Barry

I recently learned how to make crumpets and I’m so excited. So what are they? Crumpets are small griddle cakes made from an unsweetened batter eaten in the U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. They were originally part of the Anglo-Saxon diet and made when bread ovens were unavailable. They can be found in some supermarkets in Japan such as Seijo I […]

  Being away from my country of origin, I think it’s important to keep up with the current trends or cultural changes that happen back there. Language is constantly evolving to accommodate such changes and, whether or not it affects me directly, understanding what people are talking about is crucial. While reading the news over the last decade or so, I’ […]

One of the idiosyncrasies I’ve noticed about England, from my somewhat outside perspective, is that DIY (Do-It-Youself, or Home-Improvement) is very popular. Why DIY? The reasons why people engage in DIY have always been numerous and complex. For some, DIY has provided a rare opportunity for creativity and self expression. For others it has been an unwelcome […]

One of the things I miss most about England is the food. Luckily there are many places around Yokohama that provide traditional English food. One dish in particular makes some foreign people squeamish. Namely steak and kidney pie. When I was a child I hated it. Now I’m older I really enjoy it. So what exactly is it? Steak and kidney pie is a savoury pie that […]

One of my favorite places in England is Avebury, a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in southwest England. One of the best known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in the world. It is both a tourist attraction and a place of religious importance to p […]

Although my family moved every few years when I was a child I spent my formative years in Kent where I went to secondary school and then college. Despite the fact I’ve lived in Japan longer than I lived in Kent, I feel compelled to answer the question “Where are you from?” With “I’m from Kent.” Anyway, here are some facts about my adopted home town. Kent is […]

It’s coming up to Easter time. When I was a child I always looked forward to Easter because children would always get chocolate Easter eggs from relatives. I’d never thought about the history or meaning of Easter until recently when asked by students. So here you are. In the UK Easter is one of the major Christian festivals of the year. It is ful […]

A car boot sale is to England as a garage sale is to the United States. Car boot sales involve people coming together to buy and sell unwanted and new, or second-hand, items in a public space. The phrase car boot sale comes from the habits of sellers who fill the boot of their car― in American English, the trunk ― with items to sell. These items can range fr […]