Excuse Me While I Have A Rant...

I'm feeling a little peeved. Actually, I'm rather more than peeved. I'm seriously irritated. And annoyed.

Yet again, a politician has decided that the "long" school Summer holiday is considered fair game, and has called for us to shorten the Summer so that we remain competitive. Quite apart from the fact that a politician decrying a long Summer holiday is actually rather ironic, ("calling black kettle pot" - rearrange to form a well-known phrase) it is also inaccurate.

Some years, state schools get a full six weeks in the Summer. More often than not, it's five and a half, very occasionally just five. I am prepared to admit that the staggered start at the beginning of the Autumn term does make it longer for some students (and, as a teacher, I guess I'm biased.)

Chris Skidmore MP claims that children need shorter holidays because they "forget" everything over the break, and this lowers academic progress. He also thinks children find long holidays tedious.

Well, I've been a teacher for longer than he's been an MP and I can vouch for the fact that, should you ask a student what work they did before the weekend, most of them would have forgotten it. This is the reason that lessons start with a recap of what we did before. It's well-known that repeating things over and over again helps to improve retention. "Forgetting" stuff over the Summer isn't actually a problem. Children (and teachers) need to have a break from academic work.

Mr. Skidmore points out that the long Summer holidays are really a relic from our farming roots. Again, speaking from my years of teaching experience, I can vouch for the fact that students really don't benefit from being herded into hot, stuffy classrooms and forced to try and concentrate when the Sun comes out. All those high-achieving countries tend to have air conditioning as par for the course, I believe. The infrastructure for home learning is also there - Singapore regularly closes its schools to prepare against outbreaks of diseases such as swine flu, to check that everything is in place for home learning.

It is also interesting to note that independent schools in the UK have longer holidays than state schools. I haven't noticed a dearth of attainment in children who are privately educated. As a former student at Bristol Grammar School, Mr. Skidmore would have experienced holidays lasting 8 weeks in the Summer, which I dare say he found tedious, especially as the Autumn and Spring half term holidays were each a week and a half in length (state schools get a week for each), and Christmas and Easter are both three weeks long (state schools get two weeks for each of these.)

Does Mr. Skidmore feel he could have achieved more if he hadn't been handicapped by such onerously long holidays, or does he think it only applies to the children of the general masses who are too stupid to cope?

I suspect that what Mr. Skidmore really means is that the long Summer holidays are inconvenient for parents who have to work. His description of children sitting playing with their Super Nintendos (how very out of touch - it's all Wii now, I believe!) strongly suggests children who are home alone, without a parent who can encourage them to go out to museums, parks, swimming pools and so on. The emphasis in this country is not giving children a good all-round education (encouraging independent exploration of topics and subjects which interest the individual child over the Summer would do this) but providing childcare while the parents are out at work. Hence the proposals to shorten the holidays and calls to lengthen the school day.

Stalin would have given his right arm to get this sort of separation of children from their parents and putting them into the care of the State...

The Kitties Are Upping The Ante...

I'm not entirely sure if this is a warning or a reward, but I found this in the sitting room today...

I have no idea what bird it was - there were no obvious tail feathers in evidence - and it is very much the "parson's nose" end of the bird. I also don't know which kitty was responsible: though I'd hazard a guess at Miaowrini because she was very affectionate earlier. I assumed she was leading me to the kitchen to refill her food or water bowls, but they were both still full. She must think me very slow on the uptake...

It'll be a horse's head next. I'd probably better get in some smoked salmon...

A New Prayer Initiative...

Well, ok, not so new - it seems to have been going since last December, but I've only recently heard of the iHope London vigils, which are designed to pray for the workers of the abortion industry (particularly IPPF), that they may experience a conversion of heart.

As the website explains:

"There are many organisations that, misguidedly, promote and perform abortions, arguing not only that it is a right but also that it benefits babies, women, families and our society. The leading business in this field is IPPF (International Planned Parenthood Federation), with its headquarters near to London Bridge. IPPF’s employees are convinced that they are doing good and necessary work. Have we prayed for them today as Jesus did for His executioners, "Father forgive them for they do not know what they do!"?"

