Everybody needs to do a bit more than work, eat and sleepvand so we develop interests and hobbies to give ourselves some interest and something to look forward to. So what will it be? Fishing? Too slow.  Amateur dramatics? Too scary. For me, it’s darts; it’s sociable and also involves drinking beer. Ideal.

I play in a darts every Monday and I can think of nothing better to do with a Monday evening. We play in the second division where  the players don’t take it TOO seriously. There are 8 players in a team and we have, I suppose, 3 really good players who could play in the top league. The rest of us are just the foot soldiers. If we do well, that’s great; if not, well. There’s always next week.

In many sports, you can blame luck or circumstances for your defeat – the ball was over the line but the referee didn’t see it. The trouble with darts is that you can’t blame anything else for things not going your way. There is no wind, the sun won’t get in your eyes, the ground won’t be too muddy and it’s unlikely to rain. There’s no question about whether your dart is in or out as you can stand there and look at it.  You can only blame yourself.

Another problem is that the professionals you can see on TV are so ridiculously good!  If they miss the treble-20, it’s a game turning event! It’s easy to make the mistake of getting inspired by this and go to the next match full of visions of ruthless accuracy. This doesn’t usually survive the first 6 darts you throw. To be honest, I don’t usually watch the big TV tournaments. Perfection may be admirable but it’s boring.

The matches we play are very far from perfect and usually they are absolutely riveting- for us anyway.  We play 15 separate games in match and  It’s surprising how many of the matches are really close, we win or lose 8-7 very frequently. So it’s 7-7 and you step up to play the final game…

Darts can be an annoying game like any other game. Once you find a particular way to hit treble 20, you would think that you could repeat the action and produce the  same result. Well, I can tell you that it just doesn’t work that way. My body seems to physically unable to repeat the same action it has just done.  But still, there’s always next week.

Actually, I’ve just worked out what I’ve been doing wrong.. if I just…

This is a phrase we hear with worrying frequency from students visiting London. Amusingly, when asked what they mean by ‘British Food’, no one really seems to be so sure what it is. Some say fish ‘n’ chips (introduced by Polish immigrants), some say Kebab (Turkish), some even say McDonalds!

Can you name 3 kinds of English Cheese?

Which Welsh animal is arguably the best tasting of its kind in the world?

What is ‘Perry’?

Can you name two kinds of English sausage?

If you can answer these questions and still say that you don’t like British food, then I won’t try to argue with you. If, however, like one of my students, you think that Gouda is from England and that we love spaghetti with Ketchup, then you may have to face up to the reality that perhaps you don’t know what British food is. In answering the above questions, I hope that we can clear a little of this confusion and lead you to some things that British people hold dear in their hearts (and stomachs).

Blue Stilton is a strong English cheese, best served with Scottish Oatcakes, also used to make soups and pies. Any aficionado of cheese will agree that a good Stilton puts a French blue to shame. England makes a lot of cheese – Cheddar is the most famous; then there’s Wensleydale, a salty, crumbly cheese a bit like Feta; Red Leicester, a rich nutty cheese; and many more.

Welsh Lamb is arguably the best tasting lamb in human history. We love to eat it with mint sauce! The best way to eat it, in my opinion, is top get some Welsh Lamb chops and just grill them with a little salt and pepper. Eat that and your brain will argue with your tastebuds that there is no way that this could possibly be British food.

‘Perry’ is a cider made from pears instead of apples. The British have tried to distill alcohol form just about everything throughout history (ever heard of Mead? Google it!) but the results with Pears seem to be one of the most enduring. Drink it with ice, preferably while watching polo or archery or other similarly aristocratic sports.

Britain has more kinds of sausages than it does reasons for not joining the euro. It seems every county has a sausage named after it – Cumberland, Northumberland, Lincolnshire. Try them out, they’re all different and every British supermarket has all the varieties.

Oh, and one final thing. Coffee can be quite terrible in England but that’s because we are A TEA DRINKING NATION! Italian tea is just as bad as English coffee. It’s all relative….

