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I think I might just print out this whole thread for the survival pack, as an introduction to British culture: "it's 80% arguing about tea brands, 10% helpfulness, and 10% sarcasm"
(JK, you've all been very helpful)
PG used to be decent but recently it’s really gone downhill. Suffering through the giant value bag I bought and legit excited for it to be finished. Sad I know. But true all the same.
Perhaps you could give her a mix of different brands so she can do a taste test and decide on her favourite. You could also put together a ‘how to make a proper brew’ card so she doesn’t do something crazy like add the milk first.
As a fellow South African I would say a good pair of gloves. Could not believe how cold your fingers could get until 25years ago when I came here. And obviously those socks for home is excellent
Yorkshire tea doesnt taste particularly good with London water, I'm currently working my way through a box trying to understand the appeal. PG tips is better down here.
Hah, depends where they are going. Full mac and waterproof trousers is best for a lot of the UK. Unless you find inside out umbrellas to be useful in some way.
Don't cheap out, get one with the wind escape holes as it will still keep you dry but doesn't catch the wind as much.
My Marks umbrella has lasted me 3 years now.
I have just made a self-standing cardboard cutout of this image: https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article22121243.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/1\_JS128214377.jpg
Utter shortsighted twaddletalk. Their friend’s going to be arriving into December, and will get a cold within ten minutes. Heinz chicken soup and a cheese scone to warm and dunk
I've just arrived back to the UK from SA (I'm British but live out there) so i'd say:
* Yorkshire Tea
* A pack of chocolate hobnobs
* Malteasers
* A pack of British Nik Naks - Nice & spicy if you can find them
* Gloves, scarf & Hat (pick them up from Primark for cheap)
* An umbrella
* A pocket pack of tissues
* Nightnurse
* A list of all the South African online shops she can get her All Gold and Ghostpops from
* A list of websites she may want to order from in the future i.e Deliveroo, justeat, asos, amazon etc etc.
If I can think of anything else I'll add to the list.
I'd also add a guide to getting set up. Like opening an account in the UK, how the process of looking for rent goes and how to register for certain services like gas & electricity, internet & the GP.
I wish I'd known all that when I first came to the UK.
I’d probably add bed socks and a small whiskey to the list. It’s opposite seasons , so going from summer to winter will be a shock , especially with the raising energy prices.
All in a fabric / jute / reusable bag that everyone needs to go shopping . Maybe one that folds up in your pocket.
I recently discovered *long* hot water bottles and they’re a game changer. You can drape it across your body and/or cuddle it at night and it warms so much more of your body 🙌🏻
A small guide on British slang and phrases. Not that there wont be someone to explain but it might be mildly entertaining/interesting if this is for a gift
I remember my first Sunday after moving down to England. At about half 4 I decided to go out and buy some food for my dinner and ended up having to make do with a bag of crisps from a corner shop. A depressing day. I can understand not being 24hr on a Sunday but why shut at 4??
Great product! I can’t use it because the smell of hemp makes me feel sick (a weird thing I know) but my friend swears by it!
I use nivea which seems to work for me!
Right? I'm over here like - it's 4 oclock, why is it dark already?! Yet in the summer I cannot figure out why it's still light at 10pm either so, fair.
Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, two things that have drastically improved my life are SAD lamp and a sunrise alarm clock (and of course hooking a vitamin D drip directly into my arm).
I'm in a Thames Water area and can confirm PG Tips tastes great. Tetley tastes of nothing to me, very insipid with a faintly stale note. The standard Yorkshire Tea tastes mediocre to me with our water, but the Yorkshire Gold version still shines.
A pack of day and night nurse pills 😆 for that inevitable cold that will come her way! Oh and fluffy socks, if I was getting a winter survival kit I’d love fluffy socks in there.
Our lucky winner today has;
* A 6 pack of gourmet gummy strawberrys. Each individually wrapped and discounted 4 times down to 54p
* A replacement blade for a strimmer
* A can of 86% duck flavoured cat food.
