A collection of content and links that be useful or funny for Brits living in the colonies. Starting with the
important stuff of where you might find those essential food items such as Bacon crisps, Twiglets, real sausages
(more filler, less meat!), back bacon and of course proper sweets! Like most other things these days, sites like Amazon
do a good job with a lot of this stuff too.
Best Tea
Waffle House. Royal Cup Hot Tea. Yorkshire tea is an everyday favourite, loose leaf if you want to get fancy.
Best Fish n Chips
Cracker Barrel and especially on Fish Friday. Parkers will send you their excellent fish and chips frozen. Most restaurants are a disappointment and set your expectations low for the "beer batter".
Sausages/Meats
Parkers has fantastic sausages including linconshire and cumberland, even some black pudding! RJ Balson also does some excellent sausages and good back-bacon (none of that pitiful streaky stuff) - they also sell directly in CostCo for a good price around St. Patricks day.
Meat Pies
Proper Pies has some fantastic savoury pies locally here in Richmond and the owner is a chap from NZ. Generally there is a shocking lack of pies in the USA other than the sweet pies like Apple Pie. You have to really look for a good Cornish Pasty or classic meat pie with cities like NYC being a more likely location.
Crisps / Sweets
There's lots of sites, but it's got easier to get most things locally (at least in Virginia) and Amazon is the easiest option (including hard to find stuff). For folks in Richmond, VA, For the Love of Chocolate is a good local bet.
Taxes
Ironically more complicated than the UK for us peons. You have to file taxes, worry about withholdings and pay both Federal and State taxes. At the end of the year you file yourself or get an Accountant to reconcile the whole mess - either getting money back (free loan to the US government) or you pay money. Sales Tax is also added seperately at the point of sale, which can be confusing but a lot less that UK VAT.
Language
English of course. The USA slang tends to be something we understand in the UK given all the American TV, however most UK slang isn't understood in the US - which will get some getting used to.
Culture
Varies depending on where you are. Southern States are less direct and generally more relaxed. If you are eating out, get used to leaving 15-20% tip (just do it - google why). You will also notice, depending on the State, that American's are generally a lot friendlier than reserved Brit's. This is something even I notice when I go back to the UK, with a lot less random conversation and random smiles/acknowledgements from strangers.
