TELGEN NEWSLETTER 3.0: January 15, 1999

Dear Family and Friends:

Having passed both the half-year mark and the holiday season, I thought now would be a good time for some more tales of the Telgens in lovely England.

Happy Christmas to All: That's right, it's "Happy Christmas" over here, and don't worry, it's almost as commercialized as it is back home. Because there's no Halloween (well, there is, but it's not a big deal) and no Thanksgiving, the stores start putting up Christmas displays and items up in late September, or so it seemed. There weren't too many homes decorated with lights, so there was no pressure to decorate our place to keep up with the Smythe-Jones's. David performed in his first concert at school (and since it's a private school, it was a "Christmas Concert" and not a politically correct "Holiday Concert"). He was so cute dressed up as one of the "twelve drummers drumming"—he had a little mustache and everything. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera along, or else I would post a picture of it.

So Christmas it was, and all by ourselves for the first time. Diane managed to roast a turkey (okay, just the breast) and bake a pumpkin pie without poisoning anyone. We opened our presents, and had a nice relaxing day. Then on Boxing Day (the 26th), we participated in a British Christmas tradition: the pantomime! This is a type of play where the audience is allowed to participate by shouting at the characters or singing along. It wasn't quite like "Rocky Horror," though. This play dated back to 1870 and was titled "Whittington Junior and His Sensation Cat." It was a musical version of the story of Dick Whittington and how he becomes Lord Mayor of London, filled with loads of terrible puns and songs set to famous classical works. It was entertaining, but I think next year we'll try to see the Nutcracker instead.

Politics Is Not for Wimps: Many have you have asked me about how the whole Clinton scandal is playing over here. There's been plenty of news coverage on Clinton's troubles—today the BBC newspaper reviewer complained that he couldn't understand why the London papers would devote their entire front page to the start of the impeachment trial since nothing really happened on the first day. (That's another weird thing about British media: all the morning shows on TV and radio devote segments to what's in the papers that day, which shows you who has the influence here.) One day, I even heard a call-in talk show with people expressing opinions on the issue (mostly in support of Clinton, who many English like because of his role in the Northern Ireland settlement). Somehow I can't imagine Americans calling in to discuss the merits of Tony Blair if he were to get in similar trouble. But overall, a lot of Europeans are just puzzled by the whole thing: first, the fuss over sex, which to them is irrelevant when it comes to politics; and second, the idea that the President isn't all-powerful and can be brought down by a Congressional impeachment.

That's not to say there hasn't been plenty of political scandals to cover at home, however. First, in the fall, one of Blair's ministers was caught lying about how he came to be robbed in a neighborhood noted for its, um, frolicsome inhabitants, and another minister was outed soon after. The tabloids had a fun time with it all (one headline asked "Tony: Are We Being Run by the Gay Mafia?") but it didn't lead to any resignations. But just recently it was revealed that one minister lent another over 500,000 pounds to make a down payment on a new London home. They didn't own up to it as they should have, and both were forced to resign even though they claimed it was just a loan from one friend to another. Lately, the big debate has been over whether Britain should join the Euro, which leads to my next subject...

EMU Does Not Stand for That University in Ypsilanti: No, EMU stands for "European Monetary Union" and have we been getting an earful about it! The "Euro," which is the name of the new combined currency for eleven different European countries, went into effect at the beginning of 1999. (Just electronically—there won't be actual paper or coins to use until 2002.) Although Great Britain is part of the European Community, they opted out of the Euro for the time being. Some say it's because they were upset that the Queen would no longer be on their money, but opponents are mainly worried that giving up control of their currency will reduce British sovereignty. Proponents of the Euro warn that Britain will be left behind if they don't join, but they're in the minority—at least according to the papers, which mainly speak with the opinions of their conservative media baron owners. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.

Watch out for English snowstorms!: Actually, I'm just teasing our friends back in the Midwest. We've been hearing about your 12-inch snowfalls and giggling. We had snow this week, but it turned into rain after two hours and was all melted by midday. Other than that, it's been fairly mild—highs in the 40s and mostly rainy and windy, and still completely dark by 4:30 in the afternoon. But we really don't have any complaints.

That's all for this edition. But don't wait for the next update—keep in touch anytime!

Diane, Bill & David Telgen

TELGEN NEWSLETTER 3.0: January 15, 1999

Previous / Next