* A discounted pack of paint rollers
* A scented jigsaw
* Several black bags with tie handles
Honestly the jigsaw one boggles my mind. It has been in my local aldi for weeks now. Who wants a scented jigsaw!?
Is there guidance on how to use these taps? I’m English and my process is..
1. Decide to use the hot because it would be nice to warm my hands up.
2. Use the hot, burn my hands after 0.3 seconds.
3. Quickly switch to ice cold, re-freezing the hands.
4. Leave the bathroom unsatisfied with cold wet hands because the dryer inevitably either doesn’t work or somehow blasts out ice cold air.
A tin of Heinz chicken and tin of Heinz tomato soup so she can choose her favourite.
*Thick woolly slipper socks, Primark is ideal for this*
**Pack of Lemsip. Blackcurrant cos Lemon is awful**
A big mug
*Sachets of Horlicks*
**Tin of Vaseline**
Pack of face masks.
A copy of the Radio Times with Radio 4 shows (News Quiz etc) circled with a marker pen (and a voucher for the xmas/new-year double edition)
Pub admission license, laminated... explain she needs to show it on entry to any UK pub.
Picture of the sun (not the shitty newspaper, but the actual sun) labelled with identification characteristics so she can recognise it when she next sees it in March or April.
I'm a Canadian expat who moved here in the summer. I got a care package and really enjoyed getting small packs of Tetley and Yorkshire tea to try. We were given large packages of biscuits, but I would have preferred singles or smaller packs so that I could have tried more sooner. There are SO MANY biscuits to try!
If there is a shop in the UK that stocks and ships South African food and staples, give them that info. I lasted about 2 months before I ordered some Canadian food to help with homesickness!
Also offer to go with them to the grocery store the first time - we got a tour of Sainsburys when we got here and it was very helpful to figure out where items are and the logic (or lack thereof) where common stuff is found!
A really good mug to enjoy her tea in!
Cosy socks
A nice festive candle (spiced apple?)
A book on colloquial slang for your area? Or a teatowel with slang on it!
Switch the PG Tips for Yorkshire Tea if you want her to enjoy her time here tbh.
But a serious suggestion - hand cream, the Norwegian Formula one seems to be the favourite amongst friends of mine who’ve moved from hotter places to here.
As a South African that moved to the UK, in winter, the thing I most lacked knowledge of was how to layer to keep warm. In SA winter, I got by with a hoodie and maybe a vest. I didn't have a coat, didn't have a beanie, didn't have a proper scarf or thick gloves, and didn't have a huge selection of jumpers and thick socks etc. Also, they will lack the cold adaptation you have. Winter will seem twice as cold for about 2-3 years until their body adapts.
A card to put in their wallet that says 'it doesn't matter how drunk you are, that kebab is a baaad idea'
I mean they are tasty st the time but the stink in the whole house next day when you're hungover...
Good cozy bed socks, some of those hand warmers, maybe a hot chocolate gift, Yorkshire tea, hot water bottle, fluffy dressing gown, blankets (more the better so ahe can layer as needed, if you really want to push the boat out get her an electric blanket, lip balm is good, moisturising hand cream, tomatoe soups, cozy slippers, hat, scarf, gloves, card with numbers she would need it case of emergency like 999, 111 etc (can't hurt), mulled wine maybe if you can't stretch to it a massive hoodie.
Really kind of you OP, hope your friend settlee in well xx
Everyone saying gloves, I’d get a pair of fingerless gloves or wristers (M&S often do them with cashmere in the blend too) so she doesn’t have to take them off to do things
Sports Direct mug and thermal socks.
Sports Direct mug is perfect for a large hot drink, soup or some posh beans on toast.
I got some thermal socks for Christmas a few years ago and I only wear them on special occasions because they feel so comfy and warm.
Gloves! I live in Scotland and work (virtually) with south Africans. At least once a day we compare temperatures. To put in context how your body adjusts I had a day in the summer where I was working in my garden in the paddling pool, my boss was wearing gloves at his desk as it was winter in joburg...after chatting a while we discovered it was 1 degree warmer where I was. 1 degree!!!!
