Only in England ...

The British are a sensible people.

When they ask you for your name, they mean your last name; what does it signify if your parents call you "Emma"? 'Tis a much greater thing to be known as a Miss Woodhouse.

Instead of encouraging students to pull all-nighters or go on shopping sprees at 0-dark-thirty, shops close at a reasonable hour, in time for everyone to be home for supper.

Instead of expecting naive, immature teenagers to show more temperance than their twenty-something peers, the law allows [public] drinking at age eighteen. Freshmen appreciate this immensely.

Instead of allowing students to melt into the back row of an ampitheatre-like lecture hall, professors focus the spotlight on the individual and allow him to express himself easily, in a calm, private setting. No pressure.

They know you'll be tired, worn out after a hard day's work. Take some refreshment; have a cup of dried leaves dropped into boiling water.

Oh! And just so we can understand exactly what you are saying, we'll give each little square foot of country a completely, wholly uniquely-tweaked accent, so there's no confusion whatsoever over where you are from. We don't need to even ask; all you need to do is open your mouth.




... And then they go, and insist on driving on the wrong side of the road. What is up with that?

But the British are a sensible people.