One of my favourite pastimes is mocking books written by American writers ostensibly set in England, in particular crime and mystery series - you can discover all sorts of things about what people outside England think goes on over here, usually wrongly.

For example, I just picked up the first book of a series (published in 2005) with the following obvious errors:

Given that this is supposed to be England, what exactly are you doing talking about 'murder one'?

We don't have 'prosecuting attorneys', we have the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

What is this obsession with 'popovers' at meals? What the hell are they anyway and why are you serving them with steak & kidney pie? And just what is a 'stuffed potato'?

Food is always a good place for all sorts of issues to creep in, as the obsession of the HP fandom with 'bangers' can testify. ;)

There are times when my icon is accurate, rather than sarcastic, and this is one of them. Here we are midway through December (and exactly how did that happen?) and I've just finished my 4th week in my new job. \o/

Which I am enjoying a lot, more even than I thought I would, so that's excellent news. In the last few weeks of working my notice from the previous job, I'd definitely had moments where I wondered if I knew what I was letting myself in for and whether this was a good idea. It definitely was. However, I'm not sure I ever really knew the meaning of the word 'busy' before, as some days now I can get to work, then look up from what I'm doing and 4 hours have passed and it's lunchtime.

Likewise, I'm struggling with the whole concept of driving to and from work all week and still having petrol in the car. This is not something I have been used to. Not that, so far, I have turned the not-driving time into productive fic-writing time, but that's because I'm a putz.

Speaking of driving, I keep seeing a sign on the way to work advertising Christmas cockerels and turkeys for sale - why would you buy someone a cockerel for Christmas unless you really disliked them?

Also, I have finished my submission for this years' Down the Chimney over at muncle, only 24 hours late, so hopefully green_key will not be breaking out the pitchfork and firey torch for my benefit.

How to tell if it's summer in England:

Lesson 1). Check for thunderstorms, torrential rain and flash flooding.

Lesson 2). See Lesson 1).

In other news, have been for a job interview today - think it went quite well, hopefully the fact one of the interviewers (the would-be boss of the post in question) started telling me all about what she'd like to happen with it was a good sign? Will know later on...

Is it just me, or does the new poster for the second Night at the Museum movie remind folks of the Village People? ;)

The roadside ad version I've seen over here in the States is just the bottom half of the above, just the characters, and is even more so...

With apologies to Stephen Colbert for the subject line... ;)

In general, other than my difficulties with replacing headlight bulbs, I really like my car. However, there is one thing about it that makes me grind my teeth with annoyance - when the temperature drops below a certain level, the temperature thing on the dash starts to flash, then there's a loud beep and the message 'Risk of Ice' appears.

No shit, Sherlock.

I can't be alone in thinking that designers are putting stupid features into things, surely? What possible assistance is a 'Risk of Ice' warning anyway? If you're already driving like an asshat, by the time it warns you then it's probably too late...

I live within walking distance of a small branch of the local library and despite my determination to only return the books I had from there and not check any out (mostly due to the teetering pile of books to be read already...) I was unable to resist picking up more.

I was also unable to resist the urge to spend about 45 minutes reshelving the crime section since it was in a mess. Also paperbacks A and B, and then I got kicked out because it was closing time... does any library really need three copies of the exact same book by David Baldacci? ;)

Well, perhaps that's an exaggeration but there are certain words which are guaranteed to raise my blood pressure. The first ones that leap to mind are as follows:

Ye

Olde

Shoppe

Fayre (particularly when applied to food, slightly less when applied to an event)

Given that we Brits live in a country with real history, we really don't need cod-anachronistic signage to tell us whatever it's supposed to tell us... What would make anyone think that a pub sign advertising 'home-cooked fayre' is any better than anywhere else?

You know, I vaguely remember this thing called 'summer' which involved sunshine and warm weather. ;)

Attention! There are morons on the internet!

That is all. :P

'PLEASE DON'T PHONE WHILST DRIVING'

Clearly, there's a fellow pedant working for the Highways Agency... ;)