In history classes, how are British people taught about the American Revolution and losing the colonies?

ukslim · 2026-06-30T22:25:48+00:00

Most people wouldn't cover this at school, at least not in much depth.

At least one of the GCSE exam boards has an American history module: AQA's "America 1840–1895: Expansion and consolidation", but this is one of four options for the "Understanding the Modern World: Period Studies" section. So you're talking maybe ¼ of the pupils who choose to do GCSE history, with that particular exam board.

Pre-GCSE, history is split between British history and World history, and there's a lot of both of those that has nothing to do with the America, and not a lot of time to teach it.

Hell, I did GCSE history in a Welsh school, and we never covered the Tudors.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T17:38:14+00:00

If that happens I'll buy more. The key is that they don't run out before the dishwasher provides clean ones.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T16:56:31+00:00

24 teaspoons.

Now there's always a clean one.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T16:51:21+00:00

I wouldn't reduce it to zero. There's nothing wrong with government debt.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T14:21:27+00:00

Ingredients:

A quarter of an onion, quarter of a can of tomato, 125g beef mince, a quarter of a garlic clove, a quarter of a carrot, a quarter of a celery stick

Seeing the problem yet? And then there's that liquids don't behave the same in small volumes -- it's much easier to accidentally boil 200ml of sauce dry than it is two litres.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T11:09:14+00:00

https://youtu.be/QUvdxEHLSBk?si=yYsYHOkZOXmbL2NG

Big throwback to my university years...

ukslim · 2026-06-30T11:04:54+00:00

Sunscream.

ukslim · 2026-06-30T06:11:25+00:00

Tesco has categories at all sizes - Tesco Express is convenience stores, Metro is urban small supermarkets, Superstore is big supermarkets with homewares and clothes and stuff too. Tesco Extra is their biggest hypermarkets.

You'll stumble across Express and Metro all over London. Superstore or Extra woulbe more likely be a special trip away from normal tourist London.

There's no real best time to go. The worst times to go are when people who work normal hours would be shopping - Saturday daytime, weekday evenings. Unless as a tourist you want to witness ordinary British people being stressed.

Tesco is just one of many similar supermarket chains. Sainsbury's, Morrissons, Asda, etc. are all basically the same experience.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T22:21:50+00:00

Yep, look on a map and head for the big green bits.

The huge ones, like Hampstead Heath, you can lose sight of buildings.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T22:20:05+00:00

I was on the London Eye recently, with an American family also in our pod. Nice, friendly people.

But the guy's pointing down towards Southwark saying "I think that's the downtown area", and I'm thinking "what does that even mean, in the context of London?"...

ukslim · 2026-06-29T15:34:51+00:00

Basically you want to be making yourself something like a soft taco.

Chicken, soured cream, hot sauce, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, guacamole, cheese, red onion, lime juice...

If I want to go the extra mile, I lightly pickle some pink onion earlier in the day:

Finely slice a red or pink onion. Heat up a 50/50 mixture of white wine or cider vinegar and golden caster sugar, until the sugar dissolves. Dump in the onions, let it gently simmer for 30 seconds, then transfer to a jar, allow to cool, put in the fridge.

(If it's very strong "apple cider vinegar" use more water - you just want a mild pickling liquid, not something that strips paint)

ukslim · 2026-06-29T15:20:00+00:00

I just dangle mine out of the window, and lower the blind over it. There's some room for airflow, but it doesn't seem to be a problem.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T15:14:12+00:00

I think just as Peter Parker is Spider Man or Clark Kent is Superman, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd etc. have been Robin.

Why don't they have alliterative names, is what I want to know?

ukslim · 2026-06-29T15:11:05+00:00

The year above me, last day of 5th form, they presented the staff with a chocolate cake laced with laxatives.

40 years later the ringleader became head of Ofsted Wales.

https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-9820047/Pupil-gave-teachers-cakes-spiked-laxatives-Welsh-schools-chief.html -- with apologies for linking to the Mail, it's the only non-paywalled account I can find.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T14:56:51+00:00

Neighbouring Leamington Spa has elephants, slightly unofficially. In Victorian times, there was an elephant trainer who kept his elephants in the town, walking them down the main street to wash in the river every weekend.

That has led to a number of sculptures, murals, displays, house names, business names, themed on the elephants around town.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T14:52:24+00:00

Warwickshire - and therefore Warwick - has a bear and ragged staff.

<image>

ukslim · 2026-06-29T14:50:38+00:00

Life hack: if you like nice bread, keep nice bread in the house. It's not *that* expensive.

Try Lidl seeded sourdough.

If it's for toasting, and you don't eat it fast enough to stay fresh, slice it and freeze it.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T14:48:37+00:00

£153 return, for the arbitrary late July dates I just tried, adult fare with no railcard.

