I must have been one of the very few kids in Glasgow to be lullabied to sleep with old Republican songs… and because of that and my own journey I’m an avowed internationalist republican which is why today I say Vive La Republic of Barbados.
Now you’ve heard me wax lyrical already many times about the magical island of Barbados and my Kiss With Rihanna and Rumba there.
And Bim, as it is affectionately known (hence me being known on the island as Bim Jim) is the talk of the Scottish and British Travel scene with the Bridgetown route rolling out from Edinburgh next month.
Now to celebrate Barbados becoming the latest country to throw off the shackles of monarchy and go out on their own, here’s to all those nations who have taken their destiny in their own hands.
And decided to be governed by one of their own.
Now a true republic, just like a true democracy or a true anything these days in double speak, is a moveable object.
But you’ve got to start somewhere which is why we’re going with 160 (now Barbados have signed up).
All republics lead from Rome
And if you know you’re Classic History, and my Latin is better than my Ancient Greek then you’ll know that republic derives from the two Latin words res and publica (public thing).
So that’s one of the famous things that ‘the Romans did for us’ although, of course, if you’re British then it’s an experiment from which we’ve run far away.
Apart, of course, from a brief period from 1649-1660 when these islands of Britain and Ireland entered into a Commonwealth which was really a theocracy.
But while Westminster claims to be the mother of all parliaments (doubtful, and Europe’s oldest in Iceland might have something to say about that).
It’s Rome which is the mothership of all republics, and we have the good fortune that the Forum, the hub of Roman public life is still there.
No fools those Ancient Romans though with their togas as I found out when I almost fainted in the Eternal City heat in my modern clothes.
An Italian fixture
Venice: And let’s catch a gondola back to Padova
Now where Rome led the rest of Italy followed.
And chief among them was the 1100-year Venetian Republic which still styles itself thus and is hewn into every gondola and the very bricks of the Campanile.
Florence, Siena, Amalfi, Pisa and Genoa all saw what the Doges were doing and how fetching their hats were and followed suit.
But the republicaniest of all the republics and the longest-standing is San Marino.
And so what they lack in football skills (0-10 v England) they more than make up for in their political skills.
La Republique, mais oui
Je suis L’Empereur: Napoleon
Ah, yes, the French. like so much, would have us believe that they are the shining light of Republics.
So much so that they have had five of them ever since Corsican Napoleon got le ball rolling.
Notre ami soon decided though that L’empereur sounded so much better…
And he did that with one arm behind his back (or affectedly tucked in his jacket then).
It must be a poncey royal thing because the UK’s Prince Charles who very graciously decided to attend the signing-over papers to the Bajans (and bag himself some sun at the time) does pretty much the same thing.
And on a tangent we’ll not say anything about the carbon footprint, Prince Save The World.
None of us are perfect, of course, it’s just the rest of us don’t bleat on about it and preach to the rest of us who do hop on planes.
Middle Ages and Middle Europe
Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam
The breeding ground for republics in the Middle Ages was what we now know as Germany.
And a quick count chronicles 62 in the northern European powerhouse.
All of which would be a good exercise and excuse to traverse modern-day Germany with a Michael Portillo type notebook.
I’d have to start in my favourite German city Hamburg first of course.
There are some who have gone the opposite way to the Bajans and jumped from republic to monarchy like the Dutch.
Others who have had a brief dalliance with republicanism, Catalonia, and still have hopes of a return to those halcyon days.
Battle hymn of the Republic
Southern men: At the statue of Stonewall Jackson at Manassas
Yes, their eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
And while the North eulogised its Republic, the South too held its close to its bosom, albeit for just five years.
That said the Confederate States of America still exist in the hearts and minds of many in the Deep South.
And you don’t need me to tell you that that was the first battle of the US Civil War.
Post-colonial
Cool for cats… in the Eastern Cape, South Africa
There were, of course, a rash of republics in the post-colonial world which is where Barbados join us now.
While in Africa and Asia the cry went up for the ‘public thing’ which alas all too quickly became the ‘dictator thing.’
And because of these precedents it ratchets up our hope that the South African Rainbow Nation experiment proves successful despite its challenges.
And the USSR and its satellites
The voice of Dresden: With Ingrid in Dresden
Dogmatic ideologists, of course, think nothing of hijacking the word republic for something that looks nothing like it.
And hovering up previously self-governing nations, which is where Russia came in and formed the bloated Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic.
Unless I find me a time machine a trip back to those days will inevitably elude me, although that’s where museums and heritage come in.
And you can still immerse yourself into the spirit of those days on any trip out there.
Which is exactly what you get when you visit the old DDR.
Now we all know of the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie but more of us should visit the mural to communism which stands as a reminder of Russian misrule and occupation in Dresden.
Irie, Barbados
It’s a republic, now: With Ruby in Barbados
And so good luck to the incumbent President of Barbados. Sandra Mason, incidentally also the last governor-general.
Vive La Republic of Barbados.
I’ll raise a glass of rum punch to you on the official date of handover tomorrow.
Which is a shared holiday, Barbados’s National Day, and Scotland’s too.
