Very British Problems

[breakinglight11]

Been reading the book Very British Problems by Rob Temple, based off the most excellent Twitter feed @soverybritish. It's mostly jokes about the desperation to avoid social interaction by any means necessary, and the pressure to be completely polite even when enraged or deeply trespassed against --two things I relate to intensely. (I always knew I was British in my soul. ;-) ) I was first turned onto it by a tweet from Tom Hiddleston, whose feed I also follow, and because of this I imagine every incident described by Very British Problems to be happening to him, and he's so sweet and adorable that it just makes it that much better. I highly recommend it if you don't follow it already. This particular style of humor has always appealed to me; it's actually pretty much the same as the central joke in The Late Mrs. Chadwick. Stuffy, unfailingly polite, emotionally repressed British chaps.

Of course, Tom Hiddleston would make for a great Arthur Chadwick, now that I think of it. He'd probably put a very positive, trying-to-be-cheery spin on it. And Benedict Cumberbatch would be a great Edwin Shrewsbury across from him. I'd love to see him doing the slight nervousness and unsureness of the absolute best, most polite way to handle a dead wife throwing things at you. Or what the hell, switch them around and I'm sure they'd be just as good. And as long as we're fantasy-casting famous British actors, Matilda Chadwick would HAVE to be played by Helena Bonham-Carter. :-)

Shockingly, even this silly humor book, which paints the country as a rainy muddy dreary place full of morbid alcoholics, manages to stir the growing desire in me to run away to England. The place has always called to me, and due to being a remarkably bad, motion-sick traveler I've never been. During my bad periods in the last several years, it was the fantasy place I'd imagine disappearing to in order to escape. But even though I'm doing well again, more and more, with media I consume and the art I feel compelled to make, I find myself being pulled to it. My budget hardly is fit right now for a transatlantic voyage, but in the not too distant future I need to figure out some way to finally visit.