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Countries, Europe, Music, Sport

Favourite Euros anthems

14th June 202114th June 2021 funtime65

Chances are we’ve only been able to hum along to a few… it’s Rainy Days and Songdays’ Favourite Euros anthems.

Vive La France

La Marseillaise, France: And the proof is whether your song will last the test of time.

Claude Joseph Rouger de Lille is long forgotten.

Long after be penned this revolutionary rouser in 1792.

Charlie wrote his classic, not on the French Riviera but in Strasbourg.

And it is easy to see why he was so inspired by this Medieval cobbled town on the banks of the Rhine.

There is a spoof version rugby song.

About a Frenchman going to the lavatory with the pay-off (and sing along here… ou est le papier?).

Germany Wunderbar

Deutschland Uber Alles: And on the right side of the Rhine the Teutons will be belting out this tune.

And when you boast the composers Germany has (they do classical music as well as der fussball) then you pick from them.

This ditty is a Joseph Haydn composition.

And, yes we know he’s Austrian but not of the sane ilk as that wee madman Austrian we’ve all came to loathe.

Azzurri Azzurri-eyed

Il Canto degli Italiani, Italy: No, it’s not Nessun Dorma as stirring as Andrea Bocelli’s rendition was at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

This 19th-century call to arms gained traction around the Risorgimento and unification.

It got bumped by the monarchy for the Marcia Reale.

But thankfully was endorsed by the new republic after World War II.

The Russians are coming

Gosurdastvennyy Gimn Rossiyskoy Federatsii, Russia: And another revisionist anthem which oozes Russian eastern mysticism.

This stomper replaced another classic The Internationale because it’s more Russian-centric.

And in typical Russian fashion it has become deStalinised along the way.

Winning in the Valleys

Hen Wlad Fy Nadau, Wales: With three home nations from which to choose it had to be the Welsh anthem over the English and Scottish dirges.

Better too with it sung in Welsh.

And isn’t it heartening too to see all the Wales players, even those of who are only Welsh by grandparentage, giving it a go.

Which is more than arch-Brexiteer and former Wales Secretary of State John Redwood can muster.

So there’s our Rainydays and Songdays’ favourite Euros anthems…

Now if only Scotland and England could change theirs.

Countries, Culture, Europe, Pilgrimage, UK

St Andrew’s Day around the world

30th November 202030th November 2020 funtime65

Happy St Andrew’s Day.

From Banff to Barbados, Turriff to Tenerife, Lewis to Limassol, Sauchie to Sochi, Keith to Kiev and Thurso to Thessaloniki.

You get the picture – it’s not just Scotland, we all celebrate Andy as our patron saint.

So let’s pick the bones out of the apostle and his links to these countries.

Scots Sandy

St Andrews, Scotland: We’re here at the Home of Golf and the third oldest university in the UK,

The story goes that St Regulus (me neither) brought Andrew’s kneecap, arm, three fingers and a tooth here.

And King Oengus built a holy settlement on this collection.

You’ll want to stay at the Old Course Hotel and look out at where the legendary stickmen took the plaudits.

Fly the Canary flag

A St Andrew’s Day flag lurking In Tenerife

St Andrew, Tenerife: I’m not going to spoonfeed you here though as to how St Andrew came to be associated with the Canaries island of Tenerife.

Only to say that Scotland and Tenerife where I visited with CanariaWays share the same white cross on blue background.

San Cristobal de La Laguna is more Havana (it models itself on this World Heritage site) than Hamilton.

But you will find the iconic flag flying here.

Windies’ Andy

And my old half-Scottish pal Jevan is here

Barbados: The island call Little England has an area called Scotland.

Three hundred and sixty five days of sun, a bit like the Scotland in Europe!

Barbados is split into regions named after saints…

The one where the Rooneys, Simon Cowell, Cliff Richsrd, and, er me, like is the Platinum Coast in Saint James obviously.

All Greek to Andy

Greece and Cyprus: The old white beardie man (and there’s nothing wrong with that) is literally an icon in Greek parts.

You know those wooden framed pictures the Greeks love.

St Andrew is said to have been crucified in Patras.

It is Greece’s third biggest city, the regional capital of Western Greece in the northern Peloponnese.

And the Greek Orthodox basilica is the holy site for Andreans as we’ll call followers of Andrew.

And they’ll think nothing of the 215km trip from Athens.

Eastern Andy

Russia and Ukraine: Our adventurous Andy loved to travel. Much like us.

And our Galilea trawler got himself up to the Black Sea and beyond.

We hope too that he was more than just a fisher of men.

Now should you get on the right side of Vladimir Putin in Russia you’ll get the tap on the shoulder.

And the Order of Saint Andrew the Apostle the First-Called.

It is the highest order in the Russian Federation.

Get it wrong and you’ll get something slipped in your tea and sent on a plane out of the country.

One man’s assassination is another’s martyrdom!

HAPPY ST ANDREW’S DAY

Culture, Deals, Europe, Ireland

Russian Queen Catherine the Great

13th October 201913th June 2021 funtime65

The joke is that Helen Mirren will keep her clothes on if the part absolutely demands it… that part Russian Queen Catherine the Great.

The ubiquitous Miss Mirren can be seen most recently on our small screens in the bodice-ripper Catherine the Great on Sky.

You can view Cathy’s bessie pal Countess Pravskova (Gina McKee) giving her fella Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke) a helping hand at the opera.

The style of it: Helen Mirren as Catherine

And a bit later on there’s the excitement o her secretary taking down more than a letter in the Empress’s quarters.

Grand old lady

Cathy though, and by definition Helen, stays decent for any hanksy-pansky.

Well, she is a grand old lady now of 74 years.

So, why am I telling you all of this? It’s because I have a St Petersburg offer up my cuffs.

Now St Petersburg is a great place to start if you’re a Catherineophile (I made that word up).

Peter’s city

Her predecessor Peter the Great (it seems to be a common surname for Russian royalty) founded the city in 1703.

And it is here that much of the nookie takes place in the TV series.

And where Catherine pops her clogskis. Sorry I hope I haven’t spoiled that for you.

And you will, as the tour includes the Hermitage Museum and Catherine’s Palace.

And some British royals

Don’t worry about bursting in on Catherine or Helen when they’re not decent.

The good lady always is these days.

You want some royalty… alas, I have yet to visit Russia.

Or walk in the footsteps of Russian Queen Catherine the Great.

But here’s a trip to the Tower of London.

And a lot of English and British monarchs, and weren’t they all related anyway.

I went to see them on a visit to see another queen, the queen of the Sixties and Seventies hit, Carole King.

That’s too many kings and queens, princes and princesses for one day, methinks.