Christmas – it’s English music, English food and English cheer, the whole world over

It was whilst nursing my bad toe, sustained in an accident putting up the tinsel, that I started to muse on this world-wide joke perpetrated upon an unsuspecting and innocent world by the English – Christmas. It is an act of cultural hegemony that had done more than anything else to establish a single cultural baseline across the world. It doesn’t matter where in the world you are in late December – OK, probably not Continue reading Christmas – it’s English music, English food and English cheer, the whole world over

If I hear one more thing about burying the sardine…

Years ago, people used to have carnivals to get all the partying out of their system before the serious business of Lent. This being back in the day when the Catholic Church could burn you if you looked at them wrongly. This then got twisted with the marine version of harvest festival, mainly the sardine run which used to happen around this time of year. So along with the carnival, we got the whole business Continue reading If I hear one more thing about burying the sardine…