In Scotland, Barbados: Honest
And until my own native land becomes a republic (I’m not holding my breath) I’ll. mark yours, and America’s and France’s.
And the whole lot of you, 160 or so, who have taken the revolutionary step of deciding that you wanted to be ruled by someone of the people.
St George’s association with England is long, dating back 1200 years to the Venerable Bede.
Morris dancing
And he had to see off the rival claims of Thomas A Beckett and Edward the Confessor, before he was made patron saint.
St George’s Day, I am happy to report (my own English rose has told me to say that), is making something of a comeback in England www.visitengland.com.
Quarantine used to be something reserved for pets…
And don’t you just feel like you’re being treated like a dog by our UK Government?
So it’s good to see Ryanair, British Airways www.britishairways.com and EasyJet https://www.easyjet.com/en taking it to bungling Boris Johnson and the preposterous Priti Patel and threatening legal action.
Change is good at Ryanair
We’ve all been there when life gets in the way.
Or you just muck up your booking by not reading the times properly. OK, that’s just me.
And yes I’ve heard the horror stories of how you can never get through to a real person in customer support.
And when you do you’re more likely to get blood out of a stone.
Just the ticket
But when it came to it and I needed to transfer my booking to Tenerife, and it was entirely my fault, Ryanair www.ryanair.com came good.
The low-fare airline has a summer sale on with 100,000 seats from €19.99.
But it does have a deadline of tonight, June 19.
And there are no flight change fees for July and August.
Our friends at the national airline carrier www.aerlingus.com have even thrown in some free recipe ideas.
To get us in the mood, from French ratatouille to Italian pizza to Spanish tray-bake.
Bonjour, s’il vous plais attendez
Brevement, if you’re a true European, or live in one of those idiosyncratic countries like the Vatican State, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino among others, you’re welcome in France.
If you’re say Spanish then you’ll have to wait until Sunday.
Then you’ll get back over the border without being put into a 14-day quarantine.
Bordering on excellence
The French-Spanish border is one of Europe’s oldest continuous dividers.
Although not as old as the Andorra frontier with France and Spain which dates from 1278.
Of course there being Basques on both sides of the north-west corner of Spain and south-west of France there’s only one thing for it.
Back then, and it’s only a year ago, I would call on the services of the finest freelancers who never let me down.
Star women: The Irish at IPW
On the other side
Now I’m on the other side of the fence I have been glad to say that the holiday providers I cultivated then and many writers and editors remain the best of friends.
There’s no photographic evidence that it ever happened and I don’t know what it says about the ‘nurse’ who agreed to date the drag queen me.
Nursie clearly had second thoughts the following day and didn’t turn up at the bar.
Although my much-storied Australian flatmates had great fun in telling me every five minutes that I’d missed her.
All of which diva prancing around (the occasion was a student ‘Tarts and Tramps’ party.
Oh Nicki, you’re so fine: Ms Minaj
Where the guys dressed as women and the women as hobos) brings me to RuPaul’s new season of Drag Race which also showcases Nicki Minaj and Michelle Visage.
Which is, thanks to Daddy’s Little Girl, a big fave in our house.
I particularly love RuPaul and the beautifully pink Trini, that’s Trinidadian and Tobagonian to you and me Nicki Minaj.
And as you know I love a bit of colour and make-up and slapped it on in Tobago in December.
Javelins have their place… partly because of bonkers Tessa Sanderson who I interviewed in my first job and the force of nature that is Fatima Whitbread.
They could make it even better if they were to time it to when the long-distance runners were on the track.
Long jump? Nothing exciting has happened since Bob Beamon jumped out of the pit.
And high jump? Since Dick Fosbury flopped over the bar in the Sixties.
Thirty years working to a deadline and Black Friday can feel like a pressure I don’t need. Which is why I’ve latched onto Click&Go… http://www.clickandgo.com.
Who see the day as a springboard for their offers.
I dipped my toe again in Barcelona’s waters this year, 17 years after my first foray there.
And I found Christopher Columbus, arms open, just as welcome as ever.
Click&Go has three nights in the 4* Onix Ceo Hotel with return flights from Dublin from €189pp. For Travel in January.
We’ve got American friends of my favourite cousin who lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland which is really the outskirts of Washington DC in town so I’m off to talk America.
I will report back and until then enjoy your Black Friday deals and…
Wel, you’d expect there to be wine around a church, and this being Spain it’s not too big a jump to see sangria too.
In Barcelona the most famous church of all is La Sagrada.
And the best way to make sense of this Teletubby church is with a jug of after jug of Sangria.
Which you can pick up fairly cheaply outside the church which is refreshing.
To the palate and the pocket. They do some pretty good pizzas and hot dogs and the like, and of course paella at a good price too.
Sangrias are one of the easiest cocktails to mix and always scream summer.
Whether in their home of Spain or in your back garden.
Sometimes it can go amiss such as when we were students and a bunch of us were working for SAGA Holidays in Aberdeen University’s Halls of Residence.
My flat mate was down with the lurgie so we decided to put some cough medicine in with the wine, the fruit, the soda water, the fresh orange juice and the lemonade.
Mother Thames… and Mother Sadie
Reflections on Madrid
