U.K.

Welcome to the otherwise known as Great Britain Know when to use it. || ||  || Inspite of the religious background of the country it is one of the most secular countries in the world. || Sport is not as important in the UK as it is in New Zealand. The most popular sport is soccer, called football; but rugby and cricket are also played. There used to be a tradition of playing cricket on the village green. Like the rest of the Western world the british suffer from heart disease, diabetes, cancer, arthritis etc, the diseases of the modern western diet; these are associated with obesity which is very common. || The british government is a constitutional monarchy...which means that there is a King or Queen who has given away their right to be a supreme ruler in favour of having an elected group of people to represent everyone in the country - this is called Parliament. Everyone who is over 18, and not in prison or a mental institution has the right to vote. Even if you hate the government you are allowed to vote, which seems very normal to us but that is not the case everywhere in the world. There is a strong class system in the UK which still influences a lot of things like education and work opportunities, but it is not as strong as it used to be. || Britain is a close ally of the USA and has been involved with it's recent wars. Also, Britain used to have an empire of countries around the world that it ran and made money from! These are now known as the commonwealth. This causes tension with other counties, ie britain 'owns' the Falklands but Argentina thinks that they should have them, so there was a war there in 1982. Britain is a member of the European Union but has not yet adopted the Euro as it's currency....but all the shops have to accept Euros as well as pounds. || The British were pioneers in engineering in the Nineteenth Century. Steam engines which came to be used in trains and pumps, were developed in Britain, and trains then needed tunnels and bridges and the technology to construct these was developed, often with the public disapproving of the construction. The 'bouncing bomb' was another 'great' British achievement, allowing the RAF to bomb German dams and thus flooding the valleys below! ||
 * **//__Spirituality__//** || **__hauora__** || **//__attitude__//** || **//__relationships__//** || **//__excellence__//** ||
 * [[image:http://face2faith.biscuitweb.com/images/page2_mainbutton3_spirituality.gif width="155" height="204"]] || [[image:http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:q05erF6Pr-8FgM:http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/chilternyouth/images/dreamstime_316318%255B1%255D_1_.JPG width="135" height="148" link="http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/chilternyouth/images/dreamstime_316318%255B1%255D_1_.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/chilternyouth/site/scripts/documents.php%3FcategoryID%3D8&usg=__H6QNWn9qXqAQS1LDezLzPx7liWw=&h=2029&w=2463&sz=1353&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=q05erF6Pr-8FgM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DU.K.%2Bsport%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GZEZ_en-GBNZ243NZ243%26sa%3DN"]] || [[image:http://i225.photobucket.com/albums/dd317/Wiggy100/attitude.jpg width="168" height="157"]]
 * The main church in the UK is the anglican church, known as the church of England. this was established by King Henry VIII because the Pope i.e., catholic church, would not allow him to get divorced. There are a large number of Catholic people especially in Northern Ireland, and the tension between them and the protestants has caused an ongoing war of terror throughout Britain. More recently there has been a huge increase in the number of Muslim people and there are now several mosques.
 * [[image:http://www.gracechurchonthehill.ca/images/Eastermorning.jpg width="165" height="159"]] || [[image:http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:olOJT_m6udlqfM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flaming_soccer_ball_01.svg/758px-Flaming_soccer_ball_01.svg.png width="129" height="127" link="http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/Flaming_soccer_ball_01.svg/758px-Flaming_soccer_ball_01.svg.png&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flaming_soccer_ball_01.svg&usg=__jJ2ybxx8_qSxjKp-xlluGm-KFak=&h=594&w=758&sz=59&hl=en&start=4&um=1&tbnid=olOJT_m6udlqfM:&tbnh=111&tbnw=142&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsoccer%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GZEZ_en-GBNZ243NZ243%26sa%3DG"]] || [[image:http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:PEzhorYCLc9HIM:http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hpQ2iU7yiHA/SQdPKXBhD0I/AAAAAAAABns/qBYq6_u2Zss/s400/British-Class-System.jpg width="116" height="116" link="http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hpQ2iU7yiHA/SQdPKXBhD0I/AAAAAAAABns/qBYq6_u2Zss/s400/British-Class-System.jpg&imgrefurl=http://singaporeaninlondon.blogspot.com/2008/11/british-class-system-divide.html&usg=__nzyvY1wWIguismJbg75S_j4SWeg=&h=300&w=300&sz=17&hl=en&start=8&um=1&tbnid=PEzhorYCLc9HIM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dclass%2Bsystem%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GZEZ_en-GBNZ243NZ243%26sa%3DG"]] || [[image:http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:lvE4_NYfeyACMM:http://bauergriffinonline.com/bfm_gallery/2008/10/osbourne/post_image/post_image-81002P3_OSBOURNE_B-GR_01.JPG width="92" height="135" link="http://images.google.co.nz/imgres?imgurl=http://bauergriffinonline.com/bfm_gallery/2008/10/osbourne/post_image/post_image-81002P3_OSBOURNE_B-GR_01.JPG&imgrefurl=http://bauergriffinonline.com/mt/mt-search.fcgi%3FIncludeBlogs%3D1%26tag%3DHolding%2520Hands%26limit%3D20%26IncludeBlogs%3D1&usg=__RlLH5iauRt36K0fpWs4RsORWRXU=&h=655&w=450&sz=133&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=lvE4_NYfeyACMM:&tbnh=138&tbnw=95&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dclassy%2Brelationship%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1T4GZEZ_en-GBNZ243NZ243%26sa%3DG"]] || [[image:http://www.anglesey.info/images/Menai%20Bridge,%20The%20Suspension%20Bridge%20with%20Snowdonia%20Mountains%201280pix.jpg width="160" height="124"]] ||

