What makes the British British ?

I passed a house the other day that was flying a very large pirate flag from their flagpole. A bit unnerving to see the skull and crossbones, perhaps the children were having a themed birthday party.
I do not think of that as being a British trait.
Ability to queue and politeness in all circumstances although lately the politeness seems to be disappearing.

I can't think why anyone would wanyt to fly a flag except for a specific occassion! There is a house locally that flies the flag of St George all the time. Not sure what statement is being made.

My main childhood memory of family picnics is of us all sitting in the car with my DM passing filled rolls and chocolate biscuits from the front to us children in the back while DF dispensing steaming mugs of Heinz tomato soup from a large ex-military flask, because the weather was too bad to sit outside as planned.

I think this capacity to continue with lifes frivolities regardless of weather is possible more quintessentially British than anything else. In fact in our family we have a holiday tradition formally described as A Rainy Day in Penrith. As we left the village show today I formally declared the day to be A Rainy Day in Penrith and on the way home we bought magazines and sweets and spent the afternoon in front of the fire relaxing with said magazines and sweets and frequent cups of tea. The only thing missing was the Fray Bentos steak pie. We made do with spaghetti Bolognaise.

boheminan We used to live in Devon and I have photos of us sitting on the beach, under a kind of shelter erected from windbreaks and blankets!

Stiff upper lip and all that, what ho!

Our neighbours fly a Cornish flag.

I quite often spot the Union Jack flag when out and about,
It is often pointed out to me by little DGSs
who also sport Union Jacks on some of their
T-shirts.

Our County Flag can quite often be seen fluttering around the towns and villages.

All this nonsense about whether or not individual countries in Britain can fly the flag or not, try telling the French not to fly their flag, when we went every year whilst our children were young the tricolour was everywhere. Same when we went to America, many a house has a flag pole with the stars and stripes on the front lawn. Why should anyone be offended by a country's flag.What did baffle me occasionally seeing the confederate flag in the deep south on a pick up truck or the like, it appears that over 150 years later some still don't realise they lost Good ol' boys being provocative!

Years ago I took the kids on holiday to Broadstairs and it rained all week. My lasting memory is of us sitting on the beach, along with quite a few other families, all wearing thick jumpers, shivering and eating ice creams. There was loud speaker announcements on the whereabouts of lost children (I wonder if they were ever found). Everyone determined to get their moneysworth and have a good time. Best holiday of my life. Can't see it happening in any other country.

M0nica the same here with the local show a couple of weeks back, although it didn't rain until the afternoon and there were a couple of marquees to retreat to where a huge number of people spent a lot of time admiring the vegetables and crafts!

Well done Monica
I am sure your support was welcomed by all the hard working folk who put the event on (come rain or shine).

My DH loves a WI stall
We have our fingers crossed for tomorrow.

The local cricket club has organised a BQ and fun afternoon.
Our 2 DGS who will hopefully be joining us have inherited their grandfather's love of cake.
So we will don our wellies and get there early.

Eating of cake and pies
not forgetting a scone and jam is a very enjoyable British tradition.
As is wiping the
rain from ones specs
☔

Today I realised what was the ultimate thing that makes the British. British.

Picture the scene: August Bank Holiday. Local village show, but on a large scale with 2 arenas with motorbike agility displays, dog show, helicopter rides and a flypast. Tents full of craft stalls and food stalls.

Outside, about 30 or 40 different displays.

Think the weather today: rain rain RAIN. It tipped down, but we and many others did not let this spoil our enjoyment. Off we went dressed in wellies and waterproofs and walked round all the stalls, bought lots of pies from the pie stall to freeze and only after two hours when hypothermia set in did, we decide to call it a day and go home to change our clothes, we were soaked through despite our rain gear, so we changed, lit the fire and made some mulled wine and are about to settle down to a tea of cheese scones and sticky ginger cake bought from the WI stall.

I've just returned form living for twelve years in non-tourist Spain and the thing I missed the most was .... wait for it.... carpet! You can't walk on tiles in your bare feet and call it a pleasure, can you? Even slippers don't feel the same on tiles.

