Cry God for Harry, For England and Saint George

Yesterday was Shakespeare’s birthday and so it was appropriate  that I began with a quotation from his play Henry V. Not only was it the Bard's birthday but it mentioned the Patron Saint of England, Saint George.

Saint George's name was invoked to his soldiers by Henry V in his speech on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.

Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge
Cry ‘God for Harry! England and Saint George!

Yesterday was his feast day and I feel we should be celebrating it. But there was only a trickle here and there about St. George. The historian, Dr David Starkey even made a comment on it on Question Time last night to the booing of the audience.

Nobody was wearing a rose - the Rose is the symbol of England. Perhaps no one wants to be associated with New Labour as it got hijacked by the party a few years back.

Don't know about you, and how you feel about celebrating the day but I wish Happy St George's Day to everyone. A good old English roast beef dinner with Yorkshire pudding and all the trimmings was recommended as a celebratory dinner but we’d another English classic, fish and chips with baked beans.:-)

As I mentioned before yesterday was also the 445th anniversary of both the birth and the death of William Shakespeare. Therefore, it should be a celebration of both England's patron saint's day and of her greatest playwright. Shouldn’t it be a holiday?

Lets join the campaign to gain proper recognition for the Patron Saint of England by writing to our MP about establishing Saint George's day as a public holiday in England. We could always do with another holiday.

On Wed. was Earth Day. Did you do anything special for the planet?

If the earth were only a few feet in diameter,
floating a few feet above a field somewhere,
people would come from everywhere to marvel at it.
People would walk around it marvelling at it's big pools of water,
it's little pools
and the water flowing between.
People would marvel at the bumps on it and the holes in it.
They would marvel at the very thin layer of gas surrounding it
and the water suspended in the gas.
The people would marvel at all the creatures walking around the surface of the ball and at the creatures in the water.
The people would declare it as sacred because it was the only one
and they would protect it so that it would not be hurt.
The ball would be the greatest wonder known and people would come to pray to it to be healed, to gain knowledge, to know beauty and to wonder how it could be.
People would love it and defend it with their lives because they would somehow know that their lives could be nothing without it....If the earth were only a few feet in diameter.

...Joe Miller

This week my colleagues and I were busy with the Processfix Progress Review. It was interesting to see what we had done so far. We later had a departmental follow-up session to make sure that we didn’t miss anything, on the right track and kept abreast to the changes in work procedures.

On Tuesday, a stoppage-time penalty from Ward gave the Sky Blues their first goal for four games and inflicted a devastating blow to relegation battlers Barnsley at the Coca-Cola Championship clash. I could hear the crowd from our casa but I was too engrossed with the World Snooker championship match.

What do you think of the Budget? I don’t keep track as we lived a very simple life. Personally, we are not really affected apart from zilch on our savings, whilst our food and fuel costs have risen a bit. Even our rent has gone up. Sheesh… Babe does a wonderful job keeping track on our finances. Thanks darling.

These lovely photographs were taken in the Japanese garden of the Humanities block.  It was like a crèche. I couldn’t believe it when I saw this harassed mum with 10 adorable, fluffy ducklings. Imagine keeping them in line.

 

 

And just look at this Moorhen chick. Isn’t it the ugliest looking baby? Look at the huge eyes, big webbed feet and odd sticky wings… only a mother could love.It’s a miracle that it could grow up to be a fine looking bird.

 

Tomorrow, I’m looking forward to my noodle fix, taking lots of photographs and shopping with the girls. On Sunday, we are hoping to check the heronry at Coombe Abbey and spruce up the garden. Fingers crossed the sun will come out to play.

Have a wonderful weekend.