Put Kettle On

We've been watching so many lovely Bri - ish TV shows, I'm drinking tea!

I absolutely love the BBC and never in a million years thought I'd say that.  Right.

The BBC is like a tax in the UK.  Founded in 1922, it operates through a license fee charged to all British households and companies.  Brits pay (in pounds) the equivalent of about $200 a year which brings in about $5 billion.  Brilliant.

When first getting a feel for European life, we found out right quick that Europeans want to speak English like the Brits.  Not like Americans.  Me thinks that's a bit cheeky.

Jim's bosses, through our years in Belgium, were from Scotland and have a similar accent since they're all on that same island.  They always seemed a bit pretentious, but looking back, that's probably unfair since they simply spoke in the accent they grew up with. Like me, love.

I got used to hearing the accent and while it drove me bonkers initially, I finally embraced it and now kinda fancy it.

One time, one of our Flemish teachers introduced me to his mother and I popped over to spend a day together.  The intent was to get together regularly for her to learn better English and me to learn better Flemish.  Well, it was awkward and, bollocks, we ended up just speaking English. 

She asked a question about the difference in how Americans phrase things versus the Brits.  She wanted to know if we say "the hospital" and "the kettle" and so on.  I said yes, mate, Americans always use "the" when referring to things like that.  He's in the hospital.  I'll put the kettle on. 

She disagreed with me.  Blimey!  She said it was the Brits who used "the" because her English teacher told her that.  I told her that was simply rubbish and she had obviously misunderstood.  I'm not sure if I set her straight, the poor daft woman, but I'm bloody positive I've never said "He's in hospital." nor "Put kettle on."  

Chias, love.