Weather changes

Who decided that it snows in December and that the sun shines in July? Who invented the saying 'white Christmas?' Its not always what it should be?
In Florida on Christmas day I was wearing shorts because it was 70 degrees Fahrenheit. For those of you England readers, 70 degrees F is approximately 20 degrees C. And I loved being able to wear shorts on Christmas day and in January and even February.
The weather in Florida doesn't always follow stereotype as some countries do. It was warm until the end of November and then suddenly got cold quickly, about 40 degrees F (about 5 degrees C) and then we had some huge chills before the weather got warmer again for Christmas and now its regulating at around 50-65 degrees F. The nights and mornings being colder of course.
But that's what I like best about Florida - the sun. The fact that you don't expect it to get cold in September and then stay cold until May. Its sunny all year round.
So - do I miss having a 'white Christmas'? Sometimes, maybe. But I love the sun way too much. And I can always visit in the snow, just to experience it, but I'm where the sun is :)

Boxing Day

For those of you who don't know - boxing day falls on December 26th, the day after Christmas. When I was young I would ask my dad, why it was called Boxing day - and he replied that it was the day where everyone liked to 'box' each other. OK - so that wasn't entirely or even partially true but as a child that reason was enough to suffice me at the time.

But it was an extra bank holiday day where families could still spend together after the holidays. Upon researching the exact origin of the term, it is somewhat unknown but seems to be related to the fact that on this day families would collect their gift boxes from the previous days. In addition, further back in history, it was a day in which servants were allowed the day off to visit their families and their employers would give them a 'box of leftovers' which they could take back to share with their families.

It is only recently that stores have begun to be open on Boxing day but when I was living there some 10 years ago, on Boxing day it was a day of 'holiday' and therefore nothing was open. I remember it being a little bit 'boring' because the stores weren't open, and it was the day after the excitement of Christmas.

In America the day after Christmas is the start of the sales just as it has begun to be in the UK. Stores open early and people rush from their families to the hustle and bustle of the stores to return/exchange items or just to catch a sale.

Bling Bling for an American Christmas

Christmas in America just as most things were slightly differently. It was on a whole different scale to what I was used to in England.
First of all - Christmas was introduced earlier. As early as November or earlier... christmas began to appear in the stores and even on TV. The day after thanksgiving marked the biggest shopping day in history - black friday as people uses the sales opportunity to shop for christmas gifts (a whole month prior to christmas). In addition sales continued until christmas prompting people to continue shopping.

The cold took a while to get here... and once the cold arrived, it was almost inevitable that christmas was around the corner. Although in Florida 'cold' meant 10 degrees C lol.

The word on everyone's lips was Christmas.... and it became 'a way of life' for a month...

Decorations, presents, colors, and festivities. It was everywhere.. and unlike London, it was not easy to escape.

The houses tended to be bigger here, and thus, the decorations of the houses was more elaborate, but not only that it was a contest - a contest to see who could decorate their house the best. And the display of christmas on one's home demonstrated their christmas spirit or lack of. Almost 95% of houses are decorated here in Florida. There is even a place you can go during christmas to walk-thru and look at the 'best decorated houses'. Its phenomenal.

The above pictures are pictures taken of houses and their decorations.... its magic after all... its christmas.

Christmas and all its bling....London

Christmas is Christmas no matter which country you live in... but the way in which it is celebrated, displayed and decorated can differ...

I remember growing up in London and I knew Christmas was coming not by the weather because it was cold sometimes as early as September... but I knew Christmas was coming by the gifts and the decorations in the 4 floors of Debenhams in the shopping centre I would often reside. The splash of red and green was the indication of Christmas that began to greet me faster than the month of December itself.
Shortly after that the festive colors would start to spread in other stores and then the bright colored light would appear as well as the multiplication of gifts being sold in the stores.
Decoration was minimal (to my memory), or at least compared to what I see now.

Some houses were decorated for the holidays with lights etc.

The best and most elaborate display of Christmas was the Christmas lights in the City of London, most specifically Regent Street etc... Huge department stores would be eloquently displayed with a story and a message. Twinkling colorful lights would be everywhere. I cannot illustrate the bright colors by just my descriptions alone so a picture is the only thing that would do it justice.

