Narrowboat Independence: St George!

Hey Nonny Nonny! Whatever that means.

So what did we learn from our celebration of St George's Feast?

Well, for one, I learnt that if you don't wash the saucepan with the remains of the mushy peas until the Tuesday after, you need an arc welder to shift the residue or throw the saucepan away.

Another thing I learnt was that, mushy peas apart, ordering fish and chips from outside rather than self catering makes life much easier.

I'd ordered 31 portions from the excellent Jamie's in Tring and spot on 3 pm they arrived. Very good they were too with no washing up afterwards. Everybody expressed positive comments about the whole thing so whoever organises next year's do would do well to repeat the formula. I hope it will be me but you never know.

As usual we seemed to be the only people around celebrating the feast, wearing our red roses kindly supplied by the Akash Restaurant in Berko. Apart from the fact that I quite enjoy the whole exercise I now no longer think the day will come when the English celebrate their day to the same extent that the Scots, Welsh and Irish do. This saddens me; I am not fiercely patriotic or jingoistic-I think therein lies nationalism and no good; but I do believe the English have an immense amount about which to feel proud and privileged. Surely just for one day a year rather than moaning about the NHS, the weather, the foreigners, the football team and the politicians we could have a day off, don a red rose, throw a party and thank whatever deity you support and if you don't have one remember your parents or granny or whoever contributed for the wonderful things we enjoy in such a beautiful country.

So there. Next year why not wear a rose and count your blessings......and wash the mushy peas saucepan on the same day.

We had the usual auction with a few refinements which raised over 200 quid, a raffle over £100, A Mediaeval Fruit Machine (you had to be there) which raised £28 and a lot of laughs and we made a profit on the entrance fee. This meant that the 30 people who attended on a lovely sunny day ( I know it got a bit chilly but remember you're English) raised a total of £500 for the Hospice of St Francis in Berkhamsted. A very generous effort.

As I write this post I realise how lucky we were with the weather last Saturday-I just saw a snowflake pass the porthole!