Hiya, welcome to Easy English.
Today I'm out in the sun on Brighton Beach
and I want the people to tell me;
what is the best thing about the UK?
Now before we get started,
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Here we go.
Okay. So yeah, tell us;
what is the best thing about the UK, in your opinion?
Um... the best thing about living in the UK...
I mean, it kind of depends where you are,
but it's the people. - The people?
Yeah, I think, it's kind of...
'cos you get quite nice people
and like, people that help you out.
Um... I'd probably say the people here,
everyone's so friendly.
Like, when you go on holiday, it's not always the case.
Yeah. - Certain parts of the UK,
obviously not so much, but that's like everywhere.
Everywhere's got the places that are
a little bit more about the community. - Yeah.
And Brighton's really like that,
everyone's so friendly, everyone says hello,
everyone wants to chat.
What, in your opinion, is the best thing about the UK?
In my opinion, the best thing about the UK is...
I'm actually going to say two things. - Yeah.
Um... Pubs; a real old fashioned English pub
with proper English beer and a roast dinner on a Sunday.
And the second thing is...
music; we have a really, really amazing culture for music.
Right. Tell me now then this... in the burgundy er.. polo neck.
Me? - Yeah, yeah
What is the best thing about er... the UK? Or living here?
Probably the beach. - Yeah and the groynes.
Yeah, the groyne. - The Groynes? What's a groyne?
Tell people what a groyne is?
The groyne? - Is that thing, there.
The groyne is basically a thing you jump off.
what people are stood on right now?
You jump off it?
Right, come back to the microphone, you've all walked away.
What in your opinion, is the best thing about the UK?
For me, it would be the music of my youth.
It would be the music we get to grow up with,
I love house music, drum and bass, bit of old-school hardcore,
acid house, getting out, going to clubs with your friends,
that culture of meeting up beforehand,
having fun through the night
and then chilling the next day.
For me, that's...
that's the thing that the UK really drives forward.
It's... it's that youth culture,
so enjoy it whilst you're young.
Yeah, people can give you like, directions and stuff.
Are you one of those people? If I was a bit lost?
Yeah, yeah, I'd help you out.
Yeah, if I knew where... wherever you was asking was,
I would help you, yeah.
Do you think UK people are approachable, then?
Yeah, er...
Do they look approachable, do you think?
I mean, I'll be honest, sometimes it can...
I know you... it's like, never judge a book by its cover.
Yeah. - But, with some people it can be like that.
Like, you can judge someone by their looks.
But I think most people you turn to, depending where you are,
will help you out and like,
give you directions if you needed it.
Okay, so let's unpack that then.
So the first thing you said was about the people, right?
And what is it about... what do you mean specifically?
Is it the openness, the helpfulness, the politeness?
What is it?
Erm.. so yeah, the openness, the helpfulness, all of it.
So, especially spirituality down in Brighton,
I love that everyone's so open,
everyone wants to like, help themselves.
I say everyone, of course, you can't really generalise.
But everyone that I seem to have come across,
I feel like it's always a place I want to be in.
D'you know what this guy meant
when he said the phrase; not to 'judge a book by its cover'?
I know you... it's like, never judge a book by its cover.
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So the first thing, what is your...
what is a typical... did you say traditional English beer?
Yeah, traditional.
We'd call it, I guess, an old man pub. - 'Kay.
And what kind of, what kind of drinks are those?
So English beer, in old fashioned English pubs,
usually is not fizzy, like most...
like most beers all around the world.
Usually not that cold either.
Just a little bit cold, rather than very cold.
But the flavours can range
and sometimes they're (a) very light colour,
sometimes a very dark colour.
And this is like, a cliche, 'cos I think... a cliche of the English,
other than like, bad teeth, la, la, la, all this stuff.
Is that we drink warm, flat beer. - Mmm hmm...
What is... what is so good about it?
Because I think, people are kind of, put off by that...
Those two descriptions of this beer. - Yeah.
What's so good about warm, flat beer, that's better than the fizzy?
Well, it don't get me wrong, I like fizzy...
like a fizzy lager, as well.
But, I think erm... I dunno, there seems to be...
there seems to be just more variation in flavour
and you're never quite sure what you're gonna get
and it's often... it's often much more local, as well.
Like usually, those beers will be from what part...
what particular area you're in, rather than them being
beers that you can get anywhere in the world.
Okay, so you're kind of representing... Yeah, I think so.
Or helping your local brewery, in a way?
Yeah, I think so. - And is there a pl...
'cos maybe like, people think about, you know like,
Guinness is like... I know it's not like, a beer,
but... I guess it is a beer, sorry. But a stout.
A stout, yeah. - But not what you're talking about,
I think you're talking about more ale-y stuff. - Yeah, yeah.
People, I think, imagine we just drink that constantly.
But maybe there's a time and place, or you know,
there's certain circumstances where these beers are meant to be drunk?
Well for me... for me, it would often be on sort of a...
to be fair, more in winter time, I think.