The processions, Masses and vigils take place on the 12th of each month, unless this occurs at the weekend, when it is transferred to the Monday. As the emphasis is on prayer and (silent) witness, people on the vigils are asked to prepare themselves spiritually:

To fast for the day of the vigil, from midnight until 3:15pm (the end of the procession) and, in addition, to:

1) be in a state of grace, having being to confession
2) be prepared to receive Holy Communion (to be a temple of the Blessed Sacrament)
3) give alms secretly to a Religious Order, faithful Catholic charity, a family in need
4) during the vigil be prepared to pray only
5) do a kind deed for someone, even a stranger
6) bring your Rosary and a heart full of love for the unborn, their parents and IPPF employees.

I'm sure that many of us who are unable to attend the vigils and processions themselves would perhaps consider supporting the initiative spiritually through prayer and fasting.

Transferred Feasts & Birthdays...

My birthday felt a bit weird this year. It all started when my parents rang me up to sing "Happy Birthday!" down the phone... I listened, thanked them warmly, and pointed out that it wasn't actually my birthday for another two days. Forgetfulness on the part of one's parents is only to be expected when you have clocked up as many years as I have, but then to have to send a scan of one's passport in order to convince said parents that you aren't winding them up has got to be a first.

So my birthday, when it actually arrived (yesterday), felt like a bit of an anticlimax.

However, it has been pointed out to me by the Senior MC that, since I arrived in the afternoon, I was actually born after First Vespers of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, and so I should really celebrate on the 29th anyway. As we had a Missa Cantata arranged for the Feast, this seemed like a very good idea!

There was a very festive feel in the Sacristy after Mass as we had acquired a beautiful vestment press via Ebay. The Senior MC explained that he only just got his bid in on time (20 seconds before bidding closes is apparently the optimum time to prevent price hikes) as the celebrant at Corpus Christi, Maiden Lane on Monday night unexpectedly preached for the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist. Fortunately mobile phone reception in Maiden Lane's sacristy is reasonable!

Lots of people came in and admired it, and the Sacristy Team is now pondering which items should go into which drawers. This is not as easy as you might think...

After Mass I was presented with a chocolate cake by Annie Elizabeth's children. There was no point in me taking a whole chocolate cake home just for me, so I thought I'd better share...

After an excellent lunch, I then drove down to see another friend for tea and a chat at a local garden centre. Alison's also a Science teacher, and we've been friends ever since training together on the PGCE course at King's. We often go to her local garden centre, mostly because she's into plants and ecology stuff in a big way, and also because they have rather nice tea rooms...

As we arrived in the car park, we discovered that there was a special Spitfire flying display (arranged to celebrate Armed Forces' Day.) Watching the plane was great fun, though my attempts to snap the plane as it came really close were thwarted by the bright sunlight.Still, I succeeded in getting a couple of shots which you can see on my Flickr page.

All in all, a really lovely transferred birthday... And I shall be sure to celebrate the Octave too!

The Homecoming Present...

When Zephyrinus posted an exclusive photo of the "welcome home" present obtained (at great expense) for His Hermeneuticalness by the sacristy team concerned that he might be missing the warmth of the Australian climate and people, there were some who suggested that this was merely photoshopped, as a light-hearted joke.

Even Fr. Finigan assumed it was photoshopped.

He should have known better. Zephy is a nice chap, but he's not au fait with the intricacies of Photoshop.

So, when he stepped into the sacristy on his return from the land of Oz, Fr. Finigan found his homecoming present waiting for him on the vestment press. I was a little worried he might blame it on the jetlag and think he was hallucinating, but he doesn't seem to be any the worse for wear.

And just to prove it, here's another photo...

A Little Nonsense (Thought I'd Share)...

Back in the mists of time when I was a schoolgirl (not quite prehistoric) teachers used videos in lessons. The videos were taped off the TV, usually the "schools programme," and they consisted of adults in very odd clothes talking a lot. Not very exciting, but it made a break from listening to the regular class teacher and copying from the blackboard.

The videos mostly lasted for the whole lesson - the television and video machine were usually wheeled in on a special trolley, and it took a while to get everyone arranged around the screen so that we could all see. Then the video would be started... and we'd find that the last teacher to see the video hadn't rewound it back to the beginning, so we'd wait patiently a bit longer. We'd watch the video and maybe discuss it the next lesson.

All the hassle involved meant that videos were shown in their entirety.

By the time that I started my teacher training, (many years later) it was recognised that short clips designed to illustrate a particular point were probably of more use in the classroom. A whole lesson watching some university professor in seventies get-up talking to the camera just wasn't going to hold the attention of kids used to watching Independence Day, Scream, Jurassic Park and Mission Impossible.

