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| Photo by Salt Water New England |
One of the charms of the British is that they have so little idea of their own virtues, and nowhere is this more true than with their happiness. You will laugh to hear me say it, but they are the happiest people on earth. Honestly. Watch any two Britons in conversation and see how long it is before they smile or laugh over some joke or pleasantry...
And the British are so easy to please. It is the most extraordinary thing. They actually like their pleasures small. That is why, I suppose, so many of their treats - teacakes, scones, crumpets, rock cakes, Rich Tea biscuits, fruit Shrewsburys - are so cautiously flavourful... Offer them something genuinely tempting - a slice of gateau or a choice of chocolates from a box - and they will nearly always hesitate and begin to worry that it's unwarranted and excessive, as if any pleasure beyond a very modest threshold is vaguely unseemly...
All this is completely alien to the American mind. To an American the whole purpose of living, the one constant confirmation of continued existence, is to cram as much sensual pleasure as possible into one's mouth more or less continuously. Gratification, instant and lavish, is a birthright...
[G]radually I came round to their way of thinking and my life has never been happier.
As a brit I can confirm that the above is very true lol especially in the county in which we live (and where Bill Bryson lived when first in the UK) You can enter a village pub or coffee shop as a stranger and leave with any number of new friends. We don't take ourselves too seriously
ReplyDeleteI recommend his "Notes from a Big Country." The parody of an IRS form is one of the funniest things I've ever read. I purchased the book as airplane reading during a UK trip, and I remember sitting in the Aberdeen airport and laughing till I cried as I read that piece. Years later, I distributed it to a high school English class, and it got a similar reaction even from people too young to have paid income tax.
ReplyDeleteHe is one of those authors who can make you laugh out loud and his observations of life in the U.K. are spot on
ReplyDeleteA wonderful, and truly fun filled book!
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