Modern holidays

Both of the traditional types of holiday have become less popular in the last quarter of the twentieth century. The increase in car ownership has encouraged many people to take caravan holidays. But the greatest cause of the decline of the traditional holiday is foreign tourism. Before the 1960s, only the rich took holidays abroad. By 1971, the British were taking 7 million foreign holidays and by 1987, 20 million. These days, millions of British people take their cars across the channel every year and nearly half of all the nights spent on holidays away from home are spent abroad.

Most foreign holidays are package holidays, in which transport and accommodation are booked and paid for through a travel agent. These holidays are often booked a long time in advance. In the middle of winter the television companies run programmes which give information about the packages being offered. People need cheering up at this time of the year! In many British homes it has become traditional to get the holiday brochures out and start talking about where to go in the summer on Boxing Day. Spain is by far the most popular package-holiday destination.

Half of all the holidays taken within Britain are now for three days or less. Every bank-holiday weekend there are long traffic jams along the routes to the most popular holiday areas. The traditional seaside resorts have survived by adjusting themselves to this trend. (Only the rich have second houses or cottages in the countryside to which they can escape at weekends.) But there are also many other types of holiday. Hiking in the country and sleeping at youth hostels has long been popular and so, among an enthusiastic minority, has pot-holing (the exploration of underground caves). There is also a wide range of “activity” holidays available, giving full expression to British individualism. You can, for example, take part in a “murder weekend”, and find yourself living out the plot of detective story.

An increasing number of people now go on “working” holidays, during which they might help to repair an ancient stone wall or take part in an archaeological dig. This is an echo of another traditional type of “holiday” – fruit picking. It used to be the habit of poor people from the east end of London, for example, to go to Kent at the end of the summer to help with the hop harvest.

Food and drink

On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good table manners.

G.Mikes

Britain and good food are two things which are not commonly associated. Visitors to Britain have widely varying opinions about all sorts of aspects of the country, but most of them seem to agree that the food is terrible. Why? One reason could simply be that British tastes are different from everybody else’s. However, the most common complaint is not so much that British food has a strange, unpleasant taste, but rather that it has very little taste at all. The vegetables, for example, are overcooked. It is all too bland. The British have not got into the habit of preparing sauces with grilled food in order to make it tastier.

The country has neither a widespread “restaurant culture” nor a “cafe society”. In the middle of the day, people just want to eat up quickly and are not interested much in quality (the lunch break is an hour at most). Young people and families with children who eat at fast food places are similarly not interested in quality. Little effort is made to make the hamburgers tasty because nobody expects them to be. The coffee is horrible not because British people prefer it that way but because they don’t go to a cafe for a delicious, slow cup of coffee – they go there because they need the caffeine.

Even at home, food and drink is given relatively little attention. The coffee is often just as bad as it is in the cafes. British supermarkets sell far more instant coffee than what the few people who drink it often call “real” coffee. Instant coffee is less trouble. Meals tend to be eaten quickly and the table cleared. Parties and celebrations are not normally centred around food. For example, if a British person expresses a liking for barbecues, this does not necessarily mean that he or she likes barbecued food – it is understood to mean that he or she enjoys the typical barbecue atmosphere.

Pubs

The British pub (short for “public house”) is unique. This is not just because it is different in character from bars or cafes in other countries. It is also because it is different from any other public place in Britain itself. Without pubs, Britain would be a less sociable country. The pubs is the only indoor place where the average person can comfortably meet others, even strangers, and get into prolonged conversation with them. In cafes and fast food restaurants, people are expected to drink their coffee and get out. The atmosphere in other eating places is often rather formal. But pubs, like fast food restaurants, are classless. A pub with forty customers in it is nearly always much noisier than a cafe or restaurant with the same number of people in it.

As with so many other aspects of British life, pubs have become a bit less distinctive in the last quarter of the twentieth century. They used to serve almost nothing but beer and spirits. These days, you can get wine, coffee and some hot food at most of them as well. This has helped to widen their appeal. At one time, it was unusual for women to go to pubs. These days, only a few pubs exist where it is surprising for a woman to walk in.

Nevertheless, pubs have retained their special character. One of their notable aspects is that there is no waiter service. If you want something, you have to go and ask for it at the bar. This may not seem very welcoming and a strange way of making people feel comfortable and relaxed. But to British people it is precisely this. To be served at a table is discomforting for many people. It makes them feel they have to be on their best behaviour. But because in pubs you have to go and fetch your drinks yourself, it is more informal. You can get up and walk around whenever you want – it is like being in your own house. This “home from home” atmosphere is enhanced by the relationship between customers and those who work in pubs. Unlike in other eating or drinking place in Britain, the staffs are expected to know the regular customers personally, to know what their usual drink is and to chat with them when they are not serving someone. It is also helped by the availability of pub games (most typically darts) and, frequently, a television.

Another notable aspect of pubs is their appeal to the idea of tradition. For example, each has its own name, proclaimed on a sign hanging outside, always with old-fashioned associations. Many are called by the name of an aristocrat (for example, “The Duke of Cambridge”) or after a monarch, others take their names from some traditional occupation (such as “The Bricklayer’s Arms”); they often have rural associations (for example, “The Sheep Shearers” or “The Bull”). It would certainly be surprising to see a pub called “The Computer Programmers” or “The Ford Escort”. For the same reason, the person who runs a pub is referred to as the “landlord” (he is nearly always a man) – even though he is, in reality, the exact opposite. He is a tenant. Nearly all pubs are owned by a brewery. The “landlord” is simply employed by the brewery as its manager. But the word is used because it evokes earlier times when all pubs were privately owned “inns” where travellers could find a bed for the night. The few pubs that really are privately owned proudly advertise themselves as “free houses”. The practical significance of this for the customer is that a much wider variety of beers can usually be found inside.