Results tagged “england”

I grew up in a small town somewhere just a little south and just a little east of "the middle of England". When I first started driving, it was all about little country roads. Then slightly bigger roads into the slightly bigger towns. Then bigger trips up and down the Motorway to cities far and wide.

The first time I drove in Cambridge was an eye opening experience. The first time I drove in London was an eye opening experience. These were not the little country roads anymore. Before long I was shouting and giving obscene gestures to other drivers along with the best of them. Just like you did. It's a driver's rite of passage. Or something.

I left the shores of dear old Blighty to live in Italy for a couple of years and realized British drivers were amazing, stellar, perfectionists. Driving in Italy amounted to what I can best describe as total anarchy. A stop sign does not actually mean stop. A fact I learned from a rather nice Italian chap who gave me some polite advice after almost running into the back of me. I'm pretty sure it was polite advice, he gave me hand signals and seemed very enthusiastic.

The big jump across the pond followed and I began my driving adventure in the US. One thing I learned almost immediately, drivers in America are aggressive. Well, maybe I should qualify that. Drivers in Phoenix are aggressive. The first time I tried the simple task of merging onto a Freeway was all rather entertaining. The idiot trying to have me take part in an awesome-off by refusing to let me in actually taught me a valuable lesson though. There's no such thing as driver's etiquette here. It's every driver for themselves.

Fast forward to today and I don't get stressed out about the driving here at all. Life is too short to let your blood boil about things so trivial. Now I just assume everyone around me is a homicidal maniac ready to flip out at any time and I let them get on with it. Ignorance really is bliss. Don't pay any attention to the douche nice driver next to you, in front of you, or behind you. Just go with the flow, turn that music up, and smile.

Yesterday I was listening to my less than ten playlist on my iPod. It's my way of getting caught up on songs that I haven't really listened to all that much. It's fun especially when songs by artists you didn't even remember you had soak your eardrums. If they're tracks from your childhood, the memories come flooding back and you can't help but soak up the nostalgia.

As I listened I started wondering whatever happened to some of these artists. Not in the sense of "where are they now?" because some still make music today. No. More in the sense of "whatever happened to them being good?" kind of thing. They had their golden era and their new material ranges from meh to just a little bit crap.

Prince

Remember when Prince used to be good? No? Never a Prince fan in your youth? Well I was when I was a teenager and saw him twice in concert. Now whenever songs like Raspberry Beret or Little Red Corvette come on the radio I grin and have a bit of a sing along. As you do. My iPod dutifully presented Purple Rain and Sign O' The Times yesterday. Both excellent songs. Classics that I hadn't listened to in years. A stark contrast to his latest song that I had the misfortune to catch on the radio the other day. I think I said "oh dear" out loud and changed to station about half way through.

Erasure

I used to love Erasure. Anything Vince Clarke touched in the 80s (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Erasure) was something special. At one point they were my favorite group. I had all the abums, singles, and posters on my wall. They were actually the first proper band I saw live when they toured The Innocents album in 1988. As I listened to Leave Me To Bleed yesterday I was like "hello, old friend" as I was instantly transported back to being a kid listening to that album in my bedroom. While they still make albums (twelve studio albums to date), nothing can compare to the first three. I've given their newer albums a try but I don't like them at all.

U2

U2 are an odd beast aren't they? They're still cranking out the albums, playing to record audiences around the world, and are arguably as popular today as they ever were. But I have such a hard time getting into their newer stuff. I've tried. But in all honesty I haven't really been all that into anything they've done since Achtung Baby. In my opinion, their last truly good album. Yesterday A Sort Of Homecoming came on which prompted me to listen to The Unforgettable Fire in it's entirety. Both that album and their followup, The Joshua Tree, are their masterpieces. Truly their golden era.

So, to conclude then.

I dunno, maybe those artists still are good. Maybe it's just that my taste in music has evolved over the years. Sure I still like the older songs but maybe that's because of the nostalgia factor. Because they represent the soundtrack to my childhood. Would I still like those classic songs if I'd never heard of the band before and they released them today? Impossible to say. Would make for an interesting test though.

Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to get back to listening to Iron Maiden's new album.

