I could also file this post under “Why I Love the British” and “Things I Don’t Understand About the British.”
Item 1: The UK Roundabout Appreciation Society.
Do you know what I mean when I say “roundabouts”? Those terrifying (to me, though much less terrifying than when I first tried to drive around them 17 years ago) traffic circles, or rotaries, as they are better known in the States. (Is it my turn to go? Am I about to crash into that car speeding at me, or is it about to crash into me? What lane am I meant to be in? I missed my exit, now I need to go around the circle again. I’m starting to get dizzy.)
Well, only in England would you have a roundabout appreciation society, which produces a yearly calendar and gives out the title of “Best Roundabout in Britain.” (See? You could not make this up!) I heard about it on the radio while, you guessed it, in my car (I was not going around a roundabout at the time). Last year, the society named the best roundabout in the nation one that has a windmill built in the 1700s right in the middle of it.
And then there’s Item 2, which I spied today in a local community newsletter.
The “Loo of the Year Award 2013.” It seems that a local shopping area has been shortlisted for the award this year. The award has its own website, a set of inspectors, multiple award sponsors . . . All I can say is: I just didn’t need to know. And: I am so glad I am not a toilet inspector.
You cannot make this stuff up.
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
expatrimummy 
