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- Yesterday
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
The campaign for the abolition of taxi talking starts here
Getting into a cab in New York is generally like entering a little yellow bubble. Sure, there might be a slightly musky smell from the previous passenger, or the driver’s lunchtime burger/kebab/sag paneer, but on the whole drivers keep themselv
- August 14th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay
I’ve been a music fan for as long as I can remember. From listening to the Muppets album at my grandmother’s house as a five year old, through to playing a cassette of the soundtrack from Electric Dreams, and on to my first live gig (Hear
- August 12th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Is this a man I see before me?
Back in the day, I used to be a man about (London) town. Snake Hips Allen and myself used to go to the opening of the envelope as long as there was the vague promise of a free beer and a couple of lukewarm canapes. And even if there wasn’t, we
- August 8th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
I’d like to apologise unreservedly
It’s wryly amusing seeing that the Evening Standard has been forced to apologise to Prince Philip for wrongly claiming that he was fighting prostate cancer. Not because of the nature of the illness that the Queen’s husband absolutely and
- August 7th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
The great New York breakfast robbery
After about fifteen years of not eating breakfast (unless consuming my own body weight in sausage and bacon on the morning after the night before), I’ve recently taken up cereal. It’s hardly a lifestyle choice, more a doctor-enforced meas
- August 6th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Style pot calls fashion kettle black
When it comes to fashion, I can hardly say that I am a thought leader. I try to keep it classic, but my look is very much ‘vaguely preppy 34 year old who wishes that he was still 25′ rather than ‘edgy style icon’. Recently, I&
- August 4th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Take me to the river
One thing that I really do miss about being in the UK in the summer is the ability to sit having one-for-the-road in a riverside drinking establishment. Obviously this Brit Out Of Water is a complete tee-totaller (ahem), but the opportunity to drink
- August 1st, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
A god who walks amongst us
I was never a big fan of my name when I was a kid. After all, most people had normal names like Phil and Simon, and standing out from the crowd is the last thing you want when you’re an awkward ten year old who wants nothing more from life than
- July 31st, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
A little bit of politics
I was accidentally included on an email exchange today between a few intelligent Americans talking about Barack Obama’s recent Berlin speech. The back-and-forth quickly turned into a discussion regarding America’s role in the post-World W
- July 29th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
A lesson in money management
I still vividly remember the feeling I had when I first lost a substantial amount of money. I was probably about twelve years old, and my sister and I were visiting my grandmother’s house with She Who Was Born To Worry (aka my mum). My grandmother
- July 28th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
The war on New York’s streets
Back in the days when The Special One and I were dating, and I was still a Brit Very Much In Water, the two of us made a pilgrimage up to my home city Chester so that she could meet my mum for the first time. The day beforehand, The Special One had e
- July 24th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
New York’s 50mph strip show
I’m on a new diet, which I like to call the Subway Diet. No, I don’t mean that I’m eating nothing but dubious meats (all made from turkey, regardless of what they outwardly claim to be) on footlong bread rolls. It might have worked for Jared Fo
- July 22nd, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Lord knows I can’t change
You might know me as the mild mannered janitor of this esteemed property, but I have a secret. A secret dark enough that it only speaks its name to a select few. A secret that I only shared with The Special One a few months before our wedding, for fe
- July 18th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Spot the difference
July 2007 A man walks into a doctor’s surgery in South West London, under extreme pressure from his wife-to-be, to get his allegedly high blood pressure looked at. The surgery smells like all doctors the length and breadth of the UK – a heady mix
- July 15th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Expect the unexpected
Like Drew Barrymore and her endless ability to score the lead roles in sappy rom-coms, A Brit Out Of Water would be nothing without a stereotype. Don’t get me wrong, I like to tell it as I see it, but sometimes you just have to fall back on goo
- July 14th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Help me if you can
I was back in the commuting saddle today, scuttling into the city with the rest of the ants. After a week in the sun, I don’t mind admitting that the experience was particularly painful. Almost as painful as a torturous opening sentence that mi
- July 13th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Getting away from it all
I’ve been away for a week, sunning myself in the south of France and taking advantage of the lack of broadband to take an impromptu blog break. Fortunately, the presence of a The Special One, good friends, a big swimming pool, great food and pl
- July 2nd, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Zut alors
When I was a mere glint in America’s eye, our French teacher told the likes of The Beancounter, Broadsheet Benny and I that we would only be fluent in the language when we thought in French. As it was, most of us couldn’t tell our derrieres from
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britoutofwater has added
brianandbrooke to their friends list. - July 1st, 2008
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britoutofwater has updated their friends list.
