Sunday, July 01, 2007

So that's where I am...



I realise that it is Sunday morning and many people will be awaking to the revelation above, but can assure you that my weekend has remained alcohol and therefore hangover free.

A couple of weeks ago I was working with a couple of my European colleagues when they asked me a question I thought I really should have been able to answer. I had been creating a new customer profile on the system when it asked me for the two-letter country code. When "UK" was not recognised I said that I'm still not always sure which fields want "UK" or which required "GB".

At this point they asked "So what is the correct name - is it England, Great Britain, UK, what's the difference?". I explained that the United Kingdom, or UK, comprises of four countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"So what about Great Britain? Is that just another name for the UK?"
To my absolute shame, I thought that it probably was except that I've since learnt that Great Britain only refers to the largest island of the British Isles. Perhaps that's common knowledge, in which case, I'm not as common as I thought.

British Isles. Hmmm... now that could take some explaining and it seems that even Wikipedia is struggling to come to my rescue. It's probably better that I steer clear of that explanation entirely.

On a lighter note however, I see this morning that Google Earth have updated their images of my little part of the world so at least I can now clearly pick out the bungalow and see exactly where I am...

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