Merlin's Green

I've never been able to understand why England doesn't have a national holiday on St George's Day.Not when you look at it from this angle especially:  Ireland has St Patrick's Day, Scotland has St Andrew's Day, and of course North Americans have national holidays on Canada Day and Independence Day.  

Yet the government of this small Island doesn't let it's citizens enjoy a day off to celebrate it's history.  Hrmmm something just isn't right about that.

Anyway, regardless of this, with Tuesday being the diamond anniversary for Queen Elizabeth's reign, there were a ton of celebrations taking place across the country.  You might have managed to catch a few of the televised events yourself if you were at all interested.  Because the Jubilee was so close to our May Bank Holiday, they postponed May Day by a week to coincide with the Jubilee Bank Holiday, giving us a four day weekend, which is always a good thing.  Shame the weather was the pits.

On Saturday evening the community all came together in our little village and had a mini festival of sorts; there was a bouncy castle, face-painting tent, climbing wall as well as archery to name only a few of the stalls that were spread across our field.  We were impressed to see a stage being set up, which featured a number of performers throughout the evening.  There had been signs posted around the village for a number of weeks announcing a 'Festival on Merlin's Green'.  Ironically most most of us had no idea that the central field on our estate where dogs and kids usually congregate actually had a name.  

I think what impressed me the most were the amounts of family and friends who had come out in support of the event; most sporting red, white and blue paraphernalia as they drank Pimms, beer and champagne.  Some even had mini bbq's going.  It was a great feeling of community, despite the cold wind blowing and lack of sunshine. 

We all went over to check out the festivities, however Alex and Connor gave in early on and took Jayden back to the house.  Bonnie braved it out with me and Andy for about a half hour longer before we packed up ourselves and headed in to watch a movie.  

If we'd been on our own, I think we would have stuck it out with the help of a few more beer.

On Monday Andy, Connor and I met up with the Gallivan's for a two hour walk with the dogs through one of our local jaunts; we finished the walk properly with a cold pint at a quaint pub.

(I never tire of seeing wild poppies growing in the fields)

We headed over to the Gallivan's on Monday night to watch the Queen's Concert as we cheerfully sipped on champagne while eating crisps, cheese and pate.  

Not a bad celebration at all.

As I said earlier, this country should really come together once a year to celebrate itself as a nation. 

Until the government realizes this, my friends and family will have to settle for celebrating the birth of my home country once a year, at our annual Canada Day BBQ, which is now only a few weeks away. (It's not a day off here, but it's one great big bang up.)