HossC

East Anglia (the part of Britain where you'd catch a ferry to see Roth) sometimes gets a reputation for being a bit backward in terms of technology (despite it being home to Lotus Cars). I remember a story told by Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear where he claimed that he tried to use a credit card to pay for fuel somewhere in East Anglia, and the garage owner took the card off him and just put it in the till as if it was money.

rainbow

Since this thread's been quiet for a while, here's another video with a couple of people from the US finding out how things are different on this side of the Atlantic. Although they're talking about the UK, and predominantly London, many of these also apply to Ireland. To save you reading the comments or googling the answers, here's a quick response: 1. They're in London - a major global tourist destination. 2. The London Underground is the oldest in the world, with parts dating back to 1863. Newer systems are bigger. 3. It just works better that way. 4. Not much to say here. 5. Switches are just one feature that make UK plugs safer (there's also a ground/earth pin, shielded pins, a fuse etc.) 6. Waiting staff get paid a proper wage. It's very unusual to tip bar staff, and tips in restaurants are optional for good service, and generally not more than 10%. 7. The UK now produces over 750 different cheeses (France only produces about 400), and also imports varieties from around the world. 8. If they'd been in the UK in the '70s, they'd have learned the Green Cross Code from Dave Prowse (aka. Darth Vader - also see the video on page 2 of this thread). 9. This is historical. The cold tap (faucet) comes directly from the mains supply and is considered safe for drinking, but the hot water comes from a storage tank (often in the attic), and isn't considered safe for drinking. Separate taps prevent cross-contamination. Put the plug in and fill the basin! 10. Jaywalking isn't even a thing in the UK - we just cross the road.

At just over 11 minutes into "Nothin' but the Truth" (S04E19), Boss uses his CB in the back seat, but you never see the location of the base unit. I'll keep checking random episodes to see if I can find anything better.

We've just had a bank holiday weekend over here (the UK has theirs at the end of the month), so yesterday I took myself a few miles down the road to see the Scarecrow Festival. This year was the 10th anniversary, but somehow I'd never heard of it before. When you get to the town, the scarecrows are everywhere. Here's a small selection: Starting with the top-left and moving clockwise: This couple were on one of the approaches; Toy Story; recreation of the famous New York skyscraper construction photo (I assume); Friends (♫ "I'll bale hay for you"); The Beatles - Abbey Road; Finally, a little dry humor.

I'm not sure what's going on, Roger. I can either read the messages by clicking on the message envelope icon and then the message, or by clicking the envelope icon and "Go to inbox". I even tried it on my phone and it works fine. Maybe this is one for MM.

We get a load of American sitcoms over here, but it seems that US TV companies like to remake British shows (with very mixed results) as their viewers apparently won't get the references. It's good to hear that you're watching the originals. What other Britcoms are in your collection?

You can check out the details at www.goodolboysfest.com.

I've sent one, Roger. You should be able to click the envelope at the top of the screen and then click the orange subject. Reply to the message if you can read it, or leave a note here of you can't.

Have you tried clicking on the title/subject of the message? That's what I do.

I just went back to see what my choices were nearly nine years ago, and I'll stand by them. I don't think I've been to the cinema since not long after that post, and I don't watch many new movies. Regarding my Christmas choice above, even though I have no problem watching B/W films, I've now managed to get hold of a colorized version of the 1947 movie, and just this month I also picked up a colorized version of "It's a Wonderful Life", which is also on my Christmas favorites list now. I lent the original version of "Miracle on 34th Street" to a younger colleague last Christmas, and she was initially very unsure about watching a B/W movie, but admitted that she'd enjoyed it when she gave it back. As a side note, British TV, and in particular the BBC (there was only one other channel at the time), used to regularly broadcast old B/W shows during school holidays well into the early-80s. That meant that we got treated to shows like "Whirlybirds" and "The Adventures of Champion" (AKA. "Champion the Wonder Horse" in the UK), as well as even older stuff like Laurel & Hardy and Harold Lloyd. Nowadays, classic B/W movies still get shown, but B/W TV shows are much rarer and generally limited to perennial favorites like the early seasons of "Dad's Army".

