Arise, Ye Merry England!

God I love this song!

Here are the lyrics to sing along!

"Roots" by Show of Hands

All away boys, let them go,
All in the wind and the rain and snow.
We've lost more than we'll ever know,
On the rocky shores of England.

Now it's been 25 years or more,
I've roamed this land from shore to shore.
From Tyne to Tame, or Severn to Thames,
From Moor to Vale, from Peak to Fen.
Played in cafes, and pubs and bars,
I've stood in the street with my own guitar.
But I'd be richer than all the rest,
If I had a pound for each request,
For "Duelling Banjos", "American Pie" -- it's enough to make you cry.
"Rule Britannia", or "Swing Lo",
Are they the only songs we English know?

Seed, bud, flower, fruit,
They're never gonna grow without their roots.
Branch, stem, shoots.
They need roots!

All away boys, let them go,
On the rocky shores of England.

After the speeches when the cake's been cut, the disco's over and the bar is shut.
At Christening, Birthday, Wedding or Wake,
What can we sing until the morning breaks?
When the Indian-Asians, Afro-Kelts -- it's in their blood below the belt.
They're playing and dancing all night long,
So what've they got right that we've got wrong?

Seed, bud, flower, fruit,
Never gonna grow without their roots.
Branch, stem, shoots.
We need roots!

And all away boys, let them go,
All in the wind and the rain and snow.
We've lost more than we'll ever know,
On the rocky shores of England.

All away boys, let them go,
All in the wind and the rain and snow.
We've lost more than we'll ever know,
On the rocky shores of England.

We need roots!

And the minister said his vision of hell is 3 folk singers in a pub near Wells.
Well I've got a vision of urban sprawl.
It's pubs where no one ever sings at all.
And everyone stares at a great big screen,
Overpaid soccer stars, prancing teens,
Australian soap, American rap, Estuary English, baseball caps.
And we learn to be ashamed before we walk,
Of the way we look and the way we talk.
Without our stories, or our songs,
How will we know where we come from?
I've lost St George in the Union Jack,
It's my flag too and I want it back!

Seed, bud, flower, fruit,
Never gonna grow without their roots.
Branch, stem, shoots.
We need roots!

And all away boys, let them go,
All in the wind and the rain and snow.
We've lost more than we'll ever know,
On the rocky shores of England.

All away boys, let them go,
All in the wind and the rain and snow.
We've lost more than we'll ever know,
On the rocky shores of England.

Repeat three times.

American Chess Master - of New Orleans!

Meet Paul Morphy at www.mattfullerty.com, the last unofficial chess world champion (1837-1884). He links Europe and America as a Creole (of French and Spanish descent) born into New Orleans wealth - which he squandered in London and Paris defeating the world's great chess masters!

To learn his story and meet his amazing opponents, from a General in the American Army to a British Shakespeare scholar, also see www.paulmorphychess.com

The story of Paul Morphy is one of rise and fall, the success of a grand talent and his descent into obsession! Welcome to the precarious floating city of New Orleans!

What Is This Blog?

Welcome to Dear England, A Letter Home. Living in the USA, I am now culturally confused. I hope this blog will shed some light on all things American through my best British eye, and all things England in my best Yankee accent.

I am an expat lost in America, reporting on all things that catch my imagination, or just happen to me. Check it!

Hawaii Flies the Flag, Bravo!

On the subject of flags, check out the state flag of Hawaii, still containing the Union Jack. I knew it hadn't vanished altogether from America! The eight lines represent the eight islands that make up Hawaii!

Surfs up UK!

Money, Money, Money

Gotta love that $2 to the pound exchange rate, right America?

Susan Polgar Chess Blog!

Looking to meet the US number 1 female chess player? I thought you were! Look no further than the superb chess blog by Susan Polgar - you can tell a good blog by the amount of people wanting to post comments, ahem. Well http://susanpolgar.blogspot.com/ will keep you abreast of all the latest in the intenational chess world from tournaments, FIDE shenanigans to the build-up to the next world championships! Check it!

Even More English Blog, America!

Dear America, if you're looking for the perfect introduction to all things English, look no further - especially if you're a US student just landed in the UK and looking to get acqauinted with the culture, and especially much-loved comedy clips of the past 40 years. Rich Pettinger's mighty blog has it all from idyllic scenes of Oxford to Peter Sellers impressions, Monty Python sketches, Faulty Towers and Only Fools and Horses! Basssssssssilllllllllllll! No longer divided by a common language, only each other's sense of humor!

See www.richardpettinger.com and especially http://www.richardpettinger.com/blog for all things England!

American Girl Sees World (China for Starters!)

