by Georgie McIrvin

A tapestry can be woven in many ways. The basic technique is always the same. There must be a loom of some sort, a needle and an assortment of threads. The shape is almost always a rectangle. So one could say that all tapestries are the same, but that would be only a half truth. For each weaver has infinite choices as to color and texture of thread, length of each stitch, and pattern of the design. Therefore it is the detail, no matter how minute, that creates the beauty of the finished piece.

I find that cultures are much the same. The people who live in the United States and Great Britain look very much alike. We both think we speak the English language. We drive cars, watch television, go to work, shop in stores, cook our food…all basically the same. A tourist would hardly see the differences, but it is in the small details of daily living that the differences appear. These are the threads that have been woven into our cultures. As an American semi-resident in the Yorkshire Dales, I have observed some of these British cultural threads with interest.

What we call a teaspoon does not seem to exist here. Coffee and tea are served with a tiny spoon reminiscent of a child’s tea set or perhaps a demitasse spoon. Dessert is eaten with a large place spoon such as we may use as a serving spoon.

Hot dogs come in a tin (can) rather than in a package in the meat counter. They are very popular on Bonfire Night or for children’s birthday parties, but do not seem to be sold in fast food establishments.

Pickles made from cucumbers are a party food, not an everyday staple. There are no pickles on hamburgers, in potato salad nor in tuna sandwiches. In the supermarket, there are more pickled eggs than pickled cucumbers. The same size store in the US would have at least twelve feet of shelves with many varieties of pickled cucumbers.

Meat and produce is marked with the country of origin. I don’t think Americans care where their food comes from, as long as the price is reasonable, and it taste good.

The manner in which we convey food into the mouth is very different. It seems to me that a compromise between the two would be more reasonable than either. In America, the fork is taken up with the left hand and the knife in the right, to cut a portion of food. Then the knife is placed on the back rim of the plate, the fork transferred to the right hand and the portion scooped up with the tines of the fork to be deposited into the mouth. If no cutting is required, the whole meal is eaten with the right hand and the left hand is correctly idle in one’s lap.

The British on the other hand hold the fork with the left hand and the knife in the right hand throughout the meal. That seems to be more efficient. What I don’t understand is why the fork is always upside down. It must be upside down, as the design is on the side where the tines point up and the brand name is on the other side. What seems most curious is seeing someone using a knife to put salad on the back of a fork in order to get it into the mouth. Scooping it up with the upturned tines seems more reasonable. I hold the same opinion concerning peas, mashed potatoes, and cake.

There seems to be no conventional way to walk on a sidewalk or to go up and down stairs. In America we are taught as children to walk on the right so that you will not be in someone’s path. I assumed that as the British drive on the left, they would walk to the left. But that was a false assumption. They walk all over the sidewalk, neither to the left nor to the right. Many times I have noticed that when two people are walking together toward you, rather than moving to one side as a couple, they split and you pass between them. The same things are true with stairs. Trying to go up the stairs from the tube (subway) in London is a real challenge. People are coming down at you on all sides. When I mentioned this to an English friend I got a glimpse of their opinion of us. “I cannot believe that Americans, who pride themselves on being so independent, would let anyone tell them where to walk on the sidewalk.” I have thought about that statement. Do we walk to the right to stay out of other’s way, or do we do that to make sure they are not in our way? Something I need to think about some more.

So the weavers continue to work on the tapestries and each thread adds to the beauty and uniqueness of each.

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