I am very proud to be British, I have lived and worked abroad in places like China, the US and mainland Europe and for the most part the British people and Britain are held in very high regard. We have our faults as with any country but I would not live permanently anywhere else. I will be fortunate enough to retire at the end of this year at the age of 61 and will definitely not be going anywhere else, I am looking forward to being able to travel the British Isles on pleasure rather than business and to seeing the beauty of our countryside and the rich history that exists all around. I will of course visit other countries and the first thing on my bucket list is a road trip down the Pacific Highway in California. You do not have to physically wave the flag to be patriotic and I will always fiercely defend our heritage and the fact that despite all the negativity we do live in a very free country.
This day is called the feast of Crispian: He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day: then shall our names. Familiar in his mouth as household words Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. This story shall the good man teach his son; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remember'd; We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England now a-bed Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. This is what it feels like to be be English for me (Yes Mike. I was there). I get emotional every single time I read it. I hear it in my head every time I see my team, in white shirts bearing the Lancaster Rose line up before a game. Everytime I stand in a meadow and hear a lark sing. Everytime I stand in the village square and watch the day go by around me. Nostalgic and romantically blurred perhaps, but if it in stills the emotion, there's naught wrong with it. I also take a pride in seeing pride in belonging in others. The tears that come from singing the Marseillaise, Bread of Heaven, Flower of Scotland are just as real. We're all British, but I'm English first, despite, it seems, an increasing conspiracy to hush the fact up. British by birth, English by the grace of god.
Funny you should say that we are having a midsummer party tonight and shall be mostly worshipping the amber nectar!
I think it's a bit sad to be proud of being born on one side of an imaginary line as apposed to another, it's basically taking credit for things other people have done. There are a lot of things I like about England and a lot of things I like about other countries, many things that are supposedly British are foreign anyway . An internet forum celebrating Japanese engineering probably isn't the best platform to display one's love of England though.
