What's going on in this picture?

Are they running for the lives from a sneezing swan? Is there a sale at Debenham's? Have the aliens finally landed?

No. Today there was some kind of marathon in Winchester. Unfortunately, we did not know about it until we saw these people, despite having read the local paper. K would have been out there with them had she known.

British Slang

Stumbled upon this site recently:

The Very Best of British - The American's Guide to Speaking British

Here are some choice selections from the Slang section...

All right? - This is used a lot around London and the south to mean, "Hello, how are you"? You would say it to a complete stranger or someone you knew. The normal response would be for them to say "All right"? back to you. It is said as a question. Sometimes it might get expanded to "all right mate"? Mostly used by blue collar workers but also common among younger people.

Arse - This is a word that doesn't seem to exist in America. It basically means the same as ass, but is much ruder. It is used in phrases like "pain in the arse" (a nuisance) or I "can't be arsed" (I can't be bothered) or you might hear something was "a half arsed attempt" meaning that it was not done properly.

Bugger - This is another fairly unique word with no real American equivalent. Like bloody it has many uses apart from the obvious dictionary one pertaining to rather unusual sexual habits. My father was always shouting "bugger" when he was working in the garage or garden. Usually when he hit his thumb or dropped a nail or lost something. Today we might use the sh** or the f*** words but bugger is still as common. The fuller version of this would be "bugger it". It can also be used to tell someone to get lost (bugger off), or to admit defeat (we're buggered) or if you were tired or exhausted you would be buggered. You can also call someone a bugger. When I won £10 on the lottery my mate called me a "lucky bugger".

How's your father? - This is a very old term for sex which plays on our apparent British sensitivity. Rather than saying the actual "sex" word you could refer to having a bit of How's your Father, instead - nudge, nudge, wink, wink. The sort of old fashioned saying dragged up by Austin Powers.

Knock up - This means to wake someone up. Although it seems to have an altogether different meaning in the USA! At one time, in England, a chap was employed to go round the streets to wake the workers up in time to get to work. He knew where everyone lived and tapped on the bedroom windows with a long stick, and was known as a "knocker up". He also turned off the gas street lights on his rounds. Another meaning of this phrase, that is more common these days, is to make something out of odds and ends. For example my Dad knocked up a tree house for us from some planks of wood he had in the garage, or you might knock up a meal from whatever you have hanging around in the fridge.

Piss up - A piss up is a drinking session. A visit to the pub. There is an English expression to describe someone as disorganised which says that he/she could not organise a piss up in a brewery!

Taking the piss - One of the things Americans find hardest about the Brits is our sense of humour. It is obviously different and is mainly based on irony, sarcasm and an in-built desire to "take the piss". This has nothing to do with urine, but simply means making fun of someone.

Wanker - This is a derogatory term used to describe someone who is a bit of a jerk. It actually means someone who masturbates and also has a hand signal that can be done with one hand at people that cannot see you shouting "wanker" at them. This is particularly useful when driving.

Kill the Swede!

Well, not a real Swede. I would never do that! I'm talking about this big-ass organic Rutabaga which is going into a Gordon Ramsay recipe for soup called "Caramelized Swede and Cardamom Soup". This is actually a Christmas recipe, but we got this giant "Swede" in our box of veg from Riverford Organic, so we decided to give it a try. Delicious! Here's the recipe:

Caramelised Swede and Cardamom Soup

Serves 6-8

A little cardamom in this soup gives it a lovely, warming fragrance without overpowering the flavour of the caramelised swede. If you like, serve the soup in coffee cups instead of bowls, as it can be quite filling and, after all, there are two more courses to come. You can substitute the swedes for turnips, which will work just as well.

3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
Few sprigs of thyme
30g unsalted butter, cut into
small pieces
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
6-8 cardamom pods
2 swedes, peeled and chopped into
small pieces
2 tbsp honey
1.5-2l hot chicken stock
150ml double cream
Grating of nutmeg, to serve

1 Heat a large pan with the olive oil. Stir in the onion and celery and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the thyme and a few knobs of butter and seasoning.

