Bridgetsmusings’s Weblog

As I get ready to visit friends and family in the UK - my first time as a ‘new’ Australian citizen (just don’t get me to sing that song..) - I am dismayed to read that the much-cherished country of my birth and first 40 years on planet earth has been described as a nation of “overweight, sex-and-celebrity-obssessed TV addicts.” So say four British travel writers in the The Rough Guide to England.

They acknowledge the beauty and culture but add that we, or should I say they, are a self-important, insular and irritating bunch. And that’s not all: there’s binge-drinking, obesity and too much reality TV, not to mention social inequality and the entrenched class system.

Watching the Channel 9 series, Ladette to Lady, last night, you would be forgiven for thinking England is indeed a nation of binge-drinking, vomiting, swearing ladettes (and presumably lads) on one side and ra-ra, plum-in-the-mouth toffs in dinner jackets on the other.

As if we don’t have reality TV and binge-drinking in Australia? The last time I was in the centre of Melbourne on a Saturday night, it was not a pretty sight.  Let’s get a bit of perspective…

At least the Brits can laugh at themselves - me included. There’s still some great comedy coming out of The Old Country: Little Britain, Catherine Tait, Ross Nobel to name but a few.

I am going to be visiting some of my favourite places in the UK  - Oxford (positively oozing history), Derbyshire (with its 500 miles of rugged moorland and national park, The Peak District), Nottinghamshire (there’s more to this county than Robin Hood), Hampshire (think My Fair Lady) and London. Planned highlights for London include a trip to theatre to see Brief Encounter on the stage, a walk along Kew Garden’s new treetop walk, a visit to one of the best foodie markets in the UK, Borough Market, and probably an English-style barbie in my sister’s garden.

I’m arriving in the merry month of May and spring will be in full bloom with bluebells in flower and birds trilling their fabulous Dawn Chorus.  It will be light until ten o’clock in the evening and Radio 4 (even the Rough Guide gave that the thumbs up) will amuse and soothe while, in lush, green pastures, cows will safely graze. The swifts and swallows will have arrived from Africa and my visit will concide with Pimms, strawberries and cream and Wimbledon.

Anyone for tennis?