…. augmented by the ultimate in poor taste.

Last night I saw what looked like a brand new BMW 7 series (black). A very nice car, obviously good Engineering and aesthetically pleasing. However, as it drove by I noticed that the driver had elected to put an England flag on the license plate. Do people have no taste ? – you take a nice simple clean design and stick nonsense on it- it’s not a suitcase that’s travelled the world. I was actually surprised he didn’t have a ‘My other car is a Porsche’ sticker on it also.

Maybe I’m just too sensitive to the whole English thing, specific issues:

• England flag and what it stands for nowadays (i.e. thug and bulldog mentality). I have a policy of avoiding any pubs that have an England flag outside of them. I guess that’s down to previous experience. Once with a landlord in Cambridge shouting racist abuse at me. The other in a pub in London asking to watch Scottish football on the TV, to have the reply ‘if you want to watch Scottish TV **** *** back to Scotland’. How I love the English hospitality. Unfortunately I can’t do a very strong Glasgow accent which generally gets them worried (people here associate strong Glasgow accent with physical violence).

• People referring to the UK as ‘England’. I remember someone at work years ago doing this, noticing that I said ‘UK’ and then making some joke about it. After their apology my response was “don’t worry, it just makes you look uneducated and stupid”.