RELOCATION BLOG
Move quickly. Do not dawdle as though you have all the time in the world, even if you have got all the time in the world. You need to keep up with the pedestrian traffic, otherwise you will find people knocking into you or shouting at you to get a move on. Stuff needs to happen and the world needs to be saved and if I miss this train the next one could be a whole two minutes away. Don't be the obstruction to salvation.
Of course, you all know we are a ridiculously, almost eye-wateringly, polite nation of people. If ever there is an opportunity to say, "please", "thank you", or "sorry", then we are there - whether or not we've had an invitation. So it seems all the more discourteous when some people choose not to follow the "rules". Oh yes, the rules, unwritten as they may be, are as valid as the statutes which form our legal system.
Welcome to our fifth and long overdue instalment in our "about Britain" series. For the uninitiated, Britain can appear to be a pretty odd place. We have odd habits, odd food, odd weather, odd taps and an even odder sense of humour. It's nothing that a good bout of cultural training can't sort out, but I'm going to run a series of posts about what makes the Brits so wonderfully weird - or weirdly wonderful - which may help anybody relocating to understand what the heck we are all about.
You're probably wondering why I am writing about Coronation chicken when the Queen's Coronation was in 1953 and the 60th anniversary of said event was back in 2013. Well, as you may or may not know, our Queen has just celebrated her 90th birthday and it is customary in the UK to use Coronation chicken like it is going out of fashion whenever anything remotely royal occurs. Prince Philip also celebrated a birthday last week - his 95th - but nobody seemed to care.
1. We love the middle lane of the motorway
Our road sense is so bad in Britain that the Government produced a set of guidelines - The Highway Code, which applies to England, Scotland and Wales.
Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, and if you disobey these rules you are committing a criminal offence.
Welcome to our third instalment in our "about Britain" series. For the uninitiated, Britain can appear to be a pretty odd place. We have odd habits, odd food, odd weather, odd taps and an even odder sense of humour. It's nothing that a good bout of cultural training can't sort out, but I'm going to run a series of posts about what makes the Brits so wonderfully weird - or weirdly wonderful - which may help our non-indigenous friends to understand what the heck we are all about.
Welcome to our second instalment in our "about Britain" series. For the uninitiated, Britain can appear to be a pretty odd place. We have odd habits, odd food, odd weather, odd taps and an even odder sense of humour. It's nothing that a good bout of cultural training can't sort out, but I'm going to run a series of posts about what makes the Brits so wonderfully weird - or weirdly wonderful - which may help our non-indigenous friends to understand what the heck we are all about.
Although our winters can be (i.e. tend to be) wet and windy or cold and hostile, they can also be very beautiful, and a great opportunity to get out and about and enjoy our countryside. Colourful autumn leaves, crisp, sunny days or wet and wild weather all make wonderful settings for some mood-boosting exercise alone or with friends and family.
For the uninitiated, Britain can appear to be a pretty odd place. We have odd habits, odd food, odd weather, odd taps and an even odder sense of humour. It's nothing that a good bout of cultural training can't sort out, but I'm going to run a series of posts about what makes the Brits so wonderfully weird - or weirdly wonderful - which may help our non-indigenous friends to understand what the heck we are all about.
There may be the odd bit of colourful language and perhaps even some controversial ideas, so in the unlikely event you are offended by any content, Celsium would like to make it absolutely clear that we are very sorry you aren't a little more laid-back.
On top of all the other mountains of stuff you have to consider when relocating overseas, you do have to think about your driving licence. Fortunately, you have at least 12 months from the date you became a resident in Great Britain before you need to think about it, and up to 3 years if you passed your test in the EU or EEA.
The rules do vary a little depending upon where you actually passed your test but below is a brief summary of what you can, can't and should do.
Official figures have measured new record highs (I know, it is hard to believe we are hearing this again...) for average house prices in the UK, with growth of 6.1% over the past year. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) measured a jump of £1,000 in the typical cost of a property between August and September. It left the average price at a new peak of £286,000.
This may be "good news" for the property industry, but it's not so great for home buyers, especially first-time buyers who traditionally drive the market.
Trade descriptions: Toad in the hole contains neither toad meat nor holes.
The origin of the strange and unsavoury name is as vague as when the dish was born - which is purported to be no earlier than the first half of the 18th century, when batter puddings first became popular - but the most accepted explanation is that the sausages poking out the batter resemble toads poking their heads out of holes. As they have a habit of doing. This metaphor was obviously pitched by somebody with pretty poor eyesight. My advice is that if your sausage in any way resembles a toad, take it back to the shop whence it came.