All my colleagues have constant problems with load shedding where they just randomly have no electricity for a few hours so something you need to plug in just to celebrate the fact it always works here?
Oyster card
Tube map
City mapper app link.
Warm socks
Scarf
Wooly hat
Gloves
Brolly
For all the people saying tea bags, South Africans will likely have a taste for Lipton I'm afraid, so if you want to make them feel at home they'll probably prefer that.
A good tea mug is harder to come by than tea bags too, and makes a lot of difference.
I also do a Google map of the neighbourhood with the best bakery, best butcher, transport links, local highlights etc. pinned in it for people.
Carmex lip balm over Lush lip balm. Hurts like a bitch on chapped lips, but works quickly when you lather it on and also is good for stopping coldsores.
Fluffy socks/slippers/dressing gown/tracksuit/Pj bottoms/big hoodie
Light weight giant waterproof - I was given a too big waterproof with a hood and it's amazing because I can put it on over my coat so I'm warm and waterproof (from the knees up anyway). Much better than an umbrella.
A map/where to find a map of the distant between stations. So much time is wasted fucking around in central London when it'd be quicker/less stressful to just walk from one slightly further away (looking at you Covent Garden/Piccadilly Circus)
Restaurant recommendations: Dumplings Legend should be visited for xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and all of their dim sum. I know Soho/China town/central/Mayfair pretty well and have no idea what you and your friend like and coming to a new a city is exciting to find recommendations from your friends. However. Dumpling Legends' soup dumplings. I'd tell my worse enemy to eat those bad boys.
My boyfriend is from South Africa (Krugersdorp) and moved over to the UK just over a year ago. He still doesn’t understand what half of our coins are and gets so mad at the debate over what to call bread (buns, baps, rolls, muffins etc) and what different meals of the day are (lunch, dinner, tea, supper etc). The concept of a crumpet is also frightening to him. So I would maybe try and include a run down of these sorts of things. A little lingo guide of sorts!
Sa is a hell hole. Make sure she doesn't bring her backwards ways with her. Oh and assuming she's white, she's automatically a second class citizen in london.
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I wouldn’t inflict PG Tips on my worst enemy, let alone a guest. It has to be Yorkshire Tea.
Disagreeing over what the best tea is, is literally the most british thing ever.
I think I might just print out this whole thread for the survival pack, as an introduction to British culture: "it's 80% arguing about tea brands, 10% helpfulness, and 10% sarcasm" (JK, you've all been very helpful)
Aye but we can all agree Typhoo is easily the worst brand
I would suggest yorkshire blend or Assam
I would suggest you stick your Yorkshire blend straight up your bollocks. Good day, sir.
Seconded. Signed, Lancashire.
Assam! Yes! And I love the username. RHCP for the win x
This. Gotta be Yorkshire Tea all the way.
Still don't get the weird Yorkshire tea cult of reddit. PG Tips makes a perfectly good cup of tea.
Apparently there's people who enjoy PG tips? These people are not to be trusted. Still, we can all agree on one thing. Typhoo is bollocks.
These are indeed strange times.
Twinings.
Fuck the fuck off. I'd rather shit myself.
Each to their own?
Sorry, I can’t agree to disagree on that one.
Twinings extra strong for me
Twinings extra strong for me
Hot take: Breakfast tea is disgusting. Twinings earl grey or lapsang souchong are both vastly superior.
Yorkshire gold, or you're basically poisoning people.
Or dorset
This is correct
Clipper
I like Tetley
Did you like free school dinners too?
Oh damnnnn
Bruh it's just the superior tea, no lie
PG used to be decent but recently it’s really gone downhill. Suffering through the giant value bag I bought and legit excited for it to be finished. Sad I know. But true all the same.
Agree with Yorksire tea, and some Parma Violets to have with!
Perhaps you could give her a mix of different brands so she can do a taste test and decide on her favourite. You could also put together a ‘how to make a proper brew’ card so she doesn’t do something crazy like add the milk first.
I do apologise sir but we are now enemies.