Here are some other facts about the UK including pictures of animals and historic sites; but especially places that are important to MY family.

In the U.K. it is very hard to grow some fruit and vegetables like kiwi fruit, so it is often very expensive!!! it can cost 2 pounds for 6 kiwis! the British diet is quite similar to the nz european diet, but there are some weird local dishes...like Black pudding - a sausage made of blood! Haggis, a scottish delicacy, a stuffed sheeps stomach. Many Brits are vegetarian...no wonder with haggis and black pudding on the menu!!!!!

CURRENCY: 1 pound sterling, consisting of 100 pence; LANGUAGES: English (official), Welsh (official), French (official on Channel Islands), Scots, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Angloromani.

this is the union jack of the United Kingdom did you know that the name union jack means :united kingdom flag.(country flag ) Royal flag

uk coat of arms

media type="googlemap" key="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=U.K.&sll=30.954058,121.860352&sspn=0.676001,1.054687&g=Shanghai,+China&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=5&ll=55.378051,-3.435973&output=embed&s=AARTsJoKAIag26gdzBgCjM0ncfiFhiPcpg" width="425" height="350"my parents were born just east of london



This is a ROYAL GUARD at his station.The hat is made of bear skin!Nice :) It takes 1 bear to make each hat and each hat only lasts for 4 years Westminster abbey The Westminster Abbey, located near the Houses of Parliament, is more a historical site than a religious site. Since 1066, every royal coronation, with the exception of Edward V and Edward VIII has taken place in Westminster Abbey.

Buckingham palace. Buckingham Palace is where the Queen lives. This place is absolutely spectacular on the inside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BIG BEN Amazingly LARGE bell (not a clock)!!! trafalgar Square commemorates Nelson's victory at Trafalgar! St. Pauls cathedral is a great feat of engineering as well as a christian masterpiece! just as amazing in day time as at night time

this is the only photo of him I could find!!! The houses of parliament light up at night (it looks like it's on fire!!!). Do you see that bridge? that bridge was originally used to cross a moat (hence the door being so high up) of course the bridge has been rebuilt a few times and the moat has been drained. This is Colchester Castle, a Norman castle, built by William the Conquerer in 1089. This is in the nearest town to where Mum and Dad lived.

St Ives, Cornwall a former fishing village, now a tourist destination....I went on holiday here with my Nan and Papa when I was 3. There is a village nearby that is actually called Mousehole!

Woodland, not bush....and it is springtime with lots of bluebells. This is near where my Mum and dad lived in Wivenhoe, Essex

Stonehenge is part of history in the United kingdom and it's interesting. the tower of london is where henry the eighth disposed of few of his spare wives The history of the U.K. stretches back ages literally many centuries... Once the largest empire in the world, history of the United Kingdom is still studied by most of the world even today! Since the time of the Normans history of the U.K. has managed to create and add many chapters. The United Kingdom today is a G8 nation and remains a major world power. Anyone planning a trip to the United Kingdom will certainly benefit from becoming familiar with the fascinating history of the United Kingdom.

(**G8**, and formerly the (G6) or Group of Six) is a forum for governments of eight nations of the northern hemisphere: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States __ [] __


 * NATURE, PARKS AND RESERVES.**

Hyde park diana fountain

regents park

taransay:) My Nan and Papa's shop, papa created this web site []