There's been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the introduction of the right to rent checks, but whether or not you like the idea, the Government is forging ahead with it following what is claimed to be a rather unfruitful pilot of the scheme in the West Midlands.
Right to rent checks have been introduced as part of the government’s ongoing reforms to the immigration system and from 1 February 2016, all private landlords in England will have to make right to rent checks. This means checking that tenants have the right to be in the UK. It doesn't say a lot for the Border Agency, does it?
In the second of our Great British dishes, we're venturing north of the border into Scotland to take a look at a dish called "stovies".
Now I'm guessing that unless you're Scottish or have ventured into Scotland on more than one occasion you have no idea what stovies are. Or is.
Like any dish in any country, everybody has their own little recipe but essentially, stovies is a simple but deliciously tasty and warming, Scottish potato-based dish.
As the rest of the world seems to think that British food is, on the whole, bloody awful, we're going to publish a series of articles about traditional British dishes that are really quite delicious to educate and prove to our overseas friends that British dishes are every bit as good as those of any other country.
As it is "Seafood Week" in the UK from Friday 9 October to Friday 16 October 2015, we shall start with the humble kipper.
As the Great British Bake-off looks at Victorian cooking, amateur chefs can recreate recipes from this iconic era at home by drawing on uniquely British ingredients which have been awarded protected food name status.
From Yorkshire Rhubarb to Fenland Celery, Traditional Bramley Apple Pie Filling to Jersey Royals, many of the 64 UK protected food names were popularised by the Victorians.
Traditional pastry dishes such as Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Cornish Pasties were a staple of the Victorian diet for many. Baking a Victorian pie provides the perfect opportunity to pair regional specialities from the list like Scotch Beef with Kentish Ale or Gloucestershire Old Spots Pork and Herefordshire Cider.
This summer Traditional Bramley Apple Pie Filling became the latest UK product to be recognised under the EU scheme receiving the support of celebrity chefs including Phil Vickery. Businesses awarded with Protected Food Name status have reported a boost in sales, helping power local economies, increase employment and drive up tourism. These are estimated to have already contributed more than £900 million to the European economy.
Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss said:
Iconic British foods that we have enjoyed since Victorian times are experiencing a resurgence in popularity, and more people are experimenting with recipes using protected foods.
The UK has the most diverse list of protected food names in Europe, embracing every part of the UK - from cheese made on Orkney, rhubarb from Yorkshire, to the world-famous Cornish pasty. Legally protecting these foods uses our proud food heritage to bring greater investment, jobs and tourism to local communities.
The British brand is recognised globally for its quality and traceability, and protected food names can make that brand even stronger. We are championing more British delicacies to be awarded with this prestigious status, giving the nation’s bakers even more delicious, high-quality protected ingredients to choose from.
Create your own Victorian feast with ingredients that draw on traditional production methods, ancient landscapes and local customs. The full list of UK protected food names can be found online, but we’ve suggested some Victorian favourites to seek out this week - all to be seasoned with a pinch of Anglesey Sea Salt.
Apple pie is a British classic, with recipes going back to the time of Chaucer. Traditional Bramley Apple Pie Filling became the latest protected food name to be registered earlier this year, and must be made according to a particular recipe which dates back to the 1880s and remains unchanged. Take it to the next level by using Armagh Bramley Apples.
Afternoon tea was a Victorian invention to fill the gap between lunch and later dinner times. No afternoon tea is complete without scones, jam and Cornish Clotted Cream, which gained its protected status in 1998.
Yorkshire’s rhubarb triangle is home to Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb, which was sent to London and Paris for Christmas in the late nineteenth century on a special express train that left from Ardsley station every night during the rhubarb season - at its peak it carried up to 200 tons of rhubarb sent by up to 200 growers.
Fenland Celery was a fashionable winter delicacy, transported from East Anglia to grace the dinner tables of London every Christmas. The main variety grown today, Dwarf White, was developed over 100 years ago.
East Kent Goldings have been sold under that name since 1838, grown exclusively in East Kent by a handful of growers. In the 1870s Kent was home to 46,600 acres of hops—today only 1,000 survive, including the East Kent Golding, which is one of the local varieties used to make Kentish Ale, another protected food name.
