LIFE IN GREAT BRITAIN
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a big country, geographical situated on an island north-west in Europe. It is separate from Europe by La Manche or the English Channel. The United Kingdom consists of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK is a monarchy headed by her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II. The government has two main political parties – the Conservative Party (the Tories) and the Labour Party (the Socialists). The current Prime minister of the UK is Tony Blare of the Labour Party.
The capital of the UK and England is London with Heathrow one of the biggest airports in Europe. London has around 10 million inhabitants. London is well known for its red double-deckers and black taxis or black cabs. The Centre is famous for beautiful sights such as Big Ben, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Buckingham and KensingtonPalace, theatres in CovenGarden, cinemas in Leicester square and many museums and galleries. The financial district is known as the City where many well known banks have their main offices.
The main language is English, however British, Scottish, Welsh and Irish English is not the same. Differences are in pronunciation and in some cases vocabulary.
Life in Great Britain is different from ours. People live differently and have a different mentality. Because they live on an island British people do not always regard themselves as Europeans.
Citizens of the UK are divided into 3 classes: upper, middle and lower class. This division depends on how much money you have and your position in society.
Most people work form 9 to 5 o’clock in the evening and sometimes even later. In larger cities people can spend a lot of time travelling to and from work. As a result, people have little time to cook so they prefer microwave meals from supermarket or a takeaway. Children normally have their tea (dinner) at 6 o’clock and adults have their supper (dinner) later at 8 or 9pm.
During the weekend people enjoy having a typical English breakfast that consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, toasted bread, black pudding with orange juice and English tea.
British people enjoy going out to a pub for a drink and eating in restaurants. Many pubs have a traditional wooden interior, a fire place with a main bar where people stand and talk whilst drinking. Pubs also have traditional names such as the King’s Head, the Black or White Horse and one of the most popular names is the Red Lion. Most pubs close at 11pm and 10:30pm on Sunday’s. When the pubs are closed, young people enjoy going to clubs and discos, however, it is not uncommon for older people to go too. On some nights discos have special parties where people have to be dressed in funny clothes, for example school uniforms.
The British are big sport fans of football and rugby. When a football match is on and fans are not at the stadium, they go to their local pub where they can watch the game with friends whilst having a pint or two of beer.
Shops are open 7 days a weekproviding a high range of goods and services. They offer customers 3 main sales a year; winter, spring and summer.
The interesting thing about the UK is that the legal age to buy and smoke cigarettes is 16, to drink is 18 and to drive a car is 17.
Over the last 100 years many people from different cultures have immigrated to the UK bringing with them their religions and customs. The British culture has welcomed them but still keeps its national identity. Today the UK is viewed as one of the best countries for immigration as it is easy to integrate in the multicultural environment.