General stuff

So I'm finally posting a new blog entry, after a shameful 4 months of inactivity! Practically everything has changed - house, job, lifestyle, outlook...I'm even sitting here blogging on a rather nifty Asus Eee PC (the good one with the 8Gb disk) as opposed to a hulking great desktop....and I have to say it's all so much better :)

I'm now renting instead of owning. I sold my car. I no longer spend countless hours walking around Sainsbury's without really knowing why. Yes, there are things that can be improved, but on the whole it's good.

There's a strange rule in British behaviour that I completely fail to understand, and which is kind of difficult to explain. I call it "pretending to be polite when we really just want to be rude". Here are some examples:

Checkouts
Next time you're at the checkouts and they have one of those long conveyor belts, see how long you can get away without putting one of those "next person" plastic barrier thingies down when there's a long queue behind you. Odds are, you'll be able to make it right the way to the end, and even have all your stuff off the conveyor before the person behind you puts even the first item on.

I've seen this happen a lot (refer to the bit about wandering around Sainsbury's, above) - there seems to be some strange "personal space" rule that kicks in until the barrier is put up, and your typical next-in-line Brit will huff and puff at the end of the checkout and give you evil looks, but won't dare say anything for fear of being rude. Especially if there's a queue behind him. Ironically, most Brits couldn't care less about what you actually do when their shopping's on there just so long as none of your stuff makes it on to the receipt...

Trains
The perfect example of herd behaviour: the train journey. It starts with the crowd at the station - jostling, not too close to be dangerous or appearing over eager, whilst trying to hang back enough to appear nonchalant and disaffected - hey, it's cool, no worries, under control......I'll make it anywa- wait...was that a train I heard? Quick! To the front! Oh...wait....never mind.....Yeah, I was...um...I had leg cramps, OK?

It only takes one person glancing at the clock for everyone to get twitchy, and if you make a positive move, such as standing up and walking to the edge (whilst looking in the direction the train would coming from if it wasn't half an hour away), I almost guarantee that someone else will follow suit. And 50p says that as soon as the train is here everyone's pushing like the world's going to end...

Queueing
I read somewhere that Britain is a nation of queuers. How very concise and apt! In fact, queueing is the natural state of the Brit - whilst standing in line we love to mumble and grumble about "how bloody long have I been standing here" and "wish they'd get a move on", but in a less ordered situation we're completely hopeless. Everything - from supermarkets, to traffic, to the horrendously complicated rules governing getting served at the pub bar - all this involves queueing, and we secretly love it.

There seems to be some unwritten rule that (point point point) he was in front of me, so I can't possibly do anything at all lest a) I offend him or b) break some horrendous social rule, or c) lose my place momentarily and have to start all over again. Yet when someone does push in front, Brits will not, ever, complain (except perhaps in the rougher parts of the country, or in any pub, where you'll most likely be asked who you think you are, if you want to step outside, and whether or not you were staring at "my bird")

And, Finally
For the curious - Eee - yes, it's small. Yes, it runs a little hot. Yes, I nuked the default Xandros distribution and put Ubuntu on there, and it properly kicks arse. I like it :)


More soon....