- June 30th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Be your guest? I don’t think so…
For the most part, I love high(er)-end/speciality food shops like Whole Foods or Balucci’s. Having been spoiled with Waitrose or Marks & Spencer’s food hall all my life, there’s something thoroughly decent about being treated like a discer
- June 29th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
200 things you simply have to know about New York (part four)
Finally, the list has been completed. So come on, what have I missed?? 151. I love being preached at as much as the next man. But does it really have to be at 8 in the morning as I’m travelling into work on the subway? 152. Politics and bureaucracy
- June 27th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Customer service hell (or America, as it’s also known)
Customer satisfaction isn’t exactly a particular focus for New Yorkers. In fact, on the list of 500 Things Every Business Must Do To Be Successful in NYC, “making sure that the customer is happy” appears just below “don’t leave dead rats in
- June 26th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Death, where is thy sting?
After two long flights, and a lot of late nights with work and with friends, I’ve found myself encumbered with an early summer cold. Not the slight sniffles of a borderline hay fever attack, but the full on “I need thirty tissues to get through e
- June 23rd, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Don’t stop me now
It’s good to be back in New York, although the sweltering heat and humid atmosphere means that I have as much desire to be outside as an agoraphobic slug who has been told that the only way for him to get back inside his garden shed is to slither t
- June 18th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
The change
When I first moved down to London, She Who Was Born To Worry (or my mum, as I generally know her) took the wind out of my fresh faced and eager sails by calling me a shandy-drinking southerner. The implication being that the north of England was roug
- June 16th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
A cultural loss
In a classic ‘the dog ate my homework’ style, can I apologize for the lack of the last segment of the 200 Things You Simply Have To Know About New York list? I may or may not have written the vast majority of the final 50 points on a series of Po
- June 12th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
200 things you simply have to know about New York (part three)
Here’s the third installment of the epic list to celebrate 200 posts. Think you know New York yet? Think again. 101. If officials made it any easier to access the subway without paying, babies who have consistently had their candy taken from th
- June 10th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Summer in the city
If you want to engage in small talk with a Brit, there’s only one thing you’ll definitely need to chat about - the weather. Whether it’s complaining about the rain, or talking about snow coming late this year, the British would be a
- June 8th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
200 things you simply have to know about New York (part two)
51. Your stepsstoop is a much more civilised place from which to get rid of any old crap from your house than the back of a Ford Cortina. 52. Any city that can invent the beer milkshake is alright by me. 53. The view from the N train as you go across
- June 5th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
200 things you simply have to know about New York (part 1)
So after almost 300 days out of water, I’ve reached my 200th post. To mark the occasion, I’ve come up with 200 things that you should know about New York. Some of them apply to the rest of America, but all of them sum up why the city is c
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britoutofwater has updated their friends list.
- June 4th, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
Over the Hil
Incredibly, after more than 500 days of campaigning, it looks like the race is over and Barack Obama is the chosen one for the Democratic party. Personally I think it’s a shame to see either one lose, given that the electorate has paid much more at
- June 1st, 2008
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britoutofwater has posted a new entry on: A Brit Out Of Water
The sweetest thing
Sweetness is something towards which your attitude changes the older you get. When I was a kid, I loved being regarded as sweet by my grandparents, especially if it resulted in getting a toffee or a twenty pence piece as a result. Most kids quickly l
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