be "How do you do?" or "How are you?" And after the reply "Very well, thank you; how are you?" the next remark is almost certain to be about the weather. When they go abroad the British often surprise people of other nationalities by this tendency to talk about the weather, a topic of conversation that other people do not find so interesting. The best time of the year in Britain is spring (of course, it rains in spring too). The two worst months in Britain are January and February. They are cold, damp and unpleasant. The best place in the world then is at home by the big fire. Summer months are rather cold and there can be a lot of rainy days. So most people who look forward to summer holidays, plan to go abroad for the summer — to France, Spain or some other place on the Continent. The most unpleasant aspect of British weather is fog and smog. This is extremely bad in big cities and especially in London. The fog spreads everywhere, it is in the streets and it creeps into the houses. Cars move along slowly, but still street accidents are frequent in the fog. People cannot see each other. They creep along the houses touching them with their hands not to lose their way or not to be run over by a car. Questions