The British Character

Foreigners have ideas about what is ‘British’. But some of these things are not part of most ordinary people’s everyday life. The great British breakfast and afternoon tea, for example, are mostly found in hotels and ‘bed and breakfast’ places for tourists. And the British do not only drink tea these days. Coffee is popular too. They drink, on average, 3.39 cups of tea each day and 1.65 cups of coffee.

It takes time to know a British person well. British people are generally quite shy, and they do not make friends easily with strangers. Perhaps this is because they live on an island! And they are not good at learning foreign languages.

British people spend less money on clothes than the people of other European countries. Most of them are not very interested in clothes. Many British people wear suits to the office during the week, but at weekends they prefer to wear jeans.

Family

On average, 2.4 people in Britain live as a family in one home, which they usually own. This number is smaller than in most other European countries. About 65% of people over the age of 65 live alone. When children grow up, they usually leave their parents’ home for university or work. After they buy their own home, their parents do not usually come and live with them.

In the past, people got married and stayed married. Divorce was very difficult and took a long time. The only reason for a short marriage was usually the death of the husband or wife. But today people’s views on marriage are changing. Many couples, mostly in their twenties or thirties, live together without getting married. By the year 2020 there will be fewer married people than single people.

People get married at a later age now and many women do not want to have children immediately. They prefer to do well at their jobs first. So they often decide not to have a baby until they are in their late thirties, or even forties.

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