Britisms from Exile

There have been several words and miscellany I didn't recognize from Exile so I've looked them up.

Maureen mentions an Aga warming her London friend Sarah's kitchen. Aga is a Scandinavian made stove that is sold throughout Britain-but curiously not in Ireland outside of Northern Ireland. They have a cute, distinctive multi-paneled front to them.

Sarah brings Maureen a plate of kedgeree to eat. It's a dish of boiled rice, fish, parsley, eggs and curry. I do love curry but, frankly, this sounds kinda like ass.

The London Met police tell Leslie they have to take Jimmy to Carlisle to be interviewed since they aren't Scottish. So it makes sense that Carlisle would be close to the Scottish border and it is: about 10 miles. It's in the county of Cumbria. According to WikiAnswers, Carlisle is about 110 miles from Glasgow though. Quite a drive.

(Incidentally, Cumbria just came up on a PRI Geo Quiz. It's where Stan Laurel was born, in the town of Ulverston. He was born Stan Patterson but changed his name, supposedly because he was superstitious and didn't like the 13 letters. There was a recent row in England when a tourism agency in Durham mistakenly printed 50,000 brochures saying Stan was born there.  Ulverston is much farther South than Carlisle though so even if Jimmy weren't being escorted by police who think he's killed his wife, he wouldn't be inclined to swing by there and visit the Laurel and Hardy Museum. Anyways..)

Sarah makes a face when Maureen tells her she has business in Brixton. Brixton is a neighborhood in the South of London. Apparently it's somewhat hip and gentrified now but there are still dangerous areas (Wikipedia helpfully informs me that you should never buy marijuana or cocaine from the dealers at the tube station. You'll either be buying overpriced oregano or get arrested. Helpful safety tip!) It seems like it's a mix of upscale housing, renovated Victorian buildings, music clubs and high crime areas which you should studiously avoid after dark. It's sometimes called the drug (and oregano?) capital of London. It's also a multi-ethnic neighborhood where you can get cuisines ranging from Jamaican to Eritrean. Some asshat set off a nail bomb near the market there in 1999 to ignite a race war. Luckily, it looks like no one was killed and he's now serving a bundle of consecutive life sentences.

Brixton is also the home of The Electric Avenue (the one Eddy Grant sang about.)

Maureen's mother Winnie mentions her estranged perv father Michael is living in a council flat. I gather from the context this is government housing and it appears to be. Evidently, there is a housing shortage in Glasgow. A Glasgow website says if you are low on money, you can apply for Council or Housing Association accomodations but there is a wait and if you are lucky enough to attain this low cost and assured tenancy housing (meaning your landlord has to get a court order to remove you if you don't want to leave), you may not find yourself in the most "salubrious" of areas. I love the Brits and their positive, tasteful spin on the mother tongue. It's not a crime-ridden shithole, it's just not salubrious.