Springtime Edition

It is hard to believe that I've been here for more than half a year, (and am more than half way, apparently, to my First Year Report duedate).  In some ways, the time has been dragging, but in other ways, it seems I arrived just last week....

Dragging Time
It seems that the biggest cause of my British time dragging slowly along is about to come to an end.  The proper progression of events (real-world and cyber) has finally played out nearly to completion:  Wife applies for UK job (in relative secrecy from US friends and coworkers), wife gets UK job (in relative secrecy from US friends and coworkers), wife gets cleared through her background check (you get the idea), wife chooses start date, wife gives official notice at work (same story), wife posts to Facebook that she's moving to the UK (finally, the cat is out of the bad and I can talk about it openly), husband opens his blog with the happy news that his bachelor days are (once again) imminently drawing to a close....  Needless to say, living 5,000 miles from my wife, best friend, and most important supporter and ally in this whole process has been a drag, to say the least.  And to top things off, I couldn't even blog or Facebook about it (these are, sadly enough, my two most important connections to my past life these days).  But anyway, enough of my effusive sigh of relief that the end is in sight (about a month now) and onto the rest of the Britification update....

Vital Stats
Miles of UK cycle commuting: 2,000 +
Miles of UK cycle training: 100 +
# of good British salads eaten: 0
# of good British meat pies eaten: about one for every mile of training
# of biscuits consumed: about one for every mile of commuting

'Big Breakfast Thursdays'
Just a brief note about what has become a ritual of mine, a subject to which my mind wandered while discussing biscuits and pies, oddly enough....  It is virtually indisputable that there are some foods that the British don't do very well.  Salads would be, in my mind, at the top of the list.  Other items near the top, many of which I've been too scared to even test would be sushi and hamburgers.  But equally indisputably, a list could be compiled of what foods the British do well.  Meat pies, sausages, roasts, puddings (might as well be synonymous with dessert here) and Indian cuisine would be high on that list (too bad for you vegetarians, huh?).  But also near the top of the 'good' list would be the 'full British breakfast.'  Different permutations exist, of course, but we're talking eggs, sausage, thick British style 'back bacon,' beans, fried tomatoes, black pudding, mushrooms....  To my delight, I was introduced by my officemate to the Thursday breakfast special in the physics cafe next door.  For what change I've collected from my pockets most weeks (£2.25) I can grab 6 large pieces of the above list.  And I'm not sure I've missed a week in 2 months now.  I told W, my officemate, that if they offered the special everyday, I'd probably have it everyday.  He laughed and said "oh you couldn't possibly eat like this everyday."  I think I could.

Biscuits versus Cookies
While we're talking about food, more on this subject.  I commented in an earlier post that the term biscuit sounded healthier to the American ear, and at that time, as far as I was concerned biscuits and cookies were one and the same, depending on which continent you happened to be on.  I've since learned, that the British have cookies too.  Apparently, both can be enjoyed as a snack with tea, and while shape and dimensions can often be a tip-off for which identity the confection is classed, the real distinction is this:  While cookies and biscuits both "go off," biscuits "go soft" while cookies "go hard."  As if this weren't bizarre enough, it turns out that the distinction carries even deeper ramifications.  A 15% 'value-added tax' is applied to all biscuits, since they are a 'luxury.'  But cakes, a third class of tea-time treat, are somehow considered a basic necessity item, and are thus untaxed.  The distinctions here are serious stuff, the subject of not only blogs, but also legal battles.

CTC Training Rides
The bulk of those 100+ training miles in the saddle have been on two group rides I've been on with the Cyclists Touring Club, a national organization with a local chapter in the town just west of here, Witney.  While ideally the rides would be a bit faster and a bit shorter, so that I can find the time for them more often and feel like they're giving me a good workout, it's been nice to ride with a group again.  The people are very nice, and share my love of tea and cakes, insuring that the centerpiece of each ride is a stop at a cafe that has been CTC approved (and added to the official Witney CTC cafe map) to have a relaxed atmosphere, good tea and cakes, and a reasonable place to lock up the bikes.  In addition to the enjoyment of riding in a group and meeting some nice, local cyclists, it's been a great help to learning some good weekend training routes and starting to get a better feel for back-road navigation in West Oxfordshire.

Springtime in the Country
Spring has definitely arrived, and with it some absolutely glorious weather.  The sunshine has been plentiful, and has actually dried up all but the worst of the mud holes on my jogging and hiking routes.  In addition, our garden has become an explosion of color (colour?) which is very nice to have as a view out the windows.

