An important part of the Christmas Day celebrations in the UK is the Christmas pudding. Christmas pudding is a round, rich and heavy pudding made from fruit, eggs, sugar, breadcrumbs, suet, spices, and alcohol such as brandy or rum. Many families have their favourite pudding recipe, which is often passed down through generations of family [...]
St Patrick’s Day
March 13, 2011 By 2 Comments
St Patrick's Day is on March 17th and it is the national day of Ireland. It is a secular celebration, and an important religious festival. It is holy day of obligations for Roman Catholics in Ireland, as well as a religious celebration for the Anglican Church of Ireland. St Patrick's Day has been an official [...]
Flower and plant emblems of the UK
May 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Anita Hunt of Nita Joy Craft Design has very kindly written me a guest post about the plants and flowers associated with some of the counties and countries of the UK. ___________________________________________ Flowers and plants are used in so many ways throughout our lives. They mark a variety of occasions such as the celebration of [...]
Idiom: nineteen to the dozen
May 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The phrase nineteen to the dozen refers to something that is happening very fast, or that is moving very quickly. If someone is talking nineteen to the dozen they are talking very quickly. Colloquial British English expression. Examples of use: 1. She was so excited about passing her exam, she was talking nineteen to the [...]
What is Burns’ Night?
January 24, 2010 By 1 Comment
Burns' Night is celebrated on the 25th January every year and is a celebration of the birth date of Scottish national poet Robert Burns (1759 – 1796). Robert Burns was the son of a farmer. He is said to have had a 'fondness for the ladies', and he was an enthusiastic promoter of human welfare [...]
When is St. Andrew’s Day?
November 30, 2009 By 1 Comment
St. Andrew's Day is on 30th November. It is the official National Day in Scotland, UK, and in 2006 was designated an official bank holiday by the Scottish Parliament. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and also Greece, Russia and Romania. He was one of Jesus Christ’s Twelve Apostles and is thought to have [...]
Idiom: soap opera
November 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
A soap opera is a television or radio programme about the lives of a group of people that is shown every week, or sometimes several times a week. Soap operas are usually quite sentimental and melodramatic accounts of the characters' daily and personal lives. They are often called 'soaps'. The term was first used around [...]
