Summer, Summer, wherefore art thou Summer, as I’m sure the Noble Bard would have written had he been alive today. Whilst walking Callie (the whippet) this morning in freezing, blinding rain, (well, ok it was ten degrees and drizzling) I happened upon a group of teenage orienteers. As I suspect has been the case since time immemorial there was a group of girls and a group of boys and ne’er the twain shall meet. It did bring to mind the news that the Editor of the Henley Standard (see Blog 26) has revoked his decision to discontinue the use of ‘Sir’ or ‘Dear Sir’ on his letters page, after a volley of abuse from offended readers. Judith, Lady McAlpine wrote that “You cannot alter convention for the sake of one misguided reader. If you do this, you are opening the floodgates to all manner of sexist nonsense”. She signed her name with the addendum “female, feminine and with no interest whatsoever in being regarded as ‘unisex’….whatever that is”. I suspect that a large majority of the population would probably say a hearty “here, here”. It’s great, for those that prefer members of their own sex, that they are now allowed (nay encouraged) to show those feelings in public. But please let’s not throw the baby (of either sex) out with the bathwater. Most men cherish the fact that women are physiologically, biologically and emotionally different to us and presumably most women feel the same way about men? Its been a source of mild amusement recently, whilst umpiring ladies (and they do call it ‘ladies’ and not ‘womens’) hockey matches, that the standard warning cry when danger threatens is “man on”. Mainly, I suspect, because it’s quick and easy. How long before that becomes ‘person on’?
It’s February 28th and not a Leap Year. How disappointing for those born on 1st March, who every four years get a tantalising extra day as a forty five year old or whatever. Further extensive research has revealed the ‘fact’ that there are about four million Leapers in the world, i.e. people who were born on 29th February. If you were one of those, would you celebrate every four years, or on 28th Feb or 1st March? Or perhaps both?!
According to the meteorological calendar, tomorrow is the first day of Spring. What a happy day to be born on. The dark, short, grim days of winter are behind us, with nothing but the sunny uplands to look forward to; lambs gambolling on green downland, tulips and crocuses like a floral Axminster beneath our feet, even early rhododendrons bursting forth in wild profusion. However, astronomically we must wait until 20th March for the spring equinox, at which point, any hint of fog, frost, snow etc will be banished for another eight months at least. Possibly.
I raise my hat to Leapers everywhere and wish you a Happy Birthday and good leaping.
ADayInTheStrifeOf 