When you're in a... like, it's cold outside,
pub's got a fireplace going.
Maybe... maybe you're playing a game of... I dunno,
chess or something, in there, in the pub.
Sitting with my dad, having a having a couple of pints,
that the... that's in my head, when I envisage it being best.
Nice, so you don't want to obviously have like, an ice cold,
pilsener type beer - Yeah, yeah.
And you also want something that lasts,
for the four hour game of chess, you're gonna have.
Yeah, yeah, exactly.
What is it about Brighton or are there other places,
which you'd recommend? Or places that you'd say,
it maybe isn't quite like that?
I think it depends what sort of vibe that you like,
in London, it's a very busy lifestyle,
it's like the hustler lifestyle.
Everyone want to be like here, they're, everywhere
and making it into like, the top places. - Right, yeah.
In Brighton, people still are like that,
but it's a lot more laid back,
it's a lot more like, everyone goes at their own pace
and they're own their own journey and I love that for here,
because that's the kind of person that I am.
And... but are Londoners approachable, then?
I would say no, like... - No?
People don't really go; ''oh hey, how are you?'' in London.
I walk past people on the street, especially with Blue
and they all want to come over and cuddle and say hello
and ask me how I'm doing and like, what's going on in my day.
And I'm the same with everyone else, because we're social beings.
Like, we're meant to talk to each other,
we're meant to like, connect. - Okay.
But not everyone is like that and I found in London,
it was a lot more like, keep your head down.
Like, don't really talk to anyone, do your own thing.
So they're not approachable, maybe, as much in London. - Yeah.
But, if, let's say, you tripped over the step on the met...
on the Underground, would someone help you out?
I feel like they would. - Okay. - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I feel... I don't know, that's never really happened to me,
so I can't like, assume. But everyone's lovely, you know,
I'm not saying that like, one area is better than another area,
but just in my experience, people seem to be a lot more...
yeah, approachable here. - Okay. - Yeah, for sure.
And what was this, when you said the music of your youth,
what era are we talking? - So we're talking like the early...
late 80s early 90s,
that thing that took me out of disliking my parents music,
to... finding my own music, finding my own tastes.
Right, the gateways. - Yeah, yeah.
It went from ABBA to... to beats, to bass, to repetitive beats.
The government tried to ban repetitive beats in 1991.
Is that right? - Yeah, it's the no repetitive beats,
it's the Criminal Justice Act.
It wasn't called the 'no repetitive beats act'?
No, but that was part of it. It was the...
they banned playing repetitive beats in public places,
to try and stop illegal raves as they were happening at the time.
Is that right!? - Yeah, Yes. So enjoy your culture whilst you can.
Well let's say... can you give me an example?
If someone was looking for.. wha... wha...
house music. - Yeah. - Give us some really good...
the top acid house or house band's... house music
that you can look at right now.
Well, you're clearing out of touch,
'cos there's no such thing as a house band.
They're... they're all producers, but you know...
again, I'm looking back to the golden era when...
when house music was... was at its prime.
You rarely knew who the... the producers were behind them.
And it was usually a very small group of producers.
You know, when you look back and you dig it out,
you look at 'Omni Trio', you look at 'DJ Seduction',
you look at many of the Dutch people.
You know, anything on the 'RNS' label from an old,
you know, early 90s period,
you're looking at some absolutely banging tunes.
But you won't often know who the producer is,
unless you really start delving into it.
But you know, steer clear of Calvin Harris
and David Guetta, whatever you do.
The second thing that you asked... you said was bands.
Yeah. - Who's your favourite...
d'you have any favourite British bands. - Yeah, I've got loads.
I tend to like lots of music from the 70s and 80s. - Right.
Like, I like 'Led Zeppelin', for example.
And... and... and 'The Who', 'Black Sabbath'.
Even going back... going back to 'The Beatles', as well.
That's the golden age, I think, for... for British music.
There's lots of good, more recent stuff as well, even...
Well, I say recent, 'Arctic Monkeys' for example.
So not that recent now,
but there's lots and lots of bands like that,
that're more recent too. - Yeah, nice.
And then' last question;
What, if you have anything, what is maybe,
the worst thing about the UK?
The worst thing about the UK is how dark it gets in winter.
Okay, when you go to play chess and have your... - Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, yeah. There are some benefits to it.
But like, when it's today...
because I live just down the road in Brighton
and days like today are very amazing.
But yeah, when it's getting light at 8am
and getting dark at 4pm, it's not that nice.
And what's the worst thing about living here?
Nothing. - It's him.
What!?
I'm a DJ myself, I do it my bedroom. - Oh Really?
Yeah, or in my front room now, to be fair.
I've progressed from bedrooms to front room DJ'ing.
Yeah so, you know, it's... it's...
it's great fun, when you can't take it out with you anymore,
you take it home.
Thanks for watching this week's episode.
Let us know in the comments below;
your favourite thing about the UK, if you've been.
Or if you haven't been, about your respective country.
And we'll see you next week,
te-ra.