The difficulties involved in arranging to use a TV and video (still on the same lumbering old trolley), getting it into the classroom, getting the students into position and finding the right point on the video (which couldn't be done before, unless you were very lucky, as there was only one machine for the whole department and someone else had booked it for the lesson before) before the students got restless and started climbing the walls, meant that the use of video clips was quite rare. Nice theory, not done much in reality.

Fast-forward to the present and most schools have interactive whiteboards (or, at the very least, computers, projectors and screens) taking up the space where the blackboards used to be. There is an internet connection (when it works) and, since Ofsted is quite keen on multimedia in lessons, the YouTube video clip is king. There is lots of useful stuff there, and most of it is short. What's even better, from the point of view of the teacher, is that the link to the exact video you want can be embedded into the PowerPoint presentation (or Smartboard/ActiveInspire lesson) and is therefore just a click away (so no need to turn your back on the little darlings!)

So, now, every teacher uses YouTube clips. It is necessary to compete with one's colleagues to find the best clips so as not to elicit a groan from the students: "But Miss, it's boring!"

Different groups respond in different ways, but overall I find that humour works best. This little snippet made a great starter for discussion of how gravity is a non-contact force...

Of course, now the difficulty lies in not getting sidetracked! ("Miss, do you believe in alien abduction...?")

(BTW, be sure to watch right to the end... there's a little twist - though you can only hear it!)

Kudos To Shrewsbury Diocese...

Shrewsbury Diocese tweets under the Twitter handle @ShrewsRCnews and Simon Caldwell has been busy tweeting about the flooding in Lourdes because it will affect the diocesan pilgrimage to Lourdes planned for the end of July.

It looks as though the Grotto itself will be opened up from Monday (possibly sooner) but the Domaine has suffered serious damage which will cost millions to repair. Several hotels have been forced to close because of flood damage, and are unlikely to reopen this season. The Underground Basilica of St. Pius X was flooded out (I saw it on one of the video clips) and it's hard to believe that it will be opened any time soon. The Church of St. Bernadette (opposite the Grotto) will have to remain closed all season because of serious structural damage.

Despite the difficulties this will cause, the diocesan pilgrimage will still go ahead. In addition, they plan to donate €5000 towards repairs (along with any other donations people care to contribute.) Apparently they did the same thing after the floods last October.

If anyone else wants to contribute, details can be found on the Diocese of Shrewsbury News Updates page.

Disability Discrimination ?

Disability groups have fought hard for years against discrimination, and rightly so. The 2012 paralympics was lauded as a tremendous sign of triumph over adversity, an indication of what people with all sorts of disabilities can achieve - and, quite frankly, all of the so-called "disabled" sportsmen and women could wipe the floor with me in any of the sporting events.

But there is one teensy little point which very few people appear to have mentioned. Society at large (and British legislation in particular) actively encourages direct discrimination against disabled people in one case: any person with a disability can be aborted up to birth.

According to Section 1 of the Abortion Act 1967, the legal limit for an abortion in the UK is 24 weeks. After 24 weeks, presumably, the medics and legal bods have decided that the baby "becomes" a real person, because Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 come into play.

However, if the baby has a substantial risk of being born with a disability, then the 24-week limit doesn't apply. Note that the disability doesn't have to be definite, there just has to be a substantial risk. No-one has, to my knowledge, actually gone as far as defining what constitutes "substantial." I doubt that any hospital, clinic or doctor would be too keen on insisting that the risk was only a small one and so refusing to give an abortion, just in case the baby did have a disability and the parents subsequently sued. It might put a sizable dent in the Health Trust's budget!

I have read of more than one case where an abortion was carried out, and the disability turned out to be a cleft palate.

And did I mention that the disability doesn't have to be a physical one? Mental abnormalities are also included. What those abnormalities have to be before the baby qualifies as an exception to the Offences Against the Person Act are similarly undefined.

When the Abortion Act was brought in, it was thought that there were sufficient safeguards to keep abortion from being used too freely. Unfortunately, fallen human nature being what it is, we can't see a boundary without pushing it as far as it will go... and then pushing a bit more.

So it's ok to discriminate against disabled people up until they are born... and then it is no longer acceptable.

Well, that could be about to change too...

