How to survive the World Cup 2018

It's the World Cup 2018. Four weeks of football, success and failures, who's to blame and did The England Manager make the right choices.

So here is what is going to happen over the upcoming weeks and a survival guide.

1. No amount of moaning about it will make it stop. You'll only stress yourself out.

2. Your normal television viewing will be interuppted, it will annoy you, but you can't do
anything about it.

3. Everyone will be talking about the it. The TV, papers, family, friends, colleagues, social
network sites, apart from not going out and staying off line, there is nothing you can do
about it.

How to get through the month of June and beyond.

1. Try and show some interest after all there won't be an awful lot else going on.

2. Don't even try and reach for the remote and don't expect that you get it back once the ref
blows his whistle, the match analysis is just as important and yes watching the replay of all
the goals is equally as important.

3. Keep the fridge full of drink and the cupboards stocked with snacks. It'll save you getting
disturbed and being sent out for supplies.

4. Do not mock your Other Half when watching and don't pull faces at their
mates when they come over to watch the games.

5. DO NOT, EVER say 'it's only a game' this is grounds for a divorce.

6. Your Other Half would rather be left in peace to watch the matches. They will only talk to
you during the adverts so don't view it as spending time together.

7. Don't expect the rules to be explained to you more than once and if your Other Half tries to
tell you them, look interested and ask no more than 2 questions.
(see previous post 'off side' rule)

8. Football is a game of opinion and if you don't know what you're talking about keep your
opinion to yourself.

9. Keep positive, use this time to spoil yourself, catch up with family and friends, read those
books and tweet without being nagged.

10. During matches remember this is probably the best time to go shopping, as hardly anyone
will be out.

Oh and finally, don't expect any sympathy and understanding to your needs as I will be avidly watching World Cup 2018 and will be tweeting in earnest. This is my pay back for all the reality show updates the rest of you post on social media the rest of the year.

A visit to Yorkshire

Last month I visited the UK for a couple of days on my own before hubby flew over to join me for child 4 of 5 passing out parade with the British Army. I flew into Birmingham and drove to Manchester for the first night to visit relatives then the following day I drove to Yorkshire.

I lived in York from the age of 5 - 11, child 3 of 5 has lived in Leeds for the past 2 years and child 4 of 5 has spent the last 6 months in Catterick. In the past 2 years I've visited child 3 a couple of times in Leeds when I've been in the UK and on a couple of other trips he's come down to my parents in South Wales.

Hotels in Leeds are very expensive and then there is an additional charge for parking. As my son was working long hours, I decided to stay in a B&B on Model Farm just outside Bradford and after checking in, I drove to nearby Saltaire for a walk around the village which is a World Heritage Site and visited the converted Mills.

As I was travelling solo I didn't update my whereabouts until I had moved onto my next destination, I missed out on a few coffee invites, but the most important thing was that I stayed safe while travelling solo.

My son was fed up with Leeds city centre so after collecting him from his new apartment with fantastic views of the Leeds-Liverpool canal we set off to York for the day.

We walked York's city walls, did a spot of shopping and had lunch by the River Ouse. He caught the train back to Leeds and I drove into Thirsk where hubby and I were spending the night.

I had to collect hubby from the train station at 10pm and arrived at Kirkgate House Hotel around 6pm. It was a shame Thirsk was closed as it was a lovely town and I walked around the church, the park, the town and round in a big loop.

After the passing out parade we drove back over to Manchester for the night to visit hubbies family and the area he grew up in. We arrived in South Wales on the Saturday and spent the rest of our holiday in the South West.

The weather had been wonderful for the few days I was in Yorkshire, it was lovely to see so much greenery and flowers after being in the desert.

For the past 5 years most of our time away from the house has been spent indoors. In South Africa, apart from safaris and dog walks, we were in malls due to safety issues. In Dubai we are indoors when out of the house due to the relentless heat.

I really appreciated being able to walk around the villages, towns and cities and can certainly see now why so many tourists visit the UK from abroad every year.

A visit to the South West of England

Although based in Monmouth for a week on our UK holiday with my parents, we spent our time visiting our children in Gloucestershire. We'd visited children 3 & 4 of 5 in Yorkshire the first week of our trip.

Child 1of 5 is in Gloucester, 2 of 5 is in Coleford in the Forest of Dean, 4 of 5 is in Lydney staying with his grandmother after his passing out parade while he was waiting for his new posting and 5 of 5 is at Boarding School in Tewkesbury.

We spent our time visiting castles, museums, the beach, cathedrals, walking down country lanes, through graveyards and stopping in pubs for lunches on route. We were tourists in our home country for 2 weeks.

We visited the kids in the day and took them out around the area they live in. We also took child 1 to hubbies mother who lives in Keynsham, Bristol.

It's only when we return to the UK that we realise how beautiful the country is and what we miss in our lives as expats. Old buildings, landscapes, woods, town centres instead of malls, the light evenings and a variety of weather. We were fortunate with the weather and it only rained for 2 of the days we were visiting.

Our last weekend was spent with friends of hubby who live in Dorset and we travelled into Devon also.

There wasn't enough time to see everyone and do everything we wanted to, there were many places we drove through on our way to and from the kids but just didn't have the time to stop off.

We'd love to have a holiday to the UK that doesn't involve so much visiting before we return there to live in a few years, as we know the reality of living somewhere new is just routine, pretty much like our lives in Dubai.

Geography lesson for stupid people

There's not much doubt that most people know where England is, but what a lot of people don't know is that the land mass they refer to as England is actually called Great Britain and contains 3 countries called England, Wales and Scotland.

I'm fed up of being asked where I'm from when I travel and I usually reply England for 2 reasons. If if say 'Newport' a lot of people have no real idea where Newport is and if I say Wales, I'm often asked where that is. A twitter friend told me the other day that when she was in Spain and said she was Welsh, the other person replied 'Oh that's in England, isn't it' her eye is still twitching.

In America once a woman told me of her trip to England, she meant London, then proceeded to tell me she loved the Eiffel Tower, I told her that was in France and her response 'Oh I didn't know that' never mind that the currency and the language was different, she was near enough in her mind.

So to clarify things

Britain is England (yellow) and Wales (pink)
Great Britain is England, Wales and Scotland (yellow, pink and green)
United Kingdom is England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (yellow, pink, green and purple)
And France (red) is bottom right........

and while we're at it, people....Africa is NOT one country, it is a continent.

What happened to my accent?

I've never been to Canada or Australia, but I've been asked on many occasions when travelling if I'm from either of those 2 countries.

I live in South Africa and in my 4th year here. Despite coming from the UK where you can travel 20 miles and hear different accents, I've never really picked one up. I have a fairly neutral accent with hints of my roots, South Wales, The Midlands, Yorkshire and the South West.

I do have a tendency to slip into a Welsh accent when I've had a few too many drinks and I use many Welsh words such as 'like' 'tidy' and 'O'

Living in South Africa there aren't many British voices around here, in fact I only know a handful of British people here.

At least once a week and sometimes more often, I'm asked where I'm from. I reply England. It's met with 'I love your accent, say something to me' On one occasion when Hubby said he was from England a woman in the shop asked him to talk like Jamie Oliver and say 'pukka, pukka' We gave up explaining that hubby was from Manchester and not the London.

On a recent trip to the UK, travelling on buses, coaches, trains and on foot, with a suit case and handbag, fellow travellers asked me if I was off somewhere nice, when I said I was visiting the UK they responded with 'are you Canadian/Australian?'

I guess the lack of regional British accents has neutralised me even more.