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At week-ends in the summer, thousands of British working-class people go to spend a day at the seaside. If they live in London, they go to Brighton or Margate; if they live in the North of England, they go to Blackpool.
The family gets up very early. The wife makes sandwiches and packs blankets and thermos flasks of tea. Then they drive slowly to the sea in a line of cars twenty miles long — or stand in a train full of other people who are going to the seaside.
When they get to the sea, they hurry to find a place on the beach. They cover a wide part of the beach with their bags, their towels, their books and newspapers and their children; then they sit down in deck-chairs. The husband puts a handkerchief over his face; the wife puts on a hat. Round them, footballs fly, wet dogs run, children fight and radios play; but they sit there quietly with their eyes shut and slowly become red. Every hour, they go to put their feet in the sea.
They have lunch on the beach. The sandwiches get sand in them, and the children drop theirs; dogs come and eat the cold meat; they've usually forgotten the bottle-opener. But they enjoy their lunch. "Food's always better by the sea," they say.
It's often cold and wet in Britain in the summer; but bad weather doesn't stop the British from going to the seaside. They sit in shelters near the beach and look at the sea. It's raining outside the shelter, but they put their blankets round them and eat their sandwiches and try to smile."lt's doing us good! " they say. The children aren't allowed to say they don't like it. "Mum. .. It's cold! " "Be quiet, and enjoy yourself! "
Another thing that the British like to do at week-ends is to have picnics. They put sandwiches, cold meat, cakes and thermos flasks in a bag and drive to the country. They find some grass and put down a tablecloth. Then they sit round the tablecloth and eat their lunch. There are flies and wasps; cows come and eat the sandwiches; often it rains. But they say it's better than lunch in a room. Some people even have picnics in their gardens so that they needn't travel to the country!