Ah thanks Bats......pretty soon my social life is going to drop to zero!!!

We're having a New Years Eve Dinner party (said in my best posh voice) with my closest friends- no politics or religion, we're doing a quiz... We're on pictures!

Because I don't expect to be able to change the world, just my little bit of it, and if the person doesn't happen to share my pov I might get passionate/ heated discussing it. Not sure in depth discussion of any of the three make you a good dinner guest. Might not get another invitation...

Very well indeed thank you.

On Boxing Day we had the pleasure of having just around the corner neighbours who, in 20 years living here, we'd never met or been aware of.

My number one son is mates with their son and has been to their house many a time. He told us we had a lot in common, so we invited them for a blind date.

One of the things we have in common is that the man involved is a Geordie and as ever, was well educated, erudite, very well travelled and articulate.

The four of us (plus our son, so the five of us) hit it off spectacularly well while indulging in overconsumption of rather good wines and HID's brilliant cooking.

I'm not sure we discussed rock 'n' roll, but sex and drugs came up after the trou normande.

It's the only way

OK looking at the results thus far... We aren't being very 'Canadian' now are we !!

Also 'iced'

It's not 'iced hockey', it's 'ice hockey' - and in Canada, just 'hockey'.

Your join date explains your lack of local knowledge on this subject.

Nor mine. Serious topics over dinner? How gauche. Although I'll make an exception this evening as I shall provide some analysis of today's darts thrillers to the missus as we finish off the last of the xmas left overs.

I have been in Canada since 2000, long enough to know the correct terms, lol.

It really irritates me when people refer to it as 'iced hockey' - just as it irritates me when Canadians make reference to 'field hockey'.

I supposed I must be betwixt and between 2 cultures!

That's not what he meant. Iced hockey is something of a BE meme. There are some who say it's used to patronize cradles but they are wrong. It's used to annoy the expats who say it's used to patronize the cradles. Or maybe both.

Ah.. I just thought that some of my esteemed BE'ers were just not that bright when it came to hockey, lol, as I see it written on BE as such countless times.

In retrospect, maybe I was right all along..

That's Canadian exceptionalism for you.............

YOUR BEers? How very patrician.

She's drunk on power and out of control.

Too much trifle?