The English Garden

by Margaret Watson

This week we have had the Royal Chelsea Garden Show, one of the best and most famous in the world. Gardeners come from as far away as Japan to show their blooms and skills at Chelsea. Although I lived in central London for a number of years I’ve never been. For one thing it is too crowded and for another the crowds are only allowed to view the gardens from the edge. For me it is all about handling the plants, brushing against them, smelling as well as seeing the roses, the freesias and more exotic blooms. I prefer to watch this one on the television with my feet up and a cup of tea. I can listen to the interviews with the growers and designers and see the plants close up. It isn’t as good as real life, but it will do. The one time I would like to be at Chelsea is at closing time on the last day – that’s when they sell off the plants for charity. I’d need more than a taxi to get home that day.

A Quick Guide to Coping with Culture Shock

by Heather Pears

One sunny afternoon my cousin and I were seated on the small patio of a restaurant in the Hungarian countryside. The beautiful scenery was lost on us because we were busy staring blankly at the menu in front of us. Slowly the feeling of panic grew, nothing made sense! What was “galuska”, was it something I wanted to try? Suddenly a waitress set a big bowl of food in front of us, saying something that sounded like “Is good!” With that she was gone.

Fast forward ten years. I found myself standing in an underground subway having an emotional meltdown. I was paralyzed by confusion and anxiety. There were 6 sets of stairs radiating upward to street level and I had no idea which way to go. I couldn’t understand the signs and, even if I could find someone who spoke English, the people rushing past me looked too busy to answer my questions.

May Day

by Margaret Watson

May Day is always celebrated on the first Monday in May, which means that this year it will be Monday May 5th.

In my Shropshire school they had a Maypole. It is probably long gone, to make way for netball courts or climbing frames which can be used every day, but then it was only a once-a-year experience. Someone would climb up and attach ribbons in various colours to the circle at the top.  A little girl then held on to her ribbon and danced in an intricate pattern so that the ribbons crissed and crossed to form diamonds of colour. Well, that was the theory, but we were very young, totally under-rehearsed and the result was chaos, and one child nearly getting strangled in pink ribbon – but at least we enjoyed ourselves. I wonder if they ever got the ribbons untangled.

Cadbury Creme Egg

How do you eat yours?

by Lynne Hand

Cadbury Chocolate is a household name in the UK, and the Cadbury Creme Egg, a brand of chocolate egg produced by Cadbury is their best selling confectionery item between January 1st and Easter, with annual sales in excess of 200 million items and a brand value of approximately £45 million.

What The Real Irish Eat On Saint Patrick's Day

by Kevin Thomas (edited by Lynne Hand)

During my travels I have always been amazed by the perception that people have of what Irish food is.  I have had numerous conversations with people trying to tell me the foods that myself and my family eat. which is completely contrary to what I know we eat. One of the biggest misconceptions is about "Corned Beef and Cabbage", this is not a common dish in Ireland at all.  In fact it is generally confined to the small restaurants in tourist areas to cater for the hoards expecting everyone living on the island of Ireland to be tucking into this on a daily basis.  We do however have a dish similar to this, it is not eaten very regularly and certainly not on Saint Patrick's Day or any other day of celebration.  It is "Bacon and Cabbage", not the type of bacon that is fried but more like a boiled ham. So what will Irish people in (living in Ireland) eat on Saint Patrick's day?

Functions of Children's Fairy Tales

by Ty Hulse

Fairy tales have been considered children's stories for a long time, yet the original meaning of them was very dark and fairly brutal. These where often stories of cannibalism, wicked parents, and brutal punishments, hardly the types of stories one would want to read to their children. Little Red Ridding Hood is for example a little bit of a horror story building tension before the girl is devoured, Jack in Jack and the Bean Stalk is a conniving greedy thief. Yet these problems only exist in the original telling of the stories. Children's fairy tales, are a new phenomenon and they are quite different from the stories of the past.