Monday 4 February 2013

St David's Day

No, I'm not going mad.  I can't comment about you, of course, but I can assure you that I am well aware that today is not St David's Day.  That day is 1st March and we are still (as I type these words) in February.  And that's another thing that gets my goat: people who treat the first R in February as either silent or non-existent and insist on pronouncing the word as Feb-you-arry.  Anyway, we'll get back to the good Saint David a little later.

I know how to give a woman a good time.  Just ask the Old Bat.  Why, only the other day I bought her a bouquet of flowers for absolutely no reason whatsoever - just as a sign of my love and affection.  Granted, it was really only a bunch of daffs which had cost me all of a pound.  But still... when it's February (with two Rs) grey out of the window it's good to have a vase of bright yellow daffodils on the kitchen table.

And that brings us back to good old Dave.  You see, he is the patron saint of Wales and the daffodil is the national flower of Wales.

[Do all countries have national flowers?  I know England has the rose, Scotland the thistle and Ireland the shamrock - which is really a leaf, not a flower.  But what about France, or Spain, or Uruguay?]

Back in 2010, I posted about St David's Day actually on the day, 1st March, and that post has attracted more views than any other of my posts.  Far more.  In fact, more than twice as many as the next most viewed.  This was something that puzzled me every time I thought to have a quick peep at the stats Blogger so thoughtfully provide.  But eventually I discovered the reason behind this apparent blip:  Google.

You see, I ended that post with a picture of a vase of daffodils - this one, which I "borrowed" from somewhere I can't remember.

For some reason, people Googling "daffodil image" or similar phrases were given this blog as one of the sites which might interest them.

~~~~~

Today's mood music is Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No 1.  That's the one that starts dah dah dah dum, dah dah dah dum.  Or something like that.  Played by Martha Argerich, and she can be seen and heard playing this piece on YouTube.

~~~~~

I thought we might take another look at the church of St Laurence, Falmer, only this time the picture was taken in the summer and from a distance across the Downs.


1 comment:

Buck said...

On your music... the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande sure has a nice concert hall... and Martha can really tickle the keys, or pound them, as required. I left the music up for a soundtrack while I complete my rounds; there are just SO many great classical pieces it's difficult to call one a "favorite." I number this piece among those.

And isn't the Google phenomenon strange when it comes to blog traffic? Some of my stuff I thought of (and still do) as throw-aways get the most hits.