What parts of our traditions and culture makes you feel like you belong in Britain

Another British trait.... complaining how rubbish the UK is. 😉

Danny Boyles London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony did a good job of summing it up for me. You can still find it online.

Boaty McBoat Face was outstanding;

Government; we've got a fancy new ship and we going to have s special poll fur the public to choose a name.

The People: Boatyard McBoat Face

Government: Now, you've all been very silly and we clearly can't trust you to do this sensibly.

Pulling over to let a tractor and a load of cars past. Getting repetitive strain injury from lifting your finger or hand to say "You are welcome " to every driver that comes through and says thank you.

I agree that capital cities are often very different in character from the rest of the country. London is not England, and certainly not Britain! Some people love that metropolitan buzz and the high-density people…but I don’t. Give me a nice cathedral city or market town!

Very few things are 'exclusively' the preserve of one country.

However, thanking the driver on exiting a bus is a very British 'thing'. I know foreign residents who have remarked upon it in an admiring way, as a small act of kindness they thought very 'British'. They also said you'd be considered daft if you did such a thing in their home country, and the driver would be at a loss for how to respond.

I lived in Paris for a few years and fainted once at the top of an escalator at the metro station. People literally stepped over me tutting and complaining! It was awful and humiliating. I actually found it a really stressful place to live because of the constant rudeness. Not all France like this of course. But Paris is exhausting! And I'm bilingual with dual French nationality so I do blend in there quite well. I think generally tourists are treated better than the average "person on the street".

That's one thing I do find generally true in the UK, that politeness to strangers is still a thing.

Pubs and rain.

Walking through the rain in vibrant green fields to get to the pub while complaining about the rain, but you're not allowed to acknowledge that without the rain nothing would be the deep green it is. But we all know.

And the humour. Boaty mcboatface is one of my personal favourites. It's funny, subversive and mocks ourselves.

On days when all this happens I feel truly British and I love it.

A few more :
Agatha Christie
Stiff upper lip (to some extent at least)
Fair play
Tea
Love of animals especially dogs

School dinners, going up for seconds, turkey twizzlers, tea for every occasion, "tea and consent" boaty Mc boat face, moaning about a queue then when you get to the front and the server Apologises saying "no worries". Having wanky names for things, hollibobs etc

For me its not places exactly. More so just the way we are. I think we are mostly quite predictable. And thats comforting

Hmm...do any of these strike a chord?

BBC TV series
Shakespeare & the Globe
Dickens
London stuff like Royal Albert Hall, National Gallery, Royal Opera House, West End
Beatles
Traditional food like fish & chips, bangers & mash, desserts etc
Football
Harry Potter
70s sitcoms & comedy, stuff like Monty Python, Dad's Army

Surely Scottish is very much a nationality, though it isn't (yet) a nation able to confer its own citizenship. Welsh too, of course.
If you doubt it, consider the Six Nations tournament!

(As for Norn Iron, Irish citizenship is probably available, even alongside a British one)

Thanking the bus driver isn’t ‘British’, or certainly not exclusively, at any rate.

Top thing I love about being British is our humour. Dry, acerbic, self-deprecating, banterous sarcastic. We have something for every occasion.
We produce world class TV. Think Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Detectorists, Line of Duty.
We have the most astonishing range of amazing regional accents given the size of our little islands. We even have several languages.
Our history is extraordinary - colourful and barbaric in equal measure. How many countries can say they had a king with six wives, two of whose heads he had removed?
We are unassuming. A typical response to 'Well done!' might be 'It was nothing.' A 'How are you?' at the doctor's is usually met with 'Fine thanks.'
We have masses of talent in the arts - literature, painting, pop. We produced the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Coldplay and Radiohead.
And then we have a load of nutty traditions that sometimes commemorate historical events - like Bonfire Night, well dressing in Derbyshire, trooping the colour. And others that have been performed for hundreds of years - maypole dancing, cheese rolling, harvest festivals.
And we have the most quietly beautiful countryside. That's always the first thing to put a smile on my face when I've been away.

England is my country. I'm proud of it, and I'm proud to be English.

@ShaneWalshgirlfriend I don't mean to derail the thread but I noticed your post about lax ligaments and rolling ankles. Have you looked into a Hypermobility diagnosis as this is a common symptom. Might be helpful to see if any support can be given.

PS I would also have helped you up

No worries - I didn't take it like that at all!😊Thank you for the virtual help up!😁

Sorry, I didn't intend to minimise it. I would have helped you up!

Understanding exactly what other people mean when they use a single word, or even a facial expression because we've not only got a shared language but shared points of reference.

I get that, but falling and having to pick yourself up while people stare from afar doesn't feel any less embarrassing, unfortunately - it just felt like no one give a shit.😳

I'm sorry about that, sprained ankles are horrible!

I've got very lax ligaments in my ankles (self diagnosing here, they roll over every couple of months (happily not together), leaving me splat on the floor.

I'd be delighted if no-one noticed! Lady time a bunch of sixth formers rushed over to me, highly concerned and very sweet. I did want the ground to open up and swallow me.

Look, you've got it all wrong! You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves! You're all individuals!

Yes! We're all individuals!

You're all different!

Yes, we are all different!

I'm not...

I agree. It’s part of the individualistic culture. And it goes back a long way way - it’s satirised (along with lots of other national quirks) in Dad’s Army!

Just thought of another typically English, think, rather than Britishtradition’: the awful, awful, pathetic Winter Wonderlands which we usually hear about near to Christmas. These are hopeless enterprises, usually in a muddy field, with absolutely nothing to wonder at. They normally get sued by disappointed punters at some point.

I always feel very sorry for the little children who are disappointed, but the news reports are hilarious - at one, the elves were seen dragging on dog-ends while effing and blinding in full view of visitors. Santa is usually some reprehensible bloke in a terrible cheap outfit. This is one tradition I’m not proud of!🤣

For me it is living under a stable and democratic government. We might hate them but it is stable and that is one of the reasons so many people want to live here.
The NHS- everyone collectively chipping in to ensure that everyone gets healthcare regardless of their income.
The disgusting reform nutters aside, the tolerance for people who are different to ourselves. The freedom to be different being laid down in the law.

Also- cups of tea as a cure all . It really does help in almost every situation!

A certain quirkiness and respect for individuality. Britain is much less conformist than many European countries. You really notice this if you've spent some time abroad, and it's something immigrants and visitors often remark upon. In a positive way.

Everyone letting out a big cheer when someone drops a/some glass(es) in the pub 😂