England

What’s a country that’s at the top of your bucket list?

View all responses

I have probably said this before, but the UK has a certain appeal for me.  Sometime during the early 1980s, I had been exposed to the pleasures of BBC radio on our local public radio station.  It was there that I first heard the audio drama of 

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the late Douglas Adams.  I totally fell in love with it.  I found my mind had been immersed into this quixotic universe that he created for us, filled with a kind of humor that was unlike anything I had heard in the US. They sometimes call it “dry, British humor” and in my mind, there is nothing else like it.

I laughed uproariously when Ford Prefect convinced the foreman to lie down in front of the bulldozer for Arthur Dent so that he and Arthur could go down to the pub.  The argument went something like this.

“Let’s assume that my client, Mr. Dent is going to be lying in the mud in front of your bulldozer all day, leaving you and your crew with nothing to do but stand around all day.  So, if you are resigned to doing nothing all day, you don’t actually need Mr. Dent here do you?”

Yes, I know.  That’s absolutely ridiculous and it would never work, but hey, it’s brilliant all the same.

Then there’s that tall, curly haired man wearing an immense scarf that first appeared on our screens during my high school years.  When everyone else was watching noirish, tough guy films,  or shows about cars and helicopters, there was this man with his manic grin, solving problems with his wits.  

This was a sight to behold for those of us who had never been exposed to Doctor Who before.  It was, in a word, inspiring!