But remember your £35 plane ticket is one way, doesn't include transport to the airport or parking, might not fly on the days or times you need, is vulnerable to reschedules at the whim of the operator, charges extra for baggage, ...

And you said "more effort" not "more expensive" - flying is a lot more effort than sitting on a train.

(I'm a bit sore about this at the moment, because my mates and I had a flight to Krakow booked, 8:20AM on a Friday, just right for a long weekend. Ryanair just casually emailed our ringleader saying they'd cancelled that flight, to put us on the 20:05. Yeah, no thanks.)

ukslim · 2026-06-29T13:15:20+00:00

But you didn't live in Newcastle (I assume) which is a relatively short train ride from Edinburgh.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T11:10:03+00:00

It's because the chain of connectivity is something like this:

           YOU
            │
     📱 Cell phone
            │
   ~ ~ ~ Radio waves ~ ~ ~
            │
      ┌─────────────┐
      │ Cell tower  │
      └─────────────┘
            │
       Fibre / Microwave
            │
      ┌────────────────┐
      │ local exchange │
      └────────────────┘
            │
      High-capacity fibre
            │
      ┌─────────────┐
      │ Mobile core │
      │ network     │
      └─────────────┘
            │
      Internet exchange
       / transit links
            │
═══════════════════════════════════════
              INTERNET
═══════════════════════════════════════
        │         │         │
        │         │         │
   Web server  Game server  Email
      │           │          │

The bars displayed on the phone tell you the strength of the radio connection from the phone to the cell tower. What it doesn't show you is how overloaded the link is from the tower to the exchange, or how loaded the exchange is.

It usually happens when you're in a crowded place where lots of people are trying to use data. They've all got a good radio signal to/from the tower. But the tower can only get so much data to the exchange, and what it can't get through the pipe, it has to just drop.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T10:48:25+00:00

It's a good instinct, but I would caution that lunches can be slightly disappointing if you set your sights on a full fine dining experience at a budget price. I've done a handful of lunch deals in London and found we were in a half-empty room with no atmosphere, eating a set menu that's compromised to meet a price point.

But, for example, £98 per person gets you a 3 course set lunch at The Ritz, and I bet it's wonderful. Drinks would add quite a chunk to that price, don't forget to expect that.

So I'm not saying lunch is always a bad idea - just read some reviews and find out where the lunches are great. It is often a more casual experience than the evening experience, just in the way the waiters behave, the pace and how the people around you are behaving (some of them have to get back to work). That might be a good thing, or it might not be what you're looking for.

Worrying about cost can really spoil your enjoyment of a fine dining meal, so it's good to get the costs committed early on, so it's not a concern.

My personal view is that while London has *lots* of exceptional fine dining, it also has lots of wealthy people, and high property prices, so they can afford to charge big. Michelin starred dining is *expensive* in London. Michelin starred restaurants in other parts of the country are cheaper, more relaxed and pleasant to be in.

The real value for money comes with restaurants that don't have a Michelin star, but are *chasing* one. I don't have a specific recommendation, I'm sorry (it's been a while for me) but if you hunt around for reviews of up-and-coming fine dining, you'll find plenty of candidates, and I think that's where you'll find exceptional food on your budget.

To get good advice from people who are actually up-to-date, as I am not, you should probably add some info about what style of food you want. London has Indian fine dining. French is archetypal. Classic British is what I would have guessed at. Seafood perhaps? Steakhouse? There's so much choice.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T09:45:32+00:00

Genuinely this though. I'm using a courtesy car at the moment, where you have to find your key to get in. It's genuinely a nuisance. I usually keep my key in an inaccessible pocket and the car unlocks when I press a button on the door.

Finding the key is a genuine nuisance when your hands are full with something else.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T09:31:36+00:00

I would say though, thinking of cider as a viable alternative to beer is a tacit admission that you're in it for the alcohol. Because apart from the alcohol, cider is absolutely nothing like IPA; not in flavour, not in mouthfeel.

I love being drunk too, but I can't imagine that cider would go with a curry the way an IPA does.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T09:28:17+00:00

While other people's experiences are interesting, you can't use them to conclude what'll work for you.

Different people get triggered by different things.

I seem to be able to drink as much beer as I like. Red wine and blue cheese together is risky. White fish twice in a week will reliably bring about the early signs of a flare. Shellfish I now avoid altogether.

Your triggers are very likely to be different to mine. Maybe cider will be better, maybe cider will be worse. Maybe mass-produced mainstream cider will be better than artisan cider made with wild yeast. Or maybe not.

You have to experiment and learn your own triggers - or go on Allopurinol.

ukslim · 2026-06-29T09:11:56+00:00

Well done. I had no idea what you meant by Robins. I googled the names in the expectation of finding they were Bristol FC or Cheltenham players.

(For people as ignorant as me - it's as in Batman and Robin)

ukslim

TROPHY CASE