British Expat Newsletter: February 2019
Hello, and welcome to those of you who have recently signed up.
In this issue
- This month: British Expat update
- Write for British Expat
- British Expat Amazon Shopping
- How to subscribe
This month
What a lovely pleasant afternoon we’ve just enjoyed. Sitting on a balcony, sipping fizz and looking down eight floors to the estuary below. Under a brilliant blue cloudless sky, passers-by have been strolling along in their shirtsleeves, taking selfies or watching the kiddies throw breadcrumbs to the seagulls below the pier.
Yes, we’re on holiday, getting some much needed sunshine after nearly three months of unrelenting cold and grey. And the location of our blissful idyll? Er…North Kent!
We came back to do a bit of shopping and to grab a couple of things out of our loft which didn’t make it into our baggage in the move in late October. And we were lucky to catch the tail end of some highly unseasonal weather which has been accompanied by all the usual markers of spring – hedgehogs awakening from hibernation, crocuses flowering, trees blossoming.
This wasn’t what we’d been expecting at all. In fact, Dave had been insisting that we had to head somewhere in southern Europe for our change of climate and scenery. We briefly considered Naples. But after reading so many descriptions of the city that seemed to rely on churches and pizza as the only highpoints, we settled on Istanbul. And sure enough, it snowed. Grr.
So it was quite a relief to come back to the UK and find the weather unseasonably warm. It was also interesting to see for ourselves whether there was any sense of impending doom (Remainers) or excitement/impatience (Leavers). Actually, there wasn’t much of either – just people going about their business pretty much as usual. Apart from the shirtsleeves, of course.
Let’s hope it’s still as calm in a month’s time…
Our latest Pic of the Week comes from the Yemeni island of Socotra, home to the bizarrely shaped dragon blood tree.
And our latest Quick Quiz asks you five questions about Yemen – created in 1990 by the union of North and South Yemen and beset by civil war for much of the time since then. Small wonder that it’s the poorest country in the Middle East. But what else do you know about it?
Are you ever flummoxed by fancy foodie words, mystified by menus, or confused by culinary terms? Then head on over to Scoffopedia.com and become enlightened by our quirky A-Z of food. And it’s got cartoons in it! Don’t forget to tell all your friends about it too.
Write for British Expat
Would you like to write for British Expat? Sorry, we don’t pay for articles but if you have a website we’ll link to it in the author’s blurb below any of your articles we publish. We use all sorts of content as long as it’s useful and/or interesting to our readership.
Besides articles, we also publish quick trivia quizzes—five questions about any subject. So, if you’d like to write for us but don’t feel like producing a literary masterpiece, then why not try writing a quickie quiz about your city, country, or even your hobby? Please use our contact form to get in touch.
British Expat Amazon Shopping
Amazon don’t just do books, you know. We’ve teamed up with them to bring you the ultimate in online shopping—from a micro SD card to a garden shed! A great way to do your shopping online, especially if the shops aren’t up to much in your part of the world.
BE Amazon Shop: UK & EU | BE Amazon Shop: non-EU
So there’s a round-up of all that’s been going on. Come on over and see for yourself! Don’t forget…
Visit the BE website and join in with our lively community!
Till next time…
Happy surfing!
Kay
Editor
British Expat—the definitive home for British expats
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