MillieF

Yes it rains in Malta....heavy sunny drops, and angry winter sloshes....nothing like the Canadian unremitting constant ones

Tirytory

You could say that's classic of a country anywhere... There's always a certain percentage who don't move from their armchairs or go only where they comfortable- home from home so to speak. It would be really boring if we were all the same- some people just want to take a holiday where they can relax entirely.

I am I said

I think this is it. I was struck by the number of comments in this thread that were familiar to me from my early days in Britain. Well, except the Kraft Dinner one, but I will give you scotch eggs in return....

The UK has changed a lot since I came here from Canada in 1991 but an 'off the top of my head' list of things that struck me at the time include:

- absolutely dreadful coffee... instant coffee with some hot chocolate added to make cappuccino [now fixed by Caffe Nero and thousands of others... and I am not defending Timmies!]

- long sandwich shop queues out into the rainy street at lunch time to get a mediocre sandwich [now fixed by Pret, Eat, Pod and thousands of others]

- that if I was unable to afford a house, I could pay extra tax so someone who could afford one would get tax relief on their mortgage [now fixed in a budget some years ago]

- that if I was not bright enough/switched on enough/had the right kind of parental 'encouragement' to go to university, I could pay extra tax so that those with these attributes could go to university for free [now fixed by charging for tuition]

- the ability to find a traffic jam anywhere and at any random time... it may be different now, but when I lived in Toronto, the traffic jam locations and times were generally predictable [accidents on the Gardiner/DVP excepted]

- what people were willing to put up with on public transport. I felt it should be obligatory for Cabinet Ministers to travel by public transport at peak times. And send their children to state schools.

- the passive aggressive comments about Canadians was mirrored by my experience of Brits in the UK. Often there would be a striking comment, followed by a total unwillingness to engage. Unless the person was wearing a shell suit and had very short hair... like the one I found urinating against the wall of my flat one night.

- apparently there have been some issues with Germany in the past....

Another anecdote: an English friend came to see a baseball game back when the Jays were able to win championships and had a real rivalry with the Yankees. She was astounded that the fans of the respective teams were not separated. I was astounded that it was necessary to do so for football games in the UK.

For balance:
- it took me a while, but I learned to appreciate roundabouts over 4 way stops
- the sense of humour [that took me a while, too]
- the quality newspapers
- my wife... [it is why I am still in the UK]

Oink

Isn't the drinking water salty?

caretaker

That's the tears, (they don't want to talk about it).

MrFloyd

Haha !

AlliF

Can't see any similarity between the 2 really. It's not necessarily just that the stuff is vile though (obviously everybody has different tastes) - it's the fact that lots of restaurants here are selling pre-packaged dried foods on their menu as an actual meal choice.
And many mums I have spoken to seem to think that it is a perfectly healthy meal for their toddlers.
Whether or not you like scotch eggs at least they are actually made from real eggs and sausage meat (as opposed to dried powder reconstituted)

Shard

Kraft Dinner is not as abominable as you make out. Dried pasta is dried pasta. The cheese sauce is in powdered form as opposed to a bottle of the stuff. Unless you're making the sauce from scratch, not a great deal of difference. How different, for instance, is it from a tin of Heinz spaghetti which many mothers in the UK feed to there children.

Souvy

You just made me hungry. I want a Scotch egg, now.

Am I going to find one around here? No.

I'd settle for a pork pie and some strong mustard. I'm equally screwed (apart from the mustard).

Shard

I enjoy Scotch egg - minus the egg part - may need to pour one a little later.

caretaker

I'll take 2 sausages out of the freezer and boil 3 eggs now before going to work. Thank you.
Edit: have fresh sausage after all, bonus!

AlliF

It's horrible - the ingredients list is a shocker. I agree pasta is just pasta but the sauce is just awful.
And how many restaurants do you see passing off macaroni cheese made with cheese sauce from a bottle (also vile) on their menus?

caretaker

Not like it's difficult to make good mac & cheese from scratch either.

AlliF

I wouldn't feed my child a tin of Heinz spaghetti as a meal but a quick google produces this comparison ( I would say just a little bit of difference)....

Ingredients in Heinz spaghetti;
Spaghetti (49%, Water, Durum Wheat Semolina, Wheat Flour (contains Calcium, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Tomatoes (43%), Sugar, Glucose - Fructose Syrup, Modified Cornflour, Salt, Citric Acid, Herb Extract, Garlic Salt, Spice Extract,

Additives: Free From Artificial Colours

Additives: Free From Artificial Flavours

Additives: Free From Artificial Preservatives


Additives Other Text: Absolutely no preservatives

Additives Other Text: No artificial colours or flavours


Ingredients in Kraft dinner;

Macaroni is the first ingredient, as expected. The second ingredient is a “cheese sauce mix” composed of 20 sub-ingredients. The first three are not even cheese – Whey and whey protein concentrate are byproducts of milk, and modified food starch – an additive that increase the bulk of a food. Other additives include potassium chloride – used instead of salt to decrease the sodium level in foods, sodium tripolyphosphate – used to maintain moisture, Medium Chain Triglycerides – a substitute for regular oil, and artificial colors yellow 5 & 6 – shown to cause neural problems in some children.

AlliF

Exactly! We learned in home Economics at 12 years of age how to do it.