2 Crush the cardamom pods with the back of a knife and add to the onions and celery. Sweat the onions for 5 more minutes until they are soft and translucent, but not browned.

3 Stir in the chopped swede, drizzle over the honey and cover the pan with a lid. This will encourage condensation and prevent the onions from burning. Cook over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the swedes have softened and caramelised. If they do catch, simply add a little water.

4 Pour in enough hot chicken stock to cover the vegetables and let simmer for a few more minutes. Stir in the cream and
adjust the seasoning.

5 In batches, liquidise the soup in a blender until really smooth, adding a few knobs of butter for a velvety finish. (When liquidising the hot soup, fill the blender no more than halfway and release one corner of the lid. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth. This will prevent the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions). Pass the soup through a fine sieve, pushing down with the back of a ladle, and discard the solids.

6 Reheat the soup and adjust the consistency, adding more cream to thicken or more hot stock to thin it down. Season again to taste and serve in warm bowls with a drizzle of olive oil and a grating of nutmeg.

A quick one from "Tales of Living in Europe"

K is currently idling at an airport up in Scotland. She is meant to be flying to Southampton and then being home with me in a couple of hours. However, her plane has been delayed because Southampton Airport was closed from about 3pm today because a mortar from the 1960s had been discovered near the runway yesterday. The mortar was loaded onto a barge to go out to sea during the high tide. I presume this has taken place because the airport has reopened. It just tickles me. How does a mortar shell from the 1960s suddenly turn up like that? And the method of disposal: lowered onto a barge and sent out to sea (like a wayward whale or something). Very funny. Very quaint.

Press Release from Southampton Airport

The English version of the Oscars

The BAFTA awards were on last night. These are Britain's version of the Academy Awards. Prestige-wise the BAFTA awards fall right after the Academy Awards. We only stayed up for about an hour of the show because it was on kind of late. Not as big and glitzy of a production as the Academy Awards (and that's not a bad thing), but it was a good show. Lots of stars in attendance, a relaxed feel, and Stephen Fry's very droll British humo(u)r was perfect.

Just thought we'd bring your attention to them, especially our non-Brit audience who may not have realized the BAFTAs were on at all. These are the nominees and winners (winners in bold):

BAFTA 2006

Best Film
* Brokeback Mountain
Capote
The Constant Gardener
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck

Best British Film
* Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit
A Cock and Bull Story
The Constant Gardener
Festival
Pride and Prejudice

Best Actor in a Leading Role
* Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
David Strathairn - Good Night, and Good Luck
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
Ralph Fiennes - The Constant Gardener

Best Actress in a Leading Role
* Reese Witherspoon - Walk The Line
Charlize Theron - North Country
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Ziyi Zhang - Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
* Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
Don Cheadle - Crash
George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
* Thandie Newton - Crash
Brenda Blethyn - Pride and Prejudice
Catherine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain

Original Screenplay
* Crash - Paul Haggis/Bobby Moresco
Cinderella Man - Cliff Hollingsworth/Akiva Goldsman
Good Night, and Good Luck - George Clooney/Grant Heslov
Hotel Rwanda - Keir Pearson/Terry George
Mrs Henderson Presents - Martin Sherman

Adapted Screenplay
* Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry/Diana Ossana
Capote - Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener - Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence - Josh Olson
Pride and Prejudice - Deborah Moggach

The David Lean Award for Achievement in Direction
* Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
Bennett Miller - Capote
Fernando Meirelles - The Constant Gardener
Paul Haggis - Crash
George Clooney - Good Night, and Good Luck

The Carl Foreman Award for special achievement by a
British Director/Producer or Writer in their first feature film
* Joe Wright (Director) - Pride & Prejudice
David Belton (Producer) - Shooting Dogs
Peter Fudakowski (Producer) - Tsotsi
Annie Griffin (Director/Writer) - Festival
Richard Hawkins (Director) - Everything

