I know. I was grossed out too. To understand this more, know that prawns are shrimp. However, the British would say flavoured instead of flavored, and would say crisps instead of chips. Chips are french fries here. Heaven forbid that the English name a food after the French! I have heard more jokes about how English people hate the French over the past few days than I expected to hear in the entirety of my time here. I guess that stereotype is real.
As are many other stereotypes, I've noticed. There is a ground floor before the first floor. In other words, the first floor is actually the first floor up, or, as Americans call it, the second floor. One person, who I asked about where to find something in a building, looked at me like I was nuts when it took me a minute to get that concept. People really do wear bright colors, bowler hats, call everything "bloody brilliant" and say "cheers" instead of thank you. The first time someone said cheers to me I was ordering a drink- I thought they literally were trying to toast with me. Clearly, I looked like a typical imbecilic American. Ah, well. They do really think Americans are dumb too. But it's alright. They think the French are dumber.
So today, I went on a little tour of the academic area, bought a phone, bought my books, and went grocery shopping. Not too particularly eventful. At the grocery store I just ran around and bought my basics. The basket got heavy quickly, so I didn't really stop to look around much. Boy was I missing out.
Later in the day, Jackie and I decided to go to the King's Cross and St. Pancras train stations. We got dinner from the Boot's in the station. Boot's is kind of like the Duane Reade of London, but they have some very cheap takeaway food. It was 3.65 for a sandwich, drink and a side. Actually, I have noticed that... get ready...
LONDON IS CHEAPER THAN NEW YORK
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. It is true. Even WITH the exchange rate. If you live in Manhattan, and try to live cheaply, it will cost you more than trying to live in London cheaply. I can't believe it. My groceries were cheaper. Cheap food and cheap clothes are cheaper. The bus ends up being much cheaper. Theatre tickets are cheaper. Alcohol is cheaper. It's hilarious. Now, this only applies to low end items. If you want to live the high life, go to fancy restaurants and movies, sit in the front row of plays, stay in hotels; the price is going to be stupid. But, for what normal people buy, it's so much cheaper.
There are litre containers of liquid soap in Boot's for 89p. Wow. Oh, and here's a good one. I was talking to a lady the other day who was upset that her son picked University of London because it was so expensive. It costs 3,000 pounds a semester. That's like $5,125 roughly. So, why did everyone tell me that London was expensive?
So anyway, sorry for the tangent. I just had to share my findings about that, because they shocked me. I may write a few weeks from now that I was utterly wrong about this. I'm not holding my breath.
Back to King's Cross and St. Pancras! We got dinner, as I was saying, at the Boot's. I wanted to get the most English meal possible. I got just normal mango as my side dish, but here's what I came up with for my sandwich and drink:
In case you can't read the labels, that is a Lancashire Cheese and Beetroot Chutney sandwich. I still have no idea exactly what I was eating, but it was absolutely delicious. It was kind of like goat cheese, currant jam and apples. But not quite. The drink is ginger beer. It was non-alcoholic, and it was the strongest and most wonderful ginger ale I have ever had in my life... for only 4 calories a bottle! Tasted so pungently of ginger, and it had a nice spice to it. If you can't read the bottle, it says: "pushes back like a billy goat on a cliff edge, beware it kicks too!" I don't get it either. That's why I bought it.
In addition, I sampled a very popular British candy bar, like the American Butterfinger but much much better, called the Crunchie, and a granola bar that I bought simply because the word dodgy was on the packaging. Dodgy is my new favourite adjective. It replaced sketchy immediately.
Enough about food. Well, one more thing. I'm starting my new diet and exercise regimen tomorrow. http://www.Sparkpeople.com is going to be my site of choice to track my food... as long as I can read the British labels! I'm writing this down to try and keep myself to it.
Also in the St. Pancras station, there was an excellent little toy store called Hamley's. It was a beautiful store, and was apparently celebrating its 250th birthday! We have nothing like that in the US. Actually, when I went in, I compared it to an English F.A.O. Schwartz. Very quickly, I realized that F.A.O. Schwartz was an American version of Hamley's. The teddy bears were very soft, and all of the toys were very nice. There were flying cows, cute dress-up outfits, fighter jets with the Union Jack, and so many other toys. They even had Paddington bear! What a great childhood memory. My favourite was the automated dancing beefeater bear.
The rest of my St. Pancras/ King's Cross trip was cool too. Here are some photographs from around the station.
More about King's Cross in a minute.
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