Bon Appetit!

The Mayoral Elections are not just for Londoners but anybody that’s living in London cannot escape the experience. There is a live T.V debate as well as one of the most interesting campaigns of recent years. It’s obvious that the two main candidates don’t like each other and they certainly have different views. Yesterday people came out to vote and the results will be known by this evening. It is a great experience to see elections in other countries and how the candidates campaign for their party.

Two of the best known politicians in the country are competing today in a fight to be the Mayor of London. Currently the Conservatives’ Boris Johnson has more votes than any other candidate. The other well known politician is Ken Livingstone who served as mayor for eight years until 2008, when he was beaten by the current Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson is beating Mr Livingstone, with Boris on 45% and Ken on 39% at 1pm today. A final result is due from 6pm. This is the fourth election since the office of the Mayor of London was created in 2000. The current mayor Boris Johnson is looking for re-election for a second term as Mayor. Issues facing the two candidates in pre-Olympics London included transport, police numbers on the streets and rising crime, with last year’s riots raising questions about poverty and unemployment.

Our school at UIC is in Mortimer Street, just off Regent Street in the centre of London. When we think about central London, we generally imagine two parts; The West End and The City. We are in the West End, that’s where  the theatres, museums,  opera houses, cinemas, restaurants and fashion shops are. The City, the older part of London, is the banking and financial district.

So, the West End is the fun bit and a lot of the roads were laid out in the late seventeenth century when England reintroduced the monarchy ( having a king) after 10 years of rule by parliament. Parliament more or less made fun against the law; even football was banned! When the king, Charles II, came back, the country and the king himself were determined to have fun. Music, dancing and art were back.

Many of the great families and rich merchants and bankers wanted to have houses around here as well as their big  country house.

Mortimer Street was named after the earls of March in East Anglia whose family name was Mortimer. They were a very powerful family in the court of the kings through to about 1800 and were rewarded for their loyal service with the name of this street.

However, at one time the Mortimer family could have taken the throne and become Kings of England. In 1385, Mortimer was named the heir to the throne ( next king) after the present king; Richard II who had no children. Unfortunately, Mortimer died in 1398 and his son was only 6. The next year Richard  II was pushed off the throne by a rival who became Henry IV.

So the son was kept prisoner in a country house by the new king but treated well. Then, in 1405, he was liberated by his uncle who raised an army against Henry IV. They lost. The boy went back to his very comfortable prison but he became friends with the King’s son and later fought with him in his many battles against the French.

So, next time you’re in London, remember there’s a story for every street.

You might have seen reports last week about how various different social media are being used to save endangered languages. The BBC reported “Scientists believe Facebook, YouTube and even texting will be the salvation of many of the world’s  endangered languages”. The article explains how it is expected more than half of the 7000 or so languages spoken in the world will have disappeared by the end of this century. Modern technology, globalisation and the increasing use of a few languages by many people (English for example) are usually seen to blame, but interestingly enough it is the technology that has allowed globalisation to flourish which may be coming to the aid of the endangered languages.  They say “Globalisation is usually blamed, but some elements of the “modern world”, especially digital technology, are pushing back against the tide.” Dr Harrison (a professor of linguistics) says “It’s what I like to call the flipside of globalisation. We hear a lot about how globalisation exerts negative pressures on small cultures to assimilate. But a positive effect of globalisation is that you can have a language that is spoken by only five or 50 people in one remote location, and now through digital technology that language can achieve a global voice and a global audience.”. He has created an app to help capture spoken versions of the language and also to create talking dictionaries which will ensure the languages don’t die out.

While you’re at learning a language at UIC you should always be mindful of any opportunity to practise – there are lots of apps for phones and ipads which can help you practise language – even some of those which are not particularly designed for language learning. For example SCRABBLE is a fantastic app for the ipad, allowing you to play in 5 different languages – fancy a game in Spanish anyone?