Fat Thursday

Today in Poland is a celebration of Tłusty Czwartek - literally "Fat Thursday". This is the last Thursday before lent and the custom is that you eat as many doughnuts as you can. Apparently a standard Polish person will eat 2,5 doughnut today and it is considered a bad luck when you eat none. 

The tradition has it's origins in Europe since XIII century. At the beginning people were stuffing their faces only on the eve of the Ash Wednesday - this was the culmination of the carnival. Later, Monday was included in the celebrations. Because longer festive equals longer preparations, but people were not allowed to work on Sundays, baking and cooking was moved to Saturday. However, it was a custom to only work on Saturdays until noon and Friday was out of the question, as the day when Jesus died, all of the preparations concentrated on Thursday. People started to call it Fat Thursday due to the indulgence in food and more - the last opportunity before long weeks of the lent.

I did not eat doughnuts today (I'm on a diet!), but I reserved this pleasure for the weekend - I will eat one and only ONE sweet from the bakery of my choice. I'm salivating on the memory of the Hummingbird cupcakes, so the choice is simple for me.

Instead in calories I invested in these...

...and these.

On the exercise front: I can't sit, I can't even stretch - my inner tights hurt so much! I knew that Personal Trainer will be my doom! Today I went to the gym and I was barely able to stretch and the cross-trainer hurt. On the plus side - I've lost 1 kg, which is a great start! Gives a motivation and a feeling of achievement!

Boxing Day

Today I'm not feeling very well and we've stayed home chillaxing (as ECH says). Due to the Skype-internet problems I haven't talked to my parents much, so I called home and Mother was like OK, OK, we're busy, we've baked some cake and everything's fine. I never thought this day would come when my parents actually didn't have a single fight during the holidays. Usually the pattern is like that: serenity before storm, lightnings, fireworks, more fireworks and back to love is all around. I can't believe they are actually getting along! It feels so good to know that and I just hope I haven't jinxed it!

We were planning to take a walk around London today, but because I feel really miserable we've put it of until Tuesday. Tomorrow we're going to the shopping centre to maybe catch some bargains - unless everything is sold out, because as far as I know there's shopping MADNESS in the UK at the moment. Boxing Day is a Sale Day - similar to the American Black Friday after Thanksgiving. On top of that, of course Transport for London aka tube workers decided to strike today and probably tomorrow - we still can get to the city, but I don't want to image what's going on there.

On the Eve of the Christmas Eve

Today I'm being lazy (I've watched Pride and Prejudice like hundredth time) and keeping a low-profile before tomorrow's madness of shopping and cleaning. In Poland tomorrow's Christmas Eve is a day which is enormously celebrated - even more than the actual Christmas Day. It's this evening of the year where the whole family gets together, sings Christmas carols and according to the tradition eats 12 different dishes. After the dinner all the kids are looking out of the window and wait for the first star to come up - this means that Santa comes with the gifts! And because miracles happen (and I don't mean talking animals on Christmas Eve) - the presents appear under the Christmas Tree! When I was little my dad dressed up as Santa and when he rang a bell I was screaming, shrieking and hiding under the table! Oh, how happy I was.

This year will be nothing like that. I truly hope that's the last time I'm not celebrating Christmas properly and away from family. There will be Boyfriend and me. That's it. I am sad, but I try not to think about it. We will just add something extra special from us - to cultivate old and make new traditions for the future. And I thank God for Skype!

To all of you my Blogging Friends - I wish you a Merry Christmas 

and a very Happy New Year!

Remember, remember; the Fifth of November

"Remember, remember
The Fifth of November
Gunpowder treason and plot
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot..." 

2010 marks the 405th anniversary of Guy Fawkes. It's no wonder British children can recall the rhyme; every year there are massive celebrations to commemorate the failure of the 1605 Gunpowder Plot. Four hundred and five years ago, Catholic conspirator Guy Fawkes and his gang of accomplices attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I along with it. The group were executed for treason but they are remembered every year as children the length and breadth of the country make effigies of the infamous traitor to burn on large bonfires. This uniquely British commemoration of our past also sees thousands of fireworks being blasted into the sky in imitation of the plot's explosive failure.

It all sounds a bit gruesome but these days it's all in the name of fun. Across London there are scores of municipal displays as well as thousands of private parties. Residents regard their local displays as a source of pride and huge crowds gather to "ooh" and "aah" as thousands of pounds worth of pyrotechnics are sent up in smoke. Not only is Bonfire Night a spectacular occasion - fun for kids, with a bit of community spirit - but it gives you a chance to get outside, grab a piping hot snack and a glass of mulled wine and gaze into the skies with the rest of London.

Today Lord Mayor of London gives a spectacular show of the fireworks just above the Thames - next to the Big Ben and London Eye. Unfortunately I am not feeling very well and we decided not to go in the end. We're gonna watch some XFactor in the evening and I'm planning a indulge myself in huge belgian waffle with banana, whipped cream and maple syrup! Yum-yum!

Polish Independence Day

Today in Poland is National Independence Day. It is a public holiday celebrated every year on 11 November to commemorate the anniversary of Poland's assumption of independent statehood in 1918 after 123 years of partitions by Austria-Hungary, Prussia, and Russia.

When you think about all of the November is somehow remembrance of those who passed away. Maybe it has something to do with the weather and autumn which makes this month so nostalgic.

Today's weather in London is appalling. The wind and rain make it almost impossible to venture outside unless you have to go to work. Boyfriend already told me that he has never seen so many broken umbrellas on his way to work. It's a pity because I wanted to visit nearby cemetery and light a candle on the grave of some nameless soldier.

All Saints' Day

Today is All Saints' Day. Here in the UK it is not celebrated as it is in Poland. In Poland it is a proper holiday - you don't go to work, almost all shops are closed (except petrol stations but you can hardly buy a decent bread over there) and there are two places you must visit: church and cemetery. Ever since my grandmothers and grandfathers died, I look at this day differently. Before I was carefree and careless going to the local cemetery with Mother and lighting a candles on the graves of her friends and cousins. Sometimes we went to the Mother's birth place to visit an uncle and light some candles in the cemetery where Mother's family is buried - grandparents and cousins she has never met, because they were executed by the Nazis. But now for me this day is sad and I am no longer carefree. I remember my grandparents, all the fun memories and even those bad ones. And I wish I'd known them better and could talk to them just this once. It is a day when you pause for the minute and think about your existence and about loved ones, who are no longer here.

Because here in the UK this is a normal day, Boyfriend went to work and the only replacement of the tradition was that yesterday we went to visit a local cemetery. I was very surprised, because it is very neglected. It is still a beautiful place - full of mossed graves (people buried there are from the beginnings of XX century), mixture of autumn yellow and red leaves and two (!) old churches in the middle. In Poland, because this day and tomorrow (when people remember those who died) is a celebrated tradition the cemeteries are kept (or are trying to be kept) in a well state. Everyone is cleaning the graves and there are often collections and fund-rising events for the looking after the cemeteries. I still remember that in the school we were going to different cemetery each year and trying to tidy up some of the worst neglected graves at this time of year. I've checked on-line and the cemetery we went to yesterday actually has a fund for such activities, but apparently there is a lack of hands and people's free time to put it into a good use. It's a shame, because some of the buried there are RAF and Marine soldiers who died in the First and Second World War. I wish people remember those, who died, so we can now have our freedom.