You know how you have that one moment on the internet where your sense of humor says cheerio for a bit and you post something you regret? Something that makes you seem like your head is well and truly up your own arse? You do? Oh good, because for me, that moment was yesterday on Twitter.

But I guess in a sense it's not all bad because at least I got someone whose face adorned my bedroom wall as a teenager to call me Mr Miserable. An ex-member of The Cure Mr Roger O'Donnell. That's @rogerodonnell to you Twitterers.

It went a bit like this.

Roger posted:

"OK so Im using Qwitter now, any of you losers dump me and Ill know all about it ... So watch it ! http://useqwitter.com/"

Which, while utterly hilarious, went way over my head and you could actually hear that wooosh noise. So, what else was captain spencer-no-fun to do but reply:

"@rogerodonnell bit of advice mate, insulting people that follow you is not necessarily the optimal way to ensure they stick around."

Which I kinda regretted as soon as I hit that magic send button. Don't you hate that? I hoped figured he'd just ignore it. But he didn't:

"@kevin_spencer Seems my sense of humour is lost on you, will you be my first Qwitter? Go on you know you want to, theres a prize..."

And then of course because I absolutely don't know how to quit when I'm being a douche ahead, I unfollowed:

"@rogerodonnell done. That was easy wasn't it?".

And that was that. Well, not quite, he wasn't quite done yet:

"Wow I feel like Ive just been in a fight up the pub hahaha Some people are very touchy aren't they? Oh well never mind, hope he's happy now"

And then:

"But wait, now Mr Miserable has gone I wont know where to send the prize!"

I think my life is now somewhat complete.

Oh, and the irony of someone who used to be in The Cure calling me Mr Miserable is not lost on me ;-)

Update: and in a surprise twist, Roger suggested we put this all behind us. Which is fair enough and quite unexpected actually. So I accepted. The whole thing still makes me smile though.

For a Brit living in America, Independence Day has always felt a little odd for me. Sure I go with the flow and enjoy beer and hot dogs along with the next, er, beer and hot dog enthusiast. Just a little peculiar to celebrate that my country lost a war.

Woohoo, we got our arses kicked, good job colonists, now pass me another beer won't you old chap.

But that was all such a long time ago. Water under the bridge, and in the spirit of Anglo-American relations I say congratulations on beating us fair and square, we were a bit crap in that war anyway. We got a lot better after that.

So, dear Americans, whatever you find yourself up to on this holiday weekend, enjoy yourselves and I'll have a beer for you.

Both of my teams qualified for the next stage of the world cup today. The USA beating Algeria means they ended up winning the group. And I honestly didn't think I'd ever type that sentence.

The Telegraph has some of the best live match commentary. Often brilliant actually. Today's instant reaction to Landon Donovan's late goal that pushed England into the second spot in the group, where we'll face Germany, made me giggle.

The USA have come fashionably late to the party, leaving us at the mercy of the Germans. It's World War Two all over again.

So in a few days time a little tournament will be starting in South Africa. You may have heard of it. Actually, If you don't like soccer football, you probably haven't. But that's ok, it just means you're weird.

So yeah, the World Cup is held every four years and in my home country, it's a really big deal. Huge. Massive. Flags on cars massive. Country comes to a standstill massive. You get the idea.

What makes this World Cup particularly interesting for me is the fact that my home team is in the same group as my newly adopted home team.

And wouldn't you know it, we play each other in the very first game in our group.

So while I'm going to be supporting the USA in spirit in all their games, after all I've been here for 13 years now so I bloody well should, that all goes out the window when they play England. Actual home country beats adopted home country every day of the week.

Is it June 12th yet? I can't wait. Sorry USA, we'll try to go easy on you.

A few years back I created a Facebook account. It was fun as I added people I'd known 20 years ago back in School, got to say hello and catch up. For the most part it was good, well, as long as you ignored all the bloody invitations, pokes, quizzes, "are you a vampire", "what tree does your leg look like" type stuff.

But something else happened along the way.

Recently I think I've become uncomfortable with Facebook in general. With their ever changing privacy policy, the muddy rules on what data of yours they own, and their new found desire to be the web for all people, I realized I kinda disliked the the idea of Facebook's walled garden in principle.

