Things I find Strange - Only in the UK

Strange (or would I call them unusual) things happen on this great island. As early as their arrival at Heathrow Airport, my wife’s party that included our daughter Renee – 18 months, our son Ryan -3 years and a nanny got to know that things are going to be different and that this was not going to be the joy easy ride that we had in Nairobi. My 3 year old son had clearly been distressed by the 8 hour flight and this was made worse by the extra necessary immigration check to ensure that this African family was not travelling on a fake visa/work permit or carrying some despicable disease that is capable of wiping out the whole civilized population. After holding up pretty well for the entire flight and an hour into immigration procedure, Ryan cracked (understandably) and started throwing tantrums including the wildest of wails ever heard from him. Attempts were made to soothe and calm him down to no avail. It was at this time, that his mother remembered that he really feared visiting doctors (the likely reason why he was probably throwing tantrums in the first place) and he reminded him that a doctor will come to give him an injection if he did not stop crying. Although this seemingly harmless threat worked and he stopped crying immediately, one of the ladies from the good UK Border Agency came pouncing on the mother for threatening a kid. She launched into a tirade on how such behavior of intimidating kids would not be tolerated in the UK, at one time threatening to call in Social Services to take the kids away from their mother. My wife was not only bemused by this but also cowed into submission, for she profusely apologized to the lady. With all the notices about verbal abuse and threats to staff at immigration counters, Victoria could not bring herself around into explaining that this was not in any way meant to be violent to her son (despite being a valiant fighter for her own turf in such situations) lest the officer argues that she has been verbally abused or insulted. Evidently this lady was not happy with something about this family and if it were up to her she would have denied them entry. We both knew that visiting a country on business or as a tourist was not the same as having to live there, but nothing could have prepared Victoria and her toddlers for this welcome. From then on, we knew that there is a whole lot of things to adjust to as residents, including what you say to your own kids lest some one interprets it as inappropriate.
Recently, I had a very interesting exchange with a friend of mine. I put her on the spot to explain why instead of working for her own money, she chose to live off state benefits. She explained that as a ‘not so highly educated single mother’, she would end up spending more if she chose to work. She elucidated how this works. If she chooses to work, she will pay for all her bills including day care for her child and this means that she will either have nothing left or just about 100 quid. ‘It is not worth the bother’ she quipped, ‘I would rather sit home and bring up my kid,’ she added. Oh what a system I thought to myself, no wonder the councils wheedle out every penny from us who can afford to pay penalties and taxes so that other people can live a comfortable life. Only in UK!