity of food types is due to the more stable, expanding European market, more fierce competition between supermarkets (not just Coles and Wollies dominating the market) combined with the advent of gastro-pubs and celebrity chefs. Whatever the reason, able to get buffalo milk mozzarella to put on a pizza more than makes up fo rthe fact taht I can’t get good gourmet pizzas nearby.
re: sustainability rants: I’m not sure I actually have a strong, formulated opinion yet, and even then I think I’d rather keep it in a separate place. They will reappear, once I have a stable job, have moved house… you know, have some brain space to spare again.