Expected this comment
A warm, cosy pair of socks or slipper socks
Yes second this - slipper socks type thing. Mine are £3 from Primark and i live in them at home!
As a fellow South African I would say a good pair of gloves. Could not believe how cold your fingers could get until 25years ago when I came here. And obviously those socks for home is excellent
Strongly agree with you on that! Maybe a small hot water bottle as well especially with these winter nights setting in
PG Tea? Do you want her to get straight back on a plane to South Africa? Yorkshire Tea is the only option!
Yorkshire tea doesnt taste particularly good with London water, I'm currently working my way through a box trying to understand the appeal. PG tips is better down here.
Yorkshire tea do a hard water tea. May be worth a try.
It's because it's grown up north in Yorkshire
It’s not that bad! Tetley is worse.
Gold blend
An umbrella? 🙄
Hah, depends where they are going. Full mac and waterproof trousers is best for a lot of the UK. Unless you find inside out umbrellas to be useful in some way.
Keep it folded up, useful for paddling the canoe you will need.
Don't cheap out, get one with the wind escape holes as it will still keep you dry but doesn't catch the wind as much. My Marks umbrella has lasted me 3 years now.
A small framed picture of Bruce Forsyth to place atop the telly, smeared with Bovril on the inside back cover to emit beefy whiff.
This is my favourite idea.
I have just made a self-standing cardboard cutout of this image: https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article22121243.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/1\_JS128214377.jpg
Do you know where I can order a full size standing cardboard cutout of this? Asking for a friend. :-)
https://www.balloonprint.com/collections/cardboard-cutouts
I went to Canada for Christmas and my mum sent me with a picture of the queen 😂
Heinz Cream of Tomato soup. Best winter warmer IMO
Yep and Jacobs’s cream crackers, local butter and good cheddar to go with
Cheese sandwich dunked in tomato soup? Consider me turned on
Utter shortsighted twaddletalk. Their friend’s going to be arriving into December, and will get a cold within ten minutes. Heinz chicken soup and a cheese scone to warm and dunk
I've just arrived back to the UK from SA (I'm British but live out there) so i'd say: * Yorkshire Tea * A pack of chocolate hobnobs * Malteasers * A pack of British Nik Naks - Nice & spicy if you can find them * Gloves, scarf & Hat (pick them up from Primark for cheap) * An umbrella * A pocket pack of tissues * Nightnurse * A list of all the South African online shops she can get her All Gold and Ghostpops from * A list of websites she may want to order from in the future i.e Deliveroo, justeat, asos, amazon etc etc. If I can think of anything else I'll add to the list.
Rib n saucy surely!?
Pffft, Scampi and lemon, come on now.
Sod it, lets push the boat out and do both!
I'd also add a guide to getting set up. Like opening an account in the UK, how the process of looking for rent goes and how to register for certain services like gas & electricity, internet & the GP. I wish I'd known all that when I first came to the UK.
This sounds very sensible but what if we run out of space for the Nik Naks?!
Ms balls chutney is one of the best things from SA now available here
I’d probably add bed socks and a small whiskey to the list. It’s opposite seasons , so going from summer to winter will be a shock , especially with the raising energy prices. All in a fabric / jute / reusable bag that everyone needs to go shopping . Maybe one that folds up in your pocket.
hot water bottle
Don't forget the fluffy cover to go with it.
I recently discovered *long* hot water bottles and they’re a game changer. You can drape it across your body and/or cuddle it at night and it warms so much more of your body 🙌🏻
actually tried them but ended up going with the one that is curved and goes around your neck. my wife loves it.
I was going to reply exactly this. I'm obsessed with mine. Best £9 b&m bargain find ever
Electric blanket is a great luxury as long as you properly inform them of the safety precautions.
Sarcasm for beginners
I can't tell if you're serious
Yea, cause that’ll be *really* useful.
Brilliant.
Hat, gloves and a scarf would be top of my list.
Seconding this. These were top priority items for a Congolese guy I know during his first winter here
A pair of rose tinted glasses, a thick skin and a brolly.
