Ten Awesome Things My Wife Didn’t Have Growing Up In America.

In case you hadn’t noticed my wife is an American and has been living in this country for over six years now. She first came here as a student to learn some Welsh, then to do her Masters, and then she married me. She’s working on becoming a citizen of the UK and is very settled here.

There are a few things though that she didn’t experience of course. The tuck shop at school, Blue Peter, doing roly-polies in gymnastics (badly in my case), Mr Blobby. Bit by bit over the years we’ve been together (coming up on our fourth anniversary!) we’ve been comparing and contrasting the way we were brought up, popular culture we were brought up with and the things that didn’t make it across the pond either way.

Some things really shock me, because they are so ingrained in my life, as a child and an adult,  I can’t imagine not having them. Some things confuse me because why the hell wouldn’t you have these things?

So let’s look at the list.

1. Duvets

When we tell people this, the reaction is the same as mine – what do you sleep in? – and the answer is quilts apparently. Quilts and sheets. No duvets, no duvet covers, just quilts. I get it, you can layer them up according to the weather or the season but still, I’m still left a little confused. How the hell do you wash them? I mean, most of the quilts I have wouldn’t fit into my washing machine. Even if they did, they wouldn’t fit in my dryer – but that’s okay cause you can dry outdoors in some of that lovely hot American weather. Right?

2. Washing Lines.

Wrong! Apparently washing lines are against a lot of local laws. No, really, washing lines. Please, fill up your garden with as many American Flags as you can possibly can but they better not be wet or all hell will let loose. Do you know how wasteful that is? When I was in New Jersey in the summer most of my laundry would’ve burnt to a crisp in the time it takes my socks to dry outside here. Assuming it’s not raining of course. But no, everyone’s using tumble dryers.

3. Hot water bottles

As well as getting really hot, it also gets really cold in America. I’ve seen the news, I’ve seen the blizzards, that stuff is cold. No one thought a hot water bottle would be nice? We use those things from September to April in our bed, my feet are like ice most of the time. I have people coming into the pharmacy all year around asking after hot water bottles.

4. Jaffa Cakes

In Britain, we’ve spent long hours debating whether Jaffa cakes are cakes are biscuits. Apparently finding them in the biscuit aisle and eating them with a cup of tea confuses people into thinking they’re a biscuit. I don’t think there is anything more British than a court case ruling over the VAT of a Jaffa Cake. This is what you’re missing out on! Also, they’re delicious and disappear quickly.

5. Custard

This is the biggest one for me. You don’t have custard? Most of my diet during Primary School was custard based. Most of my diet would be custard based now if I had my way. Custard goes with everything. Sometimes in school, pudding was custard with a blob of jam in it and every other pudding was with custard. Custard goes with pie, cake, puddings, trifles, itself. I’ve worked out that the optimum amount of custard per adult is two-thirds of a can of Ambrosia Devon Custard – roughly 266g. That’s how much I love custard.

6. Rugby

This one is obvious but you’re totally missing out on some excellent sport. It’s never going to be popular in America, not while American Football is a thing, but Rugby is so, so much better. It’s not corrupted by money, there’s no standing around and there’s no half time show. It’s eighty minutes of massive blokes running around after a ball and beating the crap out of themselves and each other and bleeding all over the place. I used to say it was like American Football but without the padding, but it’s so much more than that. So much better too.

7. Comedy Panel Shows.

In Britain, we have a few comedy panel shows I mean shows like Have I Got News For You, 8 out 10 Cats and Mock The Week. Programmes that take the piss out the week’s news, make fun of politicians and famous people and the other panellists and make jokes about anything and everything else slightly related (and unrelated). It’s weird not to have these sort of shows when they’re not on I miss them. I get more sense out of the news from these shows sometimes than I do the rest of the media. More recently The Last Leg has been the winner in making sense of the news good or bad.

8. Kinder Surprise.

Kinder Surprise is kind of a rip-off, but the chocolate is delicious. Unfortunately, kids love them. Unless you live in America, where they’re banned. No yummy chocolate and overpriced tiny toy for you American child. You have to buy them separately.

9. Charity Shops

America has thrift shops and Salvation Army shops, but it’s only recently that it’s become a fashionable thing to do – buying clothes at the thrift shop. But we’ve been doing this forever. We will go from charity shop to charity shop looking for books or crockery or t-shirts, completely ignoring the rest of the shops. Charity Shops are completely respectable here, socially acceptable and everyone shops in them, from middle class little old ladies to young students and working mums. At one point there were five charity shops on Aberystwyth High Street. Most of my house-ware came from charity shops, most of my furniture came from a non-profit second-hand store. Most of the clothes I brought my baby have been from charity shops.

