Toni Hargis

I saw an article yesterday reminding everyone that London’s iconic “Gherkin” building is ten years old. I’m not familiar with it at all. Oh, I know what it looks like, where it is and that its real name is its

At some point during World War 2, the United Kingdom and the United States of America put aside their previous military differences and announced that theirs was a “special relationship”. In truth it’s been a rather tortuous rivalry ever since

I suppose it’s inevitable that when you go years without speaking your native language, you start to forget a few words. Apparently it’s called language attrition and is a well-known phenomenon, particularly if you avoid speaking your native language while

Taking my inspiration from Bravo TV’s The Ladies of London this month. It’s a reality show starring two British women and five Americans, living the high life in London. A bit like the Real Housewives but without the face-slapping and

So, a couple of things I’m hearing have this expat more than a little perturbed. The first is the fact that all British passports now have to be processed in the UK, as opposed to at various British Embassies, as

For many expats, it’s the summer – a time for house guests, who often stay for longer than a week. It’s important not to underestimate the effort it takes to host people, be they family or friends, and no matter

I suppose the same can really be said of travel in general, but with expat life, you don’t have the protection of the tourism status – “I don’t know what the heck I’m doing but that’s OK, I’m only here

Like many Brits, a lot of my immediate family lived close by when I was growing up, and the ones who were spread out over the country, we saw perhaps once a year. Anyone who moved overseas kept in touch

When I came to the USA in 1990, there were quite a few Brit things I couldn’t get. I remember looking for mint sauce (to go with the lamb), being gone for hours and finally settling for fresh mint and

I’m been writing about US/UK stuff for about ten years now, so what have I learned? (My spellcheck is American, by the way.) You can make fun of your home country almost ad nauseam and you won’t get much of