Being British: Act IX

[Gorgeous_Ginny]

I'm curious. I have list of thing that I wonder if they exist indiginously in England, Scotland, or Ireland:

Poision Ivy
Crayfish/Crawfish (like itty bitty lobsters)
Dolphins
Sea Lions
Whales
White Sand Beaches
Conch Shells

Poison Ivy - Yes, it grows up the sides of houses, mainly mine, stupid thing and is very annoying.

Crayfish/Crawfish - Yes, they live in Freashwater sites and our native ones are under threat from non natives that have escaped from Farming sites.

Dolphins- Where I live in the North East on the coast, we used to get Dolphins visit us in the Summer months, I don't know if they still do or not near me, but they may in other parts of the country.

Sea Lions - Yes we do have these, in the very north east of England near the boarder of Scotland there is a little place called Lindisfarne and there is a place called Holy Island, which is a light house on an island just of the shore. Here they have a vast population of Sea Lions.

Whales - I don't know whether many people in different countries know about this but there has been many a time that a Whale has beached somewhere in England and they seem to have taken a fancy to the Thames River in London. Also on Isle of Skye, Scotland there are trips that run to go Whale Spotting, so they must obviously live there.

White Sand Beaches - I don't know about 'white' sand but there is some really nice beaches here is a link to a site which has 7, and these are all in the U.K.

Conch Shells - They aren't found here they are mainly found in the Indo-Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Ocean. However people do buy them off the internet.

- Hope this could help you

- Hannah x

[apollo13]

Although our poision ivy is not as poisionous here as it is elsewhere.

~Evie

[Hufflepuff at Heart]

I'm curious. I have list of thing that I wonder if they exist indiginously in England, Scotland, or Ireland:

Poision Ivy
Crayfish/Crawfish (like itty bitty lobsters)
Dolphins
Sea Lions
Whales
White Sand Beaches
Conch Shells

I'm not British, but I thought it would be okay to answer considering it was asked what it was like in Ireland.

However, if you don't want me to answer any questions here at all I will oblige!

I think it is mostly the same in Ireland; not sure if there is poison ivy or not (and probably should find out...I don't really want to go licking any or something...)

According to Whale Watch Westcork, there have been sightings of 24 species of whale in Ireland.

Here's a picture of my favourite beach in Ireland, Rossbeigh, the sand would be typical of a beach from the southwest at least.

Hope I helped!

[Equinox Chick]

Could anyone give me the names of some seaside villages/towns in Britain that Wizards might go on holiday to? Maybe beside a railway line (although I suppose most of them are...).

All the places suggested are good examples of British seaside resorts. Padstow has a train station called Bodmin Parkway but you'd need to get a taxi or bus from the station to get to the town (or you used to have to- I went by motor bike )

Brighton is very cosmopolitan. I don't know what era you're thinking about but since the 90's Brighton is the home of several celebs (Paul McCartney, Fat Boy Slim among others) and the prices of property and even beach huts are astronomical.

Cornwall could be the spot because of all the Arthurian legend associated with it. Tintagel, Merlin etc.

I did go to Whitby a long time ago - in the winter and it was very bleak. I can second the time warp shops and the fact that the lady in the corner shop wouldn't serve 'outsiders' until she'd served every single local in the shop first- HA!. Probably very different now- I went in the late 80's.

I don't know much about Wales, Scotland or Ireland I'm afraid. There's a strange resort in Wales called Port Meirion which was the setting for a very bizarre TV series- it's considered pretty magical and odd.

Olive Oil med White sand beaches- No I don't think you'll find them in Britain. Our sand is much more yellow. Southend has muddy dark sand.

Carole
xxx

[OliveOil_Med]

Thanks for answering questions. Here, these were things I thought only existed in America. And for some of the people who spoke about poison ivy, it is not actually poisonous. It's a name for a wild weed that causes anyone who touches it to break out in a very itchy, very painful rash. It's not poisonous, but you can imagine the pain you would be in if you licked it. Please don't go around licking wild plants in the States.

Toads yes, plants no. (Just kidding. Don't lick the toads. That could end up bad too).

Well, at least I now know we hold the distinction of counch shells and white (yes, actually white, and very fine) sand beaches.

But now I have some more questions:

What is a typical breakfast in the U.K.? It seemed like in the books, people weren't really big on pancakes, waffles, fresh fruit, or protein drinks (granted, I don't see wizards drinking the last anyway).

Is definding a lady's honor very big in Britain? At my school, if a guy were to see another guy insult a girl, culturally, he would be expected to get into an actual fight with the guy. Would he be expected to do the same in Britain, or just not take it to the same extent?

[bling_baby]

Is definding a lady's honor very big in Britain? At my school, if a guy were to see another guy insult a girl, culturally, he would be expected to get into an actual fight with the guy. Would he be expected to do the same in Britain, or just not take it to the same extent?

It isn't so much insulting a woman because when it comes to the battle of wits, it's generally understandable that women can defend themselves in that area unless it gets out of hand. However, a lot of guys still maintain the value that you cannot hit a girl or make one cry. It really depends on the guy, who the girl is and how the girl has been offended.

[apollo13]

Okay, pancakes, I have a major problem with, because it seems like in every fic they have pancakes for breakfast, and I just know straight off the author is American. We love pancakes, but we eat them very occasionally, and they are not the pancakes you are used to. They are French crepes, although we don't call them that, we call them pancakes. We mainly eat them on pancake day, or if a friend is staying over. Even then, we prefer to eat them at lunch, dinner of just a midday treat rather than breakfast. We might eat them with lemon and sugar, stawberries, melted chocolate/nutella chocolate spread, syrup, sometimes.

To be honest, I don't think it's wise to out pancakes in your story. Not because it is an Americanism as such, but because we have them so rarely, and people tend to get very excited when we do hae them, that when a Brit reads it in a fic, they just naturally assume it's American, especially when it says that they are blueberry pancakes or something, because crepes are very thin.

Waffles, I have had once for breakfast in England, and twice for breakfast in Holland.

Fresh fruit, we eat plenty on that. That's fine.

Protein drinks . . . unless you're on a diet or middle aged, people don't really bother.

~Evie

[CakeorDeath]

American pancakes in Britain are called drop scones or scotch panckes or just American pancakes and are normally eaten for afternoon tea with jam or honey. We used to have them on pancake say because my mum can't make crepes and they're easy to make.

Normal breakfast is just cerial or toast while sometimes people have fry ups (eggs, bacon etc) on weekends or birthdays. Most people don't have fry uups veryday because of health considerations.

[apollo13]

And because fry ups are stupidly expensive, and take ages to make, and my dad usually manages to burn something.

~Evie

[PadfootnPeeves]

Quick question- do Brits use the term 'silverware'? In the books, there's lines like 'Ginny was collecting cutlery' and whatnot, but I'm just wondering if it would be okay to use silverware as well. Thanks!