A Foreigner in Britain

Antonio (the author) on a terrace of a bar in Madrid is talking with Mark who is an English man. The conversation is about Britain. Mark thinks that Antonio has a wrong idea about Britain. Mark purpose to him to visit Britain. Antonio visited Britain (Wales, Scotland and England). In this book, he has written about his first impressions, the country, the people, the culture, the food and, of course, the weather! 

Chapter 1: Traditional London. Antonio visited London for the New Year with Pablo, a Spanish friend of him. He speaks about the London pubs, especially about the close time, about the afternoon tea and the tearooms . On New Year's Eve, they went to Trafalgar Square, which is the traditional place to celebrate New Year's Eve in London. Also he describes his visit to Southwark and  curiosities and anecdotes that he lived that night there. (in the theater)

Chapter 2: Cosmopolitan London. London’s ethnic diversity makes it a very special city. Everyone seems accustomed to the great variety of races and religions in this city. Antonio decided to take Pablo to Chinatown, also to the Caribbean carnival  in Notting Hill. Finally, Antonio talks about Cockney, a London slang. " London's a very modern and cosmopolitan city, but it is also very traditional.

Chapter 3: York. Antonio decided to visit the city of York because the Vikings had been there. His guidebook said that the Vikings built the city they called 'Jorvik'. He took a room in the guest house and decided to go to Viking Centre next day. The visit was incredible because it wasn't just old things in a museum, it was the recreation of a real town. He felt he really was in a Viking town.

Chapter 4: Oxford. Antonio speaks about the University and the city. “He was hungry and decided to have ‘fish and chips’, he walked until I reached a neighborhood that had a few traditional-looking pubs. They had fish and chips. The barman explained that townspeople and university students haven't got on well with each other for more than 600 years. The problem began with the Scholastica Massacre in 1355, a fight between most of the townspeople and students where hundreds of people were killed. Since then, relations between the townspeople and the students haven't been very good.". After that Antonio tells us about the traditions, the May Ball and May Morning. "May Balls are very elegant dances where the men wear dinner suits.” When the Ball ended people went to see the sunrise. After that everyone walked together to Magdalen Bridge. People from the Ball jumped from the bridge into the river in their expensive clothes. Everyone was laughing, screaming , singing and drinking champagne.

Chapter 5: A country Christmas.  One of his friends from university had invited him home to her parents' house for Christmas. She would show him an English Christmas. She hadn't told him about her father's old Bentley and he was interested in that.  He was in the Christmas reunion of the members of the Bentley Drivers Club.

He was surprised with the dinner on Christmas Eve. There weren’t roast turkey, roast potatoes and vegetables, the traditional food for a British Christmas. She explained that in England, they eat the traditional meal on Christmas Day, not on Christmas Eve. After dinner, they all went to Midnight Mass. That night, Father Christmas came to the house and left presents for everyone.

At the Christmas day they ate dinner wearing red, blue and green hats, when they sat down, there were things called Christmas crackers on every plate. The cracker opens with a  "Bang!" and inside there is a coloured paper hat, a joke written on a piece of paper and a small present.  It was part of the tradition of Christmas.

Chapter 6: Cardiff. Gareth, to Welsh friend invited to Antonio to his wedding. He will know a place called Castle Coch and the Gareth's cousin, Angharad. He will be in love with her. This will be the beginning of a lovely romance between the two of them.

 Angharad and Antonio went down to the coast south of Cardiff for a weekend, and Angharad tried to teach him to windsurf. The last day in Wales, Angharad took him to the Royal National Eisteddfod. It's the largest popular festival of competitive music-making and poetry-writing in Europe.

Chapter 7: Cornwall.  Antonio decides to write an article about Cornwall to participate in a competition organized for a magazine. He started his trip along the coast in a town called Bude. There he knew an old man, Richard who seemed to know everything about Cornwall, its history and its myths. Antonio tell us about the King Arthur’s story. King Arthur was born in Tintagel Castle and Richard said him that he stayed at the Castle Hotel. There, he wrote his article and continued remembering the stories that Richard told him.   

Chapter 8: Manchester.  Antonio and Louisse, his English cousin, are in a restaurant in the middle of Manchester. There, they saw to David Beckham with his wife and his cousin asked them their autograph. They were in a club dancing until 2.00 am, when it closed. Next day, they went  to Old Traffor to see a football match. It was an important match, the "Red Evils" (Manchester United) against their traditional "enemy", Liverpool.

Chapter 9: Edimburgh. Antonio visits his friend Martin’s house in Edimburgh. He tells us how they met and also things about the Edinburgh festival and “the Fringe”. Also he speaks about Edinburgh Castle and the history of Scotland. Martin and he went to see to Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) and other different shows. They also saw a circus.

Chapter 10: More of Scotland. Antonio tells us about Highland games of Dunkeld (Scotland). They're a competition of the traditional Scottish sports. He also tells us about the kilts and the haggis, a typical Scottish food. Martin and Antonio camp near of Loch Ness. Martin tells Antonio the legend of Lord Cawdor and his castle, also the traditional way to celebrate New Year and  Hogmanay in Scotland. Finally they will see Loch Ness.

In the Epilogue Antonio encourages us to travel and discover new places.