The Queen's 90th Birthday + British Problems

If you are British then you probably know but the Queen is celebrating her 90th birthday and to celebrate I have a cute and very British post for you all! The super lovely people at Deramores which is the 2015 winner for the best online knitting store *I cannot knit, I've tried* but I'd love to be able to knit, sent me some goodies.

I received a very generous box of goodies including tea *obviously*, Cath Kidston jam *who knew that Cath Kidston made jam!*, decorations, a cute mug, cupcake cakes and bunting which my mum has her eye on!

One of my favourite books is Very British Problems which I read in 2014, I think and it is now a TV show. So I wanted to share some of the very british problems that I encounter:

- Apologising when you bump into someone even when it was their fault for not looking where they were going 

- When a stranger talks to you on the bus and you are so shocked that someone is defying the unspoken (literally) rule of not talking on public transport that you quietly babble in response 

- Needing to cough in public but you're in a quiet shop so you hold it in until you eyes water  

- That feeling on a bank holiday monday where you have to have do ALL the DIY, leading to more and more jobs to do 

- The utter and genuine look of devastation and horror on the face of everyone when someone says that they don't like tea, scones or victoria sponge cake 

As much as I would love to live in Italy or the south of France *who wouldn't*, I am proud to be British! We are a very unique nation which has specific and quite unusual traditions. I freakin' adore English history *I've probably watched 80% of all English history documentaries out there* and I wish I had taken history as an A-Level instead of chemistry.

There are some drawbacks to our unusual culture and traditions, see Very British Problems but there are some nostalgic, timeless and lovely traditions, quirks and landmarks too such as afternoon tea, our amazing castles, ancient history and royal palaces and our stubborn and resolute nature but we are also a nostalgic nation too.

If you're visiting the UK then there are some things you should probably know: tea is basically a religion here, don't mention football or rugby as we have strong options and it will lead to an argument, we don't all have awful teeth (I believe that this is an American misnomer about the British), there's more to the UK than just London and yes, it will rain constantly but also bring sun lotion, a winter coat and wellington boots...just in case.

What are your Very British Problems? What are your favourite or least favourite things about the UK?