The Royal Dutch Medical Association (KNMG), representing doctors in the Netherlands, has said that distress felt by parents can justify "euthanasia" of a dying newborn, making it acceptable, or even necessary. Already, the 2004 Groningen Protocol sets out medical guidelines on "euthanasia" for minors, and this has allowed medical practitioners to end the lives of many children with spina bifida. Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, for example, would never have been given the chance to win her 16 Paralympic medals, nor would many others be allowed to show what they could achieve, being "weeded out" early on so as not to cause their parents distress.

It is all very well to say that this law would only be used for children that were already dying - but, as shown in the case of Tony Bland, it wouldn't stop there. He was neither dying nor in pain, he was simply in a vegetative state... until they stopped feeding and hydrating him. "The lack of quality of life" would soon be invoked for many children born with disabilities...

So it would seem that we have come full-circle, and discrimination against people with disability is not just considered acceptable, but actually necessary.

And this is supposed to be "progress"...

Oh, and did I mention that the Dutch also want to be able to decide to "euthanise" adults with Alzheimer's or other dementias if they have been judged to be "incompetent"? Twitch of the mantilla to Deacon Nick Donnelly for highlighting this.

Day With Mary In Dartford...

I happened to be shopping in Dartford on Monday afternoon. Despite Dartford being only 5 miles away, to my shame I hadn't managed to get to see Fr. Stephen Boyle since his appointment as Parish Priest to St. Anselm's last September, so I stopped off for a coffee and a chat. Fr. Stephen doesn't have a blog, but he does like appearing on them. The parish website, however, is run on a Wordpress template - technically that is a blog, but I suspect that someone else maintains it!

I was interested to see a certificate in the presbytery commemorating all the Rectors and Parish Priests of Dartford...

Unfortunately the lighting meant I couldn't get a clearly focused photo on my phone (I will try again the next time I'm there), but the names go all the way back to the 12th century (with a gap for the Reformation period when it states that there may have been priests living clandestinely in the area). Sadly there hasn't been room for the last two parish priests... maybe Fr. Stephen will start up a new inscription.

I also had the chance to admire the new lighting which has just been installed in the church.

Fr. Stephen told me that the Day With Mary team will be visiting his parish on Saturday 29th June. To my great disappointment, I missed the one in Blackfen back in March, so I want to try to get to part of this one.

The Day With Mary apostolate is a wonderful thing, with days of prayer organised in different parishes, usually on Saturdays. A couple of processions (one with the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, one with the Blessed Sacrament), the Rosary (all of the mysteries except the Sorrowful ones - they are replaced by meditations of the Stations of the Cross), Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Benediction, enrolment in the Brown Scapular, a couple of sermons on Our Lady, the opportunity for Confessions and, of course Mass. It's not so much a boost to one's spiritual life as a full-blown explosion...

For those of you who can't make it to any of these days, the Day With Mary team now put the talks online on their website - if you click on a video near the bottom you need to scroll back up to watch it as it won't open as a pop-up (I was clicking on several videos for ages before I twigged... a real blonde moment!) However, these short talks don't convey the atmosphere and impact of the days themselves (though a previous post of mine might give you a glimpse), so, if you hear of one happening near you, I really do recommend that you go along!

Pray For Lourdes...

The flooding is much worse than last year - and it is happening at the height of the pilgrimage season, which will affect many of the townspeople who rely on the pilgrims for their livelihoods.

The video was made early on in the flooding. Screenshots I took from the BBC News video show how much worse it has become...

The bridge over the Gave de Pau from the hospital side... (For comparison, have a look at the same bridge in a video from the floods of last year)

And this year the bridge itself has been partially submerged...

A view of the Grotto - you get a clear idea of how high the water has risen when you see where the statue of Our Lady is...

The water level of the Gave de Pau does seem to be going down, but it depends on whether or not there are further storms. Mark Lambert has a more detailed report of the damage identified so far. Please pray for everyone concerned.

UPDATE: The sight of the Domaine in front of the Rosary Basilica under water in a later video was a real shock. First, the Crowned Virgin can be seen in the top right hand corner of the photo...

Then, as the camera moves back, you can see where the water has reached (the van hasn't moved)...

And here is the latest video (twitch of the mantilla to Fr. George Byers - he must be terribly upset, as he was a chaplain in Lourdes for many years.) Flooding in the town is also shown in the video...

