Keep Calm and Carry On

A little research told me that this poster was initially produced by the Ministry of Information in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War. It's message was intended to strengthen morale in the event of a wartime disaster. While over a million were made, they were actually rarely distributed and never became popular until one was re-discovered in an old bookshop outside London in 2000.

Today, this poster is possibly more iconic of London than Big Benny! Hung on every inch of the city, it has become the motto of jolly old England.

The Bagehot column in The Economist explains it's new-found popularity because it "represents nostalgia for a certain British character, an outlook that taps directly into the country's mythic image of itself: unshowily brave and just a little stiff, brewing tea as the bombs fall."

I couldn't have said it better myself. It's not just that the English are the way that they are naturally - it's also that they strive to uphold that image: their properness, their manners, their pomp and circumstance in everything - whether it's as small as sipping tea or as large as fighting a world war.

As I've been wandering around, I've noticed it on just about everything from doormats to teapots to boxes of biscuits. If you can dream it, there is likely a "Keep Calm and ______ about it.

Here are some examples:

This is literally in every shop window at the moment.

As is this...

This is a perfect gift for an Anglofile

This was on a (rather mean) birthday card for an elderly person

And the nicer option...

For brilliant card for a Bride-to-be

One for the desperate job seeker

For the pregnant woman who doesn't want little boys

A great gift bag for that person who returns everything you buy them

My personal favorite adaptation of the phrase...

But I have a sweet spot for this one as well

"Keep Calm and Carry On," is so quintessentially English, its not at all shocking that it has become so popular.

I think the phrase also serves as good words of advice for us Americans overseas - especially us New Yorkers. We who hail from "the city" are a different breed. We want what we want, and we want it now. And nothing will stop us from getting it. We're rude. We're impatient. We bump into each other on the street and don't stop to say sorry - because neither of us has time to, and neither of us cares. We're used to a fast-paced life of convenience and things being open 24 hours, 7 days a week. And when it's not - we panic and find someone to complain to until it is.

But across the pond - life is different.

It can be a bit of a culture shock at first when you are not prepared, and not used to things a bit, well, difficult.

So what do you, as a New Yorker, when you need to stop and get some Advil after work - but the drug store closed at 6 (and they don't even have Advil) ?

What do you do when it takes 1 week to open a bank account, 1 week for your debit card to be mailed to you, and then another for the pin code to arrive?

How about when the nail salon doesn't accept walk-ins, ever, and you're in desperate need of an emergency mani/pedi?

What do you do when nowhere in the whole city aside from Starbucks has Splenda?

When by 8 o'clock, every Pret-A-Manger and other take away place in London is closed and you're starving?

Or when you have to wait 30 minutes in the cold for a night bus, because the tube is shut down and there isn't a taxi in sight?

The answer is simple really. You "Keep Calm and Carry On."

You put the kettle on, keep your chin up, and mind your manners. You accept the situation and that you cannot change it, and carry on with whatever it is that you're doing.

Or if you are me, you "Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes."

Because any difficult situation in life can be cured with a little frosting.