My little bit of the world part I

We each of us in turn inhabit cyberspace for a variety of reasons. For me, a big attraction is meeting people from different cultures. I make no secret of the fact that one my favourite on-line experiences was sharing a ‘virtual’ tour of Alaska with Mary. Seeing how the people lived, their ornate wooden homes, the harsh climate, watching the bears fishing… and learning about the Russian communities that once lived there. I’ve also seen photos of the terrible fires in Australia and listened in fascination to the ins and outs of Indian culture. I know you can see all these things on TV, but for me it’s impersonal and non-interactive and not the same as seeing it through the eyes of someone you know.

Whether anyone else shares my fascination with different people and cultures I don’t know, but what I am setting out to do here is to offer a series of posts providing a vignette of a little part of England where I was born.

England (for those over The Pond) is an part of the British Isles a small group of islands stuck in the Northern Atlantic off the northwest coast of continental Europe. (if you live in Boston you just keeping flying East) There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (also described as the Republic of Ireland).

The term British Isles is controversial in Ireland, where there are objections to its usage due to the association of the word British with Ireland. I wonder why? As a result, politically correct academics are now trying to float the name Atlantic Archipelago.



The British Isles comprises four countries: England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. I labour the point as sometimes people refer to us as ‘Brits.’ A descriptor that doesn’t sit happily with many people here. We prefer to be known as English, Irish etc.

For a tiny tin-pot island the British Isles has had a disproportionate influence on world affairs and once presided over the world’s biggest empire; although now it’s politically incorrect to mention that. We are a pretty generous lot and have donated our language, The King James Bible, Democracy and Shakespeare to large tranches of the world as well as discovering the atom and penicillin, inventing the jet engine and the World Wide Web.

Anyway enough of that. As the Irish will undoubtedly object to their inclusion in this series of posts I will introduce you to them first so they can go home and worry about their banking system.

The Irish.

If nothing else the Irish are experts on Religion and surprisingly the English language witnessed by the likes of James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw etc.

So perhaps it’s only right that we allow the Irish in the form of the late great Dave Allen to introduce us to English.



and religion:



Now at this juncture you might be so enthused about the British Isles you might already be contemplating booking your air ticket. If that’s the case let Dave Allen tell you about the joys of flying.



To be continued - in the next part you will get to meet the Scots.