1. There is some debate about whether the British flag should be called the Union Jack or the Union Flag. The BBC prefers “Jack”, the Guardian prefers “flag” and the Royal Navy says “Jack” when the flag is flying at sea and “flag” before and after. We think all this probably means that both terms are OK.

2. It’s a mashup of three other flags: the St Andrew’s Cross (of Scotland), the St George’s Cross (of England), and the St Patrick’s Cross (of Ireland)*. Strangely, Wales is not represented in the Union Jack, but it does have its own (very exciting) flag, the Red Dragon.**

3. The Union Jack features in the corners of many other flags, mostly due to Britain’s old habit of rampaging round the world and forcing them to do that. One bizarre exception is the flag of Hawaii, which features the Union Jack in its top left corner despite never having been invaded by Britain; according to Wikipedia, a king of Hawaii once saw the flag on a British ship and copied it as a symbol of regal authority. But we think he probably just thought it looked really cool and groovy.

4. Unusually for a flag, the Union Jack is very dramatic and goodlooking (the United States flag also rates highly for style and pizzazz, but most flags are really quite dull), which may be why it is such a fashion accessory these days. As well as Vivienne Westwood’s famous adaptations for the Sex Pistols and The Rug Company, you can find Union Jacks all over many British products and various jeans, jackets, bags etc. We even found it on a ladies’ wallet in Target the other day. Something about the combo of three crosses meeting in the middle reminds us of breaking glass or an explosion or something else violent and related to the country’s history and ongoing identity crisis. Or maybe it’s just pretty. Either way, we love it.

5. The British flag is celebrated in Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell’s famous “dress” of 1997, which was actually just a t-shirt worn with a pair of black underpants, but in those days nearly all t-shirts were extremely truncated, revealing the entire navel, hence the widespread misunderstanding.

* because Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
** The Red Dragon may be the oldest national flag still in use- it is so old, nobody knows for sure exactly why it is the flag of Wales.

Full English bumper sticker- see 4. below

1. Greenling Organic Delivery is now carrying our wholegrain shortbread and rock buns, as well as organic flapjacks. They bring all sorts of produce and foodstuffs to your door with free delivery on orders over $30- perfect if you can’t make it to the farmers’ market, or just can’t face any more of this hundred-and-freak-degree heat we’ve been having in Austin all summer….

2. Someone wrote a review on our Yelp page! Hurrah!

3. We have a freshly-baked batch of KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON Full English t-shirts ready for tomorrow’s market: they are really cool (see picture in post below) and only $7.50 for hand-printed, recycled t-shirts, which is a bargain these days, so we expect to run out of second-hand shirts soon and will be looking for good-value, good-quality, coloured new shirts to use instead (suggestions welcome).

4. There will be a limited number of bumper stickers of our Full English/ Union Flag logo available from the stall at Sunset Valley Farmers’ Market tomorrow. We printed them ourselves for cheap so we can give them away for free, and we really hope people think they look groovy enough to decorate their cars with. If so, we will definitely do a bunch more next week (maybe at a different Kinko’s because our local one had a machine which chewed the vinyl instead of printing it, which was really annoying).

5. We were inundated this week by a letter from a Mrs Trellis of North Wales, who writes, “Are you English or are you British? And does this include Welsh, or not?” This is an issue over which there has been much confusion and not a little warfare over the centuries. We will be clarifying all in next week’s blog post. Till then, may we recommend the hilarious BBC Radio 4 show I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue- a must for all Anglophiles, and the original source of the notorious Mrs Trellis.

Full English is pleased and excited to announce in this week’s post that we have sufficiently mastered the art of mechanical t-shirt-printing to produce our very own punk-rock-DIY-style Extremely Limited Edition KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON Full English t-shirts! Made from best quality recycled second-hand t-shirts, (we are planning a line using brand new t-shirts next, now that we have built up the necessary confidence), they will be available in random different sizes and colours, from our stall at tomorrow’s Sunset Valley Farmer’s Market, and any leftovers will be posted here.

The KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON poster has become very popular recently all over the world- the New York Times even wrote an article about it last week- so you may already know that it was designed in 1939, at the beginning of WWII. According to Wikipedia, the poster was intended as a “last case scenario” to be used only should the Nazis succeed in invading Great Britain, in order to stiffen resolve. (Don’t you love that old-style expression, “to stiffen resolve”? This particular wikipedia page seems to have been written by Winston Churchill himself!)

As the Nazi invasion only included the entire rest of Europe, and never actually succeeded in making it into Britain, very few people had even heard of the KEEP CALM poster when it was rediscovered in a second-hand bookshop in 2000. The extremely British nature of the sentiment, perhaps even more enjoyable with a small dose of irony added, is really lots of fun, and has inspired many spin-offs. One theory for its popularity is that our hard-struck recessionary times inspire the same kind of “stiff upper lip” morale-boosting as the terrifying Nazi threat of WWII, but we find that sort of comparison a bit pathetic really. The most sobering thing about this poster is that it was never needed- because the idea of a nation of courageous old-fashioned Britons facing the invading storm troopers armed with nothing but calm and carrying-on-ness is so poignant, it makes you want to cry. But instead of crying, why not simply thank God and Mr Churchill, and come to SVFM tomorrow morning for a Cornish pastie, some delicious flapjacks and a super-cool new item of clothing (see above)!

Just look for the British flag.

Update: We’re really pleased to say that the shirts are going so well that after three reprints, we’re now working on getting them done in bigger numbers (while keeping it all hand-made, DIY & real). We’d really like to make some available for mail order, as a couple of people have asked. And we’re thinking about trying some of the design ideas people have suggested at the market, eg. Union Jacks and Texas-customisations of Brit-ideas. All of which is right up our street/ just our cup of tea

Two nations, united by common colourways in their flags…

This New York Times article says that all the best ideas of the founding fathers were actually drawn from British law and traditions. I would not like to comment on the truth or relevance of this, in case anyone holds me responsible, but a brief summary is:

1. Fireworks: apparently these were already an annual tradition, on the June 4th birthday of King George III. So “the ritual was cleverly rebranded” for July 4th instead. Although, had they failed to do this, I doubt anyone would have argued, “Bring back the British! We really miss the firework display!”

2. The Declaration of Independence is largely based on a pre-existing British document, the 1689 English Bill of Rights, which is full of grievances against the then exiled King James II so sets the legal document precedent for getting rid of monarchs.

3. The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is based on British common law principles of life, liberty and property. There’s something about the happiness part being based on British constitutional principles, but the UK has no written constitution, so everyone has now completely forgotten whatever those principles were anyway.

I don’t know if anyone will be in town shopping tomorrow morning, but if you don’t expect to be having a barbecued breakfast on the lakeside, please do join us at Sunset Valley any time after 9am. And happy July 4th, whatever title you prefer to give it!

The where to find us page is now updated with the new stores and coffee shops where Full English goodies can be found, including our newest friends-

Cafe Caffeine has been enjoying a revival this year, with lots of new food from local vendors like us. It’s a great local cafe for South Congress area folks and South Austin lovers, with wifi as well as great food. What people say.

The Hideout Coffeehouse is on the front of the improv hotspot Hidedeout Theatre.

And Greenling Organic Delivery now stocks our flapjacks, so you can have them brought to your door with everything else organic that you love.

Onwards and upwards!