Check out Katie's adventurous world tour blog at http://katietravelogue.wordpress.com/

Young Ms. Willers is complemeting her achievement of 6 world continents with a wee trip round China. If you'd like to follow the daring highlights and comical pitfalls of her adventures and misadventues, follow the above link!

Road Trip 2: The German Invasion!

Rudyard Kipling said “What knows he of England who only England knows?” which I take it to mean, go see the world, my son! So I did.

I just got back from a wonderful, exhausting trip by train and car through Germany by way of Amsterdam and ending in Prague. I am a little more Germanic (and manic) for it. We spent 10 days on the road, and 10 nights in the beer cellars! I could have done with a night off, but then I just took a week off drinking to recover and now I don't know where I am!

Highlights of the trip include:

The red-light district of Amsterdam. Yes one of Craig's friends - not naming any names, Monsieur R. - chose to spent a penny on a friendly local whore. The odd thing about the window shopping (decidedly red window shopping) in the 'Dam, is that the girls are actually young and attractive. If you don't mind a touch of syphilis in later life, and well, the young Englishman figured we were on holiday. So we had to stand by the canal while the curtain was drawn. Kind of takes the edge off the moon setting on the water...But otherwise Amsterdam, once you protect yourself from the speed of bicycles everywhere, and can tell one canal from the next (impossible), is a delight of hidden crevices to explore, and I'm not talking about the red-light district again. Avoid the herring, the live sex shows, the coffeeshops where you can get stoned to oblivion and fall in the canal, and it's a truly romantic city!

Cologne was all about the cathedral: what an amazing gothic monstrosity! We climbed to the top and marvelled at the view, but mostly at the strange cathedral spires that were being cleaned / reconstructed and so white amid the black-death color of the rest of the beast! Apparently Köln cathedral is the biggest tourist attraction in Germany for Germans! Not wonder they've got no sense of humor :-)

Koblenz was a pretty little town. I immediately took a jog from our hostel and discovered the river Rhine (first person ever to do this) and felt like an explorer! The Rhine is a beaut, and we spent the whole of the next day driving her delightfully lazy big wide basin, castles on every twist and turn of the river, no joke! Hitting 200 kph on the "autobahn" had nothing on this little river trip where the splendor of any European country is surely matched - the Rhine valley, gotta love it USA!

Frankfurt-am-Main, or Frankfurt to you mate, was an eye-opener, not only because we watched Liverpool lose the Champions League Cup Final in a Japanese bar drinking sake for the first time in our lives (well, me at least), but because it looked like Manchester on a day off. I think we were there Tuesday. We went to the same club twice. But I enjoyed seeing the Mercedes logo in the central square!

Berlin...say no more! What an experience! If the story of the Berlin Wall, wrapping itself in a circle around West Berlin (the Berlin Wall was not a North-South divide as I'd presumed, but a circle, as JFK once said, "an island of democracy in a sea of communism"), doesn't get you, then the old Nazi building now the tax office will! Changing this Nazi building (opposite) - the Reich Air Ministry and HQ of the Luftwaffee - to the modern-day Bundesrepublic tax office, local Berliners joke that little has changed! It does have an air of the US State Department (in appearance alone, you understand, I kid the United States)! But looking at the gates and plinths where all the Nazi regalia, swastikas and Roman-style eagles used to sit, was a stirring experience! Somehow to stand on that spot...and later above Hitler's bunker and learn of the Battle of Berlin where old men and boys were sent out by Hitler to face the doom of the invading Red Army, was another overwhelming sense to be where history happened! It all felt so fresh, oh Allied forces of Europe and America!

Finally onto Prague, where I was stunned by its beauty and old-fairytale charm! Never did an old town look so amazing from a river (the Vltava) rising up on the hill to the largest enclosed castle area in Europe. But inside the Prague castle is St Vitus Cathedral. I've seen nothing like this before! I'd like to say the Washington Cathedral compares, which it does for size. But inside the St Vitus are the crypt tombs of the cardinals of centuries, and the 600 year old Tomb of St John Nepomuk made from 5 tons of solid silver, with angels flying above!

That has to be seen to be believed America!

Roll on the Marine Corps Marathon, Man!

From zero to hero! Last year, I dropped out of Washington DC's marathon (for "lack of fitness") and chose the Bethesda Half-Marathon instead. But this year it's the real deal, bring on the Marines baby! I will happily put my body through the mill for one of those medals - why not, it's shiny, right! Okay, now I have to actually do some running. Hmmmm...

Check out the website http://www.marinemarathon.com/page11.aspx

This year you can even track runners online, picking up their shoe chip location, and see where they are / which mile they've reached on the course!