With the increased sophistication of individual websites, and improved technology I now actually have less access to some webpages than I did eight or nine years ago.
When I was an internet virgin, back in about 1999, I was only just beginning to learn how to send email. It was late in 2000 when we got 'proper' unlimited internet access via cable and I was finally able to search and find things on the internet in which I was interested. I started with the BBC (I guessed at the url) and immediately found a long wished-for window to my home and all that was familiar - or had been when I left eight years earlier. To my delight, with the installation of a "Real"player I was able to watch snippets of loved telelvision programmes, bits of the BBC news and even watch the Queen's Speech once again on Christmas Day.
The more I found I could do and see on the internet, the more copyright and licence holders wanted to protect their property. So it was that one day my beloved BBC denied me access to snippets and full episodes of their wonderful programmes simply because I lived outside the United Kingdom and didn't possess a television licence. I even wrote to thm and said I would wilingly pay for the privilege of watching programmes online, but they stood firm and continue to guard their property jealously.
Ironically, in more recent years I've discovered more about what British people are watching by way of entertainment, through the [possibly] illegal uploadings of comedy snippets to YouTube. By this means I have learned to love Catherine Tate's "Lauren", Armstrong and Miller and enjoyed some of the better adverts. It's unfortunate though, that the BBC likes to exclude people from outside the country. Once when I wanted to order something from the BBC shop, I was directed to the BBC America shop. What's the good of that? BBC America isn't worthy of its name - read their schedule if you don't believe me. It's easy enough to find.
That actually brings me to iTunes. I am a fan of all things Apple and Mac so it annoys me that this is an issue which I can't seem to resolve. Being British and having spent my first 35 years in Britain, on receipt of my first iPod and on first opening my iTunes account, I eagerly sought all those songs of my youth which I no longer heard on the radio because they were not played in America. But what? iTunes didn't have a lot of them. iTunes UK had them but every time I tried even to look, I was redirected back to iTunes USA. When I had the audacity to try to buy a song in the UK, I was told I could only buy from iTunes USA. Would this happen if I was in the UK with my laptop I wonder? So according to iTunes USA, Status Quo hasn't recorded any songs since about 1969 so I can't buy one single Quo song from the 70s and 80s. Admittedly, their listings have vastly increased over the past couple of years so I am able to get hold of a few relatively obscure song titles from Europe now, but still no Quo! What's a girl to do?
I hate feeling far from home (even after 16 years, marriage and three children, England is still home to me) but even more, I hate being excluded in this way. There ought to be a way around this that's better than pirated clips on YouTube and flying to the UK to buy CDs.
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Planning the next trip
Having developed a new love and respect for New York over the weekend, I must plan my visit to London for April and make sure I can find enough to excite and interest the offspring whilst we are there. Hopefully we wont have too much rain to spoil our walks out and about.
What might be a good idea is to approach my planning more as a teacher than a tourist. Randomly moving about London to see different things without focus and attention might be distracting, so I'm thinking of teaching them about the Tudors. (I don't think either of them have encountered the Tudors in their Soical Studies classes yet, so this will be a good start for them).
Before we leave for England, I'll find some stories for them, so they can learn about the Tudors. Then, once in London, we'll go to the places that make them come alive. First we will visit Hampton Court Palace, haunt of King Henry VIII. If it's a nice day, the gardens are nice to walk around, and, of course, there is the maze which ought to be usable in April. The palace itself is a masterpiece of Tudor architecture and one of my favourite "stately homes". We will see for ourselves how royalty lived back then.
Next we'll visit the Tower of London where we'll see Traitor's Gate, Tower Green (where two of Henry's wives were executed, as well as Mary Queen of Scots and others), and the tiny cells in which some famous prisoners were kept for many miserable years.
Later we'll visit the Museum of London to learn about the development and growth of London through the ages, and perhaps we'll also visit Shakespeare's Globe but that will depend on how tired we are!