Best film not in the English language
* De Battre Mon Coeur S'est Arrete
Le Grand Voyage
Kung Fu Hustle
Joyeux Noel
Tsotsi

The Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music
* Memoirs of a Geisha - John Williams
Brokeback Mountain - Gustavo Santaolalla
The Constant Gardener - Alberto Iglesias
Mrs Henderson Presents - George Fenton
Walk The Line - T Bone Burnett

Cinematography
* Memoirs of a Geisha
Brokeback Mountain
The Constant Gardener
Crash
March of the Penguins

Editing
* The Constant Gardener
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Good Night, and Good Luck
March of the Penguins

Production Design
* Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Batman Begins
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha

Costume Design
* Memoirs of a Geisha
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Mrs Henderson Presents
Pride and Prejudice

Sound
* Walk the Line
Batman Begins
The Constant Gardener
Crash
King Kong

Achievement in Special Visual Effects
* King Kong
Batman Begins
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Make Up and Hair
* Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride and Prejudice

Short Animation Film
* Fallen Art
Film Noir
Kamiya's Correspondence
The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
Rabbit

Short Film
* Antonio's Breakfast
Call Register
Heavy Metal Drummer
Heydar, An Afghan in Tehran
Lucky

Another Sunday Times article

Go and live in Saudi Arabia:

Her latest objective is all about less confrontation, more moderation, a word we don’t readily associate with her. Over the past weeks she has watched the Muslim demonstrations following the publication of the Muhammad cartoons with mounting horror.

Seeing marches turn ugly, mullahs pronouncing and embassies blazing, precipitated a personal crisis: “As a person who wants to live here, in a tolerant country as a British Muslim, I couldn’t understand the hatred that some people have.”

At the same time Abu Hamza, the preacher from Finsbury Park mosque, was jailed for seven years for inciting murder and race hate. “I want to say to people like him, ‘Why are you living in the West? Why don’t you go and live in Saudi Arabia?’

“Being a Muslim in Britain is different from being a Muslim in other countries. I am all for peaceful demonstration. If you live in this country there are democratic ways to behave. If you don’t like it, then go and live in a Muslim country.”

Khan believes there is an urgent need for mainstream Islam to speak out. Ever the businesswoman, she would “build a new brand”. Our images of Muslims are skewed, she argues.

On one hand we see the mad mullahs who represent fundamentalists; the other the moderates such as Sir Iqbal Sacranie, leader of the Muslim Council of Britain. But both, and we’re talking broad brush here, are swarthy old men with beards. “We need to rebrand Islam and present a different face. The Muslim council is very important as an organisation but I’m not sure that it means a lot to young British Asians.”

She wants high-profile Muslims such as Imran Khan and the boxer Amir Khan to join forces with her in raising the profile of those who keep the faith — but not too vehemently. Some of them may pray regularly, attend the mosque, forswear pork, but do touch alcohol.

“People like Tony Blair should seek out role models like me who appeal to the majority of people to head up a taskforce. I want British Muslims to be the examples for moderates all around the world.

“I want that group to include women and a cross-section of the Muslim community, not just middle-aged men in beards who were not even born in this country."

Snowshill, Cotswolds

Last weekend we went to the Cotswolds for a genuine English 'weekend in the country.' The house we stayed in (courtesy of Kate who works for the National Trust) was a lovely old stone pile with five bedrooms spread over three wonky floors. We were eleven altogether and somehow we managed to survive with only two bathrooms!

Tiny Snowshill is perched on a hillside about 45 minutes west of Oxford. Serious country atmosphere with tons of sheep, continuous birdsong and walkers striding over the land with black labs and tweed hats. We loved it all.

