Little Badges - FOR ENGLAND AND ST GEORGE

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

For England and ST. GEORGE. Ah.... Makes me proud!

A couple of weeks ago...everything went a little green. People with questionable Irish links and those with none what-so-ever suddenly started giving it all the blarney and drinking Guinness.
Ah to be sure. Some people I know (who have never been to Ireland) got on planes and flew to America to join in with the St. Patrick Day celebrations!

Everywhere I looked while coming home through London, seemed to have some link to Ireland and St. Patrick's day. Even China town!! Every single bar had a quickly made up banner to hail the fact that they had Guinness on tap, but not just Guinness, mainly the ice cold Guinness (wow that makes your hands cold). Restaurants as well were putting up signs, or chalk boards outside proclaiming to have St. Patrick Day food inside. Dim sums, Noodles, Pancakes and sandwiches.... all very authentic stuff.

And then there are the silly hats. Buy 5 pints and get a silly hat. WHY? What are you going to do with that apart from use it to Barf in on the Tube home. By 11pm the whole tube had a whiff of Guinness about it.

My wife's place of work even had a St. Patrick's lunch menu that included sticky toffee Guinness pudding! or something like that. I then asked her will they be doing a St. George's Day lunch menu, and she said no!

Now roll on April 23rd and we have a day that Britain, England, etc can be very proud of. A day to puff out your chest a little and try and find some dragons to kill. There will be pubs that mark, the occasion, but maybe not so many restaurants and I will be suprised if China town even realises this date (mind you they would do a good trade on dragons).

It's a strange one. I worked for many years on ad campaigns for St Georges day and Beer brands, and at every meeting someone would be clenching their bum cheeks and highlighting the association with the BNP. How the St George cross can be seen as racist! And every time I would tell them to go jump.

Political correctness is so engrained in people that at every turn we are so conscious of offending someone somewhere. Oh dear what if we offend foreigners. Well we should not worry in the slightest as St. George may be the Patron St. of England but at the same time he Freelanced for loads of other countries and is also their Patron St. But what about it being racist! Everything can have a racist tinge if you look for it. If you make something racist by attaching something to it, that was not there in the first place, it can be seen as racist. Heck half of us that live in England as English people are Celts or from Viking blood and St. George was a Roman soldier (but I think he was born in Palestine!)

So I wear my St. George's Day badges with pride and I do feel a sense of English pride on St George's Day. As I sip at my English ale, and think of England....Cry God for England and St.George it brings a tear to my eye.

So please celebrate St. George's Day this year with no worry or fear of offending, raise a glass to the legend that is St. George and Enjoy yourself without the guilt.

And if you happen to see any dragons run them through with your sword and you too may one day be heralded as the New St. of England.

Dragons like Bourbon biscuits you know!

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

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