Queuing whilst drunk moaning about the rain - Makes us Brits

I'm not looking forward to the prospect of getting on the London Underground today because of the smell of wet coats and being dripped on & prodded by umbrellas. I got drunk at the weekend, but enjoyed it. I'm really looking forward to EastEnders. I spend much of my life in queues. I bought a shed-load of bargains last week (thanks to Bicester Village & Helen). Sadly all this just proves that I'm British.


It's official. The results of a poll (yep another one) of 5,000 people show 50 traits that make the British unique. There's nothing much in the top 10 to feel particularly proud about:

1. Talking about the weather

2. Great at queueing

3. Sarcasm

4. Watching soaps

5. Getting drunk

6. A love of bargains

7. A love of curtain twitching

8. Stiff upper lip

9. Love of all television

10. Moaning

Sadly I have virtually all of those characteristics (although I've never been a curtain twitcher - except you could call a love of reading blogs and a penchant of some reality TV - curtain twitching to an extent. Plus, I don't love all television). The full list can be viewed here, if you want to see how many you share.

Not surprisingly travel is mentioned a few times - "Obsession with the traffic" is 13th, "Road Rage" is 25th and "Asking people about their journey" is 33rd. Being "Great at Queuing" is second & something that's part and parcel with Tube travel. As is - Irony, Sarcasm and Moaning.

It's lucky for Transport for London that we also have "Stiff upper lip", "Inability to Complain", "An inability to express our emotions" and "The ability to laugh at ourselves", otherwise millions of us wouldn't use the London Underground, or there'd be daily riots on it.

I have a number of friends who are Parisian and they say that Metro commuters simply wouldn't put up with what we cope with on the Tube. There would be much more commuter rage, queue jumping and arguments. So just as well the more positive - "Being overly polite" and "Achieving against all odds" are also in the list.

If you're a Brit (or even if you're not a Brit) do you think it's a fair list? Anything else inherently British that's been left out?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, November 10, 2008 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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