Canada Olympic House... and more Britishisms

Today, a Canadian woman asked if I was Canadian... because she said I had a bit of an English accent. The horror! Seriously, I'm heading back to Vancouver in late August for a week, so if I have ANY SYMPTOMS of Madonna English, y'all had better tell me.

Anyway, this Canadian woman was at Canada Olympic House, which is at Trafalgar Square (also where the annual Canada Day celebrations are held). The house is, unfortunately, closed to friends and family, but I got a little tour of it and, I must say, this actually gives it more of a comfortable feel.

The Canadian sponsors are there - Petro Canada, Molson Canadian, and, of course, P&G, which is not Canadian but is a big Olympics sponsor and owns Crest, Pantene, Pampers, and Secret, among a few other beauty brands. P&G's Olympics campaign slogan is "Thank you, Mom", which is officially the biggest tearjerker campaign of the Games. If you haven't watched it, YouTube it.  

Anyway, they've set up a lounge where friends and family can, in true living room style, watch CTV-streamed Olympics content... which is such a relief. The BBC is wonderful, but their Olympics coverage has (obviously) been SO British-centric - yesterday, I was shouting at the TV in frustration as they named the gold, silver, and bronze winners in some sport, OMITTED ANY MENTION of the Canadian team in 4th, and then focused in on the Brits in 5th. Bah.

Canadians watching Canadians compete at the P&G "Home away from home" lounge at Canada Olympic House. There is Molson Canadian beer and poutine (although they make it with mozzarella... sacrilege! Apparently you can't find cheese curds in London).

There is also a Hudson Bay Company pop-up shop! Love.

Anyway, a few more random Britishisms to start your weekend:

• When buying coffee, if you want a "drip coffee" (as we would say in North America), you have to ask for "filter coffee" here (although many cafés don't actually have this). Basically, they're referring to a French filter coffee - i.e. coffee made using a Bodum.
• When ordering an Americano or a cup of tea, you have to specify whether you want it black or white. Essentially, white means it comes with milk in it - hot milk. Cafés here don't have Thermos' / carafes full of a cream, half-and-half, skim, or soy milk by the sugar and other condiments.
• The middle finger: it is used here, but it's much more common to use a two-fingered salute, with your palm toward you and a type of swipe-upward motion. Basically, imagine yourself saying "up yours" with two fingers in a backward-peace-sign, and you get the idea. (Apparently, this tradition derives from the Hundred Years War in the 14th century: English archers that had been captured by France had two fingers cut off their right hand - the fingers that drew the bow - so by flashing those two fingers, you were effectively showing a gesture of defiance.) 

That's it for now.

Happy weekend!