Hello!

Sooooooooo--UK bacon butty not the thin crisp (oh I can smell it now) bacon I am used to.  Now, every now and then my mother-in-law would fry slices of thick bacon--like you could drive nails with them.  Is the Brit bacon more like that?

Nah, British Bacon (not streaky bacon) comes from a completely different cut of meat. American bacon comes from pork belly (really fatty), but British Back Bacon comes from the same cut as a pork tenderloin, but is cured.  (Much like Canadian Bacon, but with a bit more fat)

Dennis, thanks for that description of your house. 

We should all go out for a curry!   

Dennis, thanks for that description of your house. 

We should all go out for a curry!

Dennis's house sounds amazing!!!!!

Got it!  American bacon not like British bacon.  Still bacon--and does anything smell better?  Except perhaps a cup of coffee.

I have heard about clotted cream.  Don't suppose I can get it here.

One other thing I'm curious about:  How long is a British television season?  Or series?  I have American seasons on DVD, and they are usually 22 episodes and cover a year.  My UK TV series are much shorter.  Grantchester:  6 episodes.  New Tricks (Seasons 1-10) Usually 8 episodes.  Blandings:  6 episodes.  Does each season represent one year's filming?  I wish I had more episodes for each one; however, I understand that shorter seasons allow the actors to get into other roles, (maybe also preventing them from getting burned out in one role) and most especially, I think short seasons means much better writing.

Where is Dennis's house?  What did I miss?

A few posts up, Dennis the Menace described his house and laundry room.  I thought it was interesting because he's Indian and I've often noticed that Indian people's houses tend to be rambling and with lots of extra rooms added on. 

One of the most interesting things about living here is all the Indian and Pakistani people and culture, and how they mix with British people or not. 

One of the most interesting things about living here is all the Indian and Pakistani people and culture, and how they mix with British people or not.

I think maybe they actually are British?

Some are, some aren't.  Some are both.

I have heard about clotted cream.  Don't suppose I can get it here.

One other thing I'm curious about:  How long is a British television season?  Or series?  I have American seasons on DVD, and they are usually 22 episodes and cover a year.  My UK TV series are much shorter.  Grantchester:  6 episodes.  New Tricks (Seasons 1-10) Usually 8 episodes.  Blandings:  6 episodes.  Does each season represent one year's filming?  I wish I had more episodes for each one; however, I understand that shorter seasons allow the actors to get into other roles, (maybe also preventing them from getting burned out in one role) and most especially, I think short seasons means much better writing.

I think you can get clotted cream in the US, but it would be though a speciality store.

And Brits use series, not seasons when they discuss tv shows. Haha. It took me ages to get used to a series finale being advertised of shows that weren't ending. And how many episodes in a series varies a lot. Anywhere from 3 (ala Sherlock) to daily TV programs like EastEnders. TV is very different here since BBC is king.

And Brits use series, not seasons when they discuss tv shows. Haha. It took me ages to get used to a series finale being advertised of shows that weren't ending. And how many episodes in a series varies a lot. Anywhere from 3 (ala Sherlock) to daily TV programs like EastEnders. TV is very different here since BBC is king.

Over the last few years (maybe 10 years or so), the use of 'season' instead of 'series' has become more prevalent in the UK, though mainly when advertising US shows rather than UK ones. So the season finale of a UK show will still be called 'the series finale' by the TV networks, but a US show season finale will usually be called 'the season finale'.

Back when I was a teenager in the mid-late 90s and early 2000's, I didn't even know what a TV 'season' was, but since the internet has become more mainstream and we have much more access and exposure to US TV now, the word has gradually crept into UK vocabulary .

I think you can get clotted cream in the US, but it would be though a speciality store.

We used to be able to get a small jar for $14 at the fancier grocery store near my parents' house.  Too expensive though!

TV series here are far too short! Car Share only had 4 episodes in this series! Waited a couple years for that! :-P

If you are a fan of Grantchester, I highly recommend the books on which the show is based. They are so much better. I don't really know why they took the show in such a different direction. It's just a good thing that I love James Norton so much.