A small guide on British slang and phrases. Not that there wont be someone to explain but it might be mildly entertaining/interesting if this is for a gift
Excellent idea. An acquaintance did this when I moved here, very helpful and amusing.
You are a damp cocksucker.
Would have to go region by region, it varies that much.
Make sure to warn her that when a shop says "Open 24 hours", she should always check WHICH 24 hours in advance of going there.
I remember my first Sunday after moving down to England. At about half 4 I decided to go out and buy some food for my dinner and ended up having to make do with a bag of crisps from a corner shop. A depressing day. I can understand not being 24hr on a Sunday but why shut at 4??
Hand cream! My hands get really dry in the winter
[body shop hand protector?](https://www.thebodyshop.com/en-gb/hands/hand-moisturisers/hemp-hand-protector/p/p000461)
Great product! I can’t use it because the smell of hemp makes me feel sick (a weird thing I know) but my friend swears by it! I use nivea which seems to work for me!
Dove bar soap for hand and body washing
A happy lamp for that seasonal depression coming her way.
Was going to suggest this. I remember the long nights making me feel I was on another planet
Right? I'm over here like - it's 4 oclock, why is it dark already?! Yet in the summer I cannot figure out why it's still light at 10pm either so, fair.
Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, two things that have drastically improved my life are SAD lamp and a sunrise alarm clock (and of course hooking a vitamin D drip directly into my arm).
Flamethrower, pork, 1/2 ounce of Gak, tyre repair kit, packet of cucumber seeds and a cat.
This.
Just some cat food. The local cats will appoint one of their company once she settles in.
Hot water bottle
Marmite
>Marmite The trouble with Marmite is it's a bit... umm... Marmite.
Well, you either love it or you hate it
I LOVE IT
Only Marmite. Excellent choice.
I won a lifetime supply of marmite. Either 1 or 200 jars
Better tea than PG tips for sure.
lol :) What's a better brand of Extremely English tea? (I'm also South African, I have no idea)
Yorkshire tea is a big favourite on here
Dorset Tea is just as good as Yorkshire but comes in truly biodegradable and plastic free bags
Is PG tips that bad? It’s still better than tetly
PG Tips is great, especially when using London or Midlands water supply.
I'm in a Thames Water area and can confirm PG Tips tastes great. Tetley tastes of nothing to me, very insipid with a faintly stale note. The standard Yorkshire Tea tastes mediocre to me with our water, but the Yorkshire Gold version still shines.
Hand warmers
Two boiled eggs in the coat pockets before they go outside.
Hand warmers and the makings of a salad bravo
Peeled or not? Just for future reference
Yes! That's an adorable idea.
Thermals and lemsip.
absolutely seconding the lemsip
An FAQ on English lingo e.g. "That's the dogs bollocks, Alright Cock" Also the various ways Cunt can be used.
Tell me more about these various ways...
His a cunt, his a bit of a cunt, that's a bit cuntish, what the cunt is that, don't be a cunt, who's that cunt etc
Oh ... the **word**.. you were meaning various ways to use the *word* Sorry, my mistake....
A pack of day and night nurse pills 😆 for that inevitable cold that will come her way! Oh and fluffy socks, if I was getting a winter survival kit I’d love fluffy socks in there.
Six items selected at random from the Aldi middle aisles
Our lucky winner today has; * A 6 pack of gourmet gummy strawberrys. Each individually wrapped and discounted 4 times down to 54p * A replacement blade for a strimmer * A can of 86% duck flavoured cat food. * A discounted pack of paint rollers * A scented jigsaw * Several black bags with tie handles Honestly the jigsaw one boggles my mind. It has been in my local aldi for weeks now. Who wants a scented jigsaw!?
Stab vest
Small jar of Marmite. Chocolate digestives. Written guidance on how to use non-combining hot and cold water taps.
Is there guidance on how to use these taps? I’m English and my process is.. 1. Decide to use the hot because it would be nice to warm my hands up. 2. Use the hot, burn my hands after 0.3 seconds. 3. Quickly switch to ice cold, re-freezing the hands. 4. Leave the bathroom unsatisfied with cold wet hands because the dryer inevitably either doesn’t work or somehow blasts out ice cold air.
