A week full of celebrations this week. Tuesday was Pancake day or Shrove Tuesday to give it its official name. Shrove Tuesday is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday which is celebrated in some countries by consuming pancakes. Why pancakes? Turns out there’s a pretty good reason. Eggs, flour and milk. Those three key ingredients were once very common things to give up for Lent, so it made sense to use them all up in one handy dish the day before Lent started. We asked our listeners their favourite pancake filling and the traditional lemon and sugar came out on top.
This was quickly followed by Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent and 40 days of fasting. It’s a Christian festival and the roots come from people replicating the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus Christ over the 40-day journey he made through the desert. A lot of people use Lent as a way of testing their willpower, often giving up things like chocolate or other sweet treats before Easter. Those of you who are quick with numbers might have figured out that there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. But many Christians believe there’s no obligation to fast on Sundays, which means it is actually only 40 days once you remove them. Love that little rule change!
If that wasn’t enough then Valentines fell on the same day as Ash Wednesday. Here’s a few interesting facts about a Valentines.
- Most women will not spend half the amount of money on men as they expect to get brought for them.
- There is an increase in the sales of pregnancy tests during the month of March, due to all those wonderful romantic interludes on Valentine’s Day!
- The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love.
- Women are more inclined to buy cards than men for this romantic day, men preferring to buy flowers and chocolates.
- For many who do not have a human loved one and a pet is their best friend, they will purchase a fun loving gift and chocolates for their animal friend.
- Around 110 million Valentine’s roses are sold 2-3 days leading up to February 14th, mostly red of course. Out of those 110 million, 73% are purchased by men and only 27% are purchased by women.
- Valentine’s day is the second biggest “event” of the calendar year following Christmas. It has been estimated that the UK will spend around £880 million on valentine’s day. Averaging that men will spend a staggering £611 million while women will spend around £269 on their partners!
Now if you stick to the traditional stuff like flowers or chocolates you probably won’t go wrong but if you tried something from the list below of the worst Valentines Day gifts then love definitely won’t be in the air!
- A tin of baked beans
- A live tarantula
- An ironing board cover
- A plastic sheep
- A desk tidy
- A car frost cover
- A tyre pump
- A tea bag
- Bathroom scales
- A watering can fitting
- A screwdriver set
- A wheelbarrow
- A bike pedal
- A sausage roll
- A pack of cigarettes
- A toy snake
- Shaving foam
- Dead flowers
- A colander
- A torch
Thursday was the Valentines day of silence. Observed by Women whose partners forgot to book them a restaurant or do anything special on Valentine’s Day!
So what have we got to look forward to now?
4 days till The Brit Awards at The O2 (21/2/18)
12 days till the last day to use any old paper £10 notes (1/3/18)
36 days till British Summer Time begins (clocks go forward) (25/3/18)
41 days till the Easter weekend starts (30/3/18)
91 days till Prince Harry and Meghan Markle get married (19/5/18) 118 days till the World Cup in Russia starts (14/6/18)
405 days till the UK is scheduled to leave the EU (29/3/19)
Are you like me watching the Winter Olympics? Just seeing the snow takes me back to Ski Sunday and its unforgettable theme tune. I try if I can to catch the highlights programme each evening. I was hooked on the snowboarding as some of the tricks they were doing were out of this World. Now I’m fascinated to know how you get Into some of these sports. Usually as a kid you go and try a few different things out to see what you like or you’re good at. So I’m interested to know with the luge or the skeleton which is hurtling down an icy track on basically a tea tray and ski jumping which is skiing down a man made ramp and flying off the end, at what point do you decide it’s not for you?
The list below is a survey of landmark moments that Brits would have loved to have witnessed. No Winter Olympic moments, is yours in there?
- England winning the 1966 World Cup
- Live Aid, 1985
- The fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989
- The launch of Apollo 11, 1969
- Queen Elizabeth II Royal Coronation, 1953
- The London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony, 2012
- The Beatles playing on the rooftop of Apple Offices, 1969
- Usain Bolt 100m win, 2012
- The construction of Stone Henge, 3100 BC
- Andrew Murray wins Wimbledon, 2013
Our Government has certainly be getting lots of stick over the tourist tax so I was interested to read this story this week. Oxford could become the first city in the country to charge visitors a £1-per-night tourist tax. The tourist bed levy could raise at least £5million a year to help improve the city, politicians claim. Liz Wade, the Lib Dems’ deputy leader on Oxford City Council, said residents feel “crowded out of Oxford’s streets by tourists and their coaches”. They “may end up marching” as they have done recently in Venice, Barcelona and Berlin unless changes are made soon, she added. Last year the party’s proposal for a ‘tourism tax’ to be explored by Oxford City Council received unanimous backing. Levies are currently being investigated by a number of UK councils, including Camden and Bath. Be interesting to see what happens. The Local Plan will be discussed later this year before it is adopted next year.
A good away point for Real Mallorca last weekend away at Llagostera. They were reduced to 10 men in the first half but hung on defensively in the second half. Helped by another defeat for Villarreal B, Mallorca are now 10 points clear at the top. Tomorrow they are at home to Alcoyano, kick-off at 12 midday.
And finally a news story that made me smile this week. Spectators fled a rehearsal for the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang because it was too cold! A wind chill of -7 reportedly drove audiences out of the arena in the South Korean city. Reports in South Korea suggest up to 35,000 spectators will be given heating pads, blankets and raincoats at Friday’s opening ceremony as organisers seek to mitigate the sub-zero conditions.
Enjoy your weekend.
I present the Radio One Mallorca Breakfast show with Ayesha Monday to Friday 07.30-11.00am on 93.8fm in Mallorca, online at www.radioonemallorca.com and on mobile through their free App for IPhone, Android, The Tunein Radio App and now on the Spanish TDT TV service. If you can’t hear me on the radio then you’ll find me working at Pirates Adventure the islands number one night out and every now and again i make an understudy appearance!
Feel free to email me at rprior@globobalear.com
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