New Bank Holiday here!

[LadyA]

Bank Holiday here tomorrow, a brand new one. 1st February here is "St. Brigid's Day". The Christian Church, in ancient times, sort of adopted/co-opted the old feast of Imbolc, a fertility and renewal feast, marking the first day of Spring, the return of light, and the hope of provision in this leanest time of year.

Rather nice to have a Bank Holiday in the long gap between New Year and St. Patrick's Day!?

 

[bigyetiman]

That's nice for you, good to celebrate the imminent arrival of spring, and celebrate St Brigid

 

[LadyA]

That's nice for you, good to celebrate the imminent arrival of spring, and celebrate St Brigid

I know Spring officially starts in March - but in my gut, I've always held to the "old" seasons - so, Spring is February, March, April; Summer is May, June July; Autumn starts in August and Winter at the beginning of November. I just wish the weather would kindly keep to this schedule, instead of getting much colder when in my head, it's heading into Spring!

 

[Icemaiden]

To me St. Brigid's day is when you go around each room of your house & /or workplace praying for God's blessing on it. That's a Celtic Christian tradition &, I think, a very positive thing to do. (Now you all think I'm weird...)

 

[Marigold]

I confess, I frequently go round each room in my house praying for a cleaner.

 

[LadyA]

Well, St Brigid/Imbolc has not disappointed us for their first Bank Holiday! The weather felt closer to April than early February, blue sky, bright sunshine and very mild. I've spent a couple of hours clearing miles of brambles, which was very satisfying. Of course, there are still many, many miles of brambles still to go, in the certain knowledge that next year, they'll all be back! But it's a start.

 

[chrismahon]

We removed our brambles using a small sharpened spade, to cut the roots about 4" down. Of the approximately 10,000 taken out a few came back, but only 20 or so a year which is easily managed. Some areas where the growth was very weak they were strimmed off a few times and then they stopped growing.

 

[Hen-Gen]

Brambles and dog roses. Wonderful things. Not only are they a sanctuary for migrating birds but they also keep the twitchers out.

 

[LadyA]

Brambles and dog roses. Wonderful things. Not only are they a sanctuary for migrating birds but they also keep the twitchers out.

Yes, in their place, HenGen. But here, they just rapidly choke everything else out.

 

[bigyetiman]

It's not a Bank Holiday, but a woman got on the bus yesterday with an armful of flowers, chocolates etc, and said, "God, Valentines Day costs a fortune, by the time I have bought present for my husband and all the grandparents from my the and then my present to my husband"

I must be missing something, I just thought you bought flowers/ etc for your other half. Then someone i work with said, that you can now get cards to grandparents, brothers, sisters, pets etc for Valentines day

 

[LadyA]

It's not a Bank Holiday, but a woman got on the bus yesterday with an armful of flowers, chocolates etc, and said, "God, Valentines Day costs a fortune, by the time I have bought present for my husband and all the grandparents from my the and then my present to my husband"

I must be missing something, I just thought you bought flowers/ etc for your other half. Then someone i work with said, that you can now get cards to grandparents, brothers, sisters, pets etc for Valentines day

Like a lot of celebrations, Commercial interests saw a way to cash in.

 

[chrismahon]

TV here published the result of a survey about Valentines Day. 20% said it was about love and 80% said it was just commercial and took no part in it. In our case it was an excuse for fizzy wine, fillet steak and a large chocolate gateau, paid for in part by not buying cards or any other commercial stuff.

 

[Marigold]

Hooray! We both bought each other a nice big box of alcoholic chocolates!

 

[Margaid]

When I was growing up Valentine cards were sent anonymously to a person you liked but maybe with a small clue as to the identity of the sender. My pretty older sister used regularly to get half a dozen and we had the fun of trying to decide who they were from. The point being that the recipient was being asked to "be my Valentine". The idea of sending a Valentine card to your "significant other" started to creep in much later.
It's like a lot of things, the originins of the original customs are thrown out in the name of commercialism.

 

[Icemaiden]

My poor husband didn't get anything yesterday. I'd bought him a card about 3 weeks ago & squirrelled it away in a drawer. But having spent Monday afternoon in a dentist's chair being pumped full of enough local anaesthetic to knock out a shire horse (being hypermobile, I need a lot more than most people), I was away with the fairies & out cold by 6.30pm.

My husband left the house yesterday while I was still sound asleep & his card was still in the drawer. Oops... He'll get it when he gets home tomorrow!

 

[Marigold]

I hope you’re feeling better today, Icemaiden! I’m sure he understood, in those circumstances.

 

[bigyetiman]

Hope you are feeling better Icemaiden.

 

[Icemaiden]

I'm awake, af least!! I managed to eat my husband's expertly cooked roast dinner this evening, even if I did have to cut it into tiny pieces. I'll get there; any weight loss from having a sore jaw for a few weeks won't be all bad ?