How English am I?

So, in one of my last posts I was busy wondering how Dutch I was after my time in the Netherlands.

Well, after a week back in the UK in June, I found all this stuff I'd been missing without even realising it... stuff like bread and butter with my meals, cheap pub grub, faggots and mushy peas, blackpudding, bacon and sausage sarnies, orange squash, cider, indian takeaways, hills and nice landscape, carpeted floors and big supermarkets.

There were other things I just felt really out of touch with... my boyfriend driving on the left constantly freaked me out as I thought we were going the wrong way... and having to walk up hill occasionally gave my calves something to moan about.

As an aside, earlier this year a new Scott exhibition opened up in the Natural History Museum in London to celebrate the centenary of his expedition to the South Pole.  I read at the time that “a shopping list on display conveys the very British character of the mission. One can't imagine Amundsen's team taking along 320 kilograms of marmalade, 225 kilograms of tea, 72 bottles of port or 540 kilograms of suet.”

So, that got me wondering what makes me English?

Let's start with what's not very English about me:

1)  People keep thinking I'm australian since I arrived... wonder why?

2)  I don't drink tea (unless I'm not feeling well)

3)  I don't eat jam or marmalade or scones

4)  I don't know what the hell "high tea" is but they seem to think it's very English over here!  People pay a lot of money to go for high tea.

5)  I don't drink beer and I'm not a larger lout!

6)  I know the difference between the "Netherlands" and "Holland"

My "English" traits:

1)  Cider drinker and proud

2)  I put milk in my tea (if and when I drink it)

3)  I cycle everywhere on a 21 gear mountain bike (despite the distinct lack of hills in the Netherlands!)

4)  Brown sauce eater

5)  I eat cereal for breakfast

6)  The things I have to import from home to live:  Brown sauce, cereal and crumpets

7)  Unlike the Dutch who quickly get off their bikes, flip a switch to lock it and walk away within seconds, it takes me 10mins to untangle my UK-style bike lock, wrap it around something, fiddle with the keys, get it all jammed up, unjam it all and then finally lock it and walk away with oily and dirty hands

8)  The ignorance of only speaking one language