In order, I: Go and have a pee Lie down in bed on my back and do a full body scan with deep abdominal breathing Turn on my side and imagine taking my dog for a walk in extreme detail: calling her, waiting for her, clipping on her lead, putting on my boots, tying the laces, retying to make them tighter.... Usually that ritual sends me to sleep. Very occasionally I will get up, read a book and drink herbal tea for an hour, then go back to bed.

I mask on the street where people are closer than six feet. I don't mask when I go for walks in this village because there's lots of space.

Glorious weather today. I plan to NW today at lunchtime, then yoga after work. I never got to yoga yesterday - the timing went awry and I just had a late-night walk. Porridge, yoghurt, berries. Veggie sausages and veg. Leftover pheasant and beans plus veg. Pumpkin pie.

I don't know if she uses cards, but she signs herself Elizabeth R - for Regina.

You mean because everyone wants to claim your success? For some reason this reminds me of a funny thing this week - Dave Prowse who body-acted Darth Vader died. The NYT said, 'Mr. Prowse’s voice had the distinctive agricultural tones of someone born in Bristol, in southwest England.' That's my home town. It's a city of over half a million people.

Nah. On her card she just has Elizabeth R.

Part of the problem is the word 'country', which can mean different things. It's not wrong to call Scotland a country, but Brits tend to talk about four nations making up one country.

They didn't specify, but I think that that was in the presenters' minds. The person was a possible pick for the new US administration, a post with a fair amount of overseas contact...

Just so that people are aware, this is not something that you can do with an electric kettle - they are for water only. Anything else would damage the electrical heating system. I make my tea in a pot or mug.

Absolutely they are legally British. Just not English. My husband is both Texan and American. He's not Californian though. Some Scots, Welsh, Northern Irish and English people prefer to be referred to by their individual nation name. But we all have the same passport.

To avoid contact between wet hands and 240v of electricity.

Mostly just kettles. You will often find a French press for coffee.

Green tea is better at a lower temperature, you're right.

Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales. Cornwall is currently a county of England but with a distinct character and an ancient language. Yorkshire is also a county of England. The island of Ireland comprises Eire and Northern Ireland. Lesser Britain was Brittany, currently in France. The British Isles is a term that is no longer used much, because it encompasses another sovereign country, Eire.

Electric is just much quicker and more convenient. Speed is great, but so also is the automatic off switch once it has boiled, so it can't boil dry. Mine is a cheap plastic one from a supermarket - it works fine.

For me the difference is that people from the USA use 'America' to refer to their own country. You would never hear a Scot referring to their own country as 'England'. Of course, if Brits use 'America' as opposed to 'North America' to refer to Canada, that's plain wrong. ETA or right, if you think of it as helping Canada to regain the continental name!

If you are enjoying your tea and not making it for me, there's no 'wrong' involved.

It's actually more complicated than it used to be because there is now devolution - the handing back of some powers from the UK government to the nations. Armed forces and trade deals are UK-wide, as is the Royal Mail. Other things are similar but not always exactly the same: tax system, NHS, education, etc. Scotland has always had a separate legal and educational system (including for home education) because it was joined with England relatively recently - roughly over the length of the Seventeenth Century. Most grocery stores cover the whole of the UK, but some are more regional: Waitrose is barely in Scotland, whereas Morrisons isn't strong in souther England. Olympics participation is under the moniker Team GB but includes Northern Irish athletes (although they could opt to represent Eire in most cases, if they wished). So that's confusing: Britain, but including Northern Ireland. I don't understand that one. So long as you don't refer to Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish people as English, you'll get forgiven any other confusion.

Well..... you are talking to a Brit..... so..... This is the method that most Brits would consider normal (not fancy): https://www.yorkshiretea.co.uk/our-teas/how-to-make-a-proper-brew I use leaf tea, so this is roughly what I do: https://www.brewteacompany.co.uk/blogs/the-blog/how-to-make-loose-leaf-tea

I just fainted. Asking gently: is this black tea, and at what temperature does the water hit the leaves...?

She's the queen of lots of places. Her title is, I think, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Microwaved water is not at an even temperature throughout. It looks as if it's boiling, but due to the way that a microwave works, the heating will be uneven. An electric kettle is really boiling.

Yes. I tend to say US or (in this case) North America. But I don't think most Brits would be aware of the nuances.

Great Britain is the 'mainland' of the UK. So it includes the nations that are based on the main island: England, Scotland and Wales plus their associated small islands, for example Shetland and Orkney. The full name of the country is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Toaster ovens are really rare here, by contrast. Other home things that are quite different: bathroom light switches in the UK have to be either pull-cords or outside the room by law. Most heating is by sealed water-filled radiators - air-based heating is very rare.