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AFTERNOON TEA

Afternoon tea is a small meal snack typically eaten between 3pm and 5pm. The custom of afternoon tea originated in England in the 1840s.

Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served with milk and sugar. The sugar and caffeine of the concoction provided fortification against afternoon doldrums for the working poor of 19th and early 20th century England who had a significantly lower calorie count and more physically demanding occupation than most Westerners today. For laborers, the tea was sometimes accompanied by a small sandwich or baked snack (such as scones) that had been packed for them in the morning. For the more privileged, afternoon tea was accompanied by luxury ingredient sandwiches (customarily cucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham, and smoked salmon), scones (with clotted cream and jam, see cream tea) and usually cakes and pastries (such as Battenberg cake, fruit cake or Victoria sponge). In hotels and tea shops the food is often served on a tiered stand; there may be no sandwiches, but bread or scones with butter or margarine and optional jam or other spread, or toast, muffins or crumpets. In many parts of the British Isles, tea is used to mean the main evening meal.

Nowadays, a formal afternoon tea is usually taken as a treat in a hotel or tea shop. Most quality hotels in Britain serve afternoon tea and more recently have offered the option of champagne instead of tea.

SPORTS

Football is the national game of United Kingdom.

Football refers to a number of sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball with the foot to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". Unqualified, the word football applies to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears, including association football, as well as American football, Australian rules football, Canadian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union and other related games. These variations of football are known as football codes.

Beckham is a leading English footballer and a former star of the legendary team Manchester United.

In America, this sport is more popularly called "soccer".

Cricket is a bat and ball sport.

The objective of the game is to score more runs (points) than the opposing team. It is a team game played between two teams of eleven players each. It originated in its modern form in England, and is popular mainly in the Commonwealth countries.

In the countries of South Asia , including India , Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, cricket is by far the most popular participatory and spectator sport. It is also a major sport in places such as England and Wales, Australia , New Zealand, South Africa, Zimbabwe and the English -speaking Caribbean (called the West Indies). Cricket was first played in southern England in the 16th century. By the end of the 18th century, it had developed into the national sport of England. Famous British players of cricket include Andrew Flintoff, who the fans have claimed to be the best player in this game. The Englanf cricket team represents Engalnd and Wales.

Rugby is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom.

It is played with an oval ball by two teams of 15 players (in rugby union play) or 13 players (in rugby league play). Both rugby union and rugby league have their origins in the style of football played at Rugby School in England.

The England national rugby league team represent England in international rugby league football tournaments. The team has now seen a revival, having largely formed from the Great Britain team, who also represented Wales, Scotland and Ireland. The team is run under the auspices of the Rugby Football League. As of 2008, the team now participates in all World Cups, Four Nations, and Test matches. In America, this sport is known as American football.

The England national rugby union team represents England in rugby union. England players traditionally wear a white shirt with a Rose embroidered on the chest, white shorts, and navy blue socks with a white trim.

HOLIDAYS

IDIOMS & SLANG WORDS

Below are a few slang words commonly used in Britain.

Bloke – man. (Ex: 'John is a nice bloke to know.')
• Botched – poor quality repairs.
(Ex: 'He made a botched job of fixing the television.')
• Bottle – courage.
(Ex: 'He doesn't have the bottle to ask her.')
• Cheesed Off – fed up
• Chuck it down – to rain, often heavily.
(Ex: 'It is going to chuck it down soon.')
• Chuffed – If you are chuffed, you are happy with something. (Ex: 'I was chuffed to win a medal!')
• Daft – Crazy / stupid
• Dosh – Money / cash
(Ex: 'I haven't got much dosh to give you.')
• Gobsmacked – Incredibly amazed.
(Ex: 'I was gobsmacked when I saw my birthday presents.')
• Gutted – Not happy because of an event that has occurred that didn't go your way.
(Ex: 'I was gutted when I didn't win the race')
• Jammy - Used in place of lucky when describing someone else. (Ex: 'He was very jammy winning the lottery'.)
• Scrummy – Delicious. Shortened from scrumptious.
(Ex: 'The food was very scrummy')
• Skint – Broke. No money. (Ex: 'I'm skint, I won’t be able to buy the DVD today.')
• to Snog - to long kiss
• Telly – Television (Ex: 'I watched the news on the telly last night.')
• Dog and Bone – cockney rhyming slang for phone (telephone)

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