Life in Great Britain The United Kingdom of

Life in Great Britain

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is situated on the British Isles. It consists of four parts: England, Wales, Scotland Northern Ireland.

The territory of the United Kingdom is about 244000 square kilometers. The population is over 56 million. The mountains are not very high. The rivers are not very long. The most important of them are the Severn and the Thames. There are many beautiful lakes in the mountainous part of the country

The United Kingdom is a monarchy and the Queen is the head of the state. But in practice it is ruled by the elected government with the Prime Minister at the head. The British Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Lords and the House of Commons.

English meals The English usually have 4 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, tea (5 o’clock) and dinner. Breakfast can be a full «English breakfast» of corn flakes with milk and sugar, or bacon and eggs, toast and marmalade, tea or coffee. Some people, however, have just a cup of tea or coffee with a toast or something similar. This is usually called a «continental breakfast» . At midday everything is stopped for Lunch. Most offices and small shops are closed for an hour and the city pavements are full of people on their way to cafes, coffee, bars, restaurants.

Afternoon tea is taken at about 5 o’clock, but it can hardly be called a meal. It is a cup of tea and a cake or biscuits. At the weekends afternoon tea is a special occasion. Dinner is the most substantial meal of the whole day. It is usually eaten at 7 o’clock. The first course may be soup (though the English don’t like it very much). The main course will often be fish or meat, perhaps the traditional roast beef of old England a lot of vegetables. The next course will be something sweet and often baked, such On Christmas Day a roast turkey is traditionally cooked for as a fruit pie. Last of all there dinner. It is usually followed by may be cheese, often with Christmas pudding. biscuits.

Press in Britain Probably in no other country are there such great differences between the daily newspapers. On the one hand, there are the «quality» newspapers: The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, The Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph. These concern themselves with factual reports of major national and international events in the world of politics and business, art and sport. In addition to the 12 daily newspapers, there are nine newspapers which are published on Sundays. Besides, nearly every area in Britain has one or several local newspapers.

Life of youth in Britain Young people from all walks of life are united according to their interests by the established youth organizations in Britain. These organizations develop because of the contribution of both full-time and part-time youth workers and a great number of volunteers. Young people participate in «expedition courses» lasting 8, 12, or 20 days and involving adventurous journeys by land or sea. There also «specialist courses» for young people aged 17 and over to become involved in work with such groups as the homeless, the elderly and the disabled.

London is the capital of Great Britain.

It is difficult to speak about the centre of London as of centres, each with a distinct character: the financial and business centre called the City (spelt with a capital C), the shopping and entertainment centre in the West End, the government centre in Westminster.

Opposite the Houses of Parliament stands Westminster Abbey.