144 January 2014 www.bahrainthismonth.com lastword British are wondrous folk. If it were not for the British we would not have pie and peas, fruitcake, Yorkshire pudding and apple crumble. If it were not for the British, Singapore would not have an amazing cricket club. Britain has given us great comedy. If any country can look at themselves and see what funny chaps they are, it’s surely the Brits. Fawlty Towers, Dad’s Army and Only Fools and Horses are some of the funniest shows around. All of them decades old, but that’s the British way. They love everything vintage and antique. Shows on television today will be popular 40 years from now. Antiques Roadshow is the perfect example of a show which never ages in England. When I first travelled to London my father reminded me to enjoy the great leaps forward in consumerism and technology that Britain was renowned for. He wanted me to go to HMV and enjoy music like it should sound. Lucky I did because they went broke a few years later. Sadly, Great Britain has seen a number of lost battles of late. Jaguar and Land Rover are now in the hands of the India’s Tata Motors. Cadbury Chocolates has been swallowed by Kraft Foods of America. Harrods is run by the Qataris. Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and The Savoy are all famed British brands owned by Canadians. To those British amongst us, forgive my flippancy and humour this month. I truly do love you all, and appreciate the British additions to our lives — warm beer, beef Wellington, sandwiches, scones with clotted cream, tea with cookies, and Lady Diana. I truly hope to connect with a few more of you… on Facebook, though! A few of my bosses are British. Wonderful chaps. After six years I’m still awaiting to hear a “Thank you, old sport” or “Job well done, chap” from any of them. But they’re British, I can forgive them for a lot. Being Australian is possibly the worst thing to be when one’s bosses are from the motherland. We are, after all, the progeny of prisoners that they sent to the Antipodes so they could forget us, and to ‘uncrowd’ their burgeoning prisons several 100 years ago. Basically I am a daily reminder of their past and how successful us prisoners made it in the New World. I think they wish they had come, too. It doesn’t rain so much down under. Growing up in Australia allowed us an opportunity to travel to the Great British Isles and to work there for two years under visa rules of the time. Stay a day late and you were surreptitiously relabelled a convict and shipped home. I stayed just upon the granted time and was so in love with all things British by then; all I wanted for the next decade was to return. Thankfully that wore off once I began to see other countries, especially those where the British had not invaded, plundered and inflicted their beliefs, rule and parliamentary system upon. I Love Cuba! I surely jest though. I love the Brits and their …ummh! Let me start that again. JAMES CLAIRE I can forgive people many things, being British among them. I hope that does not sound too harsh, some of my best friends are British — on Facebook that is. I would never admit to any in real life! Ah…. The Brits! No sex please, we’re British!
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