United Kingdon
Size: 244,820 sqkm
Population: 60,610,000
Capital: London
Time Zone: GMT +0 to +1 (Summer)
I lived in the UK for the first 26 years of my life, before embarking on my world trip, then moving to Japan.
People here sometimes ask me questions about England which I embarrassingly can't always answer. This page, therefore, gives a brief overview of some of the things I deem important about the UK, along with some of my favourite places. Should I move back in the near future I would very much like to travel this country far more, and hence flesh this section out somewhat more.
Made up of four constituent countries: England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, the UK's full title is The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; with Great Britain being made up of England, Wales and Scotland. Borders between the different countries are only marked by road signs these days, however the people of each country are still strongly patriotic and, for example, have separate international football teams (however we participate in the Olympics as a single entity).
The UK was the first country to undergo an industrial revolution, and, very approximately, this allowed the formation of the British Empire. Since these days, however, nearly all primary industry, and much of the secondary industry, has dried up and most people now work in the service sector, primarily finance. For reasons I cannot fully understand the Pound Stirling is still one of the strongest world currencies, although its value does appear to be closely market linked.I have lived on the South coast of the UK my whole life, first in the small town of Seaton, then for 8 years in Southampton. The south is of similar latitude to Vancouver, however, due to the Gulf Stream which flows up from the tropics the temperature rarely drops below zero and snow is limited to about 1 day a year. Whilst rain is common, the summers can be quite dry, unlike the further west where air from the Atlantic continuously dumps water over the land. Due to the relatively northern latitude, along with being surrounded by sea, the summers rarely get hotter than 35 degrees, so the year round climate is quite favourable, although usually cloudy.
The UK is quite a multicultural nation, probably due to our long history of trade along with the openness to immigration and relatively high standard of living. This, in part I feel, is responsible for the fact that our top three favourite foods are Indian, Chinese and Italian, followed probably by French and Greek. The other reason for this is that traditional English food is quite bland, mainly consisting of stews. The most famous English dish is Fish and Chip where everything is deep fat fried. While an English restaurant is rare I would say that most pubs serve truly English food. Pies, beef burgers (which are quite different from the American variety) and some fish are common along with of course many international options. However the number one English food, and perhaps the only truly remaining traditional one, is the Sunday Roast. Roasted potatoes (sometimes turnip which predated the discovery of America) and an assortment of boiled vegetables along with thick cuts of meat, usually pork, beef chicken or lamb. This is always accompanied with thick meat-based gravy and Yorkshire puddings - savoury cakes made from batter and named after the English country where the tradition of the Sunday Roast originated.
The UK is packed with history. Unfortunately many of the classic buildings in the south were levelled during World War Two, and worse still were replaced by concrete monstrosities. However many of the cathedrals and churches were lovingly rebuild and much of the North escaped this although did not escape the policy of replacing Victorian houses with concrete building. One of the best places to see truly glorious architecture is in Cambridge, where the streets are packed with history. Up in Scotland both Edinburgh and Glasgow are also must see places for their fine buildings.There are no true mountains in the UK but large parts of Northern England and much of Scotland and Wales are filled with large hills and much of these areas are dedicated national parks, providing large areas of semi wilderness for walking and other activities. Of these my favourites are the Lake District and Snowdonia, and closer to home Dartmoor is a great place for a hiking, cycling and climbing.