Well Wednesday has arrived and yes it is St. George's Day. The house down the road from us has his flag flying proudly and hubby hasn't managed to put his one up yet, which is late for him because usually it is up there flying away. However the last one we had was up all year round, but got damaged by high winds. I do think that we should have St. George's day as a bank holiday, it is time we celebrated it. I am not against embracing other cultures, in fact I am very happy for them to celebrate their identity. Here we have a variety of cultures living alongside each other, as in many other parts of the country. We have a wide range of Asian communities, Indian, Chinese, cultures live alongside each other in relative peace, Polish, Greek, Italian and Irish as well as the British. Hubby considers himself English and refuses to be known as British. He believes England should have its own identity and coming from a family that can trace both sides back to Wimbledon (yes his family are Wombles) to 1790 he feels he has a right to be called English. I have a mixture of Ancestry running through my veins so say I am British, English by birth as I was born in England. Others can make of that what they may. Every year there is a big celebration in town for St. Patricks day. There is also an Asian Mela for where you can celebrate the Asian culture. There is also a Festival of lights for Diwali. Only in recent years has the town done anything for St. George's day and then again it isn't advertised widely like the others are - it is almost as if it is embarrassed or worried it will upset someone if it is mentioned. Long term readers of my blog may remember that we tend to celebrate St. George's day by visiting Wrest Park, a National Trust property that puts on a festival to celebrate the weekend before the day itself if SGD is not on that weekend. This year, reluctantly, we decided against it because the weather was so bad and there really isn't much shelter from the wind there either. I have missed going, the children, particularly Richard, enjoys watching George fight the dragon. So our patron saint, St. George, is also patron Saint of Catalonia (Spain), England, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Macedonia. Most countries who observe St. George's Day, celebrate it on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in 303 AD. St. George's Day is a provincial government holiday in Newfoundland, Canada. On that I will leave you and wish you a happy St. George's day. Have a good one Hugs xxxxx