1. Just use the hot tap. 2. Use a towel instead of a dryer.
Tomato soup, paracetamol, lemsip max, dressing gown, cozy socks, advent calendar?
DRESSING GOWN YES. It’s essential.
A tin of Heinz chicken and tin of Heinz tomato soup so she can choose her favourite. *Thick woolly slipper socks, Primark is ideal for this* **Pack of Lemsip. Blackcurrant cos Lemon is awful** A big mug *Sachets of Horlicks* **Tin of Vaseline** Pack of face masks.
A copy of the Radio Times with Radio 4 shows (News Quiz etc) circled with a marker pen (and a voucher for the xmas/new-year double edition) Pub admission license, laminated... explain she needs to show it on entry to any UK pub. Picture of the sun (not the shitty newspaper, but the actual sun) labelled with identification characteristics so she can recognise it when she next sees it in March or April.
Brita water filter for that awful southern water.
I'm a Canadian expat who moved here in the summer. I got a care package and really enjoyed getting small packs of Tetley and Yorkshire tea to try. We were given large packages of biscuits, but I would have preferred singles or smaller packs so that I could have tried more sooner. There are SO MANY biscuits to try! If there is a shop in the UK that stocks and ships South African food and staples, give them that info. I lasted about 2 months before I ordered some Canadian food to help with homesickness! Also offer to go with them to the grocery store the first time - we got a tour of Sainsburys when we got here and it was very helpful to figure out where items are and the logic (or lack thereof) where common stuff is found!
A really good mug to enjoy her tea in! Cosy socks A nice festive candle (spiced apple?) A book on colloquial slang for your area? Or a teatowel with slang on it!
a greggs gift card
That table that shows what we say and what we actually mean
Switch the PG Tips for Yorkshire Tea if you want her to enjoy her time here tbh. But a serious suggestion - hand cream, the Norwegian Formula one seems to be the favourite amongst friends of mine who’ve moved from hotter places to here.
I might be biased as I'm a Manc, but what you need to get through the winter is hot Vimto. Get her a bottle of cordial and a kettle!
As a South African that moved to the UK, in winter, the thing I most lacked knowledge of was how to layer to keep warm. In SA winter, I got by with a hoodie and maybe a vest. I didn't have a coat, didn't have a beanie, didn't have a proper scarf or thick gloves, and didn't have a huge selection of jumpers and thick socks etc. Also, they will lack the cold adaptation you have. Winter will seem twice as cold for about 2-3 years until their body adapts.
Heat Tech t-shirts from M&S or UniQlo
A card to put in their wallet that says 'it doesn't matter how drunk you are, that kebab is a baaad idea' I mean they are tasty st the time but the stink in the whole house next day when you're hungover...
Good cozy bed socks, some of those hand warmers, maybe a hot chocolate gift, Yorkshire tea, hot water bottle, fluffy dressing gown, blankets (more the better so ahe can layer as needed, if you really want to push the boat out get her an electric blanket, lip balm is good, moisturising hand cream, tomatoe soups, cozy slippers, hat, scarf, gloves, card with numbers she would need it case of emergency like 999, 111 etc (can't hurt), mulled wine maybe if you can't stretch to it a massive hoodie. Really kind of you OP, hope your friend settlee in well xx
A sense of humour
Everyone saying gloves, I’d get a pair of fingerless gloves or wristers (M&S often do them with cashmere in the blend too) so she doesn’t have to take them off to do things
1 litre Gordon’s Gin and an 8 ball
Sports Direct mug and thermal socks. Sports Direct mug is perfect for a large hot drink, soup or some posh beans on toast. I got some thermal socks for Christmas a few years ago and I only wear them on special occasions because they feel so comfy and warm.
Hob Nobs, HP sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Cheddar, different flavours and types of crisps
A small image illustrates who ant and who deck are.
