as you can obviously see...nowt edible about them. Just more crimbocrap

And everything you ever wanted to know about Christmas crackers.

or, as I posted in the Christmas Cracker thread (yes, there is one ), according to Fortnum & Mason there's an 'item of amusing headgear' inside, which is entirely too toffee-nosed for any right-thinking person

hahahaha.....i'd just call it crappy christmas crown

Here is a really unflattering pic of Jeremy with a Christmas cracker hat on:



(before he lost weight and got new glasses)

Just for comparison (and so he doesn't shoot me for posting that pic, here he is looking more lovely:



Ok... so his hair's a bit messy...

like those pics. I'm going to need to sort out crackers next year at nicks.....it's not christmas without a cracker!!!

Oh I know! But they make you pull the snaps at customs if you declare them so go careful!! First time Jeremy came over we sent him home with bunches of them for his family and things and he had to pull all the snaps - only when he brought out the third box did the customs lady let him just keep them as they were!

Gor blimey, ladies -- no wonder the sun never sets over the waves that the Britannia Empire rules! We Yanks across the pond should indeed feel inferior, verily, wot, si man. God save our gracious Queen's choicest gifts in store, particularly the Christmas cracker.

Congratulations!! Happy dance time!!

---
Crimbocrap, piece of tat toy, toffee-nosed... can we please speak ENGLISH here? Methinks that someone has adulterated your spots of tea, verily, wot. (If so, it sounds promising, and I want some, si man.)

LOL! I would have loved to have seen that. It's just such an absurd mental picture, the weary traveler standing in front of the steely eyed customs agent, pulling cracker after cracker. It just sounds so Terry Gilliam.

Right, Mox -- Christmas crackers, si; chop-suey roosters, no!

Lol - I think they just dismantled the snaps so they crackers were still in one piece but he had two mini boxes of nine and a big box of six... something like that

Lol - I think they just dismantled the snaps so they crackers were still in one piece but he had two mini boxes of nine and a big box of six... something like that

I think they realised he wasn't going to try and blow the plane up with them in the end

Ahhhh, gotcha! I thought they were making him "crack" them.

well, old bean, that's about as English as it gets

But I, a mere Colonist, can speak "east-Texas Redneck." To wit, wot:

"Gitchurass over here, Verleen -- yer late fer yer nahn-uh-clock whuppin'. Ah'm gonna smack yew flush upsahd th' jaw. An' fer th' LAST COTTON-PICKIN' tahm, Verleen, Ah am NOT takin' mah transmission OUT uh th' bathtub! Now shut yer yappin' mouth an' brang me anuther case o' beer."

We who speak in this fashion are graced with such names as BillyBobBubba, and our family trees have one branch (the trunk). Can the U.K. top THAT? Ha!

I dunno - I am sure my OH has a family fit for Jerry Springer...

You've obviously never been to the east end of London.

Also, see Rab C Nesbitt, the original Glaswegian redneck.

That's UK by marriage, not by innate quality.

innit

*has an original 'I love Hackney' badge on her bag*

I would almost rather first visit a place allegedly called (heaven help me) Leighton Buzzard. Why is this buzzard different from all other buzzards?

if you have to ask, you can never understand

east end is the BEST end

I intrepidly performed a Google search and have learned all that anyone would care to know about the charming, well-organized (whoops: -organised) towns of Leighton Buzzard & Linslade.

Forget an NOA2 -- my NEW goal is to receive the Title of Dignity of "Burgess of Leighton-Linslade" (a great honor... whoops: "honour"). Maybe I can bribe their Town Crier (they have one) to sow the political seeds for me.

called NVC and case not there yet approval was 11/30 Blah

It's been taking about 3-4 weeks or so to get to NVC from what I have read so don't worry just yet You'll get there!!

Had some great times in that part of London. Some of them I even remember!

been to The Dolphin?

For what porpoise?

tea, and whisky (those who have been past on the bus will know to what those two words refer )

Possibly. Is that the (possibly Irish) pub that serves Thai? I might be thinking of another place named after a fish sea-dwelling mammal, or possibly a completely different country. Kinda seedy but had killer food if I remember correctly. (It's been about 10 years)

there's a taverny sort of pub called the Dove, on Broadway Market (where I watched them shooting Eastern Promises ), which serves excellent food, a lot of it Thai... I'd be a bit surprised if it's been doing that for ten years, but stranger things have happened

The Killer Whale?

