It's St. David's Day! Eat My Leek!

I want to wish everyone safe travels and issue a reminder to hold on to your possessions on busy trains, in hostels, in market places, etc. A lost or stolen passport is a proper pain. Make sure also that you carry the appropriate papers to get back ‘home’ to London. Some immigration officers can be difficult.

CELEBRATE TODAY not because spring break begins at 4.45pm [by the way, the next person who wishes me a ‘good’ break will be banned from my office for the rest of the term, which means no coffee talks!], but also because it is our first national day of the year. The UK is a land made up of four ‘home nations’, the dominant English, the haggis-eating Scots, the singing Welsh, and the green and orange Irish. Each has a patron saint and a ‘national’ day, but there is no unified national day, i.e., no British JULY 4th. David is Wales’ patron saint and March 1st is his day; next comes the famous ‘Patrick’ who was a Romanised Briton [possibly Welsh] on March 17th; the dragon slayer, St George England follows on Shakespeare’s birthday, April 23rd; and, ostracised at the other end of the year is Andrew of Scotland [Nov. 30th] who, condemned to death for his religious beliefs, deemed himself unworthy to be crucified on an upright cross as Jesus was and so he died on a ‘saltire’, a cross on its side [an ‘x’]. now Scotland’s national symbol.

Today is a special day for about 3 million Britons, the Welsh. It is St David’s day and down in the valleys, in the central mountains, along the Irish sea coastline and in the north-western castellar landscape, the welsh are celebrating. Men will wear the leek [the national vegetable] and kitchens will be busy turning out welsh cakes. Wales is unique in several ways: the dragon is its national symbol, Brains its most famous beer, it is the only country conquered by the Romans [who soon left] not subsequently taken over by a ‘barbarian’ tribe, it has NO PLACE IN THE UNION FLAG  [an amazing slap in the face], it is officially bilingual, it is the home of the Arthurian legends, it provided the country with the Tudor dynasty, it just won rugby’s triple crown, it is famous for male voice choirs and dissenting Protestantism [chapels] and, in some areas, the Welsh had to live under strict sabbatarian laws meaning that it was not the most fun place in the world to live.

Remember when you pick travel destinations, there is no place like home. VISIT WALES and try some Brains.

-Bill

Solitary Scotland?

Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities in the UK.  For now.  For a different opinion, see Renton's Rant in Trainspotting.  Architecturally, it wears its history on its sleeve.  It's got a castle, a palace, the Old Town and New Town.  Its terrain is made of extinct volcanoes.  It sacrifices itself every August to become the amazing madhouse that is the Edinburgh Fringe, a month of theatre, comedy, music and most types of performance.  Living in Edinburgh Zoo are the UK's only two resident pandas.  For now.  As the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh houses the country's parliament, a modern building opened in 2004.  The devolved parliament governs education, health, agriculture and justice.  For now.

When the south wanted to secede from the Union in 1861 war broke out in America.  When the governing party in the Scottish Parliament, the Scottish National Party, suggested independence from Britain a referendum was put on the cards.  Current plans by the SNP are to hold the referendum in autumn 2014.  Though I don't think it's fair to describe David Cameron as the Abraham Lincoln of the UK, he is urging Scots to vote against independence saying, "Together we are actually stronger."  In response a spokesperson for First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, described Cameron's argument as a "threadbare case for an outdated nation."

What would Scottish independence mean?  Will there be conversations about ownership of the North Sea oil (if there's any left)?  Will Scottish Parliament look after a new Scottish military?  Will you need your passport to go to Scotland from the rest of the UK (which you do not currently need)?  Could it also mean an import tax on Irn-Bru and haggis will raise their prices in England, Wales and Northern Ireland?  Will Scottish Pounds (which already look different from English and Northern Irish pounds) inflate at a different rate from Great British Pounds?

Will Scottish Gaelic be brought into the national curriculum?  Currently only 1.2% of the population over 3 years old speak it.  In Ireland, Irish is taught in most schools and teachers must exhibit a certain amount of proficiency to be employable.  21.7% of the Welsh population can use the Welsh language.  Could a surge in Scottish nationalism revive the language (these facts come from Wikipedia, so make of them what you will)?

With the pandas on loan (sounds nicer than 'leased', which is the word the BBC used) to Edinburgh Zoo for at least 10 years, will China and Scotland develop a relationship separate from the one between China and the UK?  What will that relationship be?  What will the relationship between Scotland and the UK become?

Personally, I don't think I know enough of the reasons behind the SNP's proposed referendum for independence to take a stance on the issue.  Historical cultural differences between Scotland and England aside, I understand that though the SNP proposed the independence referendum in 2007, they delayed holding it in 2010 out of concern that there wasn't enough support.  In Scottish Parliament's General Election in 2011 the SNP increased its majority over Scottish Labour and the Conservatives.  Perhaps this has brought more confidence to the SNP bringing the referendum forward again.  I wait with interest to see what happens as 2014 approaches.

Arthur's Seat, conquered last spring

As an outsider on this issue, I would like to list a few things that I think make Scotland great.

• Robbie Burns
• Nessie
• Irn-Bru
• Tartans
• Ceilidhs
• David Tennant
• Neeps and tatties

 Whether it's separate from the UK or not, I stand by Mike Myers when he said, "If it's not Scottish it's crap!"

-Claire

Censorship

I don't support censorship.  I support free expression from people and others being allowed to form the opinions as they please.  But today, due to adverse weather conditions, the majority of the Fall '10 ICLC students are still in London, even though the original plan was for most of them to leave today.  A lucky few are on their way home, but most are not.  Some have been able to rebook flights, and some have been getting friendly with customer service.  For many big events around the ICLC I am the first person to pull out the camera and click away.  But today there are a lot of fretful faces.  Heathrow's inexperience with snow disruption is not how we would like everyone to remember their four months here. 

Not that I'm trying co cover up the fact that today has been long and a little rough, but here are some fond memories from the last 4 month.  The captions are punctuated with exclamation points to make them extra exciting!

Remember how much fun everyone had at Avebury?

Making Interrelationships journals was really fun, too!

It was a great time going on walks with Bill and getting left in the dust!

Dave had a great time stealing Bill's Pukka Pad (with Gen)!

Everyone was so excited to go to Edinburgh in August!

Bill really doesn't even have to make much of an effort to get a laugh out of the girls!

Orientation, when everything in London was so new and different!

A few months ago you could go out to a rugby match with fewer than 6 layers of clothes on!

Tim Kidd enthralls another group of students in Stratford!

Wales has castles!

Wimbledon's newest commentators!

Last Friday was a slow day on the donation front.  Sarah and I were trying to get the ball rolling!

Remember all the good times we had in London!

-Claire (and Elsie)