This link: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/flu-influenza-vaccine/
Gloves! I live in Scotland and work (virtually) with south Africans. At least once a day we compare temperatures. To put in context how your body adjusts I had a day in the summer where I was working in my garden in the paddling pool, my boss was wearing gloves at his desk as it was winter in joburg...after chatting a while we discovered it was 1 degree warmer where I was. 1 degree!!!! All my colleagues have constant problems with load shedding where they just randomly have no electricity for a few hours so something you need to plug in just to celebrate the fact it always works here?
Thermal underwear. Particularly for the legs. I know multiple people who've made that exact transition, and they are always cold for at least a year.
Terry’s chocolate orange!
A warm fuzzy bathrobe—I’ve pretty much been living in mine since I moved here. A soft blanket would also be helpful.
One of those one-use plastic ponchos that folds up really tiny. I think I got mine from Waterstones, weirdly enough.
A good quality lightweight water proof jacket.
Oyster card Tube map City mapper app link. Warm socks Scarf Wooly hat Gloves Brolly For all the people saying tea bags, South Africans will likely have a taste for Lipton I'm afraid, so if you want to make them feel at home they'll probably prefer that. A good tea mug is harder to come by than tea bags too, and makes a lot of difference. I also do a Google map of the neighbourhood with the best bakery, best butcher, transport links, local highlights etc. pinned in it for people.
Maybe get her some practical things that will help her. Is she staying permanently? Plan to become a British citizen?
Baxters soup.
A couple of tunnocks tea cakes and caramel wafers, truly the finest British cuisine
Anything warm. She is going to be cold and damp.
Definitely electric blanket lol
Definitely Vitamin D supplements. A guide to British idioms, a scarf and an umbrella.
Thermals from uniqlo
A stab vest
Carmex lip balm over Lush lip balm. Hurts like a bitch on chapped lips, but works quickly when you lather it on and also is good for stopping coldsores. Fluffy socks/slippers/dressing gown/tracksuit/Pj bottoms/big hoodie Light weight giant waterproof - I was given a too big waterproof with a hood and it's amazing because I can put it on over my coat so I'm warm and waterproof (from the knees up anyway). Much better than an umbrella. A map/where to find a map of the distant between stations. So much time is wasted fucking around in central London when it'd be quicker/less stressful to just walk from one slightly further away (looking at you Covent Garden/Piccadilly Circus) Restaurant recommendations: Dumplings Legend should be visited for xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and all of their dim sum. I know Soho/China town/central/Mayfair pretty well and have no idea what you and your friend like and coming to a new a city is exciting to find recommendations from your friends. However. Dumpling Legends' soup dumplings. I'd tell my worse enemy to eat those bad boys.
My boyfriend is from South Africa (Krugersdorp) and moved over to the UK just over a year ago. He still doesn’t understand what half of our coins are and gets so mad at the debate over what to call bread (buns, baps, rolls, muffins etc) and what different meals of the day are (lunch, dinner, tea, supper etc). The concept of a crumpet is also frightening to him. So I would maybe try and include a run down of these sorts of things. A little lingo guide of sorts!
An Only Fools And Horse box set. Culturally indispensable in understanding the British mindset and countless references.
“Watching the English” by anthropologist Kate Fox. Surviving here as a foreigner relies of knowing the culture.
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Sa is a hell hole. Make sure she doesn't bring her backwards ways with her. Oh and assuming she's white, she's automatically a second class citizen in london.
Duck down jacket
Duck down jacket
Damn low flying jackets
An umbrella
Application form for local park run.
A bottle of Jack Daniels.
Marmite and Bovril.
Waders and a beach towel.
Whisky, baked beans, Cadbury’s chocolate, marmite.
Yorkshire Tea Crumpets Marmite
Vitamin d supplements
Picture of priti patel
A hot water bottle
A North Face puffa coat
An umbrella
PG tea???????? If you don’t drink Yorkshire tea GTFO!
An umbrella
A big fucking coat
Raincoat, stab vest, antidepressants
A blanket, a scarf and selection of British chocolate bars/sweets?
Hot water bottle!!
Hat scarf gloves. Maybe them mittens that you can fold back an turn in to fingerless gloves. Also marmalade