Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings: A Miserable Yank Discovers the Secret of Happiness in Bri. Cet article n’est pas disponible.Lessons from the Land of Pork Scratchings: A Miserable Yank Discovers the Secret of Happiness in Bri

Greg Gutfeld was a high-achieving, slim but anxious New Yorker in therapy when he was posted to the UK to take up the position of editor of Maxim magazine. Once settled in London he had something of a cultural epiphany. Service and transport were poor and slow, food was soggy and came in tiny portions and the beer was warm. The British, he decided, viewed the world through a prism of dreariness but, despite this, they seemed to be more cheerful than his fellow countrymen, who expected to be happy on demand. After two years in the UK, Gutfeld was12 kilos heavier but a lot more content. The key to his new-found contentment lay in adopting the British attitude to life: he too had learned that having diminished expectations reaps its own rewards. His hilarious observations on British culture, rituals and peculiarities at all levels of society are an illuminating insight into the land of pubs and curry, where everyone is called 'mate' and people with pimples, wrinkles and greasy hair can get on primetime TV.

Battered sausages. Warm beer. Windbreakers on the beach. Morris dancers. Mobile disco DJs. Pub dogs. Car boot sales.
To UK residents, these humble icons of low-tech British-ness are part of our island's cultural furniture. To Greg Gutfeld they offer much more than that - to him, they are part of a powerful prescription for contentment. Well-paid, fit, not a complete failure with women, a New York resident, American Gutfeld seemed to have it all but, in fact, he was miserable. In the US he was surrounded by people who were obsessed with the pursuit of happiness, a race everyone was running but few were winning.
Posted to the UK as a magazine editor, he soon realised the British tendency to view life through a prism of dreariness has its own rewards - what he calls the joy of 'diminished expectations': you can't help but be pleasantly surprised if you expect everything to be a bit crap.
He gives up the exercise regime, starts hanging out with work mates, going to the football and eating kebabs. There are things he doesn't understand (mushy peas), things he celebrates (the pub crawl and curry) and things he fears (pork scratchings).
Greg's chronicle of his life in the UK celebrates a country aware that any attempt to attain happiness only breeds misery, and that embracing the poignancy of a wet Bank Holiday weekend can bring true joy. His ultimate conclusion, however, is that what makes Great Britain great is that you can be not so great . . . and that's great.