Stonehenge

The great stone monument of Stonehenge is the best known and most remarkable of prehistoric remains in Britain. It has stood on Salisbury Plain for about 4,000 years. No written records exist of its origin, and it has always been surrounded by mystery. There have been many different theories, but still nobody knows why it was built.

One theory is that it was a place from where stars and planets could be observed. It was discovered that the position of some stones was related to the movements of the sun and moon, so that the stones could be used as a calendar to predict such things as eclipses.

At one time people thought that Stonehenge was a Druid temple. The Druids were a Celtic religious group before the Norman Conquest. Some people believe that the Druids were a group of priests who practiced human sacrifice and cannibalism.

Another theory is that the great stone circle was used to store terrestrial energy which was then generated across the country through invisible channels for a special kind of power.

Besides the theories of scientists, there are local legends. One of them tells that Stonehenge was built by the devil in a single night. He flew forwards and between Ireland and Salisbury Plain carrying huge stones one by one and setting them in place.

London traffic

Traffic in London differs from that of the Continent. In England they keep to the left but not to the right. In England people say. “If you go left, you go right; if you go right, you go wrong.”

They say that once upon a time people kept to any part of the road they liked. But then they decided to make it a rule to keep to the left. As Napoleon hated the British very much, he decided that in France the people should keep to a different side. And later on in all the countries which he conquered he made the traffic keep to the right.

There are no trams in London since 1952. The main transport is the underground. The London underground is often called the tube, because it looks like a long, narrow and dimly lit tube, with its walls plastered with all kinds of advertisements. There are no vestibules in the London underground. The sign of the London underground - a red circle crossed with a blue stripe can be seen on the buildings or just under a staircase leading straight under the ground. The London underground stations cannot be compared with those of Moscow or St. Peter's - they are old and not attractive to the eye. The London underground is very long. Its total length is 402km/249 miles. Average train speed: 33km per hour/20.5mph. Number of passengers carried on the Tube each year: 1,073 million. Total number of escalators: 412. Total number of lifts: 122. Total number of stations owned and managed: 260. Total number of LU staff: 13,400.