If you’re as fascinated by language as I am, especially by the differences between American and British English, you may want to head over to the “Americanisms” section of the Economist‘s style guide.
The erudite London-based mag offers its journalists tips for how to make sure their prose doesn’t sound too American, including the following:
“Hikes are walks, not increases. Vegetables, not teenagers, should be fresh. Only the speechless are dumb, the well-dressed smart and the insane mad. Scenarios are best kept for the theatre, postures for the gym, parameters for the parabola.”
“Use senior rather than ranking, rumpus rather than ruckus, and rumbustious rather than rambunctious.” [Rambustious? That’s a new one.]
And most importantly, “Gubernatorial is an ugly word that can almost always be avoided.”
And who says the Economist is without a (very dry) sense of humor? Check out this tip:
“Try not to verb nouns or to adjective them.”
This, in a nutshell, is the British sense of humor.
England has an unfair reputation for bad cuisine. While this is the land of jellied eels and mushy peas, things have changed in recent years and now there are a lot more choices, especially in the nation’s capital.
From October 8-13, the London Restaurant Festival will highlight the amazing range of eateries in the city. You can find literally any kind of food here from familiar favorites such as French and Italian to more exotic choices such as Nigerian and Afghani. And of course there are countless Indian and Chinese restaurants.
But don’t forget British food! Celebrity chefs will be showing off at different venues throughout the festival, and will get together at London’s Leadenhall Market this Sunday, October 11, to host the city’s largest Sunday roast.
If you make it to only one event in this festival, make it to this. Sunday roast is an age-old British tradition and shows the national cuisine at its best. Celebrity chefs such as Richard Corrigan and Fergus Henderson will be cooking up beef, lamb, pork, wild roe deer, and game birds along with the usual trimmings such as vegetables, gravy, and pudding. British game such as quail and grouse is especially good.
Even if you can’t make the festival, try out a Sunday roast at a carvery or pub, but be careful because some venues serve pre-prepared meals they only heat up. A good Sunday roast made from scratch like I get at my local pub in Oxford is heaven for meat lovers.
Halloween is the one day a year we seek fear rather than try to avoid it. We invite the prospect of ghosts, witches and vampires, and even if we concede that they aren’t real, it’s fine to suspend disbelief for a day. To heighten the sensation, consider wrapping your next trip in the Halloween spirit. There are plenty of destinations around the world that will help the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end.
1. Melbourne’s Haunted Bookshop Ghost-hunter and historian Drew Sinton is waiting for you at The Haunted Bookshop in Melbourne, Australia. If you’re not afraid of the written word, this starting point won’t scare you, but along the way, you’ll hit a number of spots where ghosts have been sighted. Old Melbourne Goal (jail, that is) was home to 135 hangings. One of them, Ned Kelly, is said to have resulted in a ghost that won’t leave the site of his demise. While you’re there, walk the road to the gallows. If this isn’t enough for you, look for nutty ghosts on the Beechworth Ghost Tour at what was once the Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum.
2. Under the Royal Mile Beneath Edinburgh‘s Royal Mile, you’ll find a warren of hidden “closes” where people once lived, worked … and perished. Mary King’s Close, once abandoned and forgotten, is now open via the Supernatural History Tour. Explore one of Scotland’s most haunted locations, get the scoop on urban myths and hear about sightings that occurred as recently as 2003. A few claim to have felt ghosts brush past on this tour. Will you be one of them?
3. Follow New France’s Great Master Old Montreal‘s cobblestone streets set the scene for any supernatural encounter. The sun goes down; the wind blows off the river. You don’t know what’s gust and what’s ghost! History is the breeding ground of the other-worldly, and the Great Master will take you through the century’s that have contributed to what is now the “New France Ghost Hunt.”
