I hope you all had a lovely Easter? Is it just me or does anyone else feel that Easter celebrations have been turned up a notch or two, particularly this year? Almost on par with Christmas… I saw many a jubilant gathering posted across social media; grocery stores displays were full of everything Easter, from decorations, cards, gifts, festive baskets as well as an array of accessories and costumes! My six year-old niece even sat down and wrote to the Easter Bunny, obviously hoping that it was the same deal that one gets when writing a Santa letter! Has it all gone overboard? Or am I just being a bit of a killjoy? I realize that the commercialization of the holidays is inevitable, but sometimes it would be quite nice to just mark the occasion without having to feel under pressure to spend a ton of cash. I do like a bit of gift giving though, so in keeping with the festive spirit I thought it would be fun to do a couple of giveaways this week.
I am currently in the UK so about we start off with some British chocolate? I know from our message boards that many of you miss it dreadfully. I have two Creme Egg Easter Eggs up for grabs! To enter to win one please email us at info@britsin.la and please provide your full name and street address. The winners will be picked at random on Monday 29th of April and notified via email. Please note we will only mail the prize to an address in mainland USA, due to postage costs.
Next up is a pair of tickets (courtesy of Goldenvoice) to see Bryan Ferry at the Greek Theatre on August 29th. To enter please email us at info@britsin.la with your full name as it appears on your photo ID. Winner will be picked at random on May 1st and notified via email. Please note these tickets are not transferable and the winner will have to make their own travel arrangements to get to the venue.
Lastly, if you want more free stuff make sure to head along to Brits in LA Pub Quiz on Tuesday at the Cat & the Fiddle Pub (on Highland just north of Melrose), as we will be giving away lots of goodies including screening passes, posters, shot glasses and even windbreakers to promote Charlize Theron and Seth Rogan’s latest movie Long Shot. I would also like to thank British magician Paul Roffman for guest hosting last Tuesday, I think he was a little surprised to discover that Ron Jeremy is a big fan of Brits in LA and a regular attendee at our quiz night. Sandro Monetti is currently in the UK but will be back next week. Everyone is welcome, including non-Brits! Even well behaved kids are allowed, due to The Cat being a full restaurant. It is always free to play and there are lots of prizes to be won. Visit our events page on FB for full details, and for those of you not on social media just get there a little before 8pm and we will find you a team to join.
Our readers from Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the United States will be pleased to hear the latest announcement from the British Government. From summer 2019, eligible travellers from the countries listed will be able to use the ePassport gates at 14 ports, both in the UK and at Eurostar terminals at Brussels and Paris.
So as long as you have a passport with a biometric chip and your point of entry has the ePassport technology you should be able to speed up the process when crossing the British border. I used it very recently and was through passport control almost as swiftly as if I was using an Oyster card. Although, I did have trouble with it a few years ago; I scanned my passport but the machine kept giving me an error, which is always disconcerting when you are at the airport – it goes hand in hand with the guilt we immediately feel when walking through the ‘nothing to declare’ at customs (or is that just me?).
Of course the machine malfunction was nothing serious, it was because my hair was not the same color as my passport photo depicted. So don’t be alarmed if you get told to ‘see an agent’ as it is more than likely that your picture just needs updating! Our Passport renewal guide can be found at www.britsin.la
If you have any questions or comments please do get in touch as we always love to hear from you.
Cheers!
Eileen