So just over a week ago I deleted my account. Not the deactivate account thingy in your settings (that does nothing). The actual permanently delete your account, wait two weeks, and it's gone thingy.

To be honest this isn't really that big of a deal. I rarely used it anyway. In fact in the past 12 months, I think I've probably only really logged in twice. If that.

Happy St George's Day everyone. What? Never heard of it? Oh come on now, he's only the patron saint of England.

And do you know what we do in England on St George's Day? Party like the Irish do on St Patrick's day? Give each other presents? Have the day off from work?

Nope. We do absolutely nothing. In fact there's no possible way the population could give any less of a shit if they tried.

We're good like that.

It's Friday, been a long week, so obviously there's really only one thing to do. Show you some Englishy things in Uncle Kev's kitchen that made him smile and remember Blighty. As you do.

First up that bastion of "ugh, what the hell is that?", my old friend Marmite.

Was really quite amusing to see my better half's reaction as she ate some. Classic would be an understatement. One thing is certain, she won't be going back for more.

Next, it's the crumbliest, flakiest milk chocolate in the world. Those in England will know that back in the day (I don't know if they still do it), Cadbury's ran some rather suggestive ads that basically showed a woman going down on a Flake. I kid you not.

Right, and last of all, two chocolate bars that I ate copious amounts of as a kid. So nice to see that they still make them. Crunchie, and Yorkie. Note: Yorkie bars are clearly not for girls, because it says so right there on the wrapper.

You're welcome.

I've developed quite a relationship with photography over the past couple of years. I've gone from taking the same-old photos of vacations to shoot anything and everything in quite a short time. I now count photography as one of my favorite hobbies.

Like other amateur photographers, I carry my camera around with me almost everywhere I go. You can never tell when that something interesting will come along - being able to shoot anything on the spur of the moment is probably some of the most fun you can have with a camera.

But what if you couldn't shoot whatever you wanted? What if that was forbidden? What if you were considered a subversive, a criminal, an evil-doer bent on doing harm with the terrifying angle of your lens? Sounds silly right? All a bit far-fetched and something out of movie perhaps? Well, for photographers in the UK, it's becoming a scary reality.

If you have a few minutes, go have a peek at an article in The Guardian describing police harassment of a photographer. The bloke in question was smart enough to film his own arrest and it's well worth your time to go give the video a watch.

It's truly mind boggling that the world has come to this. It's beyond moronic to think that everyone taking photos in a town center is plotting harm. In fact I'll call it what it is: bullshit. Some people, like me, just like taking photos. That's it. No agenda. We just like it.

I wonder how this is going to play out in 2012 when London hosts the Olympics. Are tourists & spectators going to be treated as criminals as they take pics in the streets? Are you going to have to declare your camera when you enter the country? Register for some kind of photography license? Hold a concealed weapon camera permit?

In which I flap on about things I like about America. Today? Plugs mate.

Simple thing plugs. You... (wait for it) ...plug them in and behold, the magic and brilliance of electricity can be yours for the use thereof. But not all plugs are created equally. Some are, in fact, better than others.

In America, plugs are really quite tiny. Which is good. I like that. The kind you get is entirely dependent on whether your gadget requires grounding. If it doesn't then a simple two prong whatsit is all that you'll need.

If it does require grounding then you'll get a slightly larger plug with a third grounding prong thingy. Both plug into the same wall socket. Which is nice.

So let's recap. American plugs are small. And I like small. So that works out rather well doesn't it.

Now, the British design is somewhat different. Somewhat larger lets say. In fact, compared to its American counterpart, it's an absolute giant among plugs. A giant I tell you.

Just look at that thing. Three giant prong doodlies, so large you could have someone's eye out with those things. I believe the British plugs are closely modeled on medieval battlefield weapons.

They're full of fuses, wires, nooks for small animals to live in, and a place where electricians like to keep their bacon. Which I feel is bordering on the ridiculous. Electricians don't even eat bacon.

So, size does matter kids. Smaller is better. After having used both types of plugs for many years, the American plug is far easier to carry around. Just a little less handy for beating up a burglar with.

