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Since I have been learning English I have found myself becoming more and more interested in not only the language itself but in British culture as well. After spending two weeks' time in England I became even devoted to the British. Though my holiday was not enough to experience everything, but most of the differences between usual Hungarian habits and funny or sometimes strange British behaviour were recognized immediately.

Many books were written to tourists and students dealing with these oddities, but experiencing them is not so boring at all than reading about them everywhere. The most pleasant thing is to be confronted with the opposite side . The first commonplace is that the British are conservative and reserved people. The very first look of the streets shows something else : colourful people in crazy and funny clothes according to the latest fashion, free individual attitudes and helpful, smiling faces when asking information from them.

My second impression was not so positive : I found them mad after seeing some "snapshots" from the bus-window like a daddy having his baby overturned from the doll's perambulator by chance, etc. By the way, English children are much more naughty than Hungarian ones.

The other striking point in my observation was that there are so many coloured people in London. Not this is surprising, but the fact that Britain really seems to function as a multicultural and multiracial society. There were no such precedents for incidents against immigrants like in Hungary , Germany and in other European countries. I think it is connected with the reserved behaviour of the people. I am not stating that they really like and accept foreigners and immigrants at all. It is inconsistent with the strict customs rules for instance. So in the background of their smiling faces I could find only politeness and nothing else. They could never accept anyone who is an alien and no-one or only a few people can get closer to an Englishman. What I liked was their tolerance. This fact manifested itself in chats that I had with them : they were very sensitive to others' accents, and were interested in many things, but made no serious or concrete responses on questions covering existential or personal points despite these were not obtrusive at all.

The funniest thing about the British was that wherever they found a little spot covered with grass they sat down and had a picnic there, not bothering them if it was in the centre of a traffic junction. That is one thing I cannot imagine in Hungary, and not just because we have not got so many and so beautiful parks and grassy places .

And now we came to the topic of tradition. As I started with a commonplace at the beginnings , let me go on with another : charishing traditions in Britain. I think as far as we, Hungarians are known in the world, we are concerned as having old traditions and rich cultural life. But nowadays we have not got enough time for these things, and much of our traditions are fading away, while others seem to be forced for me . The opposite is existing in Britain. We must admit that the British Empire had always been much more richer, and had had more historic and cultural attractiveness than Hungary, in source of her world-ruling role. What is really enviable is the people’s trust of these ancient and old things and habits.

Before I become accused with devotion, let me mention a repulsive phenomenon of Britain, which is unfortunately another commonplace, and that is the British weather. Though many other things could compensate it listed above , I could hardly get used to it.