No but that does remind me that I saw a herd of killer whales once off the coast of Scotland once. We were taking the ferry to Ireland and someone pointed them out. Was very cool. Man I miss the UK. StP, I think you're nuts for leaving. Wonder if the UK and US would let me trade your residency in the UK for my residency in the US.

Isn't the collective noun a "pod" of whales (like a gaggle of geese, or an exaltation of larks)? Other collective nouns: wastebasket, flypaper, vacuum cleaner.

Can we recruit and train these whales to deal with the CSC on our behalf?

According to the Marine Biologist who works down the hall from me (working in a meteorology/oceanography center can be fun), pod, gam, herd, and school are all acceptable collective nouns for whales. Not that I knew that until about 3 minutes ago. (cue "The more you know" music)


They are not US residents. So first you'd need to find sponsors and submit petitions to USCIS. You might be starting to see the fatal flaw in the plan...

LMAO. *And* they'd never get a visa - who would file the affidavit of support?! Bet they are expensive to keep happy!!

We shall not blubber about it, but marine biologists are not collectively experts on nouns (working at a medical journal can be fun).

Not U.S. citizens? Easy! Bring 'em right across the Mexico/Tejas (soon to be, if not already, the new spelling) border. If the Border Patrol agents shoot at 'em, we'll simply throw said agents into jail for egregiously trampling on the constitutional rights of non-U.S. citizens, si man. Besides, who would take the job if not for illegal whales? How dare they be prevented from entering? [chanting] WHALES WHALES WHALES WHALES...

Not only that but wouldn't they be further endangering an already endangered species? Surely that deserves a prison sentence if not the chair

Also, Whales is part of the U.K., si man. The national language is Whelsh.

Indeed

Debz says hi by the way guys - she will be back soon but was surprised by how much her dad could drink

You have not been to a REAL pub until you have been to the fox and hound in Houston SCOTLAND (the original houston) It's a village bar with it's own award winning brewery! serve only food sourced within 20miles and only 10min walk from my house. It was built in early 1880's.

Just back from trying to get my dad pished...(his 60th) and boy can that man drink!!!!!!

Ohhh - I want to go there!!! Ok - you have to take me there sometime - not sure when but some years down the line we'll manage it!!!

Sounds like you both had a great time! Congrats to your dad on the big six-oh!

I lived mainly up in the northeast, near Montrose, so didn't get down that way much.

took me and me wee bro (who only live 2mins walk away...luck barsteward) £15 EACH to get my dad pished!!!!


Aly......me and you and our OH coming here sometime in future for almight scottish drinkies!!!!!!!

don't worry....we have sleeping space!!!

Sounds like a grand plan!!!! I am sensing a New Year's excursion one year perhaps?!?! Oohhhh we are going to have new lives and new hopes and new dreams and it is all sooooo exciting!!! And I am sooo happy Ok I am severely lacking in the NOA2 department but I will have Jeremy here in a few days and that is what counts - everything else is just time

Uh, 'scuse me, li'l darlin', but there is only one original Houston, a 'burb of which I reside in. It was named for Sam Houston, who was key in the establishment of the Republic (later state) of Texas... er, now Tejas. Britannia no longer rules the waves or the Colonies, remember!

Ahhh but we all know that most of the US is named after places in the UK cause y'all love us so much

For now, si man, but just wait until the U.S. formally becomes part of the Estados Unidos de Mexico, si man! Everything will go in the borders and out the windows, si man.

well thank you; it's not like deciding to has been remotely difficult or anything

I bet. It makes me realize that roughly half the people here are making this tough decision. When I think about my own relationship, I realize how easy I've got it. Every "adjustment" I have to go through, she's going to have to go through also, but she has the additional burden of leaving her entire life behind. And in my SO's case, it's not like she doesn't like her life. She loves it. She will be leaving behind a good job, a decent apartment, friends, her family, and of course everything she's ever known. My hat's off to you StP and everyone else who's uprooting their lives to come here to the US. I don't know that I would have that kind of strength.