[Moozik: Android Lust - Kingdom Of One]

Growing up in England means that you miss out on all kinds of nasty things. I mean, for one, there are no natural disasters. No tornadoes, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no volcanoes. And there really aren't that many poisonous creepy crawlers to worry about.

Now, compare that to the US. We've got all the natural disasters taken care of. And we sure have our fair share of creepy crawling goodies. Last year at my old house I had a couple of Black Widow Spider nests on my front porch that were fun to get rid of.

This year, new house, new creepy crawlers. We've had some decent sized spiders appear in the house and I've killed them. My better half goes off screaming while I grab a paper towel and go a squishing. All good right? Well yeah, until we found a scorpion in the laundry room. And then another one in the garage last week.

I don't mind killing them but it's a little worrying when you've got a little one sleeping in her bed close by. So, we're having the exterminators of doom come out to the house next week to, well, exterminate I guess. Die crawlers, die.

[Moozik: Nine Inch Nails - In This Twilight]

The other day someone asked me if I'd ever done the cheese rolling thing.

Them: You're from England, have you ever done that cheese rolling thing?
Me: Er what cheese rolling thing would that be then?
Them: You know, that one they do in England, down that hill.
Me: ??

Every once in a while I'm reminded that while I'm from England, I'm not automatically an expert in everything that goes on in England. This would be one of those times. In fact over the years I've had to explain that I'm also not an expert on Castles, Polo, MI-6, or Benny Hill but that's another blog post for another day.

So obviously I had to go and find out what cheese rolling thing they were talking about. I must admit, shame on my nation that I am, I've never heard of the Cooper's Hill cheese roll in my life. But there you go. No matter of course, and as it turns out, absolute nutters we Brits are.

I'd certainly have a good laugh watching them in person. Watching with beer obviously.

Again, all credit to Big Picture for some amazing photos. Go have a peek at them.

[Moozik: Gary Numan - Pure]

Things have been super busy lately both on the home front and at work. You'll have noticed a distinct slowdown in how often I post here. Once this month is over I hope to rectify that and get my blogging focus back. Either that or I won't, time will tell. Still, I have found myself posting to Twitter with greater regularity. I guess I held off as long as I could and I'm now sucked in.

Two quick life updates of note.

Firstly my other half and I have decided to move in together. Exciting stuff. We've been house hunting for the past 3 weeks and found somewhere nice last week. I move at the end of the month and she'll move after that. Going to be super busy but I absolutely cannot wait. More to follow obviously as this month unfolds.

Secondly I've made the decision to apply for American Citizenship. I've been here so long that I'm practically an honorary yank anyway. The good thing of course is that I'll be keeping my British Passport and doing the whole dual nationality thing. Which will amuse me no end when I can breeze through passport control in England while others are stuck in the "foreigners" queue. More to follow on this as well.

[Moozik: Jane's Addiction - Jane Says]

I really really miss Walkers crisps. Crisps here in the US are ok, but they really don't hold a candle to the absolute goodness that is Walkers Salt & Vinegar. Yum.

It's been a while since I had a look at the different flavours and currently those lucky buggers in the UK can just pop down to the shop and get:

• Ready Salted
• Cheese & Onion
• Salt & Vinegar
• Steak & Onion
• Smoky Bacon
• Chilli & Lemon
• Roast Chicken
• Prawn Cocktail
• Pickled Onion
• Marmite
• Tomato Ketchup
• BBQ Rib
• Worcester Sauce

Marmite? Tomato Ketchup? When did they add those? I must have overlooked those last year. Bugger. Not being in the UK also means I won't get to try out the new flavours they're introducing.

There are six new ones and the public can vote for the flavour that Walkers will end up permanently adding to their selection.

• Fish & Chips
• Crispy Duck & Hoisin
• Cajun Squirrel
• Builder's Breakfast
• Onion Bhaji
• Chilli & Chocolate

I'm particularly interested in the Cajun Squirrel and Builder's Breakfast flavours. So, for anyone reading this in the UK, please go out and try as many of these flavours as you can and let me know what they're like. I'll live vicariously through you.