My former partner is British. She had a work visa in the US when we met. When her visa expired our only (mostly legal) option for remaining together was to move to the UK, that was 1997. We were one of the first couples to successfully apply through the (then) Unmarried Partners Concession that Blair's government put in place. It took over two years to resolve, during which time I couldn't (legally) work or leave the country as my passport was in the longest queue in Britain (in Croydon at the INS).

Unfortunately our relationship crumbled under the strain and power imbalance, though we lasted through and beyond the process.

I returned to the US when my step-father passed away suddenly, leaving my family amidst huge grief and disorder.

I miss blighty & all my people there - MUCH.

LOL, Ender, we don't have that here, not at any delicatessen that I know of. But I could most probably deal with white pudding much easier than black pudding.

I suspect that a sausage made with what is essentially lard would be pretty rich for my tastes, though, and would probably give me indigestion no matter how much I liked it.

Roast beef baked in a big stockpot with onions, celery, carrots, and potatoes. My mom always used to sear the meat on all sides first, then sprinkle a packet of dry (instant) onion soup mix on the beef before she put it in the oven. I have no idea how much water she put in the pot, probably a cup or two.

Incubus, lashings of ginger beer makes me think of storms with rain lashing down. Thanks for telling me the reference, and for defining Toad in the Hole and butty!

Here is the description of the "bacon" from All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Heriot.

LOL. Yes i remember. At first Siegried was all excited -- good old english fare. LOL.

Oh and the descriptions of when James would visit the city vet and his wife and overeat and get drunk. . . . those were great.

You guys really like james herriot dontcha ?

What about ab fab ?

Looove Patsy.

Fawlty Towers and Are You Being Served? are prolly my favorite British comedies though.

i also have enjoyed:

Jeeves and Wooster -- i love Stephen Fry but i am a little sad that he is dating that child.
Rumpole of the Baily
Inspector Morse
Cadfael
Prime Suspect
Sharpe

i cannot stand Mr. Bean although i like Black Adder. But Mr. Bean evokes such revulsion that i actually was a bit squicked when i saw Rowan Atkinson at the Royal Wedding.

What British shows do you like? What shows from other countries?

Am not a television viewer really.

Cold case
Ncis
LA ink.

Used to watch wonder years when I was a child.

Winnie - sigh xx

I am slightly embarrassed to say, so don't tell, Gav and Stacy

Oh...What's occurrin'? :winky:

thank you for your condolences he was a good man and it was very difficult to be so far away at the time.

I left in late 2004, arriving a mere five days before 'W' was re-elected against home grown candidate John Kerry. It was a depressing 'welcome home' event. :|

I have NOT been back since then, I am terribly terribly remiss. The exchange rate has been so poor, and then in turn I became so poor.
I'm hoping to meet a group of my London friends in the Autumn though, location to be determined.

Yes, I did travel around Europe when I lived there.
Admittedly I am a sun seeker....so I made multiple trips to Italy and Spain; I also saw a bit of France and the Netherlands.

Have you traveled in North America before?

I actually hadn't done very much traveling in the US until I came back from Europe.

Oh the temptation to turn right around was GREAT!

I did love Amsterdam, the people are so warm and friendly, the town is so easy to navigate and it was close enough to make a long weekend of it easily.

I visited Spain almost every year and most of my travels were in Catalunya.
I was also entranced with Gaudi's work and would visit annually to check on the progress of Sagrada Familia; which is AMAZING!!! Over 150 years on and still building to his plans.

And then I discovered Sitges! :D I usually stayed in Sitges and made day trips on the train to Barca and Figueres and all around the Costa Dorada and Costa Brava. I love the high speed train lines in Europe. So easy to get around.

San Francisco is definitely well worth a visit (or ten).
I hope you make it over here sometime.

The hard thing about travel, IMO, is deciding where to go...the world is full of so many amazing places. When I lived in the UK I had to balance my desire to see everything and go everywhere in Europe, with my need to also come home and see my family over here. Now that I'm here, I'm balancing my desire to travel far as opposed to the places that are much nearer (but seem so... common, so known). Does that makes sense?
It's a hard life :D

I am eating home made cheesecake whilst perusing this thread.


And am enjoying the wealth of shared information.

You might like to check out Jam and Jerusalem...written by Jennifer Saunders and starring the great and good of Brit actresses including JS herself, Joanna Lumley and Dawn French.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jam_%26_Jerusalem

i am not a Dr. Who fan though friends are and were all excited about the new one that came out recently.

thank you -- anything Stephen Fry is good. :)

re Dawn French, i am hot for her.

Dr.Who is fabulous...the new series is just a couple of episodes old and is shaping up to be as exciting as usual.

If you like Stephen you'll love QI. Have you read his books? :chaplin: