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But even a small detached house, surrounded by a garden, gives the required suggestion of rural life which is dear to the hearts of manyBritish people.. The importance of “home” Despite

THUONGMAI UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH

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Phạm Thu Trà Housing in UK:

Nguyễn Hoàng Thu

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I Housing in UK: Overview

1 Attitudes to houses

2 Private property and public property

3 The importance of “home”

4 Individuality and conformity

5 Interiors: The importance of cosiness

6 Owning and renting:

1 Alcohol & Pubs

2 What do people drink? (Britain vs Vietnam)

HOUSING

I Housing in UK: Overview

1 Attitudes to houses

- In the past (according to figures in 1993)

According to “Housing and Saving 1993, Technical Report and Tables” (1993) and

“Savings in Britain” (1993) 81% of all respondents regarded owner-occupation as theirideal tenure compared with 12% for council renting and 4% for private venting

Although young people in their late teens or early 20s may well be renting privatelyand be happy to continue in that tenure for a few more years, they would wish within areasonable time to be owner-occupiers The overall result was that 85% of all adultsexpressed owner-occupation as being their expected tenure while 9% preferred councilrenting and just 1% private renting

Surveys on housing satisfaction have shown that satisfaction is greatest in the occupation sector where 94% were satisfied with their housing and an insignificantnumber said they were very dissatisfied Dissatisfaction is greatest in the councilrenting sector One would expect dissatisfaction to be related to variables such asincome and type of house

owner At present time:

Research in 1993 has forecast the trend in attitudes to housing in the UK Despitesome changes in attitudes of people in the UK, the aspiration of owning a home wouldtake up a significant proportion in housing Until now, almost everybody in Britaindreams of living in a detached house, that is, a house which is a separate building Thesaying, 'An Englishman's home is his castle' is well-known It illustrates the desire forprivacy and the importance attached to ownership which seem to be at the heart of theBritish attitude to housing

A large, detached house not only ensures privacy It is also a status symbol People inBritain want to own a "stately home" set in acres of garden Of course, such a house is

an unrealistic dream for most people But even a small detached house, surrounded by

a garden, gives the required suggestion of rural life which is dear to the hearts of manyBritish people Most people would be happy to live in a cottage, and if this is athatched cottage, reminiscent of a pre-industrial age, so much the better

Most people try to avoid living in blocks of flats Flats, they feel, provide the leastamount of privacy In central London, flats are the cheapest kind of home The peoplewho live in them are those who cannot afford to live anywhere else Only 20% of thecountry's households live in flats of any kind

2 Private property and public property

The image of a home as a castle implies a clear demarcation between private propertyand the public domain This is very clear in the case of a detached house Law andcustom seem to support a clear separation between what is public and what is private.For example, people have no general right to reserve the road directly outside theirhouse for their own cars The castle puts limits on the domain of its owner as well askeeping out others It also limits responsibility It is comparatively rare, for example,for people to attempt to keep the bit of pavement outside their house clean and tidy

To emphasize this clear division People prefer to live in houses a little bit set backfrom the road This way, they can have a front garden or yard as a kind of buffer zonebetween them and the world They can have low fences, walls or hedges around them

3 The importance of “home”

Despite the reverence they tend to feel for 'home, British people have little deep-rootedattachment to their house as an object or to the land on which it stands It is theabstract idea of 'home' which is important, not the building This will be sold when thetime and price is right and its occupiers will move into some other house which theywill then turn into 'home' - a home which they will love just as much as they did theprevious one

But the houses themselves are just investments An illustration of this lack ofattachment to mere houses (as opposed to homes) is that two-thirds of all inheritedhouses are immediately sold by the people who inherit them even if these people havelived there themselves at some time in their lives Another is the fact that it isextremely rare for people to commission the building of their own houses, (Mosthouses are commissioned either by local government authorities for poorer people tolive in - or, more frequently, by private companies known as 'property developers' whosell them on the open market

Comparison

In urban areas in Vietnam:

+ Flats are prevailing and chosen by dint

of lack of land area and expensive livingexpenses

+ Public property is protected andmanaged by the government fromsecurity to cleaning However, peoplesometimes use public property for theirown aim such as parking, selling

In rural areas in Vietnam+ The close between private and publicproperty People comfortably use publicand private poverty and protect thepublic city together by cleaning road,growing flowers It is believed thatprotecting public property is a great way

to keep their private property safe

Vietnamese especially in rural areas tend

to live in a stable home for most of theirlives and rarely move to

In the past, houses showed the value andtradition of family They are meaningful

At present time, houses are alsoconsidered as assets and standard value

of life

4 Individuality and conformity

Flats don’t give enough privacy and scope for the expression of individuality

However, not everything about housing in Britain can show individuality.

Most houses are built by organization, not individuals so people can get similar

to any house on the estate That is the reason why everybody wants to build anextension to their house or even garden shed to make a difference with other singlehouses

Individual self- expression by:

+ Colour of front door and window frames

+ Design of front garden

Comparison

In the UK, whole streets, even

neighborhoods are built the same because:

Terraced housing was put together, it is

literally identical to its neighbors and they

have a small footprint and are cheap to

maintain because of the commonality

In detail, Vietnamese houses are quitedifferent but on the whole, they allseem part of a total mess because theVietnamese want to have their ownhouse so they don’t want to designtheir house like anyone’s house

5 Interiors: The importance of cosiness

British houses have a reputation for being the coldest in Europe as they are old and not

so well insulated

Dometic comfort: importance of cosiness (an atmosphere which seems warm) overaesthetic concerns British people like the cosy atmosphere in their houses They donot focus on the background of the house because they usually use cheap items, mass-produced furniture and so on

Tradition is part of cosiness (such as the open fire) which can be suggested by beingsurrounded by old items of furniture In the past, people used it to keep warm so it isthe perfect traditional symbol of warmth

Most older houses have two general living rooms: the front room for formal visits, theback room for family members and close friends However, most modern smaller oneshave only one living room with two doors: the front door and the back door The back

door is for family and close friends only.

