Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson – transcript and notes
"The truth is I miss so much of it – Marmite, village fêtes, country lanes, people saying ‘mustn’t grumble!’ and ‘I’m terribly sorry but …’, people apologising to me when I conk them with a careless elbow, milkbottles, beans on toast, haymaking in June, stinging nettles, seaside piers, Ordnance Survey maps, crumpets, hotwater bottles as a necessity, drizzly Sundays – every bit of it.
The fact is this is still the best place in the world for most things – to post a letter, go for a walk, watch television, buy a book, stand on a hillside and take in a view. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I like it here; I like it more than I can tell you."
conk – verb informal humorous – to hit someone, usually on the head with a heavy object
conk out – phrasal verb , informal – 1) If machines conk out, they stop working or fail suddenly: Eg My mobile has conked out. I’m worried the car is running out of petrol and might just conk out. 2) go to sleep very quickly, or to suddenly become unconscious: Eg After such a busy day, it’s not surprising we all conked out.
conk – noun – informal, humorous – nose
Marmite (pronounced mar – mite as in light) is the trade name of a sticky brown paste made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing. It can be put on toast or sandwiches and also used for casseroles and sauces. Its flavour is strong and distinctive, and a little goes a long way (i.e. you don’t need much of it to flavour your food). It is similar in taste – being salty and savoury – to soy sauce.
Milkbottles – many areas of Britain still have milk delivered door-to-door by a milkman. The shape and size of these glass milkbottles is fairly standard and varies slightly according to the name of local dairies. In the past milk was often delivered by horse-drawn carts until the 1950s when they were replaced by milk floats, quiet battery electric vehicles which travelled at about 10-15mph.
Nowadays the purchase of plastic containers of milk from supermarkets has made both milkbottles and milkrounds (the delivery of bottles of milk) less viable economically and therefore much less common.
a pier – noun – is a sort of low platform built over a lake, a river or the sea and used especially for getting in and out of boats.
Under Queen Victoria seaside piers became popular, and you can still see some of these at some of our seaside towns – the one above is in Cromer, on the Norfolk coast. These piers are long structures sticking out from the land over the sea, along which people can walk and where you sometimes amusement arcades, cafés and restaurants. Sometimes ferries and boats are moored there, and you can travel to and from the pier in them.
Ordnance Survey maps – the Ordnance Survey is Britain’s national mapping agency and one of the world’s largest producers of maps. Its first maps were produced in the mid-eighteenth century and they continue to be produced in various different scales for leisure, travel and military purposes.
crumpet – noun – 1) a small round bread-like cake with holes in one side that is eaten hot (toasted) with butter and jam (or Marmite) 2) slang for a sexually attractive woman / or physically attractive women – it is not very rude, more humorous in its connotations eg "Paul will be there with his latest bit of crumpet." "See any crumpet?" – i.e. Did you see any noticeably attractive men or women? You may hear an intelligent professional attractive woman or man, for instance on TV or in the media, described as ‘the thinking man’s crumpet’ or ‘the thinking woman’s crumpet‘!
hot-water bottle – a rubber container which you fill with very hot water and use to warm a bed or a part of your body
drizzly – adj – slightly rainy
drizzle – noun & verb – rain in very small light drops
take in – phrasal verb – go to watch a film or performance, or visit a place such as an art gallery. Eg We’re planning to have a walk round the town centre and then take in a museum or two.