My Last Post

I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my life with some of my family, friends, and a few strangers through this blog, although it still feels odd that you all know me far better than I know you! I'm shutting down the blog as it's time to return to a more private life where every adventure isn't displayed publicly through photos and stories. Besides, grocery shopping just doesn't hold the same level of intrigue in Canada as it does in England.

Part of me feels like I'm letting people down. So many of you have followed along on this journey for quite some time and I feel like you deserve an incredible finale, but there's no dramatic ending to this story. The final line of this chapter doesn't quite feel complete, but I guess that's what's so great about life: the story is never quite finished.

The Accent

I'm going to miss the variety of accents I was able to enjoy listening to in England! In Canada we tend to think there are only two accents - the Queen's English and Cockney. There are hundreds of different accents. The way people drop consonants is one of my favourite things (for example, "kettle" with no "t" sound). I recorded a few video clips to share a glimpse of my English life. (Have patience - some of the files might take a few minutes to load.)

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Emma saying, "Oh my word," a phrase that often escapes her lips and now I say it all the time.

Emma was horrified to discover that I had idea who Dr. Who is. I had heard the name numerous times while I was in England but I've never seen the show or heard anything about him beyond his name. Emma decided to enlighten me and I videotaped her explanation of Dr. Who. She scares me sometimes.

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On my last night in England I played a game with friends where we gave verbal hints to our team to get them to guess the word written on a card. A prime opportunity to record a couple of voices.

Emma getting her team to guess a few words. My favourite was the last word when she tried to get her team to guess "Essex". You'll hear the word "chav" a couple of times - this is a slang term for the teenage guys who wear big baseball caps, imitation Adidas tracksuits, gold chains, and swagger around town like they own the world but don't care about anything or anybody. I guess there are a lot of chavs in Essex.

Jess getting her team to guess a few words. Jess has one of my favourite accents - she drops consonants all the time and she also does a pretty decent imitation of an American accent (sadly, I didn't capture this skill on film).

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Sarah is from south-west London but she has lived in Eastbourne for a few years. I recorded this clip on my birthday after we had afternoon tea - we were standing at the bus station. She loves to imitate my accent and the story about the title of "Little Britain" is true.

"There's a hilarious television show called 'Little Britain' and..."
"Is it actually called 'Lit'o Britain' or is that just your accent coming through and it's called 'Little Britain'?"
"What?"
"I mean, is the title of the show 'Lit'o Britain', as in 'l-i-t-apostrophe-o', in order to be funny, or is it called 'Little Britain' and you're just saying it with your accent?"
"No, no, no, it's 'Little Britain'!" (said with emphasis on the 'l')

Oh, the confusing delights of a common language!