I believe that my friend said they sell clotted cream at World Market.

Hi,

Jimbo - Sorry, I've had enough curry to last me a lifetime, I want some nice bland English food instead!

With regards to integration in Brit Culture - As early as I can remember, in our house we'd have a christmas tree up, lights and decorations, cards and gifts exchanged. On Xmas day, it was and still is 'double trouble' - I mean that as we'll have most of a traditional Xmas spread of food AND the SAME amount of select Indian food as well! This leads nicely in that Indian houses can be 'vastly' extended so when the extended family is around, there's space for everyone to both eat the food and then take naps when it all just gets too much !

On a more serious level, then in recent years that 'deep seated vein of racism' that exists within the UK which has come up to the surface more means that 'integration' has been called out by those shouting on and on about it. There are communities not just of Indian and/or Pakistani heritage which do seem to be more 'insular' and some more than others. I personally do believe that those communities should 'try' to integrate more and some initiatives to do so I think are a step in the right direction. Some will not change at all which is a shame.

KFDancer - It's taken quite some time overall in terms of all the building work we've done over the last 15-20 years and last summers 'round' was maximising space and storage for what we had 'left'. We were refused planning permission on the size of one of the extra bedrooms (we should have done it back in 2006) which we were disappointed about so had to settle for a room less than half the size we wanted. That lead us to convert the loft which we hadn't considered (it was due just a tidy up for storage) so we kind of got the space that way. We went for a full paint and decor upgrade, didn't really need to but did it anyway. It's more modern with elements of contemporary aspects. We had to move the Bar from the 2nd to main living room as half of that is now my nephews 'toy room';



The booze stock changes relatively often! We need to get a few more specific bottles!

Ksand24 - I agree! it was always 'series' that would me mentioned and the last decade as more and more people got Sky telly etc, the word 'season' has come in. The reason for that is the 'amount' of US TV shows that are shown on UK telly given Sky and Virgin Media's channel packages.

Vickie - You didn't miss anything as such! Property in general is one of my areas of interest and given I'm over in the US as much as possible and see all of what family, friends and their acquaintances have, we've now got a 'decent' sized house too - it's been a long slog over the years to get here though! I'm also kind of glad that from the road itself, you'd not ever really be able to tell we're around 3000 sq Ft.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

Okay, living in the Deep South all my life, I can assure everyone that racial issues are so complicated and complex from every point of view.  Some see one thing, and others see other things, and still others will see things no one else does.  On and on.  And too often, it is tragic all the way around.  So I think we should invite the whole world over for a bacon butty and talk about it.  And I would add clotted cream to that, but it is obvious, I can't AFFORD it.  Yikes!

I love Grantchester, and I did read the first novel, but really liked the TV series much better.  Different kettle of fish though.  I loaned the first series/season to my daughter and her only comment was how "dark" it was.  Darker than the book.  Love James Norton and Robson Green.

Yes, every time we watch a British series, we are paying attention to the houses.  The rooms and yards seems small and the doors huge.  But then, here we are, in American, not happy unless our houses are sprawled out and our yards are several acres.  But then, we obviously have the room to sprawl, thus the mindset.  Also, we love the locations where UK shows are filmed because the architecture over there is so amazing to us, so beautiful.  Here, we are boxy and boring.  Utilitarian, don't you know.  Yawn.   We don't have a "Gherkin" downtown.  I'm envious.

Dennis:  Over here we forget all about restrictions, such as the size of bedrooms.  Sounds like you adjusted very nicely though.  3,000 square feet.  Nice!  My question is about kitchen size in the UK.  When I first moved here, it seemed every new house I looked at had tiny kitchens--in one house, it was no more than a nook off the dining room.  I did buy a house with a nice sized kitchen and big honking cabinets.  Not enough kitchen cabinets in the world.

Also, in this area of the country the ground is clay.  In every house I looked at that was on a slab, the slab was cracked.  Scared me, so I bought an old woodframe farmhouse up on piers.  Yes, I have been here about 15 years, and there are still things I want to do to the house.