The majority of the British people do not mind to travel. They prefer not to live near the streets and therefore prefer to live outside of the big cities. This causes that the people often have to travel to work or school. When they do, they like to do this is private, or rather by car.
The Lollipop Ladies: are the woman (and men, but 80% are woman) that will ‘patrol’ the streets with the stop and go signs for the cars. Since half of the children at a school will make their way to school by foot, it is necessary that the streets are safe. In the 1990’s there was a decrease in children who went to school by foot, but since a decade there is an increase again.
The British people have not many official holidays compared to the rest of Europe. The practice of making ‘a bridge’ between the holiday and the weekend is unknown to most British people. On an average the people have about four weeks of holiday, where as the rest of Europe has about six weeks of holiday. The most common holidays are public holidays, also known as bank holidays. These are the holidays that not necessary have a religious background. There are 16 public holidays where most of the UK will have off. However, tourists won’t notice that the citizens are off for a holiday.
The British people like tradition. Where as food is most of the time not the center of festivities, there are many holidays where there is a specific kind of food involved. Christmas is the biggest yearly tradition that most people enjoy to celebrate. The people rathe go back to their old traditions than start new ones. A few of the most popular festivities during Christmas are watching Christmas movies, festive (Christmas) songs and pulling crackers (Knight, 2017).
The British are not very into the world of culture and arts. You will find out that most of the art projects won’t be government funded. The British people are primarily a verbal culture, not a visual one. They love to read and over 60 percent of the people own a library card and read books from the library weekly. The other aspects of culture and arts, such as theater, painting, music and dancing are less popular. Over the past few decades there were a few highlights in the British history with people who made an impression to the world with their arts, for example The Beatles. But if you ask the British people to name a few famous artists they won’t be able to. What is fascinating is that the national museums and galleries are free of charge. They are open for everyone to visit because it is considered educational purposes.
One of the artists I read about in the blog was C. S. Lewis, a writer. He made a great impression on me. In the past I happened to have stumbled across his work and discussed it at home. He is the writer of the Narnia Chronicles, seven books in total who tell the story of four children and a wardrobe. What is most exciting is that I found out that he wrote a lot of books about Christianity, but in such a way that it is very easy to understand. Not that I am such a believer myself, but he explained the morals of the Christians in a very good way. He is for sure, a British writer I will remember.
The British are famous for a lot of things, however food is not one of them. The food cooked by the British are often referred to as bland. This is because the British people are not focused on the preparation of their food or the time spent eating their food. In their opinion food was never a big deal. They eat because they have to, not because they enjoy it. This is why the parties are never centered about the food. British people are certain that the food must be eaten warm and quick. The most traditional dishes that are from Britain, such as roasted beef and potatoes or fish and chips are not easy to make on a large scale. They are great for home cooking, that’s why you won’t find these dishes is restaurants. Over the last 100 years there is a great increase of restaurants and going out for dinner. This was not common since it was something only the most elite classes would do that.
What is more important to the British is the alcohol. Especially drinking beer and the place where they drink it, the pub. All over the world you can find the pubs that are originally from the British culture. The old looking pubs are making them feel like home. Especially because you will have to fetch your own drinks at the bar, this is what makes them feel like home. For the most British people this is where they go to meet people and have a good talk.
The other drink that all the British people love are tea. Especially at 4 p.m. during tea time. They drink their tea with milk and often sugar. Next to the tea there is a scone with cream and jam.
Quote from the blog: On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners. (George Mikes, humourisc and Hungarian émigré to Britain).
The Education system is nowadays similar to the rest of Europe but that was not always the case. Britain was leading the world in industry and commerce and therefore did not have such interest in their education system. Since the end of the nineteenth century the school system has changes several times because the British are very insecure about their school system since it is not a great one.
They used to have a lot of public schools and boarding schools. School used to be for boys and for upper classes only. Usually the students would live in term in the school. The schools would have Houses which were being managed by house masters and would have prefects. Prefects were a few of the senior students who would have authority over the younger pupils.
Nowadays the school system is almost the same as the rest of Europe. The biggest difference with the rest of Europe is that they have many education hours at school. They have three terms, each with a holiday at the end of the term. Most of the schools have uniforms for the children and to make them look equal.
