Reading News and Learning Lingo

I'm a bit behind on my posting but thought I would post this one before I forget. This morning I had a reminder that I should really pay more attention to local news. I woke up and got ready for work and just before I left, I opened my curtains and that's when I realized that it was pouring rain... horizontally. We were having some sort of gale weather event of the magnitude that if it occurred in Ontario would require "Storm Watch 2013" status (not that we over exaggerate weather at all...). I shrugged, put on my rain jacket and headed out to the bus stop. I didn't realize how major the event was until I got to work and discovered that there were 80 mph winds and flood warnings, all the trains in Scotland were cancelled and they closed the bridge over the Forth. We don't have a tv in our flat, I don't have a radio and I've never been much for buying newspapers but I'm starting to think that I should at least check out some local news websites every once in a while just to ensure that I don't shrug, put on a rain coat and head off to work during the apocalypse.

The weather did provide me with a learning opportunity today though. I will probably never forget the difference between pants and trousers in the UK. "Pants" mean "underwear" here, which I had learned before but had forgotten in the midst of trying to keep everything else straight (remind me to tell you about the time I accidentally flipped off a co-worker when he asked some question to which the answer was two so I held up two fingers). Anyhoo, I had gotten soaked walking from the bus stop to the office this morning and just before lunch I said "Ugh, my pants are still wet!". The guy sitting next to me gave me a really weird look and then clued in and said "Trousers! Your trousers are still wet!", while everyone else had a good laugh. Always learning...