With thanks to the Telegraph, here is a visual tour of London's so-called Immigrant Districts.
The "habit" of immigrants moving to areas with a large population of their own nationality is not at all unique to the UK, but
interesting nonetheless.
Does the habit of immigrants living in
"immigrant areas" bother anyone other than me?
Would you want to live
in a Little America or {insert your own country here}Town?
Monday, 19 November 2012
Monday, 5 November 2012
Every Country Needs an Excuse for Fireworks...
... and in Britain, its Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night (or day).
The story goes that on 5 November 1605, a man named Guy Fawkes (and his cronies) tried to blow up the House of Lords in an attempt to assassinate King James I. Fawkes had 36 barrels of gunpowder that would have surely done the job, but someone tipped off one of the Lords and the men were caught in the act. The people of England were apparently so happy that the King had not been killed, they lit bonfires in celebration. A few months later, the 'Observance of the 5th of November 1605' act was passed in Parliament and November 5th became an annual public holiday.
And what happened to Guy Fawkes? Eight members of the Gunpowder Plot were captured and eventually sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Ouch.
In modern Britain, Bonfire Night is often celebrated with fireworks instead of a bonfire (likely due to health and safety concerns). Some towns and villages will host a public bonfire (and sometimes they will burn a lifesize Guy Fawkes doll thingie) and you do still get the odd person thinking they can manage their own bonfire in their garden or something, but this is usually a pretty bad idea. It likely won't come as a surprise that the London Fire Brigade responded to a call for an out of control bonfire every 10 minutes on last year's bonfire night. Leave it to the experts folks.
Sadly, the tradition of Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night is being pushed aside by the growing popularity of Halloween. When I moved here even just three years ago, you could hardly find a pumpkin in a store, much less costumes and cookies and pumpkin shaped cakes and now Halloween is a £300 million business in the UK.
Do your part to keep UK traditions alive - do a search here to see if there are any celebrations around you. Many will have taken place last weekend, but there are still some to come.
Oh and if you have pets, Bonfire Night (just like Forth of July) can be a scary time - keep them safe and happy!
The story goes that on 5 November 1605, a man named Guy Fawkes (and his cronies) tried to blow up the House of Lords in an attempt to assassinate King James I. Fawkes had 36 barrels of gunpowder that would have surely done the job, but someone tipped off one of the Lords and the men were caught in the act. The people of England were apparently so happy that the King had not been killed, they lit bonfires in celebration. A few months later, the 'Observance of the 5th of November 1605' act was passed in Parliament and November 5th became an annual public holiday.
And what happened to Guy Fawkes? Eight members of the Gunpowder Plot were captured and eventually sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered. Ouch.
In modern Britain, Bonfire Night is often celebrated with fireworks instead of a bonfire (likely due to health and safety concerns). Some towns and villages will host a public bonfire (and sometimes they will burn a lifesize Guy Fawkes doll thingie) and you do still get the odd person thinking they can manage their own bonfire in their garden or something, but this is usually a pretty bad idea. It likely won't come as a surprise that the London Fire Brigade responded to a call for an out of control bonfire every 10 minutes on last year's bonfire night. Leave it to the experts folks.
 |
| 'Guy' burning |
Do your part to keep UK traditions alive - do a search here to see if there are any celebrations around you. Many will have taken place last weekend, but there are still some to come.
Oh and if you have pets, Bonfire Night (just like Forth of July) can be a scary time - keep them safe and happy!
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