4. The Darker Side of Luxury No, you won’t have to worry about peasant uprisings, but if you’re looking for paranormal trouble, you can find it at a handful of Fairmont hotels. At the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa (where I suffered through a business trip from hell a decade ago), keep an eye open for Victoria, a now deceased member of one of the founding families of the Sonoma Valley. A former steward, now dead, of course, hangs out in the silver room at the Fairmont Royal York, and a hotel maid who fell to her death in 1908 has yet to leave the Fairmont Empress.
5. The Ghastly Side of Downtown Orlando I’m sure there’s something going on at Disneyworld, but skip it in favor of downtown Orlando (my favorite part of Florida). On the Orlando Ghost Tours, you’ll get two hours to pick up the basics of parapsychology and poke around in locations confirmed to be haunted. You’ll even get to use specialized equipment to conduct your own paranormal investigation. Who you gonna call? After this, probably yourself.
History buffs and travelers with a sense of the macabre take note! 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, and to commemorate U.K. based Miles Morgan Travel is planning a cruise that will follow the same path as that iconic vessel. Presumably without the iceberg.
On April 8, 2012, a chartered ship named the Balmoral will set sail from Southhampton, England, just as Titanic did 100 years earlier. The ship will have its first stop over in Cobh, Ireland, which is also a port of call on the original voyage. From there, it is out on to the open water of the Northern Atlantic, where, on April 15th, the Balmoral will visit the exact spot of the sinking of Titanic, exactly a century after the fact. The passengers and crew will then hold a memorial for those that were lost on that tragic day, before proceeding on to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they will visit three cemeteries, where passengers of Titanic found their final resting place. Finally, the voyage will finish up in New York City, the same destination that the “unsinkable” Titanic was bound for on that fateful journey.
The Balmoral can hold 1350 passengers and sails with a crew of 510. The luxury liner will serve a menu that matches the one from a century before, and live bands will play music from that era as well. Passengers can attend special historical lectures while en route and enjoy a cruise that will be a bit like stepping back in time. Prices start at $3900 and each of the 710 cabins is expected to be sold out.
For more information on this very unique cruise or to book your own cabin, go to BortonOverSeas.com, the company in charge of taking reservations for the voyage. Their Titatanic Memorial Cruise page has everything you’ll need to know before you follow the famous ship into history.
Once a person has seen a video of Sarah Palin’s face in a corn maze, it’s hard to imagine what might top it. This Google Earth video “Amazed” has a response. These mazes aren’t all corn related, however. Some, like the Hampton Court Maze in London, are hedge mazes found in formal gardens.
Where ever these mazes are, Google Earth unfolds them in a kaleidoscope trip to various parts of the world–mostly the United Kingdom.
As a note about corn mazes: They change from year to year. For example, this year The Corn Maze at the Butterfly House in Whitehouse, Ohio is of Toledo Walleye Hockey instead of Sarah Palin.
For the list of where each of the mazes featured in the Google Earth video are located, keep reading. The Butterfly House is not one of them.
This list is found, along with the latidudes and longitudes of each maze on the You Tube video page. Click on “more info.” You’ll also find links to the Web sites for most of them.
1. Dole Plantation Maze; Oahu, Hawaii
2. Spider Web; HeeHaws Fun Farm, Layton, Utah
3. McCall’s Pumpkin Patch; New Mexico
4. “HELP” Maze; Greenwood Village, Colorado
5. Fritzler Maze; LaSalle, Colorado
6. Land of Lincoln Corn Maze; Illinois
7. Peace Maze; Castlewellan, Northern Ireland
8. Hazlehead Park; Aberdeen, Scotland
9. Thoresby Mega Maze; Thoresby Home Farm, Perlethorpe, England
10. Wonderland Pleasure Park Hedge Maze; Nottinghamshire, England
11. Hatfield House Maze; Hertfordshire, England
12. Somerleyton Hall Maze; Suffolk, England
13. de Uithof, Den Haag, The Netherlands
14. Amstelpark, Amsterdam
15. Labyrinth & Tree of Life; Milton Keynes, UK
16. Capel Manor College; Enfield, England
17. Alice in Wonderland Park; Christchurch, Dorset, UK
