Hello all, the prolonged absence from my blog is something you probably are all used to by now and yes your right; it should maybe be renamed the monthly rant.
In my five months down under, I have noticed a distinct feature of the Australian people. This could be many things; for example their bullish arrogance, or maybe even the incredibly annoying way they finish every sentence with ‘ey’. It’s neither of these things. In fact it is something that I wish England would adopt; their national pride. It is almost indisputable that every Australian is incredibly proud to be so. This was self-evident on January 26th, Australia Day. A celebration of everything Aussie, a public holiday, a date clearly marked in everyone’s diary. In direct comparison and just as a quick piece of English Trivia...When is St. George’s Day? Don’t Know? Had to Google it? Don’t worry your definitely not alone. In fact you fall into a large percentage that also do not know when their National Day is. The answer is April 23rd, but why do we not celebrate it? Less than one in five people mark/celebrate St. Georges Day suggesting that we feel less national pride than any of the other home nations. Are we really proud to be English? I think not, St. George’s day is not even a public holiday. If we’re lucky the rare traditionalist will decorate their window with the cross of St. George. When, in all honesty this should be the norm. Even if we slip into Christmas decoration mode and go madly OTT with this symbol of everything English; go for it, hang flags out of your car window, get your face painted, even get a tattoo (actually on second thoughts, don’t do that). We’re never afraid when a World Cup is on, even if we all know exactly how it’s all going to end (Penalty Shoot out, Germany or Portugal). In 2002 the country went mad for the Silver jubilee that as an excuse for a day off is on a par with academic mentoring day at school (Clevedon School pupils will know what I mean). I would predict that a larger majority of English people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day than St. Georges Day...and that hurts.
We’re a country of The Beatles (even if, mixed in with some of their classic songs are some dreadful pieces of music), Queen, Winston Churchill, Fish and Chips, The Royal Family, David Beckhams right foot, David Beckhams’ left foot come to think of it (to quote Hugh Grant, Love Actually). Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Henry the 8th, freedom of speech...I’m sure somewhere amongst that random list is something that makes you proud to be English, if not, blame the shrewd content of the list.
In the past, the cross of St. George has prominently marked English dominance, posted around the world as a symbol of control. Let’s not forget that we did used to control large chunks of the world in the once great British Empire. Let’s also not forget the thousands of people that died, fighting for the right to be English. The least we can do is be proud of our heritage and history and display it once a year. Parades, Fireworks, Parties, you name it I want to see it! And if nothing else, what a great excuse to substitute a day off work for a day on the drink!
Moving ever so swiftly on, I’m sure most of you would have seen/heard about the shooting at the African Cup of Nations football tournament. The team on the opposing end was Togo who lost 3 members of their travelling party to this horrendous act of terrorism. The Togo team subsequently pulled out of the tournament, sighting obvious safety issues as their reason. A fair excuse don’t you think? Unfortunately we don’t share the same opinion as the powers that be in African football who issued Togo with a ban and accusing them of wrongly boycotting the competition. If being shot at isn’t an adequate excuse to leave a tournament I’m struggling to find something that is. If the whole team had been shot and killed, would they have still been banned? Or would they have just given each of their opposition a 3-0 win (like they do on FIFA computer games when you get too many players sent off, I still miss the days of being able to foul the goal keeper with a cheeky L2 tackle). Now amongst all the jokes about Adebayor not running 50 metres to celebrate in front of these gunners is a very serious matter. I’m sure the families’ of the victims were more distraught with the boycotting of the tournament than they were with the news that their Husband/brother/Dad had been killed. If ever there was an example of kicking someone when they are down this it. Maybe common sense will prevail and some sort of justice can be restored.
A source of humour with a slightly better taste is the John Terry affair (excuse the pun). From ‘why didn’t he have a go on Ashley Cole’s missus instead, to ‘having to fill the holes that the full back leaves’ and my personal favourite ‘What have Wayne Bridge and the Titanic got in common....they both should have stayed at Southampton.’ Terry has fallen victim to the fame factor in which your public and private life merge as one. Karma.
Next Friday I bid farewell to Perth and move on to Noosa in Queensland to start the rugby season. Something I’m looking forward to, though the thought of pre-season is rather daunting, yeah I know, ‘man up’ and all that rubbish. Keep posted for news on the second part of my trip, and who knows, I may even surprise you with a weekly post, but don’t hold your breath.
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