Innondation à Lourdes le 18 juin 2013 by Lourdesactufr

Lourdes Underwater Again...

I was heartbroken to hear that, once again, the Grotto at Lourdes is under about 3 feet of water. Fr. George Byers posted the photo on his blog. Lourdes is one of my favourite places. The webcams at the Grotto appear to be down, so no idea when things will improve.

The last major flood was just nine months ago...

Pray that all pilgrims, and all the local inhabitants of Lourdes may be kept safe.

News to Gladden The Heart...

The BPAS abortion centre in Bedford Square is due to close. The site will still run contraceptive services such as vasectomy, but the abortions will no longer happen there.

I have no doubt that the prayers, vigils and fasts held by many people over the years, as described by Clare in her latest post, have resulted in this victory. The abortion industry wouldn't close a clinic unless it was losing money, and so there must have been more and more women changing their minds about killing their unborn babies, some directly as a result of contact with the pavement counsellors, and some because of a change of heart inspired by the Holy Spirit after heartfelt prayers from faithful souls.

Deo gratias!

Speculation...

After this morning's TLM in Blackfen, I asked Fr. Logan (covering for His Hermeneuticalness while he is in Oz) if he minded me taking photos of him and uploading them to the blog.

"What, to go with the cats?" was the swift rejoinder.

I was delighted to discover that Fr. Logan reads my blog, and follows the adventures of Cardinal Furretti and Monsignor Miaowrini avidly. Later, he asked me if I knew who Eccles was?

He denied being Eccles himself, claiming that he only read the blogs. But I'm not entirely convinced...

(I didn't actually take any photos today, but I shall endeavour to do so next week!)

Wildlife Delivery...

Yesterday, I noticed that both cats were staring intently at the bottom of my bookcase. I guess that a mouse must have escaped their clutches. Both Miaowrini and Furretti have lost interest in it now, so either the mouse has died or it has escaped somewhere else.

This afternoon I was chatting on the phone to a friend of mine when an awful racket was heard in my kitchen. Both of us knew exactly what the cry was: Miaowrini was dragging a bird in through the catflap.

The bird succeeded in getting away, but the cat managed to catch it again. I approached, towel in hand, in order to effect a rescue, and Miaowrini, unwilling to relinquish her prize, promptly left through the catflap, the bird still firmly clamped between her jaws.

Two minutes later, she was back - the bird still in her mouth. It was raining outside, and Miaowrini doesn't like to get wet. The bird got away again, but got caught up in the net curtains in the kitchen, and I was able to use a towel to calm it down. I carried the bird to my bedroom window and let it fly out. It flew off quite strongly, and I saw it alight at the top of a tree across the street.

I didn't have time to take a picture, and the bird didn't have a yellow beak, but, having looked at a few pictures I suspect that this latest capture was a young blackbird.

My mother advised me to shout at the cats to discourage them from bringing wildlife home, but that would be mean - they're only doing what is natural... added to which, there is a part of me which is actually rather proud of their hunting skills...

Now, if only I could train them to bring me a steak...

The Careers Teacher Never Told Me This Was A Possibility...

I feel somewhat cheated. I didn't know that "cat scientist" was actually a career option.

I've just watched yesterday's BBC Horizon programme on the Secret Life of the Cat. Enjoyable, though I think that I'd have preferred to see more footage from the cat-cams and surveillance cameras and less of the humans. Finding out about the way the data was being recorded and analysed was interesting, for about five minutes. Listening to people talking about their cats was interesting for another five minutes. Watching people looking at data about their cats was definitely not interesting...

The programme was entertaining, but didn't really throw up any major surprises. I was interested to hear that the cat "solicitation purr" (the purr designed to attract human attention) hits the same frequency as a human baby's cry.

Unfortunately the programme itself is only available on iPlayer for a short time, though there are a few clips available on the BBC web page... There is also a review (far more favourable than mine) on the Daily Telegraph's website.

Watching Paint Dry...

Actually, watching the progress of the chapel of the Vocations Centre at Whitstble is fascinating. Fr. Stephen Langridge has done great things since he has been Vocations Director, and the Southwark Vocations Blog is well worth reading.

It is encouraging to see that there are many young men who wish to give their lives to God in the priesthood. It is important that we support them with our prayers - financial support wouldn't go amiss either.

