Few of my readers may remember the little adventure I had with my UK tax return about a year ago. In that post, I mentioned that the self-assessment process for filing tax returns in Britain is easy and even expressed anticipation towards trying it on my own. Well, Q.E.D. It…
Remember my posts about usage differences in English language? Here is a little illustration. As I was walking by this sign posted at a construction sight, I had to stop and spend a few moments to juggle the different meanings of the words in my head so they fit together.
The southeast fringes of the Greater London, where we live, are home to several strings of little parks, fields and playgrounds collectively known as the Green Chain Walk, established in the 70’s. Many of these are in various stages of disrepair and neglect, and the walks between them are not…
In England, just as I remember in later years in America with ads against insurance fraud, TV campaigns against benefit fraud do a pretty good job of sending the appropriate message. A benefit thief may not mend his ways outright upon seeing an ad like the one below, but seeing…
Remember, I wrote in the past about the recycling scheme instituted by the Greenwich council? Basically, the dry recyclables go into the blue-cover bin, the food waste and the garden refuse into the green-cover bin, and the rest goes into a large garbage bag (soon to be replaced with a…
It’s been a bit over a year since England curbed smoking in public places. For those of us who cannot stand the smoke, life has become considerably more pleasant, especially when it comes to dining out. The unfortunate souls who can’t exist without cigarettes, conversely, have been having much harder…
Natasha arranged for a vision check-up for Becky a few days ago. We haven’t been to that NHS office before, and Natasha turned out to be overly optimistic about the ease of finding a parking spot near the office. By the time she had parked some distance away and walked…
Something that we see in England considerably more often than in the States: People driving around in vintage cars. And I don’t mean “vintage” as in 1968 Corvette or something, no offense intended. I mean as in 1929 Bugatti. There are also people who drive around in racing cars –…
Kimmy’s Year 4 program in literature includes a module called “Fantasy Worlds”. Guess which texts she was supposed to be studying in that? Harry Potter books! And not just the books – all movie installments to date were apparently part of the program as well. On top of that –…
It seems a bit premature to start ruminating on this subject – after all, we are not going back to the US as yet. But Jeri asked the question, and I figured I’d give it a try. So, what will I miss of England and Europe once I eventually repatriate?…
There was still one question from Jeri – who graciously saved me from an embarrassment of having an “ask me a question” day without hearing a single question – that I neglected to address thus far. What were the hardest cultural adjustments for you and your family when you moved…
Two years ago I landed in Heathrow to start my life in England. I used to subscribe to the notion that an émigré should spend 3 years establishing himself in his new life before making any pronouncements on his overall successes or failures. This period of our life is not…
Continuing our Q&A exercise, in which I successfully engaged one single person to ask me questions, let’s address another one of Jeri’s queries. (Part 1 is here.) I’m assuming your children are in British schools – what are the advantages and disadvantages of American vs. British school systems? I did,…
Jeri was the only person to accept my solicitation for questions thus far, and because customer service is what we take great pride in here at Burlaki.com, I am addressing it right away. See what the rest of you all are missing? Of course, Jeri posed three questions at once…
Taking advantage of what might be the last – and first – nice-weather weekend in September, on Saturday we took the kids for a long-promised visit to Legoland. Of course, half of London had the same idea as us… The amusement park, located near Windsor, failed to make a great…
It’s been close to a year since I posted a brief sampler of the linguistic differences between British and American English language variants. I had a clear intent to parlay that article into a potentially fun series. But in the intervening time, I suppose, I lost my ear when it…
London’s Metropolitan Police (taking after the NYPD, unless I’m seriously mistaken) is testing a website that would map certain types of crime for all areas of Greater London. The crimes accounted for so far are only robberies, burglaries and vehicle crimes, but it still could be useful for any prospective…
Our guests not only managed to visit several of the London sights that we thus far shunned; they also came by an audience with Her Majesty the Queen. Ok, not really. But we ourselves only see the reigning monarch on TV, despite living just a dozen miles away from the…
The weekend was spent in various activities involving our latest visitors, which explains the first non-travel two-day post gap since sometime last year. With our approaching long holiday, it should be the last active “home” weekend for a couple of months. Anyway, here is a brief re-cap. On Saturday, we…
I have not mentioned the concept of the call limit in the past, and yesterday we unwittingly ran afoul of it. In a nutshell, when a landline phone service is being established in the UK, the phone company determines the monetary limit that the customer should stay under during any…