Illustration: Xia Qing/GT

We, a group of foreigners currently living in London, had just left a British couple's house and were sitting in a taxi back home. Two minutes ago, at exactly 3 pm, we were sent by the hostess into the pre-booked taxi, waving goodbye and watching her disappear in the rearview mirror.

Thank goodness the taxi driver was an Indian-looking man, as it gave us a chance to indulge in a frank discussion about British social behavior.

A consensus was easily reached: The British are so clumsy on social occasions that they become almost cute.

Quite a few of us had read a book by British social anthropologist Kate Fox, before we came to the UK. It's a book on the British personality, in which the author argues that even in this age of globalization a typical national personality still exists in Britain. One of the points Fox argues is that the British behave in an embarrassingly clumsy way on social occasions.

Those of us who read the book couldn't help giggling after arriving in Britain and watching locals behaving in the ways pointed out in the book. And I had so much fun watching the first episode of a British dark comedy TV series, at British embarrassment during a party.

The British are a people that attach great value to rules and predictability, which makes them relatively simple for foreigners to understand once those basic rules are learned.

From a Chinese perspective, these tacit rules can be astounding initially.

For instance, if you are expected to visit a family at 1 pm and you arrive five minutes early then you'd better wait outside rather than ring the doorbell. The hosts may be making some final preparations, and would prefer their guests at the time expected, rather than being caught out by an early bird. This is understandable, though a bit reserved and inflexible in foreign eyes.

When the time of departure arrives, it is polite for guests to leave quickly.

In our taxi, one Norwegian girl imitated the hostess' anxious farewell words: "Get in the taxi, get in."

She added by bantering that the unspoken words were really: "Go, go, it's 3 pm already and the social thing is done."

We guests, though joking about the British rigor and preciseness, still found the lunchtime we spent together to be pleasant. Conversations were interesting and delicious dishes were served.

Personally, I think the hostess' hasty farewell was to hide her shyness.

As the book argues, the British are not so sophisticated at such social occasions. To the  couple, it must be a moment of relief to see guests leave.

To a certain degree, the British personality is similar to that of the Chinese, although the Chinese are perceived as being much better at social occasions. I remember in my childhood, my father and his friends took turns to host parties where people sat around the table, joking and drinking.

We are also not good at expressing through words. The Chinese are relatively shy, and they prefer integrating hospitality into the food they prepare and the atmosphere they try to build. This is exactly what I felt when I hugged our British hostess goodbye.

Being Chinese I am used to the moment when no words are needed.

This article was published on the Global Times Metropolitan section Two Cents page, a space for reader submissions, including opinion, humor and satire. The ideas expressed are those of the author alone, and do not represent the position of the Global Times.