6 Owning and renting:

Most British people do not ‘belong’ to a particular place, nor are they usually brought

up in a long-established family house Wherever they are, they like to put down roots.House prices are high => mortgage system by ‘building societies’

+ About 70% of all the houses in Britain are occupied by their owners andalmost all of these were bought with a mortgage

+ Almost all owned by people who have borrowed 80% of the price

Mortgages are available from building societies, banks and other financial institutions.The proportion of ‘owner-occupiers’ tends to increase more than ‘council tenants’ and

‘tenants from private landlords’ in numbers

Housing associations, which are non-profit making, are now the main providers ofadditional low-cost housing for rent and for sale to those on low incomes and in thegreatest housing need The housing association sector is expanding rapidly andproviding homes for well over a million people

Before the end of the 20th century, most working class people lived in rentedaccommodation

This is the opposite of Vietnamese people Vietnamese people always want to owntheir own house This is because The British have little deep- rooted attachment totheir house because house just is an object Vietnamese people always want to have astable life, and they attach great importance to their home, their homeland

7 Homelessness

Homelessness is a condition of human beings that describe the individuals to residewithout a permanent dwelling It is obvious that individuals who are homeless are notable to get and maintain a safe, regular, adequate and secure housing The main reason

is a lack of affordable housing, poverty, unemployment or low wage earning, theirincome does not meet their needs

－ There were a quarter to a half a million

homeless people in Britain

Government street counts and

estimates give a snapshot of the

national situation The latest figures

showed that 4,751 people slept rough

across England on any given night in

2017 - a 15% increase compared to the

previous year, and more than double

the amount in 2010

－ Last year 57,890 households were

accepted as homeless in England In

Scotland, 34,100 applications were

assessed as homeless and in Wales

9,210 households were threatened with

homelessness

－ There is no national figure forhow many people are homelessacross Vietnam This is becausehomelessness is recordeddifferently in each nation, andbecause many homeless people

do not show up in officialstatistics at all

－ However, according to theHuman Rights Watch, there wereapproximately 23,000 homelesschildren in Vietnam in 2006

This is a complex issue that needs government measures both in the UK and inVietnam

II Compare types of house in Vietnam and UK

Compare types of house in Vietnam and UK

1 In Vietnam

Rural house

This type of house serves farmers’ families, which are often found in agriculturalsettlements in small rural villages Each small farmer family lives on a separate, closedcampus

City Villa

Homes are surrounded by gardens and access to nature in many directions (3-4directions), often built on the periphery of the city or alternately in large blocks farfrom the center

Homes (adjacent block)

The narrow plots are close together so that the main house is also block each other,only the ability to create garden in front and back The house only has one or twodirections of natural contact

Single apartment

This type of house is sharing corridors and stairs Each family lives in a self containedapartment, located along a corridor or surrounded by a shared staircase It ranged fromone to three floors, the other stacked up the other

2 In UK

In the UK, there are several typical house types such as flat, and houses, as you can see

on the slide Besides, there are a few different types of houses

cottages : it is a small, rather old house, commonly found in the countryside Thesesorts of houses can have either one or two storeys, with the second level usually beingsmaller than the ground level

Bungalows: This type of home is quite unique It is a single-storey house and is alsodetached from other houses It is a shorter-looking house due to a lack of a second orthird level However, occasionally, bungalows have a room or two based in the ‘roof’.Mansions:

This house is the most expensive out of all the different types of houses in the UK.This is usually a place full of rich residents The typical mansion consists of multiplelarge rooms, many floors and a huge garden, composed of many acres of land

From the information we have had, it can be seen that the basic similarity is that thehouses in the city are more comfort and spaciousness due to the smaller space in thecountryside In addition, the type of housing in Vietnam and in the UK has a cleardifference In the UK, maybe due to a better quality of life, the houses are mainlyaimed at spaciousness, comfort and environmental friendliness, most of which havelarge or small premises In contrast, in Vietnam, rural areas tend to build houses moresimilar to those in the UK, with a very large yard and garden, sometimes with longalleys leading to the house depending on the terrain In major British cities, these types

of houses are still maintained quite a lot, however, in big cities in Vietnam, apartmentsare the preferred type of apartment because of the crowded land, the demand for Landuse is increasing, so apartments located in many high-rise buildings become more

FOOD AND DRINK

I Introduction

As we can see, a wide and varied cuisine is developing in Britain today, no more do

we suffer under the image of grey boiled meat! After years of disparagement byvarious countries like Britain now has an enviable culinary reputation British food hasalways been multicultural, a pot pour of special styles Traditional British cuisine issubstantial, yet simple and wholesome We have long believed in four meals a day.British eating habits are very specific British cuisine is full of terrible-overcookedvegetables, greasy sausages and boring sandwiches Britain suffers - often unfairly -from a reputation as a country where the food is bad Much has been written and saidabout dietary disasters such as "chip butties", or culinary calamities like "deep-friedchocolate bars" – reputedly popular in the northern parts of Britain In Britain there are

a lot of traditional pubs which serve tasty meals at very good prices If you want to trysomething exotic, British supermarkets are full of diverse ingredients such as sauces,pasta, cheese, fruit and vegetables While Britain is not traditionally famed as one ofthe world's greatest gourmet nations, British food is often underrated More and morethe British have to work hard and have no time to prepare their meals on their own.They often chose fast food restaurants to have some snacks such as hamburgers orsandwiches If they decide to stay at home they prepare meals in microwave, whichisn't quite healthy

III Attitude to food.