From Megalithic Monuments to Cheese

[ithildin]

Or 'ten things that come to mind when I contemplate the Mother Country'.

I'm really looking forward to the opening ceremonies for the Olympics tomorrow, and have been wondering what might be included. I was making a list in the car on the way to work this morning of what comes to my mind when I contemplate the Mother Country, and thought, LJ post!.

01: Megalithic monuments - Stonehenge, Avebury, Ring of Brodgar (see icon), Callanish, Stones o' Stennis, come to mind.

02: Pastoral vistas. And you can combine 1 & 2!


03: King Arthur, Knights, Merlin, the whole package.

04: Pubs - beer, ale, gin, cider, whisky. (Hey, they're related!)

05: The Magna Carta.

06: Minsters and Cathedrals. I have a particular fondness for York Minster, and York in general.


07: Shakespeare.

08: The Highlands.

09: White Cliffs of Dover

10: Cheese! Stilton, Cheddar, Double Gloucester, Wensleydale.

Okay, so the list could easily be twenty or more things. But I picked ten. (Robin Hood, Tolkien, Elizabeth I, The Tower, James Bond, Nessie, Skye, tea, scones, Devonshire cream, Sir Francis Drake, Battle of Hastings, Culloden, James Herriot, Churchill, Sherlock Holmes, Dickens, Vikings, Robert the Bruce, Declaration of Arbroath, bagpipes, Robert Burns, Skara Brae, Trafalgar. I'll stop now :D !)

Comments

[caitriona-3.livejournal.com]

I'm American, and the first things that come to mind for me about Great Britain:

1. Churchill
2. Guards (the ones with the tall, fluffy looking hats)
3. Tower of London
4. Doctor Who
5. Are You Being Served?
6. Heathrow
7. Inspector Lynley Mysteries
8. Pubs
9. WWII RAF
10. Writers (specifically Shakespeare, Tolkien, & Lewis)

[sophiedb.livejournal.com]

Home :)

[jinxed-wood.livejournal.com]

I've heard the words Industrial Revolution bandied about!

[panthology.livejournal.com]

40 foot Voldemort!

[beccadg.livejournal.com]

Heh. I didn't get it said before the Opening Ceremonies, but hopefully it's okay to be tardy. I don't tend to think of "Great Britain" or even the "United Kingdom" so much as I do England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. I know the Act of Union was 1707, and as much as Scotland and Wales may be moving back towards being independent from England they aren't. I just don't tend to think of the collective. And, since this is after the Opening Ceremonies, I loved that they did songs for each place.