This you should know...

When moving to the UK, it is important to realise that one moves onto a shoal, an island, set apart from the rest.  Island nations are singular, tossed into the sea.  They are at the same time fiercely independent and completely lost, their populace amazing survival artists as well as gloomy fatalists.  

In England this deeply engrained dichotomy takes shape in many different forms.  For the less cognizant, it may take a while to pinpoint, but after some time it is hard to miss.  It took me six years, but here it is:

Everyone here has their assigned place - for generations.  Names matter, accents and connections, more than either intelligence or integrity.  There is a way to do things, and many ways not to.

The pecking order is harsh and unforgiving.  While bound together against all that lies across the sea, it is a national pass time to hack at each other like chicken in a coop.

A harsh wind blows over this island.  Many who leave it don’t like to return and those who come, charmed by its beauties, sooner or later will find out why.

The proverbial stiff upper lip is a feature engraved into the pale features of a true islander, as if they had to prove a point.  Life is life and that seems to be the problem.