today : Best of British pt1

Of all the things about being British that I don't like, the weather is the main one. Yesterday it was gloriously sunny. I watered my plants and hung out the laundry before nipping out to the local Asda for some supplies. Almost as soon as I set off, blobs of rain appeared on my windscreen. By the the time I came out of the supermarket clutching a carton of milk and a pack of Camels it was tipping down. I rushed home and dashed outside to bring in the laundry before it got so soaked I would have to spin it again. As soon as I had grabbed the last thing off the line, the rain abruptly stopped and the sun came out again. This is the kind of thing that Alanis Morrisette would understand as ironic, when of course it was just rotten timing and me not looking at the weather forecast which said sunny periods with sharp showers. Sometimes I long to live in California, where it is apparently a mean 70 degrees all the time. I even mind living in the tropics where you know that it will bucket down at 3pm every day. Predictability is the key issue here.

Yet there are many things about being British that are excellent.

1. Swearing and sex on the TV. We love it. Yet we don't go over the top. Generally the swearing and sex on TV isn't about tittilation (unless if you go looking in the outer reaches of late night cable). If a drama requires lots of swearing, there is lots of swearing. If nudity is required, then people get their kit off. It's all very grown up and we don't really get our knickers in a twist over it. If people don't like bare skin and real language, then they don't appear to form pressure groups and rant about the moral corruption of civilisation. They turn off.

2. Pop music. We have the best. That's it.

3. Football. We also have the best. Last night's Championship playoff semi-final featured Leeds and Preston. As well as winning, the Leeds team sustained nine bookings and two sending offs. Now that's real sport.