By George...

Happy St. George's Day!



You did know it was today? The celebration of our patron saint? I appreciate that there has been no mention of it on the news, no parades organised, no red and white flags festooned from every building but surely you knew anyway? I guess it's just our way of being typically English and not wanting to make a fuss.

On the subject of things English, I was reading The English Guy's blog today which led me to an appalling story about National Lottery funding. For those who don't want to follow the link, Manchester United have been given a £30,000 lottery grant to fund exercise classes for their staff. I assume by "staff" we're not talking about the grossly overpaid primadonnas themselves, but all the same it's still a bloody disgrace.

I remember reading something about a year ago saying that they don't provide funding for organisations like RNLI or the Samaritans either because they can't guarantee that it will benefit disadvantaged people. Sorry, but if someone is on the brink of drowning or suicide then I'd say that's pretty damned disadvantaged.

Here's a thought for you: the first National Lottery was drawn 19th November 1994 which was a little over 596 weeks ago. I have played at least a single line every Saturday since it started and for most of the time have also been involved in a syndicate at work aswell. That means I've spent at least £1192 of which I doubt I've had a tenth back in prize money. I think it would make more sense to contribute to worthwhile causes directly and accept the fact that I'll probably never be a millionaire...