I love the British. They have the Ministry of Sound, Hogwarts and A Clockwork Orange. The British Embassy in Beirut has also been really cool with us for the past few years, with Margaret Guy and now Tom Fletcher being active members of our humble local twitosphere.
The British Embassy has decided to hold the celebrations in ABC Dbayeh and Ashrafieh, and I was there for the first day. The one thing I can say, is that they’ve thought of everyone. Kids, girls, boys, parents, grandparents, petrolheads, fashionistas, entrepreneurs and even geeks have something to be excited about.
Perhaps the most interesting segments are the vintage car show, all of which are from private collections and function normally, complete with a white Lebanese license plate. There are Jaguards, Aston Martins, Lotuses, Rolls Royce and Land Rovers among others I haven’t heard of before like Sunbeam.
There’s also a mini-museum where you put a clay model of something, and get all the info you need on a big touch screen. Models of Big Ben and other monuments and symbols are all available to anyone passing by. There are also real models of first or second generation TVs, cameras, radios and even an ancient Mac!
There’s a corner for kids arts and crafts, and do-it-yourself fashion from rubbish. A Beatles cover band was also playing, which had everyone in the mall peer out to watch and sing along with.
But, if I had to recommend something, it would be the awesome cars and museum. So, if you’re a petrolhead and geek, check out ABC. It’s all free and it’s fun. Keep up with their schedule on their page to know the exact schedules.
Here are a few shots I took!
The White man promotion continues, just another form of colonialism…