A classic. The story was based on a real-life event that happened to the writer's father. I seem to remember a documentary where he said that his father didn't originally want the story to be used, but had to admit that the final version was funny. Despite being a prop, the chandelier was very expensive, and they only had one, so the director told the stars that if either of them laughed, they'd be sacked! While we're talking favorite episodes, can I add season 6's "Chain Gang" to the list? In this episode it's not about an iconic scene, but rather a carefully crafted plot with a twist in the tail.

When the American remake was announced, I remember someone commenting "No way, Pedro" in reference to one of Del Boy's memorable lines. BTW. The show actually started in 1981, so it's nearly as old as Dukes. I have the DVD boxset, and watched it through again earlier this year. Some of the references have obviously dated, but the humor is timeless. Unlike with US shows, each one of the 64 episodes was written by just one man - John Sullivan. He also wrote and sang the songs used for the opening and closing credits. One of the last Christmas specials from 1996 still holds the UK record for viewing figures for a sitcom with 24.3 million viewers. Now, there's even a stage musical based on the show. My brother saw it last month. Here's the famous bar scene that Joe mentioned.

Unsurprisingly, 'Strange Visitor to Hazzard' comes up a few times in the Least Favourite Episode thread.

As you may have noticed, I'm originally from the UK, and I'm still just across the water in Ireland. We've had a few prominent UK members in the past, but they've all gone a bit quiet of late. Roth isn't too far away in the other direction - just across another bit of water in the Netherlands.

Welcome to HNet, Joe. I'm glad you found us and decided to join.

Digger As I found out at work last week, a rubber duck is an excavator which has rubber tires rather than tracks. As soon as it was mentioned, I had the Sesame Street song in my head for the rest of the day (and the movie 'Convoy').

I think it's the first time most people had heard of a Super Over, myself included. It has been likened to a penalty shoot-out which is sometimes used to decide drawn soccer matches.

Excellent work, Andrew. Did you ever consider adding the fangs seen in earlier episodes?

England hadn't been batting for long when I wrote the post above, but they ended up drawn on runs with New Zealand. That meant that the match went to a Super Over, which also ended in a draw, so England won by virtue of scoring more boundaries. England are now cricket World Cup champions!

There were just too many choices today. A couple of music legends are playing nearby (although the tickets weren't cheap), there's a country music festival a few miles further away, there's England playing in the cricket World Cup final, there's the Wimbledon tennis final on TV, and the local hurling side have just won a good victory over old rivals. So what did I do? I attended a couple of events for the National Day of Commemoration which is an annual national event commemorating all Irishmen and Irishwomen who died in past wars or on service with the United Nations. I then went home to watch Lewis Hamilton win the British Grand Prix for a record-breaking sixth time. As you can see from the ceremony photos below, it's a beautiful day here, so I'm going back out to enjoy a bit more of the good weather.

There are some familiar names from F1 in that list. Mercedes have been the dominant team for a few years now After a disastrous re-entry into the sport with McLaren, Honda's engines seem to be coming good with Red Bull. This season has seen the return of the Alfa-Romeo name when they took over the Sauber team. There were also stories that VW planned to enter F1 before "Dieselgate". Audi had success a few years ago with their LMP cars at Le Mans, but now seem to mainly compete in the German DTM series. BTW. F1 used to be a mix of V8s, V10s and V12s, but is now restricted to V6s.

Warner Bros' own online store want $134.99 for the set! Amazon describe it as a 33-disc set, whereas previous sets have been 38 or 40 discs. Maybe they've used double-sided discs like some seasons of the region 2 release (I've never counted how many discs I have). I just hope they didn't reduce the quality to squeeze more episodes on each disc (I've read about this with other shows).

Well, congratulations to the USA for their win. England only managed fourth. Roger, I can see why soccer would be popular with American kids. The only equipment you need to play is a ball. Then you can go to the park and use the proverbial jumpers (sweaters) for goalposts, and you have a game. It may last 20 minutes, or I've seen them go on all afternoon with people coming and going. There may also be the attraction of playing an truly international sport. The four that you mentioned are still predominately played in North America (although MLB played their first competitive fixture in Europe just over a week ago with a game in London). The USA women's soccer team can now say that they're the best in the world (again).

rock (Click here if you don't get the connection)