The landscape has changed considerably on my hikes and jogs as well.  In addition to the colorful additions, the cows and sheep have returned to the fields.  The sheep, shortly after the daffodils started blooming, brought with them their newborn lambs, and now that the tulips have started replacing the daffodils, the cows have returned to pasture with their claves in tow.  In general, all these additions have been great.  Lambs are undeniably cute, and definitely uphold the rule about 'playful mammal babies' as they hop and run after their mothers.  And while I can't say that I have much fondness for cows (or what they leave behind them in the fields and footpaths) their calves are pretty cute.  I will say, however, that my auditory associations with cows and sheep have been totally reshaped, and not for the better.  While a single, adult sheep, makes a stereotypical bleating noise that isn't unpleasant, a field full of adult and baby sheep is quite loud!  And, what's more, the noise that comes from the young lambs is closer to the wail of a baby that's starting to cry than the cute noise that children imitate.  Cows, on the other hand, which were totally quiet during the fall and winter, have become quite vocal now that their calves are around.  The sound they make, I think is also quite different than the 'moo' noise we're taught as children.  And let me tell you, a bunch of cows 'mooing' is, in my mind, quite a creepy sound.  It's ominous and indistinct, and coupling that with the stories I've heard of cows occasionally stampeding walkers that they feel are threatening their calves has made the stretches of my walks through their pastures a bit less enjoyable....

With the spring, the migratory birds have returned, as well as more frequent sightings of wildlife in the fields.  Some barn swallows have taken up residence in our open garage, which are a fun addition to the neighborhood.  LOTS of rabbits (I guess this should be no surprise), an occasional hare, and more deer are once again sighted on my jaunts.  I've also seen, on several occasions, a bizarre relative of deer, introduced evidently and now thriving in England, the Reeve's Muntjac.  They're much smaller than their standard deer cousins, and from a distance, they look like a stocky little dog with freakishly long legs and an oddly shaped head.  But once they take off running, they are clearly more cervid than canine.

Money
One thing that quickly became apparent upon moving and living here is that there are a whole different set of nicknames for money than we have in the States.  And these nicknames are used just as often, if not more often, than the official names, pounds and pence.  The most common nickname for 'pounds' is 'quid,' which is used an awful lot.  I heard the term 'dosh' used to mean money, and went off to look up the origins of the word, and learned a whole lot of interesting things about British money.  The article is fascinating if you're into bizarre historical trivia, but it is quite long and I'm not sure anybody on the planet loves money trivia and history as much as the author.  Summarizing some of the more interesting points:  I was astonished that British currency had been organized imperially in the 9th century, and then been untouched until 1971.  In this 9th century form, the money wasn't decimal, but, just like 12 inches to the foot and 14 pounds to the stone, the largest unit, the pound, was divided into 20 shillings, with each shilling being further divided into 12 pence.  (The term shilling, apparently, came originally from the pure and unique type of "easterling silver"used in the 12th century by Henry II to produce the coins).  The coins for various combinations of these 3 denominations all had names and nicknames, the more colorful including 'florins,' 'crowns,' 'pennies,' 'bob,' 'tanners,' 'thrupenny bits,' 'farthings,' 'tuppence,' 'thrupence,' and 'sixpence.'  If that's not confusing, I don't know what is.  Quite sensibly, though perhaps less interestingly, the money is now simply the pound, divided into 100 pence, and organized very logically.  The back of the coins, when laid out in the appropriate pattern, form the image of the Shield of the Royal Arms, and all that's left of the crazy names and units listed above are the terms 'quid' and 'dosh,' but also 'bob,' 'boodle,' 'brass,' and 'coppers.'

Vocabulary Primer
Snog -- I suppose you all are familiar with this term from the Harry Potter movies, but I've actually heard this used in conversation now

Diary -- means calendar or planner, and I have no idea what they call the things that kids write down their deepest darkest secrets in each night....

Fool -- saw this one in the market and just had to try it.  According to dictionary.com, it means "a dish made of fruit, scalded or stewed, crushed and mixed with cream or the like: gooseberry fool."

A note on prepositions -- The British tend to use slightly different prepositions than we do in everyday conversation.  A second installment isn't a "follow-up" but a "follow-on."  You don't "chat with" people but rather "chat to" them.  And you don't usually get things "sorted out," but rather simply "sorted."

Responding to "how are you?" -- If you, as an American are inclined to respond with "fine" then the British translation would be "ya -- fine."  A bit startling until you get used to always hearing "ya" before the actual response....