Jubilee Fun

This weekend was a great weekend to be British.  It was the Diamond Jubilee of our Queen, Elizabeth II.  There was coverage of it here in the US, but the reason behind the celebration I think was lost on many.  Elizabeth II is only the second monarch in Britain's history to reach this point - 60 years on the throne.  It's an incredible achievement and definitely worth celebrating. 

At 27 years old, I can't imagine the feeling of being alive for 60 years.  It seems so distant.  A marriage that lasts 60 years is an achievement.  Depending on the length of someone's life, even the most devoted and loving couples don't always reach 60 years of marriage.  So the thought of having the same job for that length of time is incredible.

At all the celebrations, the Queen looked healthy and happy.  My husband pointed out that she looked like a little girl, filled with excitement, during the river pageant.  It was wonderful to see all the Union Jacks flying, everyone cheering and singing the national anthem.  It was in short, very moving. 

And here I was on the other side of the world from all the celebration.  So I did the best I could.  My husband was away until Sunday, so I set about being British on my own.  I spent a ridiculous amount of money on some Union Jack bunting from an import shop and hung them proudly, zigzagging across our front door.  Saturday night I watched some comedy gold:  Morecambe and Wise, Gavin and Stacey, Peter Kay, Michael McIntyre, John Bishop.  Sunday morning I had the pageant on the telly as I baked a Victoria Sponge and decorated it with toothpicks that had carefully drawn flags wrapped around them.  The weekend finished with a pitcher of Pimm's and a barbeque with my husband and my father-in-law.

It was a wonderful weekend and the celebrations really did remind me of why it is called GREAT Britain. 

Homesick

This week I've been homesick.  Homesick can be missing the location you're from, the smell of your mum's cooking, your favourite tv program growing up, anything that triggers that wonderful nostalgic feeling can make you feel homesick.  My homesickness snuck up on me over the last few days, highlighted by a few triggers.  But oddly enough, this is the first time I've been homesick without wanting to rush and buy a plane ticket (they're too expensive these days anyway).

Monday was a particularly difficult day at work.  On my way home, rather than crave a gin and tonic or a glass of wine to unwind, all I wanted was a big cup of tea and rich tea biscuits (trigger #1).  While enjoying my 4th rich tea biscuit I decided I didn't want the healthy salad I was planning on making for dinner, I wanted something rich and comforting like shepherd's pie or sausage and mash...things I hadn't made or eaten in either months or years.  So I went with my gut instinct (literally) and made the food of my childhood, a bubbling dish of cheese-covered heaven:  shepherd's pie.  This was trigger #2.

Since then I've been craving (mainly food) that reminds me of home and of my childhood.  My parents may have moved us to Texas but they raised us to be English.  I grew up with Salad Cream (trigger #3) or Branston Pickle on my sandwiches and not Miracle Whip.  I ate pies filled with meat and potatoes and not syrup-covered fruit.  I watched "Only Fools and Horses" or "Blackadder" with my dad as a kid, and not "Roseanne" or "The Cosby Show."

The good thing about being homesick for English things in Texas in 2012 versus 1996, is that key food items you can get here now, and what you can't get you can order online or smuggle back in your carry-on whenever you get back to the UK.  Sure a jar of Marmite from a speciality shop here will have a 600% mark-up here, but it tastes nearly 600% better because you can't afford to eat it every day.  So I'm going to let myself indulge in being a little more British this week than I normally can.  And I will enjoy every second, sip, and bite of it.