Finally I want to take them to Madame Tussauds to see the waxworks. I haven't been there in donkey's years and it's another of my favorite places. Last time I was there, I tried to pay a waxwork figure in the gift shop, thinking it was a real person!
I might well take them to the Science Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum which are two of my favourites and which are also free and we'll definitely do the London Eye. Oh what fun! I can't wait!
What might be a good idea is to approach my planning more as a teacher than a tourist. Randomly moving about London to see different things without focus and attention might be distracting, so I'm thinking of teaching them about the Tudors. (I don't think either of them have encountered the Tudors in their Soical Studies classes yet, so this will be a good start for them).
Before we leave for England, I'll find some stories for them, so they can learn about the Tudors. Then, once in London, we'll go to the places that make them come alive. First we will visit Hampton Court Palace, haunt of King Henry VIII. If it's a nice day, the gardens are nice to walk around, and, of course, there is the maze which ought to be usable in April. The palace itself is a masterpiece of Tudor architecture and one of my favourite "stately homes". We will see for ourselves how royalty lived back then.
Next we'll visit the Tower of London where we'll see Traitor's Gate, Tower Green (where two of Henry's wives were executed, as well as Mary Queen of Scots and others), and the tiny cells in which some famous prisoners were kept for many miserable years.
Later we'll visit the Museum of London to learn about the development and growth of London through the ages, and perhaps we'll also visit Shakespeare's Globe but that will depend on how tired we are!
Finally I want to take them to Madame Tussauds to see the waxworks. I haven't been there in donkey's years and it's another of my favorite places. Last time I was there, I tried to pay a waxwork figure in the gift shop, thinking it was a real person!
I might well take them to the Science Museum or the Victoria and Albert Museum which are two of my favourites and which are also free and we'll definitely do the London Eye. Oh what fun! I can't wait!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Losing Touch
Among the many thoughts that have meandered through my mind recently was a feeling of being tired of being in America and surrounded by Americans. I even said it aloud, which was unfortunate because I have an all-American family and many American friends. Such statements are usually at the tip of an iceberg of thoughts that swim in and out of being and gather together in a hidden mass. I'm not so much tired of being here, as being separated from British culture - of being 'in' with the current slang and trends, for example.
British people enjoy wordplay, like to mimic accents and create clever catchphrases. They find humour in almost everything and once a saying or phrase has taken hold, you hear it everywhere. Sometimes it will be a direct lift from a television programme; sometimes it will be a pun-loaded headline from a tabloid newspaper, or it might be an unfortunate quote from a politician or celebrity. Everyday slang has its own evolving vocabulary which, with technology, is spreading globally, yet each country retains its own distinctive flavour. There are so many words which have entered everyday speech in Britain since I left sixteen years ago that I now sometimes have to ask for a translation.
I used to laugh a lot. There was always someone with a humorous comment and I was often quick to respond in the same vein. I'm not a comedienne but like some comedians, I need a 'feed' in order to make my own witty comeback, and join the banter. I so enjoy my visits from old friends and relatives and I despair of the lack of humour in my own family so much that I sometimes feel like an alien in my own home. I gave up making jokes many years ago when I got no response or a puzzled silence and funny looks. It truly depressed me. I know I would have returned to England back then if I hadn't been married with children.
What is it that prevents people from finding something to laugh and smile about when things aren't going well? I grew up in a home where the old wartime sentiments still had a place. Put on a happy face. Smile and the world smiles with you. Mustn't grumble. Even when we were at our saddest we found something to smile at. Some feelings were suppressed for the good of the family and community. Have things changed all that much? I think so. I thought we were all supposed to do what we could to make life better for other people by smiling, being cheerful, helping people and being considerate. Who changed the rules? We now live in a "self first" culture which is teaching children that they don't have to do something if they don't want to and that makes them selfish and a parent's work all the harder.
