Indulge me for a few moments.

I know the Old Monty Python “Four Yorkshire men” sketch is commonly held up as a popular stereotype (and is mostly correct), but with Yorkshire Day being celebrated earlier this week (1st August) it made me reflect on the regional differences that there are in the UK.

Even though the Mrs is a ‘Savvnah’, she was fortunate enough to be granted a place to study at the Northern Centre of Academic Excellence that is Leeds Polytechnic, which is where she had the pleasure of making my acquaintance some 17 years ago.

Since then, Berkshire has been but a distant memory for her and she has become an adopted Northerner.

However, there are still a few slight culture clashes which she either does not ‘get’, or we seem to disagree on :

*Never, under any circumstances, is it acceptable to ask for Garden peas instead of Mushy peas in a chippy. Do not complain when you are not offered a wedge of lemon.

* Yes, Pork Scratchings are edible.

* Yes, my Grandparents / Parents speak funny. I don’t understand them half the time either : Just pretend, like I do.

*The ‘Working Mens Club’ was not a figment of Peter Kay’s imagination when writing Phoenix Nights – think more along the lines of a documentary.

* Never, I repeat Never, ask for a fork when eating cake : Hands or Spoons are order of the day.

*Slice of Cheese with a man size wedge of Fruit Cake : Nowt wrong wi’ that.

*Don’t play the sexism card when somebody refers to you as “love”.

*Never try and engage in a conversation with anybody from Barnsley. Even if you come from Barnsley.

*Never ask somebody from Hull/ Grimsby if they are ‘really from East Yorkshire’

* Yes, the “Lancashire / Yorkshire” thing really is a big deal. Accept it or leave.

*There is nothing perverse about nipping for a Sunday Lunch pint and coming home “having won the meat raffle” : this is not a Euphemism

*The Yorkshire pudding is our baby. We get annoyed when seeing it on the Menu in another country (sorry, county).

The Mrs still has a lot to learn, but hopefully the Berkshire-ness has been educated from her psyche.

The thing is (and I promise I’m getting to the point now)... Internationally speaking, England (let alone the UK) is a relatively small place. So if these regional differences are evident here, what regional idiosyncrasies, eccentricities and differences can there be between say, Catalonia and Andausia : discuss ... ?