10. Nationalised Charity Drives

In March we have Comic Relief or Sport Relief and in November Children In Need – millions of people all over Britain raising millions and millions for good causes all over the world. I understand that there are telethons in the US, raising money on TV, but they’re not quite like this and there have been none since 2012. In November schools dress up in pyjamas, people raise money at their job,s different people do challenges and random things for sponsors all for Children In Need. We’ve been doing this for years. It becomes part of the year like Christmas and Easter and Summer Holidays. Comic Relief and Children In Need are still going strong though. Last year Children In Need raised £37,100,687.

There is more; innuendo, gun control, chips for dinner on a Friday night and conkers. I could go on. There’s a whole bunch of stuff she didn’t have to suffer through as a kid either; Mr Blobby for example.

Let me know what else she missed out on. Perhaps next time I’ll write a list about what I missed that she had growing up.Save

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Show 15 Comments

15 Comments

  1. Paul

    Most important of all though is you can’t get real Fish and Chips over here. Not the good kind wrapped in paper from the local chippy.

  2. I lived a life without duvets until I was about 15, but once you’ve used one there’s no going back! It’s like sleeping in a cosy cloud! As for not having washing lines, what on earth would you dry your quilt and sheets on?! Madness!! #KCACOLS

  3. So interesting how things vary from place to place. Growing up in Northern Ireland, we didn’t have McDonalds or Yorkshire puddings but we did have brown lemonade.

  4. The washing line one made me laugh! Why on earth would you not be allowed a washing line?! haha x #KCACOLS

  5. Jaffa cakes. My local Aldi had them a couple of months ago. They sat and sat at the clearance table. I should have tried them. Aaargh! If they ever reappear, I will.

  6. Geraldine

    Hah I love this. It’s funny to see the differences in cultures especially with things we take for granted 🙂 #KCACOLS

  7. My mother had a clothesline (washing line) and so did I until I could afford a dryer. I also grew up eating custard. But I was a child in the 1950’s Whether these things are missing in America depends upon where you live. Some cities and states have regulations that others don’t. With all the fuss over saving energy, you would think cities would encourage the use of the sun to dry clothes. But government bureaucrats go by their agendas — not common sense.

  8. Duvets ? no duvets?? How can this be? And how can they all afford to use tumble dryers , or do they all use laundrettes. The mind boggles! #kcacols

  9. The first time I saw a duvet on a bed I was 20 years old and was mesmerized. I grew up with sheets and blankets, one of top of the other until you were pinned under a huge pile if it was really cold. The blankets would always slip to the side opposite as the sheet and it was a huge mess. The discovery of duvets and their wonderful covers changed my life! And then I found summer duvets!!!! Those exist!!!! You forgot chocolate oranges……and Lapsang Souchong

  10. I don’t know how anyone manages without hot water bottles – there’s something so comforting about them! That’s really interesting about the local laws against washing lines. I’ve always wondered why tumble dryers were so prevalent in areas of the States with good weather. #anythinggoes

  11. Kim

    I am really intrigued with the idea of a hot water bottle. I have never heard of them before (obviously I am American) but they sound like a no brainer for the winter! This was a great list! #KCACOLS

  12. Washing lines are banned??!! Seriously??!! That is totally wrong!! And how anyone lives without a duvet in their lives is beyond me! And how do the children create any memories without Jaffa cakes and kinder eggs?! Kinder eggs are defining my children’s lives right now! We have endless fights over the toys, we have to hunt high and low for them in every shop we go in to…! It’s so interesting isn’t it, the variation in lives and traditions depending on where we grew up. I have a friend who lives in Texas, and she said the first thing she does when she lands back in the uk for a visit, is go to the nearest chippie for proper fish and chips! I’d love to know what we’ve missed out on not growing up in the US!! #bigpinklink

  13. I loved this list! So interesting! I knew about the duvets thing, and that America is only just catching on to this concept, but wait, no custard??!!! In a country which loves its food as much as America? I also think the drying washing outdoors thing is weird. I’ve seen the state of some American ‘yards’ – a washing line would be an enhancement for sure! Great to find your list on #BigPinkLink and #KCACOLS

  14. Janet

    Wow – I can’t imagine life without a washing line, Jaffa cakes, rugby and charity shops! Your post was great, really enlightening and also quite funny. Thanks for sharing with the #AnythingGoes linky! Janet

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