It's St George's Day today. So, up and down the country, we'll be flying the flag and cheering the spirit of the true blue Englishman, who was born in Palestine and lived in the Middle East.
St George specifically personifies English values and is exclusive to England, as well as Aragon, Catalonia, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Palestine, Portugal and Russia, plus the cities of Amersfoort, Beirut, Fakiha, Bteghrine, Cáceres, Ferrara, Freiburg, Genoa, Ljubljana, Gozo, Milan, Pomorie, Preston, Qormi, Rio de Janeiro, Lod, Barcelona and Moscow.
Many events are being held today and over the weekend in London to celebrate this unique association, including a jamboree in Trafalgar Square tomorrow that promises 'the atmosphere of a traditional English fete', such as fish paste sandwiches, a gonk stall, and rain.
So what will London's cyclists be doing today to celebrate St George and his great English values?• Visiting pub called 'George and Dragon' for tapas and Polish lager
• Swearing at taxi, bus drivers to music of Elgar
• Cycling in suit of armour
• Flying English flag on bike, made in China and bought from Mr Gupta's pound store
• Planning St George-themed world cycle tour to Aragon, Amersfoort, Qormi etc for self-filmed Mark-Beaumont-style TV series, end up just going to The George in Southwark
• Organising ride to celebrate English rights and freedoms and getting arrested for taking photographs while on it
• Achieving martyrdom by riding round Aldwych
I plan to spend the day in the St George spirit by taking risk-laden crusades to strange lands (Brixton) and jousting with dragons (London drivers).
ReplyDeleteNot sure I agree with you that St George is not entirely English. I think he epitomises the English tradition i.e. a massive smorgasbord of people from all over the place who don't really get on with each other all that well.