Emma arranged everything with precision so meals were planned in advance with each person cooking at least once. Too much food and definitely too much wine! It was a joy to meet some new people (Clare, Tamsin, Rob, Lou, Martin and Sam) and see friends from Norwich (Emma, Kate and Abi). We were an eclectic group: an archivist, a researcher, a linguist, a vicar, 2 archaelogists, a teacher-in-training, a gardener and a cabbie!

Some photos from the weekend...























We can't wait to do it again!

~K

Everybody's Talkin' 'bout it...

- How liberal Britain let hate flourish: article about the rise of Islamic extremism in Britain

- Muslims are trading Respect for Fear: opinion piece arguing that "respect is not a right"

- Islamo-Bullies get a free ride from the West: very interesting opinion piece about how the news media in America and Britain are basically wimps for not daring to reprint the cartoons and are therefore failing to do their job: "The fundamental job of journalists is to give you as much information as possible to make sense of the world around you. And in this story, where the entire controversy revolves around drawings, the press is suddenly coy. You can see Saddam Hussein in his underwear and members of the royal family in compromising positions. You can see Andres Serrano’s famously blasphemous photograph of a crucifix in urine, called Piss Christ. But a political cartoon that deals with Islam? Not our job, guv. Move right along. Nothing to see here."

And some positive "Muslim stories" in the news...

- Public anger at Muslim protestors: There was a peaceful protest of Muslims (and others) against the extremists that have been causing all the havoc due to the cartoons. This article divulges the opinion of some non-militant Muslims living in Britain: "The poll shows that 86% of people think the protests were “a gross overreaction”. By 56% to 29% respondents said it was right to publish the cartoons in Denmark and republish them elsewhere."

- Danish Muslims split over cartoons: '"Now, we have to demonstrate that we are proud of being Danish and that we are supporting Danish values," he said. In an unexpected turn, the reaction to the attacks on Danish embassies could help promote integration in Denmark. "I didn't know there were so many Muslims in Denmark who are supporting Western values," said Soren Espersen, an MP for the populist Danish People's Party.'

Born to Travel

From the point of view of travel, it looks like it's not so bad to be from one of the five countries that K and I "represent" (US, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, and UK). An Austrian company, Henley & Partners, has ranked countries by how many other countries its citizens can enter without a visa. "Our" five countries fall in the top ten:

Rank			Score*		Rank			Score*
1		Finland	130		14		Chile	109
1		Denmark	130		18		Israel	104
1		United States	130		19		Hungary	101
2		Ireland	129		19		Argentina	101
2		Sweden	129		20		Brazil	99
2		Germany	129		21		Mexico	98
3		United Kingdom	128		28		Croatia	84
3		Italy	128		34		Romania	73
3		France	128		37		South Africa	65
3		Japan	128		40		St. Kitts & Nevis	62
4		Spain	127		46		Dominica	52
4		Norway	127		46		Turkey	52
4		Switzerland	127		55		Taiwan	42
4		Belgium	127		62		United Arab Emirates	35
5		Netherlands	126		62		Russian Federation	35
6		Luxembourg	125		64		Serbia and Montenegro	32
6		Austria	125		65		Saudi Arabia	31
6		Canada	125		67		Thailand	29
6		New Zealand	125		71		India	25
7		Portugal	123		71		Bosnia and Herzegowina	25
8		Singapore	122		72		Egypt	24
9		Malaysia	120		75		Jordan	21
9		Iceland	120		78		China	18
9		Greece	120		78		Korea, Dem People's Republic	18
9		Australia	120		79		Pakistan	17
10		Liechtenstein	116		81		Iraq	15
11		Korea, Republic of	115		82		Iran	14
13		Hong Kong	110		83		Afghanistan	12

[Thanks to THIS blog for bringing this to my attention.]

Go Denmark

We support you. Freedom of expression is more important than ANY religion. Please don't back down, Denmark. Don't apologize for allowing free expression.

The cartoons weren't even that bad. Plus, depicting Mohammed is not a new thing:

Mohammed Image Archive

And, by the way, the cartoons were published in September 2004. Long time ago, eh?