Burns Night
This is the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns in Ayr, Scotland. The Burns Night celebrations conducted by Scots all over the world with haggis, whisky¹, and poetry.
Wikipedia has a description of the standard celebration, but easy on the malt or you may end up with a William McGonagall morning.
In honor of the occasion a bit of Robby Burns for the Democratic “leadership”:
The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men
Gang aft agley
An’ lea’e us nought but grief an’ pain
For promis’d joy!To a Mouse
1. This is the correct spelling when referring to Scotland’s “water of life”.
7 comments
Thanks for reminding me Bryan. I always have a wee dram or two to celebrate the occasion. I have an antique treen quaich that is the perfect and proper vessel for such a toast.
.-= last blog ..A Futurist Talks About What’s Next =-.
You know what they say about the oven status of poets and essayists in those islands…
* Francis: Bacon
* Elizabeth Barrett: Browning
* John: Donne
* Bobby: BURNS!
(Well, it always amused me…)
Enjoy a wee dram of whisky (sic) for me; I don’t have any onhand.
.-= last blog ..Samantha’s Diner =-.
Ummm… yeah. Ahem.
Well… It’s Australia Day here today for us! 😀 So everyone will of course be watching the Australia Day Test (Cricket for the unenlightened), we even get a Holiday so thousands of people can pay exorbitant prices for tickets and food (well, stuff labeled as *food* possibly with the nutritional value and taste of cardboard) and beverages ($3.60 for a small Coke). It indeed epitomizes *Australia Day*, Given that Australia was founded on Greed by the *Motherland*. 😆 😛
Glad I could help, FM.
Only if “they” are college freshmen, Steve.
Yep, Australia and India both celebrate what is my tomorrow, Kryten. Enjoy the day, although, a contest between watching a cricket test or paint dry would be a tough call for me.
LOL Yeah… Tests can be dire! They have been pretty good this season, lot’s happening. 🙂
Alternatively, we have the Australian Open (Tennis) qtr Final today. And appropriately perhaps, a Scotsman, Andy Murray will play the Spanyard Rafael Nadal . 🙂 I think Andy Roddick (USA) is playing Marin Cilic (Croatia). And in the Womens… I think Justine Henin (Belgium) and Jie Zheng (China) have won their matches for a faceoff that will be interesting! 🙂 Zheng has been a surprise, and Hennin is looking good after injuries and illness forced her off the courts last year. 🙂
But… I’m not that into sports really. 😉 😛
Oh, I should have mentioned perhaps… these are the One Day (limited overs) Test series. 🙂 A lot more active than teh normal 5-day tests. 😉 Each side only get’s to bowl 50 overs, so they tend to be pretty fast paced. Aus is playing Pakistan, and Pakistan has a very tough one-day side! Aus has already lost 2 wickets for only 64 runs in 14 overs. The last 10 overs are generally the most exciting as the batsmen go for the big 4’s and 6’s (if they have any decent batsmen left. The strategy is usually to leave 1 or 2 good batters for the last overs). 🙂 The pakistani bowlers are deadly, especially a new 17 or 18 yo fast bowler who can get over 150Km/h and loves aiming for the body! 😉 Curiously… Cricket is the one sport in Aus where the batsmen pad up like a US Quaterback! 😀 When a good fast bowler is on, even the center fielders wear helmets and pads! If teh batsman manages to hit the ball, it’s gonna go like a missile and will hurt like hell if you are in front of it! 😀 (One of our fielders got a broken thumb a week ago trying to stop a fast ball).
There is much pain in cricket, on both sides of the fence. 😉 LOL
I truly believe that one needs to be born a fan of cricket or haggis, otherwise, you just won’t appreciate it.
Yeah, I’m really getting the vibe of how totally disinterested you are, but I follow sled dog racing, the Tour de France, and a pathetic football side [the Aachen “potato beetles”], so I can’t give anyone grief.