Diana was very much adored here. She evoked quite a bit of sympathy, people genuinely felt for her situation within the monarchy and with her difficult marriage.

Despite it all, she worked with charity and raised awareness about so many things. And just her very demure, graceful demeanor, really struck a note over here. And she just…seemed more real than most other monarchs.

I remember my Mom telling me about watching her wedding. And having a difficult time with her funeral. She even said she couldn’t watch the recent Royal Wedding, because it was too hard with Diana not being there.

As for needing a breath of fresh air, I dunno really. The Queen just seems like a miserable, humorless woman. And Prince Charles doesn’t exactly emulate charisma or appeal. And there have been quite a few scandals that have come out. The Duchess seems to have smoothed quite a bit of that over and certainly interested a far younger audience than ever paid attention before.

On a side note, a lot of the magazines and fashion writers over here talked about how Pippa overshadowed Kate at the wedding. Are you kidding me? Did Pippa marry a prince? I don’t get it. And I wasn’t referring to Kate’s style on the day of her wedding, but in general.

See?

0.o
Who the [censored] would find that fun ? I dont understand the reasoning behind this at all.

Yeah everyone liked Diana. And yes the royals can be unlikable (Charles, Camilla, and Philip).

The overshdowing part, is more to do with people looking at Pippa more than Kate because of her ass.
Thats what I gather anyway.

Ratslayer, got it one!

I remember being woken up on purpose to tell me in a shaking, shocked voice. "Diana's dead..." All I could do was growl "**** **** ***** I was asleep!!! What do I care!! I don't know her, now I'm going back to sleep"

And yes. I was woken again for the funeral. Was not a happy bunny that morning.

Never cared for the monarchy, they're largely a tourist attraction that sponge off the state. Diana fulfiled a cliche tragic princess role, some people liked that.

To anyone from New Zealand, there's a lot of us in the UK that would love to live in either New Zealand or Australia. Makes sense that you have tight imigration laws and conditions. Do you have the urge to live in another country or are you happy where you are?

Are non Americans aware that 'yankee' us a term oft used by Southerners in the U.S. to describe Northerners? I had heard it used in this sense long before I knew it was used to refer to Americans in general.

Pippa's [censored] stole the show, though it's not like Kate is ugly. I suppose we're just not supposed to look at her rear


And Philip mis-treated Diana, but he isn't a bad guy, he does more for charity than people realise. Charles is a bit old-fashioned to say the least.


And from what I've seen of the Queen, she's actually quite quick-witted, she's certainly not miserable.



And Hicks - You sponge more off the state than the entirety of the living royal family. They bring the country some ￡40,000,000 a year in revenue, that's after their take in it. Do you pay ￡40,000,000 in tax a year? Didn't think so.



On the subject of St. Pat's, it's always been a big booze up around here, bigger than St. George's usually. Then again, very strong Irish roots in the NW. Only students do the whole EVERYTHINGSHOULDBEGREEN business though, as far as I'm aware.

Britian ruled the world! Or at least a very large chunk of it. With it's rule, came it's culture. Even in countries that fought quite hard for their freedom, much of British culture remains. That's why so many British events seem to matter in places they shouldn't. It's funny, less people in Britian gave a toss about the royal wedding than did people in Albania (I made that up). It's a romanticised view of a country that has never existed. So many people come to Scotland expecting everyone to be wearing kilts, England expecting us all to talk like Hugh Grant and Wales, expecting us to swim up to your boat and start slapping our fins in the water.

I support the monarchy, they bring in some money from tourists, and are part of our culture. We havent exactly got much left to stand apart from other places.

Why move to Australia ? Aside from the horrible wildlife, the fires and floods. You also have insane censorship, games are banned and censored, and I read pormstars must have a certain brest size, otherwise people think it encourages pedophilia. Yes thats the apparent reason.

I don't understand it either, but my father has been doing it for a great many years. I often ask why, and he doesn't give much of a response besides "it's refreshing".

As far as your question about winter is concerned I don't tolerate it at all. I hate winter and anything related to it. Even more so that last winter, which was extremely cold, I was in army service and this winter I have a job 75% of which takes place outdoors. Nothing I hate more than starting the car in 5 AM, -30 degrees, and fingers numb.
Snow is overrated, skiing is overrated, cold is overrated... I'd wish it would be 24/7 summer here if it wouldn't be so devastating for our ecosystem - and national defense.

Oh I prefer the cold, but I would hate to live in Scandinavia during winter. Aside from the aurora (that happens in winter right ?)

How does the winter help national defense ? I assume your neighbours are as adapted to it, as your country.

They do bring in tourism money, yes, but they also spend and cost a stupid amount of money too. They serve no purpose beyond that however and I wouldn't object to them being removed.

I really don't see the complete obsession people seem to have about them. They're people who were born into a family by chance. Nothing more.

The Aurora happen only far in the North. Down South here the only natural wonder you see is exhaust fumes.


As for national defense, Winter has done a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War for us Wouldn't have made it through the war without the snow, really.

I can think of a few other things that are a drain on money, but without the cultural aspect, they help raise awareness for charities too.

*notes to stick to the north*
I would have thought the Soviets would have been well prepared for cold weather. Common sense should be a basic requirement for leaders. Well I suppose it was a good thing, they lacked it.

Eh, Arrogance gets the best of many leaders. Same reason Hitler hit Russia when he did, he thought he'd get it over and done with in a few weeks.

Hitler was a bad leader anyway. But pissing of the soviets was his biggest mistake.

He was actually a very good one near the start, but when the pressure started mounting he started to crumble, spending more time in hiding than leading properly.

Only thing I think he did well was economics. That was pretty impressive to turn a place around so quickly.

I think I'll stop here so we won't derail the thread

But yeah, he wasn't the best war leader, but his internal skills were superb. His economic skills, charm and charisma during speeches, and his style of propaganda are all very enticing. Had he not harboured such antipathy for non Aryians he'd have gone down as one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century.

Not really. We usually just go to mass and then go out for a couple of drinks. We don't have insanely mad parties like the Americans. ( at least in my experience )
There is also a large parade in Dublin (our capital).

I agree, its kinda sad that he was that smart, but that evil and insane.

No idea about his propganda, charisma, etc. Never actually looked at that stuff.

Anyway... So... Those other cultures eh.

That is interesting. There are some special St. Patrick's Day masses here, but I think that is about as authentic as it gets.

And yes, Americans seem to enjoy the highlights of the Dublin parade on television.

I have a question for users in America that's always intrigued me regarding age laws.

So you can drive at 16(?) but can't drink alcohol until you're 21, which seems a little unfair. How do you feel about that?

Over here ('here' being England) 18 is pretty much the age for everything. You only have to be 21 if you want to apply for a commercial aeroplane licence or adopt a child. And yet, you only have to be 16 (the age of consent) to have a child of your own! Crazy.

Never bothered me much. I'm 21 almost 22 and only 'drank' once, and the 'drinking' being a half glass of champagne before finding it to taste like piss and dump the rest out.

I've gotten drunk once, I have never done that again