B9 I so agree with you. I can't think of any other country where people are nervous about flying the flag.

I agree. It's very strange isn't it, that the flag has been hijacked by football fans, the hooligan elements and extremists.

Perhaps we need a flag flying week and every household is asked to fly the Union Jack and /or Cross of St George. It should not be an object of shame or derision.

Having had the opportunity to observe the British from the outside for over 40 years now, I would say that the most promininent traits that divide us Brits from others are

- laughing a lot, at silly jokes
- small talk, especially at the beginning and end of telephone conversations. At work, when I have a British customer on the phone, I always feel I'm hanging up in the middle of a sentence, but I really can't say goodbye in five different ways, just for the sake of it. I have work to do!

And one thing I welcome as soon as I set foot on British soil: Warm water in the taps in public loos.

Being Polite.
Not queue jumping.
Scones with jam and cream and a nice cup of tea.
Marmite!

I do agree with you Mrs Mopp about the tea!! I watched tge second Marigold hotel fim at tge cinema and right at the beginning Maghie Smith's character is given a cup of hot water and a tea bag in America and she refuses it and tell them very forcefully how to make proper tea. The (British) audience in the cinema actually clapped and cheered as well as laughing at that point.

I thought everyone had to have planning permission to erect a flagpole in the garden.

I have never had to ask permission to fly the Welsh flag

Actually paddyann flying the flag in UK is not so straightforward. I live in the West Country and we get a lot of travellers visiting. A man in a village close by was flying the St. George flag but was told to take it down by a council official because it could offend the travellers.

I didn't know the Scots had to ask permission to fly the Saltire until recently and I am appalled that was the case. You should be free to fly your flag in your country, just as I should feel free to fly my flag in my country without being accused of being racist or a thug

Well at least you dont need permission to fly the English flag!!Up until very recently if we wanted to fly a Saltire we had to get permission from the council ,now go figure that.St Andrews night events going cap in hand to some jobsworth who has to obey Westminster diktats yet "union"flags and St georges crosses were allowed without permission.
On this weeks Wright Stuff Matt barbet asked a young black actor to teach the Scottish girl to speak English !!Because he was a" Brit".Its insiduous,its said so often most of you wont notice that its insulting ,if it were said to any other person there would be an outcry...but its just Banter when said to a Scot.In my opinion there is no such thing as British .

Most people don't queue as such for buses around here (outer SW London) but that's largely because several buses - 4 or more - stop at many bus stops so people are waiting for several different ones. And I'm glad to say most are very frequent - I do love my Freedom Pass!

As for what you are called in different cultures, I have a Singaporean Chinese SiL whose grown up nieces and nephew from her own family always call me and dh Auntie X and Uncle Y. When her children were little they had lovely little Chinese names for (much older) dds and a dd's boyfriend, meaning Big Brother or Big Sister in Chinese. I forget now but IIRC one was Koko.

When I was working in Oman, the Omanis I came into contact with at work would call me Sister, if they didn't know my name. I thought it was lovely. But that was ages ago - now it would probably be Grandmother!!! I do remember my mother (about 80 then) being called Big Mama (Grandmother) on a holiday in Egypt. . Luckily she was only tickled by it.

B9 I so agree with you. I can't think of any other country where people are nervous about flying the flag.

Our Queen has expressed sincere thanks and made a private gift in acknowledgement of the plight of Aussies living on the land due to our unprecedented drought. I think that epitomises what it means to be British.
Good on 'yer Liz!

Shakespeare!!
Our gift to to the world.

Irony.
And a proper pot of tea. Not a cup of warm water with a tea bag on the saucer.

The identity of the immigrant is often stronger in the new land they choose to call home.I know Scots in the USA and Canada who play the pipes ,highland dance and celebrate Burns night religiously every year,They always send me pictures of Tartan Week in NY They are proud of their country and our achievements ,rightly so.Thats why we should understand that when others come here they may leave their country behind but not the love of it or their culture.They should be able to still embrace it ,surely thats their right?