Okay. Since it's my birthday, I thought I'd explain this in more detail, plus why I had the insane idea to include something so... unpredictable? on my blog.
There are three reasons:
1. England is a tiny island. Not everybody in the world lives there. Most of the world hasn't been there. But it's made its mark on history, and like the duck-billed platypus, there seems to be something about it that draws curiosity (and I'm sure it's not just our Yorkshire puddings).
2. I used to belong to a writing website (as I mentioned before, I think) called Inkpop. This website was largely inhabited by people from North America, although there were also a number of Aussies and people from various other counties floating around. For some reason, I ended up as one of the only Brits who was well-known on the site, and despite the glaringly wet-fish-slapping-face-obvious giveaways that I was English from spellings such as "rumour" and "socialise", I often got "huh? You're from ENGLAND? WHOA!" (Cue a hundred and one odd questions and the accusations that I must be a fraud since I don't like tea -- yes, criminal, I know.) I think I must've explained the university and school systems here, affirmed that King's Cross is a real place and had the awkwardness of me or the person I'm talking to getting mixed up over American football and soccer at least fifty times. In short, I became an Item of Curiosity and was turned into an encyclopedia on Britain for various things.
3. I'm quite often abroad (in fact, I live abroad), and I often meet foreigners. Heck, in Brussels, I often become a walking information bureau. People who don't speak French or Dutch often seem relieved to find an English speaker who knows her way around (they obviously don't know that almost everybody in Brussels can speak a fair amount of English, and most of them fluently too). Apart from the obvious question of "what's somebody your age doing living abroad?", the most frequent thing I get asked after directions from the lost tourists is, "So, what's England like, then?" (Note: no British tourist has asked me this. Then again, I've only been stopped once by a British tourist.)
So, for anybody who's curious, here is a random (and I mean random) scattering of knowledge for you about stuff to do with the British Isles. You may not have personally been here, but at least you can virtually meet the island. I won't post about it every Wednesday, but when I post on Wednesdays, it'll be about Britain. Top hat, what?
Oh, and by the way, guys -- King Arthur is not still alive. And not all British people have that quaint accent (though I do). But I am related to Robin Hood.
See you later, old chap!
TBG
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