Some families - as well as millions of individuals -choose to visit museums. British national art and antiquity collections are free to everyone. Free entry to the public is a right we have sometimes had to fight for, and we are, I believe, rightly proud that our national glories are open to all, not just to those who can afford to pay. The British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Modern and other national museums in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff attract many millions each year; for poor tourists they are not denied the opportunity to see great art collections; while for families free entry means that they can 'drop in' to museums and return the following weekend without spending a huge part of the family's weekly budget.
About three and half million people - around 6% of the population are members of the National Trust, which makes it the largest non-commercial membership organisation in the UK by far. The National Trust was founded in 1895 to preserve and protect the countryside; later it started taking responsibility for some of the fine historic houses and other buildings which are scattered over our land but which their owners could no longer afford to keep up. Through the National Trust this cared-for countryside is open to all, and the public can see and explore the houses. Besides the members of the trust who are allowed free entry to the houses, millions more will pay for an individual visit here or there. Our enthusiasm for exploring beautiful buildings and landscaped parks is not just the enthusiasm of a small elite. Membership of the trust is equivalent to the combined populations of the cities of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow and Sheffield or to the millions of people using the London tube throughout an average weekday. The trust owns 300 historic houses and gardens, 700 miles of coastline and 250,000 hectares of open countryside.
Another organisation, English Heritage, is responsible for looking after England's famous historic sites such as Stonehenge, Norman castles, ruined abbeys and old palaces. (The other British countries have similar organizations.) Anyone who visits their sites or the National Trust sites will see other people -ordinary people of all ages, often families - wandering round ancient buildings, historical areas, beautiful palaces and their grounds with great pleasure and fascination. Again the point is that the sites are looked after by people who feel passionately about our history, the grounds are free anyway, and people care enough to pay an annual membership fee to keep everything in good condition.
Russians are trying energetically to establish effective tourism in Russia. This includes introduction to wild open spaces and the promotion of lovingly cared-for house-museums of writers. The success of the National Trust suggests that people visit more as they become more involved in caring for their country's treasures.
If they can afford to do so, most British people like to go abroad for their annual holiday. (By this I mean a period of one or two weeks.) Spain is the most popular destination, followed by France, America (on special cheap packages), and other European countries, with Turkey rising up the list of favourite destinations. Half of British holidaymakers book a 'package holiday' in which everything is arranged for them; the other half choose their accommodation, means of travel and activities. Although the British love their own countryside as a place for relaxation, what we miss is reliable sun. People go abroad for sunshine, and many return having enjoyed lying on beaches and doing little else. But annual visits to other countries do change our perceptions of the world. We can still be insular in our views of 'abroad', but we adopt many of 'their' habits and assimilate them to our own.
Unlike you, we do not have dachas in the countryside, elderly relatives in villages, sanatoria or camps for children in huge forests. Instead we have gardens and allotments, grandparents with their own lives and accommodation, and -strangely, perhaps - very few camps of the kind familiar in Russia and America, although such holidays for children are increasing. So for those who want to enjoy a holiday in Britain, the options are camping, caravans, renting old cottages for a week or two, or driving around and sleeping at night in bed-and-breakfast accommodation or in hotels. Camping can be a cheap (but often very wet) family holiday. Caravans can be rented on special caravan sites, or bought and towed from place to place by the family car. Country cottages, absolutely unlike the Russian concept of a 'kottedzh', are small, usually old, often built of stone and rather damp inside, uncomfortable, romantic and much loved by those who use them. We can rent cottages all over the country, but the most popular ones are in remote and deserted beautiful parts where town-dwellers can enjoy refreshment and exercise in the good country air.
Although children have summer holidays from school lasting six weeks, few working people get more than 28 days of paid free time in the whole year. Typically, the annual summer holiday will take up two weeks, while the other two weeks will be spent on short breaks and staying-at-home. Those who have plenty of time are pensioners. (In Britain a woman can retire at 60 and a man at 65. Here I am mostly considering the over-65s.) In Britain the old expect to stay active and, as far as possible, to go on doing what they have always enjoyed doing. They watch television, they garden, they take part in social activities with family and friends, they involve themselves in all kinds of associations, they study for certificates and diplomas and for sheer pleasure, they argue, demonstrate, read, sing, exercise, and often continue to work.
It is sometimes rumoured in Russia that British pensioners spend their lives on round-the-world cruises. This is a myth. Some pensioners find that they are very poor when they cease to earn; the state pension is not generous. Others, especially the middle-classes who have paid off the mortgage, saved some money, and have bought a smaller house for their retirement can suddenly find that they are quite rich. At this point, especially if they are not very energetic, the dream of the round-the-world cruise occurs to them. And for a few - a very few - sailing round the world can become a drug of addiction. 99.9% of pensioners, even the rich and well-off, would think such immersion in cruise life rather absurd. They can think of many other things to do. If you read the second chapter on 'Helping Ourselves' you will learn about some of them.
Chapter 2. Helping Ourselves: Our Passion for Voluntary Associations
Human beings are social animals. Usually this fundamental aspect of our species is discussed in terms of family and friends or in terms of large organisations such as 'the city' or 'the state'. There is however, a different kind of social life between the private and the public. In these two chapters I look at this aspect of British social life for which there is no real equivalent in Russia. (In Russia there are aspects of life for which there is no real equivalent in Britain.) Some of my examples may seem very familiar to you, others will seem strange. My intention is to explain the underlying attitudes of the British to this particular social space and the ways we fill it, because herein lies a major difference between British and Russian life.
All teenagers like to hang around. They hang around in streets, or sit on favourite walls or benches or lumps of concrete; they hang around at the entrances to houses, and lie about in favourite, comfortable rooms. Suppose that a couple of these teenagers decide that one of them has a good voice and the other is not bad at playing the guitar. They talk; they try out a few favourite songs; they begin to work out a new song for themselves. They find a bass guitarist; they send out messages through friends for a drummer/percussionist. The new group gets together and starts composing songs. They play to their friends, and then to a larger group of friends. Someone is ready to give them a slot at a local youth centre. Then they get a booking at a small night club, which means somewhere where they can play in public, even if it is mostly their friends who listen. They make a hundred pounds among the four of them - or in Russia, maybe sixteen hundred roubles - if they are lucky. Four hundred roubles each. Fun! Of course they hope to become famous, but even if they never compose another song, they will have (a) worked hard and (b) had fun. Teenagers and (up to a point) students are ready to decide to do this or that, simply because they enjoy it and want to do it. Is that attitude so true with older people, after they have left school and university? I think it is harder in Russia than in Britain.