In the middle *every *of every British town there's a road called the High Street.

It *has usually *usually has a pub, a Post Office and several shops in it; and the *women *woman of the town like *go *to go there because they can *stand *to stand outside the shops and *speak *talk, and show *to each other *each other their dogs and babies.

Once, every High Street *had *was having a shop called the general stores: *it's sold *it sold milk, soap,vegetables, sausages and food in tins.

But now most of the general stores *have closed *closed because supermarkets *opened *have opened.

Supermarkets are shops where you *put *take the food off the shelves *ourselves *yourself and pay *for it *it when you leave.

The British don't like them *much *a lot: they always have *unhappy *unhappily faces when they're *done *doing their shopping in a supermarket.

Most High Street have a *tobacconist *tobacconist's - a narrow, little shop where you can *buying *buy cigarettes, pipes and everything that a smoker *must *needs.

But sometimes the Post Office is also a tobacconist's and paper shop.

They're *very *much careful in these Post Offices - you must *to buy *buy stamps *on *in one side of the shop, and newspapers *in *on the other side!

Every large town *has *have got a branch of Woolworth's and a branch of Marks and Spencer's.

Woolworth's is a shop *what *that sells everything very *cheap *cheaply; Marks and Spencer's *sells *selling good clothes.

Clothes in Britain are *cheap *cheaply: the Englishman likes to *be able to *can buy a lot of them.

He *spends *costs most of his money *in *on clothes and *on *in his house, and he *doesn't try *tries not to spend too *many *much *on *in food or *in *on his holidays.

In London, there are several very large shops that *sell *are selling everything from football boots to televisions; they're called 'department stores'.

A lot of them are *at *in Oxford Street.

The *most *more famous department store is Harrods.

Rich people from *somewhere *everywhere in the world *go *are going there *to *for buy the *best *better jewels, the best clothes and the best furniture.

English shop assistants are usually very *politely *polite.

They call the customer "sir" or "madam", and give *to them *them a lot of time to *look at *look the things in the shop before *they ask *they'll ask: "Can I help you?"

The only ones who try *sell *to sell things *quickly *quick are those who work in the boutiques - the small shops that sell clothes *of *for young people.

Be *carefully *careful with them, or *you'll *you've come *out *out of the shop with something that you *don't *aren't want!

The *more *most interesting shops are the the antique shops.

Sometimes, you can *find *found very good paintings or pieces of furniture that the shops are *selling *sold very cheaply.

But they also have a lot of *ugly old *ugly and old things that *wants nobody *nobody wants.

The people who run these shops are often stranger *then *as the things in them.

There's an old lady in London who *isn't *doesn't sell *anything *nothing to a customer if she *doesn't *won't like him!