Postcards from the Edge Episode IX Part I

Hello all! Welcome again (already?!?!) to another set of PFTEs. For those of you new to the series, I just send out periodic updates from places I've travelled with bizarre, strange or interesting observations that I note. If you'd like to be taken off this list, please let me know!
This time around, I'm in the UK for the next few weeks, cruising through England, Scotland and Ireland. As you know, of course, I've already met Bono, so most of my motivation for going to Ireland's already dealt with (har har har).
Airport security post 9-11 has taken great heights... on our way in through Pearson, they stopped a NUN. A nun... come now, what is this world coming to if you're going to stop a little 80-something year old nun??? They emptied out her bag with the jellies and jams that she was taking home... right, weapons of mass destruction via blueberries and rhubarb...
Otherwise, the Brits are stereotypically staid and formal. So much so that we have never encountered such bad service. I don't remember it being this bad last time I was through, however, it is stunning the lack of desire to actually be helpful. We've noticed that most of the people we ask directions to, who bother to stop and answer, don't have British accents. We've had our food practically thrown at us in restaurants, have had to beg for napkins, and use puppydog eyes to get some water. I think in North America, despite it's many faults, we've at least gotten the customer service thing down pretty good.
Not surprisingly, as the Euro Cup 2004 is on in Portugal right now, the British are rabidly following the proceedings. Actually, on Tuesday night, they were beaten by the French, mainly b/c Beckham missed a goal. And, of course, drunken British hooligans started beating up police officers and people on the streets that night. It's funny that the country that gives us Keats, Shakespeare, Cromwell, Wilde, Dickens, etc etc etc etc, is also famous for beating up random people in a drunken fury...
julia