If you haven't been following the progress of the chapel (there has been other work in the Vocations Centre as well) then here is a quick shot of the chapel near the start of it all...

And now (well, the stencils for the inscription are up)...

More Blessings...

Having made their First Holy Communions in May, three new recruits have joined the team of servers at Blackfen. The Senior MC believes in getting them to do different jobs as soon as possible - which means that there is no lengthy period of being junior torchbearer for six years or so before progressing to senior torchbearer... (yes, I'm exaggerating, but only a little!)

This does make for a steep learning-curve, especially if we are short of more experienced servers, as happened today... The two new torchbearers would be "on their own" without anyone to copy, so Jonathan took them through their paces before the Mass started...

The new acolyte was able to copy the other acolyte, but I suspect that he was finding the candle just a little heavy... well, it was almost as big as him!

It is a tremendous blessing for the parish that we have so many young boys keen to serve the Mass, and it will be interesting to see how they progress over the next few months...

There are a few more photos on my Flickr page.

A Blessing For The Parish...

At Blackfen we have just concluded our celebration of the Forty Hours, or Quarant' Ore. This is where Our Lord is exposed in the Blessed Sacrament continuously over three days (it may not add up to exactly 40 hours.)

Zephyrinus has an excellent summary of the running order. We are really blessed to have the Forty Hours as an annual event (we started it in the parish in 2009.) We used to have it in October, just before half term, which meant that I had the holiday to recover and get my sleeping pattern back on track. Unfortunately October is rather a hectic time at Blackfen, and Fr. Finigan decided that he would move things to the summer months... which is why it is only seven months since our last Quarant'Ore.

Because we end the whole thing on the Saturday (and I don't work on Saturdays), I try to stay to pray overnight on the Friday. It is difficult to explain how wonderful an experience it is to pray before the Blessed Sacrament in the early hours of the morning - even though I wasn't the only one present, it felt as if it was just me and Him... and the time really flew by (except for that bit between 6:30am and 8am which lasted forever.)

Being in possession of a particularly fallen nature, despite being in the presence of the Almighty I get distracted rather easily. I couldn't help making comparisons between the experiences of night-time adoration in October and in June. October, unsurprisingly, came off rather unfavourably. It's colder, for a start. This means that sitting still for any length of time is rather arduous. The heaters being switched on full causes the candles to burn down and gutter in rather odd ways, necessitating several changes during the night (hassle) and much wax removal from stuff afterwards (more hassle.)

Dawn arrives much earlier in June, as does the dawn chorus. Those birds make one heck of a racket at 4am. I'm surprised that His Hermeneuticalness manages to sleep through it, and it occurred to me that he might appreciate the loan of my two kitties...

My attention was caught by a knothole in the wood by the Communion rail. As the daylight levels increased, it gradually dawned on me (*ahem* sorry - couldn't resist!) that the knothole was actually a spider. A very large spider.

I watched it for a bit, and then had visions of it crawling up my leg when I went to Communion. I wasn't too keen on that idea, and so decided to take action. The judicious application of a hymn book soon sorted the problem (I deliberately used a hymn book as it has a plastic easy-wipe cover, not because I thought the spider would die of fright when confronted with Colours of day or If I were a butterfly!)

There was only one other person present at the time, and she appeared to think my action was eminently sensible.

The cats were not amused by my overnight absence, and made their displeasure known in no uncertain terms. When I finally arrived home (after a very good lunch) I discovered that a dead pigeon had been deposited on my sitting room floor...

An Unforeseen Benefit...

Because the Bishops of England & Wales have transferred the Corpus Christi Holyday of Obligation to the Sunday, Fr. Finigan likes to take the opportunity to celebrate Mass according to the Usus Antiquior on the day which should technically be the Feast of Corpus Christi... and, since Masses celebrated according to the Usus Antiquior have to stick to the traditional calendar, we got to have a Corpus Christi procession after Mass...

I didn't take many photos, but they are up on Flickr if you want to have a quick look.

A Problem With Nomenclature...

Unlike Mothering Sunday, which is a real Church feast (Laetare Sunday, the fourth Sunday in Lent), Fathers' Day is an invention of the greetings card industry which wanted to cash in. Times change, and no-one sends greetings cards these days, so the field has been left wide open for restaurants to jump in on the act.

Strangely, Parent 1 Day and Parent 2 Day don't seem to have the same appeal...