BES Assignment 3: Interview

On the weekend of the 8^th of March, I went on my HOST visit to a small town near Dartmoor, near Devon. For this assignment, I interviewed the man who invited me into his house. His name was Ray Burd. First off, I want to express that he was a most gracious host and I am truly thankful that he let me into his house. I hope to do the same once I have a place of my own. Anyways, I sat down after dinner last night just to have a chat with him and to answer a few questions.

First, I just asked him about his childhood. He was born and raised in London. He had a younger sister and brother and an older sister. He was sent to an all boy’s school. When I asked him about playing sports in school, he said that at first they all played football, but once they got older, they were forced to play rugby. The reasoning behind this was because of space and numbers. He developed a great fondness for rugby, so much so that we watched two matches of the Six Nation’s during my time there. He does have a football team, Queens Park Rangers, which is his local team and one he still follows quite closely.

I asked him and his wife what it meant to be British. It was the most stereotypical response, one that I have gotten from most every Britain when I asked. First, they both sighed, looked at each other and then stammered, struggling to make words. Finally, Ray came out and said to be British is to persevere. He said that no matter what is thrown at a Brit, they will face it headstrong and struggle though. His wife chirped in that to be British means to have a stiff upper lip. They both agreed though that the British do have a lost sense of identity. They are looking for a place in the world because they need to cope with not being an international superpower anymore.

In keeping up with culture, we got talking about accents. He said that he quite enjoys all of the different accents you hear living in the UK; except for Liverpudlian: “They sound like a bunch of sods with socks in their mouths.”  

In his retirement, he and his wife bought a campervan. A month after getting this van (about six months into retirement) Ray and his wife took it to Spain and drove across the country for 6 weeks; sleeping, eating, and enjoying the countryside. He said now that he is retired, he can enjoy things like that more often. He also regularly plays tennis and golf, although this winter he was nursing a knee injury. Another of his favorite hobbies is to go down to the local pub. Now what I mean by local is only. However, this pub (which he brought me to) is about 650 years old, so he doesn’t really have the opportunity to say it is a bad pub, it has history on its side.

Talking to Ray was quite an experience. He gave me an insight to British life that I couldn’t get in London, and definitely couldn’t get from talking to someone with my age. He seemed to be typically British in every way and my weekend with him was relaxing and insightful. I hope to one day pass his generosity on to other foreign students. I know this will sound cliché, but I honestly think that one can learn so much by talking to older generations and that you should try to do so at every opportunity.