What are the odds that the British Antarctic Survey is doing anything for St George's Day? Because if they aren't, I can be reasonably confident that this beer I am drinking is the southernmost celebration of it on the planet.
Saint George is on my mind at the moment. Firstly, I seem to have bought the world out of a specific Lives of the Saints card of his that is the final missing ingredient in the saints/holy water packs a few dozen premium members are patiently waiting for.
But also because -speaking of the premium members- in what emerges as a pleasing sync, today's London timezone Live Q&A opened with us going to magical war against British tyranny a little bit. The details are private, but it was an unexpectedly intense experience for me. (Mother rang this morning and asked me what I was doing at 4:30am because I apparently bilocated into her room and woke her up. I literally take momma's boy to cosmic levels.)
So St George is missing and today I read that, unsurprisingly enraged by Israel's illegal airstrikes, Iranian Lieutenant Commander Brigadier General Hossein Salami declared that Israeli airbases are within his reach -which puts them "in the mouth of the dragon"- while the head of the Iranian military guaranteed Israel's destruction within 25 years. In 2018 the language of the saints is entirely lacking in subtext, it seems. When St George does eventually resurface, we can only hope it's in his protective, de-escalating mode.
Given the desperately appalling behaviour of the current British government, as well as the general state of the world, it is the hardest it has ever been for me to sit with and remember the things I really do adore about England. I almost didn't do anything at all for St George's Day. But it's that joy thing, yeah? As things get worse it almost becomes more important to throw as much light on the joyous as one possibly can.
As such, let me leave you with the entry for St George's Day from Pieces of Eight:
There’s an almost noble subtext in the marking of St George’s Day which is to rescue this fascinating warrior saint from Far Right nationalist groups that have adopted a dead Syrian as their symbol of keeping England white and free of foreigners.
St George is a complex motif, containing the vastly ancient iconography of the dragon; her destruction and the creation of the world; combined with half-remembered echoes of Eurasian kingship and warrior cults and a deliberate attempt to summon back the might of the Roman Empire.
In many ways, it is pleasing to contemplate this polyform while enjoying England’s benign absurdities like bunting, tea and cheese rolling.
Set some lights.