Kiwi Mum in the UK - Accents

I have now lived in England for over a third of my life, and I have been thinking about this more and more since I have started blogging. I was in my very early 20's when I arrived at Heathrow Airport, Christmas Eve in 1997. I had the world at my feet and a lot of joy in my heart when I arrived.  I remember the day I arrived, one of the first things I saw, when I appeared out of the underground, was the Red Royal Mail letter boxes. This huge iconic statement of Britain staring right at me, was very awe inspiring and I remember feeling awestruck at that time, truly believing I was in 'Britain' as these were the images captured in books and photos from my childhood in NZ.

Being an Ex-pat Woman there are a lot of encounters you experience living in your adopted country, one of my ongoing ones is Accents.
There are some words that still get confused in my everyday life, the word pen is one, I get 'pin'? no 'pen'. pin? No the biro pen' Ahhh yes, of course'.

My own name still gets confused with my Kiwi accent.. this is the scenario normally goes like this:
' Hello, my name is Becky'
'Hello Vicky'
'No Becky'
'Oh sorry Bicky'
'No Beeecky'
???? the other person looks at me in confusion, so I finally resort to this..
'Like Rebecca, short for Rebecca...'
'Oh Becky!'
yes yes yes! 'Helloooo'

I also have the going home accent problem:
For example when I do go home to New Zealand, I often get the remark from fellow Kiwi's ' You sound like an English person'? Um no I am not!  and here in Blighty, I am recognised straight away by my Antipodean accent, and I sometimes even get 'So you not from around these parts are you?! 
And this one, which for some newly arrived Kiwi's may be annoying  'Are you from Australia?' or 'Are you Australian?' which by now (over a decade) this does not bother me- I am not offended. Please do not worry.

I have embraced the great diversity of dialects, here in the UK. This is one of the fab things about GB. From the Newcastle accent, to the London, Essex, Birmingham and the one most closed to my heart the wonderful ' West Country accent' I love it. In fact I am sure my two children have inherited a few local sayings already here in the land of cider and tractors!

Bxx

Knitting love - 7 Things you don't know about me.

This week whilst I was drooling over some exquisite Hand dyed NZ wool over at Knitsch, I had the sudden urge to start knitting again.

 As you may know from a previous post, I started knitting early last year and it all ended badly. The kitten would chase the yarn, the children thought the wool would make a great object to play with and I could not read the knitting pattern, I had brought.
So this time, rather than buying all new kit again,  I walked into my local charity shop, found two beautiful lemon yarn balls for 50p (25cents) and 2 sets of knitting needles, and began knitting that night. I think this is going to be a scarf for my little girl.

                                                 

This week, I have also been lucky enough to be asked to write 7 things you don't know about me from three lovely people, Michelle at Mummy from the heart, SAHMandlovingit, and OhMammy, thank you very much for tagging me!

1. My Daughters Middle name is 'Arwen'  from the novel 'Lord of the Rings'- My OH is a long life fan and this is his favourite book of all time. The Trilogy seems to have followed us throughout our Marriage, we used a reading from the book in our Wedding ceremony, and even went to the Opening Movie in Wellington NZ back in 2001 at the Embassy Theatre. NB (Luckily my Son did not follow suit and did not get the Middle name's Frodo or Bilbo! )

2. I was travelling on the day of September 11th when NYC was attacked. I was actually on the Euro star to Disneyland Paris - and I was so scared they were going to attack us in Disneyland! Lots of armed policemen hanging around when we were there, but all ok in the end.

3. I have a OCD addiction with hand cream. I use hand cream every day, and I cannot leave the house with out some. My current favourite I am using at the moment is the Soap and Glory hand cream - smells divine.

4. I play the piano- not very well, but I have recently started lessons again and have been having piano lessons with a local teacher for about a year now.

5. I love Edward of 'Twilight' I am slightly infatuated with him. I have all the DVDs and books, but I haven't quite stretched to his poster as yet.

6. I appeared on a NZ Children's TV programme when I was little 'What Now' and did the Milo wacky challenge, I remember getting the phone call on Live TV Saturday morning and doing cart wheels around the lounge, because I was sooo excited.

7. I have freckles .... faded now- but in the summer they can come back with vengeance. I slather myself with Sun tan lotion and cover my face with Sunglasses and a Hat. I've learnt to love my freckles, and remind my self that they are a sign of youth. Or as my Grandmother used to say to me 'they are gift's from God'.


As well as starting knitting again, I have dusted off my sewing machine this week, and I plan to start sewing again this weekend. I will post my projects with photos very soon.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Becky
xx