Above is a department store called 'The house of fraser' and lights have been showered over this building.

This picture shows the streets of Regent street with its illustrious display of color and christmas festivities. It is usually a tradition for someone of 'certain esteem' to be the one who switches the christmas lights annually.

I remember my parents taking my sister and I out one evening during the christmas season and we would sit in the backseat with a blanket wrapped over us and we would look at all the christmas lights. We never wanted to get out and see them though - it was too cold lol...

To me, this is part of the magic of christmas. The lights, the festivities, but most of all the traditions that we look forward to, and expect year to year.

Smash cake

1/2 of you reading this will know what I am talking about, but 1/2 of you will have no idea........
In America, there is a tradition that on a child's 1st birthday when you order a cake, you usually get a 'complimentary' smash smaller cake. The larger cake is for the guests and the smaller cake is for the guest of honor, and the purpose of this cake is for the 1 year old to smash this cake and make a huge mess.

Apparently it is a.......... ''sweet, tactile and completely photogenic way to include your child in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get down and dirty with his birthday cake''. The child gets the whole cake to him/herself and no fork is needed. Once presented with his sweet reward, he's encouraged to attack it with his fingers, fists or face. This table-manners-be-darned approach results in a face full of frosting and cake crumbs, cake covered fingers and cake on the floor. It also inspires grins all around.

So, there you have it... another American tradition that is not well known in the UK. I showed my cousin a picture of my niece with her smash cake - she was outraged and appalled... and this inspired me to do some research into the tradition of the smash cake.

Which side is the right side of the road to drive on?

In England, the steering wheel is on the right side of the car and you drive on the left side of the road.
In America, the steering wheel is on the left side of the car and you drive on the right side of the road.
Why? There are a lot of answers for this question.
 

In the 1700's in England men sat on a seat mounted on a wagon. What's more, he usually sat on the right side of the seat so the whip wouldn't hang up on the load behind him when he flogged the horses. (Then, as now, most people did their flogging right-handed.) So the English continued to drive on the left

Several hundred years ago, everybody used the English system. In the Middle Ages everyone drove on the left for the simple reason that you never knew who you'd meet on the road in those days; you wanted to make sure that a stranger passed on the right so you could go for your sword in case he proved unfriendly.

In the USA - When inventors began building "automobiles" in the 1890's, they thought of them as motorized wagons. As a result, many early cars had the steering mechanism-a rudder (or tiller), not a wheel-in the center position where the side of the road didn't make any difference. With the introduction of the steering wheel, a central location was no longer possible. Car makers just copied 'usual practice' and placed the driver on the curbside. Most American cars produced before 1910 were made with right-side driver seating although intended for right sided driving.
However - in 1908 Ford devised the Model T and it was the first car to feature a left-side driving position. By 1915 the Model T became so popular that other car makers began to follow suit.  

So there you are. But its kinda confusing especially since I am used to both .I did take driving lessons in England although because I moved I only took my test in America. Since then (10 years ago) I haven't driven in England. When I do visit England, it takes me a bit to get my bearings on which side of the road I am driving on when I get back to America though. And I'm sure it stops tourists from wanting to drive in this new country with its different rules. But there you go.

What time is it?

Daylight saving time, British summer time - is there a difference?
Twice a year time changes. In the spring, time goes forward by one hour ('Spring Forward'). In the winter, time goes back by one hour ('Fall Back'). Historically, this was carried out so that in the spring when time went forward, this allowed more daylight so that people could enjoy more outside activities during the daylight hours.

Recently, on October 31st time went back one hour in the UK. However - in the USA time does not go back until the 7th of November. This has led to a very confusing week for me as I keep forgetting about the 4 hour time difference rather than the 5 hour time difference.

Whose idea was it to change the time zone in UK at a different time than in the USA? I tried to google information about this but there really wasn't any significant amount of information about this, except to talk about the differences in the appearance of winter, and also the decision of parliament wanting things a certain way. So - basically it is what it is. And this English Yankee just has to figure it out for a week or something like that as long as I get my one hour extra to sleep in at some point lol.