Britishness

A few years ago myself and a close friend dedicated a month of my life to making a short documentary about what it was to be British.



The majority of the content (aside from a few interviews) was made up of vox pops from people all over the UK about what Britishness meant to them. The answers ranged from the serious, to the hilarious to the extreme.



Rain, roasts, big red buses, the union jack, a curry, sense of humour, manners, tea, Buckingham Palace, Shakespeare, Tesco, fry ups, Richard Branson, the list was endless.



I hadn't really thought about that documentary for a while, but recently a close friend asked me for help. Her boyfriend is a New Yorker and they are going over there in June to visit his family. It is her first time meeting family and also in New York. While I am seething quietly with envy at the prospect of her spending a fortnight in the Mecca for all city girls, we are also working hard on thinking of good gifts for the parents.



They need to be typically British but without being naff (no tins of shortbread or stuffed Harrods bears). So far my contribution has been my personal list of the best of British:



Cath Kidston

Jo Malone

Lady and Earl grey tea

London

Teapots

Shakespeare

John Lewis

Decent Chocolate

Elderflower martinis



It is currently a work in progress. I shall let you know the verdict.

Tea for Two at The Savoy

My Wiganer turned 22 on thursday. And in tribute to her being old, I took her for tea at the savoy hotel.

It was lovely. And very sophisticated. And we had lots of teeny tiny sandwiches. and some even teenier cakes. and socnes. and tea. a lot of tea. in fact, some might say too much tea.

and there was a lovely piano player thumping out some tunes (many musical classics, a bit of whitney, then some britney, and most surprisingly of all, Michael Jackson's Thriller - interesting as a classical piano version)

Now, while tea was lovely, possibly the best thing about the experience was the people watching. Behind was the most upper class woman I have ver seen. She clearly came in everyday for her afternoon tea, and a glass of champagne. Reading her highbrow paper, and chatting with the waiters.

The Wiganer was rather concerned when looking at her, that she had not managed to finish all of her miniture food, saying ratherly loudly "Well. She's not getting 'er money's worff". To which the lady responded by asking a nearby waiter for a selction of tupperware to take home her remains.
On seeing this the Wiganer decided that we should ask for more sandwiches and cake. Not eat them. And take them home in tupperware. Which we did. (Word of warning - don't try it with the egg of or the salmon sandwiches - not only does the bread go very dry, but warm egg and salmon are not pleasant).

Opposite us were a family of six, (four kids including two toddlers) and two very posh parents. After whinging about their daughter's riduculous assortment of "allergies" (posh version of having a fussy eater) they finally got the food. the little boy threw most of his onto the floor and refused to eat anything except for ham sandwiches. Wiganer commented, again in the booming northern tones "that's a waste that. Just take 'em down McDonalds".

After a lot more nosing into other people's business, drinking five litres of tea between us, taking an obscene amount of photos, making a short video tour of the tea room, becoming thoroughly excited by the toilets (you get your own personal towel!), and overhearing a comment from two old ladies ("do you think this is their first time here?") we eventually left, a full three hours after we went in.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I would recommned it to anyone. But do try and get the tupperware. We still have a whole other savoy tea to enjoy today as well.