England and St George's day

 The red cross on a white background, national flag of England  has recently come under abuse by the British Olympic Association  and Nike's design for the England football team shirt, while English Heritage are falling over backwards to tell us that St George wasn't actually English.

Unlike some of our neighbors we English don't seem to celebrate our patron saint much, and I confess the last time I went to the St George's day parade was with the Sea Scouts some 50 years ago.

Does it actually matter that our patron saint was born and died in the middle east? There's also some division over his origin some claiming it was Cappadocia in modern day Turkey, others that he was born in Joppa of Christian parents. The biblical city of Joppa is now understood to be Jaffa part of Tel Aviv.

Did he really kill a dragon and rescue a princess? It seems likely that he did die, executed for defending Christians against persecution by Roman Emperor Dicocietian in AD 303. His actions speak of bravery and integrity which are worthy of a patron saint. 

It's suggested that George's exploits were made known to England by Arculphus and Adamnan on return from the holy lands in circa AD 700 and was made patron saint of England in 1098 after appearing to the starving and outnumbered crusaders at Battle of Antioch in the same year, who went on to defeat the attacking regimens under Kerbogha.

So whether you can trace your ancestors back though the generations or if you have chosen this land as home, St George an adopted patron saint seems to be a good representative of the values of our island nation and worth celebrating

" All our past acclaims our future: Shakespeare's voice and Nelson's hand

Milton's faith and Wordsworth's trust in this our chosen and chain-less land"

Swinburne - England an Ode

Winchester

 For a variety of reasons we've been visiting the historic city of Winchester, often to walk the water meadows south of the city along the Itchen Navigation path, climbing St. Catherine’s Hill site of a hill fort and past Hospital of St. Cross established as an almshouse in medieval times, all of which are but a short stroll from the old city center.

The city itself is no less interesting having. once been the seat of government in pre-Norman England. Many of those historical roots can still be seen in the old center, below statue of William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester, 1367-1404 in the high street.

From more recent history probably 19th century, but don't be a nuisance in Hammond's passage, the little round nose and lips with. J.Ace is interesting, perhaps an insurance token> J.Ace is repeated on the main sign.

The high street formerly supported cobblers and boot makers, these day's there are more high end fashion shoes, cafe's and restaurants.

The old covered parade of shops

 There are lots of small passages and alleys linking the streets or opening out into a different space.

Not sure if this is a Parliament clock or just a commercial public timepiece.

Winchester also has it's own version of Banksy - Hendog who's artwork can be seen around the town

 Winchester has many famous attractions, the cathedral, Jane Austin's House, Winchester School, and as a result lots of cafes, bars and restaurants which make it a good place to visit, but there's huge amount to find just wandering slowly about and seeing what's around the next corner

 

All Change

 One day it's blowing a gale, grey overcast and feeling like winter, there's flooding due the spring tide being pushed up by the wind reportedly as much as 3/4 of a meter above predicted HW and most probably the combined effect of the sun and moon alignment in the eclipse.

A couple of days later, the wind has dropped the sun has come out and it's feeling like Spring might actually have arrived.

Keyhaven

The two neighboring sailing clubs seem from across the saltings. On the left Hurst Castle SC and on the right Keyhaven YC. Both are a great place to sail from.

 

Storm Kathleen

Sunday morning was probably the aftermath of Kathleen but it was still pretty breezy.

 The wind was blowing perpendicular across Southampton Water and even with the relatively short fetch it was kicking up white caps.

Combined with the spring tides the strong winds had pushed the high water height further which was flooding into the car park at Warsash.

Despite the conditions there were a couple of boats out, I only saw this making the approach and entry into the river making good speed with just two stay sails set.

 

Papageno

Seen in the yacht basin at Courseulles in Normandy, Papageno looks like she might be a Dragon, but I couldn't get close enough to be sure.

Courseulles is a small, tidal port on the Normandy coast which is mainly gently sloping beaches, there's a long history of day boats sailing from the port dating back well before the war.

 Interesting name, Papageno is half man and half bird, loves wine, women and music and is the secret star of Mozart's Magic Flute and also seems to mean bird catcher.
 

Haul Out

 The Flugel, Greg's Memory sloop hauled out at the Pink Ferry marine railway

One of the benefits of a shoal draft centerboard is being able to access facilities which don't have the depth for deep draft boats.

Nice traditional interior.