Did a little surfing this evening and found myself on the same wavelength as November Child who admits to an obsession for collecting image links and widgets to stick on the side of the page. I have that too. I've been busy registering my humble blog at every site I can find and then putting their stickers on site.
It reminded me that I'd called in via Yorkshire Snowman at the Britblog site the other night and registered myself. It was quite an unsettling experience, I can tell you. They have this map of the British Isles and they invite you to stick your pin in it - but only if you're actually living there, of course. I hovered over the map, longing to stick my pin straight into Manchester - even though I left there twenty years ago and have also lived in Leicester and Exeter - while it slowly sank in that I no longer qualify. I'm an expat living on foreign turf.
And then I looked at the emblems they offered - and realised that I don't even qualify as a true Brit expat. I don't like the flag. Used to love the Union Jack but see it these days as a gaudy leftover from colonialism. The red George cross of England makes me think of football hooligans. And I'm damned if I'm going to identify myself as a Scot - though some of my clan came from there and I do like that blue flag with the diagonal cross. Welsh and Irish don't come into it - I definitely aint from there. And what's left is a guy with his finger pointing but he's from the 'Your Country Needs You' recruiting poster they used in World War II, so don't need him either. Just settled for the link and left it at that.
Here's what I could have had. Take your pick:
2 comments:
Never thought about that. Will look into it and let you know...
Rule Britannia? God forbid! Checked out BritBlog and felt quite alienated. Am I now therefore an alien back home? We have a German in the office who has lived abroad for twenty years and told me today that the Germans are not liked because they lost two wars. You s-t-a-r-t-e-d two wars, you mean, I found myself saying. [She is actually still speaking to me.] I think that response of mine makes me still quite British but I am not sure I liked it. Food for thought over the weekend. Where are you, by the way, JJ? I've been checking your site for something new for two days now.......very addictive. "Congo"
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