Festivals/traditions in your country/city

Pancake day, or Shrove Tuesday, was celebrated in England this week. For this week's posting, I would like you to describe a festival or tradition from your country/region/city.

The Preston Manor

Preston Manor is an old manor house which was built in 1250, and it has been the Stanford family home for nearly 150 years. I think it would be interesting to visit this house because it is huge and very old. It must be incredible.

According to a brochure, Preston manor evokes the atmosphere of an Edwardian gentry house.

Apparently, there are more than twenty rooms over four floors that we can explore. Moreover, there is a fascinating pets's cemetery and beautiful gardens.

Preston manor is situated near Brighton seafront and it is open to the general public during the spring and summer. I am disapointed that I can't visit it because it doesn't open until April 1st and I go back to France on March 28th.

Pubs

I go to pubs every weekend. In my opinion the best pub is The Eagle. It's near St Peter's church. About 5 minutes from that church. The staff are polite to customers. And it has a good atmosphere in the pub. And there is tasty food which is cheap. It is important. But I have one complaint. It is a little bit noisy for me. I can't hear my friends talking.
I haven't been to many pubs. So I can't evaluation them yet. My friends have a book which ranks Brighton and Hove pubs. We want to go to the best pubs everywhere. So maybe we will go to new pubs. I'm looking forward to finding somewhere new and drinking there.

__ B R I G H T O N P R I D E __

I'd like to tell you about Brighton pride which promotes equality among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community (we call them LGBT community)

For a couple of days, in summer and winter, there are series of free events.

For example : games, fashion shows, joyrides, meetings, dog shows, pub quizzes, sport competitions... etc...

Its main aim is to develop an environment in favour of LGBT and collect donations to other voluntary organisations.

Brighton pride stretches back as far as 1992 starting as an event onThe Level, since then , it has evolved into the biggest free Pride festival in the UK.

I'll give you some numbers about Brighton Pride : last year, during the summer festival, more than 120000 visitors visited this festival.

Indeed, many business organisations have become sponsors or partners to help Brighton Pride to be successful (such as the BBC, Metrobus, Barclays...)

You can buy membership for pride, it costs £15 pounds and it's reduced to £7.50 for the unemployed, students and those over 60.


To conclude, my article isn't an advert for the LGBT Pride! It's just some information about this subject because in France I have never seen this kind of festival.

Brighton city

Hi I'm going to talk about Brighton and where you can go. There are good things
like food and drink which are fantastic and tasty because there are a lot of
Arabic, Chinese, American,and Indian restaurants and the pubs and bars on the seafront are great for meeting friends and having fun. And there is a lot of sightseeing and museums. For
example, you can go to Brighton Pier and the Royal Pavilion. The parks are beautiful and nice
places for walking and running. And the beach is good. You can go to a mall called
Churchill Square and there are a lot of shops in North Street. Enjoy and have fun.

Brighton Toy and Model Museum

The Brighton Toy and Model Museum is situated in Trafalgar Street.12 years ago, this museum opened. The admission is £3.50 for an adult, £2 for students and children, and £9 for a family ticket.

If you want to go to the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, you can view a lot of cabinets which show beautiful Victorian dolls, their houses and also, you can see different toys from many periods. There is also a panorama of farms which is really impressive and you must see the country scenes. You can see models and toys from the United Kingdom.

The museum is open to visitors as well as being a centre for restoration and research. The director is interested in toys and he is a renowed collector, he lives for his passion, and he wants to share it with other people. This museum has been created by a group of people who wanted to perserve these beautiful toys. If you are lucky and you go to this museum you won't regret it. It's as if you are in a different world.

The Theatre Royal

THE THEATRE ROYAL IN BRIGHTON

I think the theatre is a very beautiful place and you have to visit this place if you come to Brighton.
This building was the Prince of Wales' idea, and it was built in an unprecedented 10 months and first opened its doors on Saturday June 12th ,1807 with the famous play "hamlet". It was the one of the finest theatres constructed outside London.

I was very surprised when I saw that this theatre stayed open during the both Wars and the depression in the thirties, this is exceptional because in France a lot of famous places closed during the war because it was too dangerous !!!

If you like plays or musicals you won't be disappointed, the Theatre Royal has a lot of popular productions like "the Bee Gees story" or "Shakespeare". If you don't know what would you like to do tonight, go to the Theatre Royal and I am sure that you will have a good evenning !!!!

You won't be disapointed with the choice of drama, musicals, dance on offer in Brighton and a spectacular Christmas panto !!!!

shopping in Brighton

There are lots of things to do in Brighton, so I would like to tell you about shopping :

Churchill square is a shopping centre with 80 shops where you can find clothes, accessories, sportswear...It is opened 7 days a week and it's a great place to go shopping with your family.

Next, in the North laines (between the station and the Royal Pavillion), there are over 320 shops, you can find everything, bric-a-brac shops, fashion shops or widgets and wool to Art Deco, vegetarian shoes, food stores, a chinese supermarket and at the week end there are markets, so it's a real mix of the ethnic and culture.

The heart of the old Brighton is the laines, you can find a great mix of antiques, jewellery, famous labels and interiors.
In the hidden squares, you can smell coffee and the aroma of Italian cooking.
Bordering The Lanes and the North Laines there is North Street, the main street in Brighton and you can find shops such as Mango, Snappy Snaps, the Body Shop, The Pier and Boots and unusal stores like Kurt Geiger Shoes and Lombok interiors.

