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Jackie: The traditional British holiday is a seaside holiday, so for this week's podcastsinenglish.com we're talking about being beside the seaside. Richard, why is the seaside so popular for the Brits?
Richard: Um... well I think the first thing is, in the UK, you are never further than I think, 75 miles from the ocean.
Jackie: Yes, 120 kilometres.
Richard: Yes, so it's very easy to get to for a start.
Jackie: So we're talking about a traditional seaside holiday in Britain, Richard, and the first thing that I think about is candy floss...
Richard: Yes
Jackie: ...and rock. I don't think I've seen candy floss and rock for sale abroad. Can you explain what that is? Candy floss.
Richard: Candy floss is fluffy sugar, I think, on a stick.
Jackie: It's a bit strange.
Richard: It is a bit strange and rock is basically again, it's just boiled sugar, it's like a boiled sweet, it's very hard and... and you suck it.
Jackie: Yes, yes, very popular and, of course, ice cream.
Richard: Ice cream, definitely.
Jackie: Not perhaps a lot of things to do but what traditionally has been very popular, especially for the children, is the donkey rides.
Richard: Yes. There are lots of traditional things associated with a beach holiday in Britain; donkey rides definitely being one of them.
Jackie: And building sand castles.
Richard: Building sand castles.
Jackie: You've got to have your bucket and spade.
Richard: [laughs] You've got your bucket and spade, yes, and also in Victorian times they built a lot of piers so walking along the pier is very popular.
Jackie: Yes, they can be quite long I mean it can take quite a long time to walk down one end and come...
Richard: Yes. And often on the piers they have amusement arcades um... so you can shelter from the rain.
Jackie: Yes. And after you've done that, of course, it's sleeping in a deckchair, isn't it?
Richard: Yes. Or going back to your beach hut.
Jackie: Yeah, now that's interesting again from the Victorian times, beach huts were very popular because you could then have some privacy when you wanted to change into your swimming costume. They're quite basic aren't they, usually?
Richard: Very basic um... they're very small, made of wood, often brightly coloured but, um but very basic, yes.
Jackie: And of course um... British summer holidays it often rains so they're a great place to shelter and have a cup of tea.
Richard: Yes but quite controversial recently because um... they've been selling for very large amounts of money, haven't they?
Jackie: Yes you can either rent a beach hut for the day or, like 20,000 other people in the UK, you can buy your own and as you say they have become very popular and very expensive.
Richard: Yes, I think one sold recently on the south coast of England for, I think, 126,000 pounds.
Jackie: 126,000 pounds for a wooden hut. It had no water, no electricity and no toilet.
Richard: However, recently that record was broken.
Jackie: Amazingly
Richard: How much did it go for?
Jackie: I'm actually a little embarrassed to say that a family bought a beach hut, a wooden beach hut, for 170,000 pounds.
Richard: Wow
Jackie: It seems strange, Richard, doesn't it because again traditionally going to the beach, being at the seaside, it's meant to be a cheap holiday.
Richard: A very cheap holiday going to the seaside but certainly not if you've got to spend 170,000 pounds on your beach hut!
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