Quote from the blog: There is nothing to stop a 65 year-old doing a few of them for fun. In practice, of course, the vast majority of people will do these exams are school pupils, but formally it is individual people who enter for these exams, not pupils in a particular year of school.
This is a very beautiful quote. In Britain everyone is able to attend the exams that are taken at school. This includes 65 year olds. As a teacher, this warms my heart.
In centuries past, British Christian missionaries energetically spread the word of God around the world. These days, Christian missionaries from Africa and South America are flocking to Britain to save British souls. But they will have a difficult job; according to one survey in 2006, 80% think that religion ‘does more harm than good’. (O’Driscoll, J., pg. 119, 2009). When you read this sentence it does not appear that the religions have a very large impression on the people of Britain, which is correct.
In the 2001 national census, almost three in every four people in Britain described themselves as Christian. But in surveys of attitudes, barely more than half describe themselves as such. And less than ten per cent actually attend Christian services. There are big differences, it seems, between identifying yourself as a Christian in an official context, how you really see yourself in relation to Christianity, and whether you actually practice it.
This also shows why few people object that the Queen is ‘queen by the grace of God’. She was crowned by a religious figure, in a religious place and has a religious anthem. All while most of the British people are not really Christians.
Video about the blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7s0FOY2mo8 This video is from a television show called Sunday Morning Live. In which they said that 71% of the younger people don’t have a religion. 18th of September 2017. This is a program from the BBC, a network from Britain, funded by the government.
The British history is very long and very complicated. It starts with the building of Stone Henge and the Druids who lived there. That is the period we call Early Britain. After that we have the take over from the Romans. When they left, they did not leave any marks. Most of the buildings and cities would fall in to disrepair. The only thing that remained were the names of the cities Chester, Lancaster and Gloucester. That period of time in history is called Roman Britain.
Quote from the blog: The following stage in history was the most famous date in English history. On 14 October of that year, an invading army from Normandy defeated the English at the Battle of Hastings. The battle was close and extremely bloody. At the end of it, most of the best warriors in England were dead, including their leader, King Harold. On Christmas day that year, the Norman leader, Duke William of Normandy, was crowned king of England. He is known in popular history as ‘William the Conqueror’ and the date is remembered as the last time that England was successfully invaded. This period is known as the Anglo Saxon Britain.
Halfway through history and we arrive at the Viking Britain. The period in history where they were taken over by the Vikings several times. After that we have the Medieval Britain in which the legendary folk hero Robin Hood wrote history. While King Richard I was fighting in the crusades (the war between the Muslims and the Christians) his brother John was left to govern England. He was very unpopular because he raised the taxes a lot. Robin Hood stole money and food from the rich and gave it to the poor. That made him a folk hero.
Back to the timeline, we get to the Tudor Britain in which Henry VIII made himself very popular with women. Especially with his six wives (they were all dead or divorced). After we have the Stuart Britain, Georgian Britain, Victorian Britain and the present. The rest? Is history… 😊
Video about the blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcnSsEVsrf0 This video explains the British history timeline very clear. It is, again, a neutral video. Providing you with the information you want to learn about without giving a opinion. Neutral videos have my preference because I’m studying to become a teacher and this is information I can use.
Great Britain is often referred to as a country. Nevertheless the Great Britain is divided in four nations which together form the Great Britain. People often refer to Britain by another name. They call it ‘England’. But this is not correct, and its use can make some people angry. England is only one of the four nations’ in this part of the world. The others are Scotland, Wales, and Ireland (O’Driscoll, J., pg. 10, 2009).
The people of Great Britain are very much on their own. They like privacy and keep a lot of thing for themselves. You will notice this a lot in their behavior, how they celebrate parties, how they like to own their own car to travel and in the way they behave to each other. This does not mean they are not social, but compared to other country’s they are private.
Video about the blog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10 This video explains the names of the lands and the origin of the country. It is a neutral video because they are just giving the information about the country’s without giving their personal opinion about the matter, they are just stating the facts.
Juf Naomi 