London Road is a shopping area near Brighton Station with supermarkets and large stores, and good hi-fi and electrical stores. There are great Open Markets, selling fresh fruit, vegetables, fish and meat.

One mile east of the Brighton Pier, there is the Marina Village Shopping Centre with specialist shops, pubs, restaurants, a cinema, a bowling , a fitness club and other leisure facilities.


So you will not be bored in this town !!!

That's what you can do in Brighton & Hove

That's what you can do in Brighton & Hove:

For Eating Out:
In Brighton there are many varieties of Restaurants: Chinese, Thai, Indian, French, Italian, American, Spanish, Lebanese and Japanese. There are also 400 cafés and restaurants in Brighton and Hove. Of course you can eat the Famous Fish and Chips or some shellfish in a lot of restaurants bythe seaside.

Pubs:
There are a lot of amazing pubs and bars in Brighton, supposedly one for every day of the year. The great Hanover residential area especially, seems to have a pub for every 10 inhabitants!!
There are typical British and Irish Pubs and many pubs serve very good food, others stage live music, some even have karaoke but all serve great beer.

Shopping:
There are different types of shops in Brighton.
Firstly there is the Commercial Centre called Churchill Square where you can find everything you want except food (Zara, CarphoneWareHouse, H&M, HMV...)
Secondly, in the same street, Western Road, you can find a lots of shops like Marks & Spencers, Sainsbury's, Orange...
Thirdly there is the romantic charm of The Lanes with a lot of colourful shops.
This is the Unique Brighton, a collection of specialist shops, bars and restaurants in the North Laines, North Street and The Lanes which has over than 350 shops.



Entertainment:
England’s loveliest and liveliest city by the sea. Brighton and Hove is fun, cosmopolitan and uniquely eccentric all year round. Regency architecture, the pleasure pier, specialist shops, pavement cafés, a lively arts scene and vibrant nightlife, everything’s in walking distance, so take time to explore and enjoy the scenery.

By Arthur Morbois

Second Posting

This week, I would like you to find out about what you can do in Brighton. Areas to cover are going out, eating and drinking, culture, site-seeing and shopping. You can google 'Brighton' or use the following websites to help you:

http://www.brighton.co.uk/

http://tourism.brighton.co.uk/

http://www.brightonlife.com/

http://www.visitbrighton.com/home/1066.asp

' Engines running' in crash plane

I would like to present you my new article which talks about an accident at Heathrow Airport.

Both engines of the British Airways jet which crash landed were still running when it came down. All 163 passengers and 16 crew survived this crash. The flight came from Beijing on the 17th of January. I think that it was a fuel supply system problem because some US investigators noted the same type of crash in Brisbane, in September 2006 when a boeing 777's right engine shut down.
Thanks to the recorded data we know that the aircraft had enough fuel and there was another problem because the automatic throttle and the engine control worked normally and so the cause of this crash is difficult to define.
Now, the investigators said it was carrying out a 'detailled analysis examination of the complete fuel flow path from the aircraft tanks to the engine fuel nozzles'

Britney Spears missed the Los Angeles court

go to this line!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7205587.stm
On the 24th of January, Brithney Spears should have attended a Los Angeles court with her ex-husband Kevin Federline... However, Brithney attended the court but not all the process, in fact after 20 minutes of attendance she asked to leave the court...
I think that Britney should have attended the process... Even if it was very emotional and stressful, this is not a reason to leave the court after only 20 minutes. As a result of not having attended the process she is banned from seeing her two children...
It`s a sad story not to be allowed to see your own children so maybe it will be better for Brithney to be allowed to have visits with her children but perhaps only after she will understand what she is doing because that`s not a normal for children to have a "toxic mother" !




Gaelle Leblanc

Italy's Prodi to risk Senate vote

What do you think about this?!

"The BBC's Christian Fraser reports from Rome that is still possible for Mr Prodi to govern with the support of several unelected life senators but the question is - for how long? "

It's about time!!
In sixty years of Republican history, no prime minister has behaved in the same way that Prodi has (stubborn, fickle). He doesn't abandon the rules and penalize Italy's economy.

drink confession

Two teenage girls explain why they drink to excess.

The first confession is about Paris who started to drink when she was 14 years old. She lived with her mother who is an alcoholic. There was always alcohol in her house and sometimes she bought alcohol for her mother. now Paris says she was an idiot and she regrets not working harder at school.

The second confession is about Shannon. She started to drink when she was 13 years old, because for her it was just a way to escape and have fun. Her parents were aware of her problem but she waits in front of shops and off-licences and ask shoppers to buy alcohol for her. A bottle of wine is so cheap and it very easy for her to buy alcohol.

I am frightened by these confessions because I didn't think that young girls started to drink at 13 or 14 years old !!!! Now they regret their acts, but it is too late !!!!!

celine Marais

a woman-only bus in Mexico

A new system in Mexico city allows women to be protected from groping and verbal abuse common on the public transportation system : the buses have large pink "women only" signs on the front and side .

I think it's a good idea to protect women with special buses only for them, but in my opinion this new service separates women. It would be better if there was more police presence on the streets, and if government increases security in dangerous areas. Justice should be better and criminals severely punished.

In my opinion , separating women and men doesn't contribute to equality, but if it is the only solution to protect them, do it...

Maybe the real solution is to change the mentality of Mexicans and encourage equality.