Hi Luba - I'm astonished. I've had a very similar experience to you except that my parents were Italian and I was brought up in England. We always ate evening meals together - I've never known anything else. We had other Italian friends in our neighbourhood and visited them often. Sometimes the men came to our house in the evening to play cards and I remember their raucous enjoyment. I too am surprised by the way people in the UK dress - jeans and sloppy loose tops. Why wouldn't you want to look smarter than that? Most English people are taught basic French or German but promptly forget it when they go on holiday and expect everyone else to speak English. Your article really spoke to me. 🙂