Queen's English as a Second Language Part Four

Diversion--Detour, as in "Starting at the next stop, this bus will be on diversion."

High Street--main shopping street, as in "Order online and pick up on your local high street."

Bin--Trash Can, as in "Just chuck it in the bin."

Rubbish--Trash, as in "place your rubbish in the bin."

Beef Mince--Ground Beef, as in "For dinner we are having mince meat pie."

 Tiddly--Slightly drunk

Bollards--traffic barrier

Primary School--Elementary School
Secondary School--High School

Trolley--Cart (can be a grocery cart or one used at the airport), as in "This trolley has a dodgy wheel."

Scheme--Program (with no negative connotation), as in "Please see the attached latest Payroll Scheme" or "England recently developed a Pet Travel Scheme to avoid animal quarantine."

Swede--Rutabaga 

Football--Soccer

Lorry--Semi-truck

Footpath--Sidewalk, as in "Be sure to walk on the footpath so you don't get hit by a car."

Arcade--Covered passageway (typically filled with shops), as in, "The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery is in the Royal Opera Arcade off Pall Mall."

Gob--mouth, as in "Shut your great big gob!"

Queue--line, as in "Why does no one know how to queue around here?"

Boot--Trunk, as in "Help me get these bags in the boot."

Tourist Day

Last week we went to Westminster Abbey where we got free admission with our City Save cards for being residents of Westminster borough. Beats paying the £18 admission fee per person!

Below is a close up of the archway as you enter the Abbey.

Here are a few photos inside Westminster Abbey.

I liked the view of the courtyard area in the photo below since you can see part of the Houses of Parliament as well. 

Warren found one of the streets named after him!

We had lunch at Meat Market near Covent Garden, which came recommended by my friend, Cierra. It was by far the best restaurant burger I've had in a very long time. And the drinks had free refills! That never happens here. 

I got a cheeseburger which came with ketchup, mustard, pickles, and red onion. I typically don't like 3 out of those 4 things but it was a really great combination and I will definitely get the exact same thing next time, too! 

It was a great day seeing a major London site. I would recommend going to Westminster Abbey if you are interested in where many of the historic rulers are buried and I would recommend Meat Market to any burger lover!

Christmas Day in the City

In preparation for our first Christmas in London, I had read some articles online that said the city is practically empty on Christmas Day. All the buses and tubes shut down so there are less people in the city, less cars on the road, and you can get photos of a post-apocalyptic looking London. I was so looking forward to seeing the city this way and getting some really good photos without any people in them. Unfortunately, there were still tons of people out! I still took some good photos and was able to crop out the people for the most part. I think we would need to go earlier next time to see an empty London.

We went to Buckingham Palace which is typically swarming with tourists. There were still quite a few tourists but way fewer than a typical day. 

There were also way fewer people near the Houses of Parliament. It was actually pretty easy to walk across the bridge when typically it is such a hassle to try to get through. 

I have wanted to take my photo with one of the horse guards but there are always so many people around!

I love this view of the Shard (the tall building on the right). You can really see how massive it is when you compare it to Tower Bridge toward the left of the photo).

At Tower Hill the grass is still recovering from all those poppies that had been on display. I thought this little Christmas tree looked kind of sad all alone in the moat. 

The Christmas tree at Somerset House looked much more festive. They also have an outdoor ice skating rink there. 

This next photo is at Charing Cross station. I love this building in person but it is hard to capture it in a photo. 

This is definitely the least amount of people and cars that I have ever seen on Regent Street!

Marble Arch is also usually packed with people and so many buses come around this corner. It was uncharacteristically peaceful on Christmas. This arch was originally designed for Buckingham Palace but Queen Victoria thought it was ugly. So she had a carriage made for her that was too wide to fit through the Marble Arch so they had to move it elsewhere. 

This area of Marble Arch was formerly called Speaker's Corner and it is where they did public executions for a long time. Before being executed people were allowed to make a speech as long as it did not start a riot or offend the royal family. To this day on Sundays people come to make speeches or to protest. We came past here on a bus on a Sunday a few weeks ago and here is a photo I took of the protest going on that day.

This statue, called Still Water, is also at Marble Arch.

We also went to Trafalgar Square but there were a lot more people there than I expected for Christmas Day. 

This is the least crowded I have ever seen Oxford Circus. This is a major shopping area and the tube station is always packed. It was nice to walk down the street and see the store displays without so many people around. 

Even though it wasn't quite what I was expecting as far as an empty London it was still a great Christmas in the city. The weather was really nice and we had good company with some of Warren's coworkers. 

An English Christmas

Christmas in England is fairly similar to Christmas in the United States. But there are some differences that I thought I'd share. 

Christmas Crackers--at Christmas parties and at the Christmas meal people open these crackers that look like oversized candies. The cracker is pulled by two people with their arms crossed.

One of the items inside is a paper crown (see photos below). 

My friend Pamela brought crackers to our Secret Santa gift exchange dinner and inside each cracker was a crown, a fortune, and a moustache. Below is a photo of Kate and me after opening our crackers. 

Hampers filled with nice food items and wine are a very popular gift at Christmastime. A lot of companies give these to their employees. Below are photos of window displays advertising hampers. 

Mince pies are one type of food that is really popular at Christmastime. Just about every store that sells food sells mince pies this time of year and I've even seen a couple ice cream places selling mince pie ice cream. I tried a couple different mince pies but did not care for them. It is a really strong flavour of cloves and other spices.

Yule log cakes are another popular food item during Christmas. 

Christmas puddings are another tradition this time of year. Puddings are popular year round (sticky toffee pudding or spotted dick pudding) but Christmas pudding is made of dried fruits, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and other spices. Christmas pudding is often served with brandy butter. The photo below is of a cake that is shaped like a Christmas pudding not an actual Christmas pudding. 

Chestnuts are sold by street vendors all around England this time of year. After all these years of singing "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" I was finally able to try some! I really liked them, but Warren was not a fan. 

During the Christmas season we have seen people dressed up in costume who are collecting donations for charity. Below is a photo of a woman we saw in Oxford dressed as Queen Victoria. 

London seems to go all out with Christmas decorations. Below are photos of some of my favourites. 

This next photo is of fake snow outside a store. There are a few stores that have been doing this. A machine just spits out fake snow on and off all day. These kids were really enjoying it. 

Even though saying "Merry Christmas" is very common here I've still seen signs and cards that say "Happy Christmas". 

One thing I am really looking forward to this Christmas is watching the special episodes of some of my favourite British TV shows. I already have Dr Who, Downton Abbey, Derek, and Call the Midwife set to record on Christmas Day. 

The day after Christmas is a bank holiday called Boxing Day. One origin story for Boxing Day is that it was a day for servants of wealthy families to spend with their families since they would have worked on Christmas Day at their master's Christmas party or dinner. The employers would give them a box with gifts and leftover food. Now it is a paid holiday and a big shopping day.