I’m suffering from ‘Very British Problems’

‘Light bulb’ moments.

I thought it was just me but it appears we are a nation of socially awkward oddballs and I am suffering from Very British Problems (VBP).

Every now and again I have a ‘light bulb moment’ when my whole perception of things changes in the blink of an eye.

Some of my light bulb moments:

1. Finding out when I moved to the Midlands that Skegness isn’t in Scotland.
2. Realising when someone knocks on my door and tells me not to worry because they don’t want to sell me something, they actually do want to sell me something.
3. Discovering that TV commercials tell lies because no washing powder can get puréed carrot stains out of baby clothes.
4. Realising I was the only one in our family who knew that a pile of items on the lower step of the stairs was a hint to take them up and not a challenge to overcome.

Well, I had another ‘light bulb moment’ last week when my sister forwarded me a link titled ‘A handy collection of awkwardness’ from the book by Rob Temple, ‘Very British Problems: making life awkward for ourselves, one rainy day at a time’.

It’s not just me then!

I realise that I might be a bit ‘late to the party’: you may have heard of Rob Temple and his hilarious books because he has amassed 1.26 million Twitter followers @SoVeryBritish and more than 200,000 likes on the Very British Problems Facebook page. However, this list was a revelation to me and I read through it with a growing sense of unease because every one of the bullet points described me.

• Turning down a cup of tea for no reason and instantly knowing you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake
• The huge sense of relief when your perfectly valid train ticket is accepted by the inspector
• Worrying you’ve accidentally packed 3 kilos of cocaine and a dead goat as you stroll through “Nothing to declare”

Had Rob been following me around for years and taking notes? I checked the title of the article again and realised he was talking about British people in general.  Feeling relieved that he wasn’t singling me out, I chuckled and snorted my way through the rest of the list of very British quirks. I wasn’t just laughing because they were funny, either, I was laughing because I had spent over forty years thinking it was just me! It was a relief to realise that I share the same afflictions as the entire British nation! It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone in my weirdness and millions of other people are wired to react to certain situations in exactly the same way as me, apparently just by virtue of being born and raised in Britain.

Whether you consider yourself British or not, click on the following link and read through the list of Very British Problems to see which ones apply to you. Don’t forget to click on the image again when the link opens to reveal all four pages of Very British Problems.

https://mobile.twitter.com/SoVeryBritish/status/703125462315208705

As I scanned through some of the comments on the @SoVeryBritish Twitter feed, Canadians admitted that they could relate to many of these awkward traits, as did a number of Australians. I had to chuckle when an American made a comment along the lines of, ‘I don’t know what you’re all talking about.’

Are you showing symptoms of VBP?

• How many of these ‘Very British Problems’ can you relate to?
• Can you think of any that are missing from the list? One that springs to my mind is when I trip up and then proceed to break into a little jog as if it was meant to happen.
• If you aren’t British, do you still do any of these things?

You can find even more examples of Very British Problems here: Twitter @soverybritish and Facebook Very British Problems.

Rob Temple has also written two books, ‘Very British Problems‘ and ‘Very British Problems Abroad‘ , which are the subject of a Channel 4 TV show of the same name.

P.S. A little request.

This blogging lark is hard and this past 4 months has been such a steep learning curve.  At the moment it takes me ages to prepare a post, write a post, share a post and then try and work out social media too.

So, if you are enjoying my blog, it would be marvellous if you could support it by signing up to my email feed (see the subscribe box in the sidebar on the right on a computer or below on a tablet or smart phone) so you don’t miss a post.

You can also follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram using the social media buttons on the top of this page for updates between posts.

Thanks so much for reading!

Please note: All text and images are copyright Maflingo unless otherwise stated and opinions are my own. Single images may be reproduced only if they remain in their original state and must be credited back to Maflingo with a link to the site. 

Feature Image credit:
© Steve Mann | Dreamstime.com