bronchitis sucks.

I'm sorry for my absence. I've been on "bed rest" with a case of bronchitis. Now, I know that you would think, "Oh, bed rest. Why didn't she blog the entire time?" That would have been asking a lot considering I've been sleeping for approximately 20 hours a day, for the past 5 days. However, in those 4 hours I've been awake each day, I've spent thinking and creating a mental list of all the things I love about England.

1. Ready-Made Food.
The British love their ready-mades. A trip to the Tesco Express is a trip to ready-made world. The sandwiches (my personal favorite being the chicken and honey cured bacon -- obviously), the salads, the curries, the Sweedish meatballs, etc. It's like, no one in this country cooks, they just eat ready-made sandwiches out of little cardboard boxes. Considering my domestic failures (see below) this is for the best.

2. The BBC
Two nights ago I ended up watching the strangest collection of TV -- mind you, with no commercials. It started with Strictly Come Dancing. It was out of control cheese factor. The Brits love nothing more than cheese. The sparkles, the jokes, let me repeat, the sparkles, it was like So You Think You Can Dance on crack. Preceeding Strictly Come Dancing was a comedy show that involved a lot of wine drinking and crude jokes, and was immediately followed by a two hour documentary on the Hidden Nazis. I guess when you only have 5 TV channels in the entire country, it's got to be a bit varied. It's just, wow, that is a lot of different directions in a 4 hour period.

3. Ribena
This is more a take on Britain's obsession with the past. When my granny had bronchitis, her NHS doctor recommended Ribena. When I got bronchitis my NHS doctor recommended Ribena. You'd think in 50 years, there would be a breakthrough. Not the case. You are still recommended to boil your Ribena like a "cup o'tea" and drink it up.

4. The preciousness of School Uniforms
London school uniforms are the most amazing things I've ever seen -- blazers, high socks, oxfords, hats, matching backpacks. The whole bit. I demand we bring this back to the US. When you see them all walking in a row at the National Gallery it's heartbreakingly cute.

5. Yellow Vests
Richard, Holden, and Phil love their yellow vests. All manual laborers, police officers, basically any one and everyone in England wear these NEON yellow vests when at work. The last time my brothers were here, they each bought one, and wear them when working on group projects back home. I thought they were overdoing it. In fact, they are underdoing it. These vests are everywhere. When I was at the London Transport Museum, all the little school children were wearing neon yellow vests to differentiate them from the other children running harrycarry around old buses. Richard loved it.

There are so many things I can't get enough of. This list will be ever growing, but for now, I'm off to watch a documentary on Homophobic Crime in the East End on the BBC while I enjoy a piping hot cup of Ribena.