I miss being British in Britain. I'm taking the two youngest children with me to England but I don't want to deal with their fussy eating and their disinterest in seeing and experiencing new things. I find myself issuing daily warnings about how they ought not to behave when we go for our visit and I promise them that we will visit some places they would like to see. I don't think they know much about other countries and cultures (except what they've learned from us). At their ages I had a list of places I wanted to visit in the world, but they have the internet. What's the point of going all that way to see something they can "experience" in the living room? This is what I hear: 'Do they have cable?', 'Do they have internet?', 'Are we taking the laptop?', 'Can we take both laptops so we can have one each?' 'How can I charge my iPod?' 'Don't forget the DS charger.' 'I don't want to go on a plane.' 'I don't know what I want to do.' To be fair, I've also heard cheers at the prospect of meeting their cousins for the first time and a trip on the London Eye. They will absolutely enjoy the visit if they keep an open mind and get their heads out of the electronics!
We plan to spend a few days in London and that will include the London Eye and the Tower of London. I'd like to add the V&A and a river trip to Hampton Court Palace. I want to let them see the horseguards, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds. I love London and this is an opportunity we won't have again for a few more years. I'm lucky that we can do this and I'm excited to be able to go!
British people enjoy wordplay, like to mimic accents and create clever catchphrases. They find humour in almost everything and once a saying or phrase has taken hold, you hear it everywhere. Sometimes it will be a direct lift from a television programme; sometimes it will be a pun-loaded headline from a tabloid newspaper, or it might be an unfortunate quote from a politician or celebrity. Everyday slang has its own evolving vocabulary which, with technology, is spreading globally, yet each country retains its own distinctive flavour. There are so many words which have entered everyday speech in Britain since I left sixteen years ago that I now sometimes have to ask for a translation.
I used to laugh a lot. There was always someone with a humorous comment and I was often quick to respond in the same vein. I'm not a comedienne but like some comedians, I need a 'feed' in order to make my own witty comeback, and join the banter. I so enjoy my visits from old friends and relatives and I despair of the lack of humour in my own family so much that I sometimes feel like an alien in my own home. I gave up making jokes many years ago when I got no response or a puzzled silence and funny looks. It truly depressed me. I know I would have returned to England back then if I hadn't been married with children.
What is it that prevents people from finding something to laugh and smile about when things aren't going well? I grew up in a home where the old wartime sentiments still had a place. Put on a happy face. Smile and the world smiles with you. Mustn't grumble. Even when we were at our saddest we found something to smile at. Some feelings were suppressed for the good of the family and community. Have things changed all that much? I think so. I thought we were all supposed to do what we could to make life better for other people by smiling, being cheerful, helping people and being considerate. Who changed the rules? We now live in a "self first" culture which is teaching children that they don't have to do something if they don't want to and that makes them selfish and a parent's work all the harder.
I miss being British in Britain. I'm taking the two youngest children with me to England but I don't want to deal with their fussy eating and their disinterest in seeing and experiencing new things. I find myself issuing daily warnings about how they ought not to behave when we go for our visit and I promise them that we will visit some places they would like to see. I don't think they know much about other countries and cultures (except what they've learned from us). At their ages I had a list of places I wanted to visit in the world, but they have the internet. What's the point of going all that way to see something they can "experience" in the living room? This is what I hear: 'Do they have cable?', 'Do they have internet?', 'Are we taking the laptop?', 'Can we take both laptops so we can have one each?' 'How can I charge my iPod?' 'Don't forget the DS charger.' 'I don't want to go on a plane.' 'I don't know what I want to do.' To be fair, I've also heard cheers at the prospect of meeting their cousins for the first time and a trip on the London Eye. They will absolutely enjoy the visit if they keep an open mind and get their heads out of the electronics!
We plan to spend a few days in London and that will include the London Eye and the Tower of London. I'd like to add the V&A and a river trip to Hampton Court Palace. I want to let them see the horseguards, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace and Madame Tussauds. I love London and this is an opportunity we won't have again for a few more years. I'm lucky that we can do this and I'm excited to be able to go!
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