'Brilliant' - And Other British Sayings

Paul McKelvey of Vero Image shot this overlooking Friday's start.
Glasgow, Scotland - It's "half past" as they say in Great Britain as I write this.

That's just one of the British terms I have picked up in the short time I have been in this country. Many of them have come from my friend, Abby, who manages press room operations for the Tour of Britain.

Here's a sampling of some others:

- "Brilliant" is a favorite expression. It means "awesome" or "excellent" or "very good."

- "Cheers" is a typical way for the Brits to say "goodbye."

- In many parts, the "o" in a word is pronounced like a "u." So "Rock Racing" becomes "Ruck Racing." Say it aloud with me ... "Ruuuuck Racing."

- "The lift" is the elevator. And despite being an eight-passenger at most locales, it is very small. Perhaps it would fit eight people the size of Olivia comfortably.

- "Half past" (30 minutes after the hour) and "quarter past" (15 minutes after the hour) refer to specific time periods. Also, military time is referenced most often. Many of our races have ended at "14 hours, 30" or "14 hours, 45."

- If you have a room that's in the 100s, you are on the second floor. If you have a room like 201 or in the 200s, you are on the third floor. Weird.

- Asking for a pop has resulted in me receiving soda water at least once and a blank stare about a dozen times. A better way to ask for one is the phrase, "Do you have any Coke?" - even though I might want a Pepsi or another soft drink.

- The area where we are today - Scotland - features a very "rough" sounding voice for many females. Sure, they might look nice (see the new bride in my photo gallery), but once they open their mouth, you'd think you were talking to a pot-bellied sailor - with their husky, gruff voices. Paul warned us about this so we wouldn't laugh. I still did.

I also managed to swing the hotel where we are staying into letting me do the team's laundry. It kind of happened by accident (I didn't understand Lettie, our soigneur) but it worked out in the end.

Little did I know my evening would be capped off with a wedding reception. The groom wore a kilt and the bride was having to cut the cake (at least my piece of it). See today's photo gallery).

The ride to the hotel from the stage finish was absolutely brutal. Try five hours. That's about as long as it took us to fly across the ocean. UGH.