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Happy Sussex Day!

sussexday

martlet

Don’t worry. Nobody here ever heard of it, either. I’ve had a good time today wishing people a Happy Sussex Day and getting that ‘dog hears hypersonic whistle’ look.

Well, the Sussex Police did post a lovely video, though I have no idea why they chose All Things Bright and Beautiful instead of the unofficial county song, Sussex by the Sea.

Go on, give it a listen. It’s a cheery march and a catchy tune. Brass bands play it at some of the fêtes and festivals (the ones that have brass bands).

I heard it played at a funeral once.

Sussex Day was invented in 2007 to celebrate the awesomness that is Sussex. Among the suggested celebrations, reading aloud the Sussex charter:

For all the people of the ancient kingdom of Sussex!
Let it be known: the 16 June of each and every year shall be known as Sussex Day.
Sussex day shall be celebrated according to the rites and traditions of Sussex.
Let it be known all the people of Sussex shall be responsible for the maintenance of those boundaries that join to those of our neighbours.
Let it be known all the people of Sussex shall be responsible for all the environs within those boundaries.
Let it be known, the people of Sussex shall recognise the inshore waters that lie inside a line drawn from Beachy Head, and extending to Selsey Bill as being, the Bay of Sussex.
Let it be known, the people of Sussex will undertake responsibility for the general well being of our neighbours.
Let it be known the people of Sussex shall be guardians of our wildlife.
Let it be known the people of Sussex will, through custom support all local business.
Finally, let it be known, as guardians of Sussex, we all know Sussex is Sussex … and Sussex won’t be druv!
In God we trust.
God Save the Queen!

We Wunt Be Druv — I love that — is the unoffical motto of Sussex. It doesn’t appear in print until the early 20th C, though it was described as a favorite motto. It probably originates in the Weald of Sussex, where also originated the two major revolts of the Middle Ages: Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, under Wat Tyler, and 1450 under Jack Cade.

rampion

The county flower is the round-headed rampion. I have never seen one; it’s a weird-looking thing. I think Dr Seuss had a hand in the design.

The crest and flag of the county feature six martlets, which is the heraldic version of either a swallow or a house martin. Ehhh…technically, it’s an emblem, not a coat of arms, as arms can only be granted to an administrative body (not a whole county) and Sussex hasn’t had a united one since the Domesday Book.

The martlet also appears on the arms of the fourth son of a noble family, as the martlet has no feet (only feathers) and so cannot land, and the fourth son hasn’t any land either. That doesn’t have anything to do with Sussex, I just thought it was a fun heraldic pun.

The 16th of June was chosen because it is the feast of Richard of Chichester (1197–1253), patron saint of Sussex. His shrine was once regarded as a place of miracles, almost as popular as the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury, but mad King Henry VIII ordered it plundered.

We’re going to celebrate Sussex Day by playing a boules match against those rotten stinking foreign bastards, The Next Village Over. See you tomorrow.


Comments


Comment from weasel tablet
Time: June 16, 2016, 10:19 pm

We won! That is all.


Comment from tomfrompv
Time: June 16, 2016, 11:18 pm

Speakinf of rotten bastards…can you tell us over in “the states” how Brexit is viewed in your locality? I mean, is everyone all of one mind or is it like a Trump Rally here?

The news here is about the shooting of the lady MP, the fact the killer is NOT a Muslim, and that he used an actual gun (in a gun free nation). Its big news, right up there with all the other stories like gators killing little kids at DisneyWorld and the new London Mayor banning bikinis on the ‘tube.

We’re hearing a Brexit means everything from end of England to permanent closure of the Chunnel. Is there any buzz in your locale?


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: June 16, 2016, 11:55 pm

” … the new London Mayor banning bikinis on the ‘tube.” – tomfrompv –

He didn’t ban bikinis – just the hot bods they’re wrapped around.

The Ad folks should respond with a bunch of ads featuring bikini-clad “beefy delights” – women whose bodies most resemble large scoops of lumpy mashed potatoes.

And do it (the night before) for Brexit-Vote day. That’ll sure put the Londoner tube riders in a mood! The moto could be “Is your body Shepherds Pie ready?”


Comment from Steamboat McGoo
Time: June 17, 2016, 12:06 am

Was Sussex day really invented in 2007? I woulda figgered it would be – like – 1066 or whatever. Y’know – waaaay back in the mists of time.


Comment from Deborah HH
Time: June 17, 2016, 12:51 am

We Wunt Be Druv! About a dozen or so defenders at the Alamo were English. Maybe they were from Sussex 🙂 (That number does not include the Scots and Irish who also fought and died at the Alamo.)


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: June 17, 2016, 2:56 am

Perhaps Dr. Seuss did indeed have a hand in designing Sussex’s round-headed rampion. There’s semi-solid anagrammatic evidence for it as long as you add in the X Factor:

SEUSS +X ==> SUSSEX

I’ll get my coat…


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: June 17, 2016, 11:16 am

tomfrompv – The Brexit situation is so fraught that it’s as much as Her Stoatliness and I can do to talk about it between ourselves – needless to say, not because we disagree but because the tactics being used by the ruling ‘elite’ are so infuriating.

‘Project Fear’ as it’s known has been quite effective and has worked particularly well on women and the young (sorry, but this does seem to be the case).

In recent days, prior to the murder of the Labour, pro-remain, MP, it had looked as if the tide was turning at at last. The polls (wholly unreliable and in some cases almost certainly corrupt) had shown ‘Remain’ in the lead since the inception, but there had been a sudden surge in support for ‘Leave’ in the past week, largely due, it is thought, to the absurd tactics of the scaremongering nonsense spouted by the bought-and-sold media, politicians, corporate vampires, bankers etc.

For the past 18 hours or so, however, Leavers have been trying to smear ‘Remain’ with the MP’s murder. Not, of course, claiming it was a plot, but that the Leaver’s campaign ‘encouraged an atmosphere of hatred, loathing and blah, blah, blah…’.

Moats, beams and eyes…

It remains to be seen how effective this attempt will be and whether we will be delivered into yet more servitude at the hands of the barely reformed communists, fascists and general purpose totalitarians who make up the EU’s ruling class, for whom the word ‘democracy’ is a trifling abstraction that should never be allowed to get in the way of what they know to be right for the hoi polloi

I’ll shut up now. Bet you wish you hadn’t asked.


Comment from tomfrompv
Time: June 17, 2016, 8:46 pm

Oh no, its great to hear from someone who is there! I’m in California and the Brexit really is a big deal on the news. But its presented in such a weird way, as if its more about anti-immigrant racism than plain-old democratic freedom and economics.

Brexit seems like a really big deal for the UK, with a clear division between the two sides. Its like an old-fashioned elites vs vulgarians — with the vulgarians voting to get out and the elites clucking their tongues saying “they know not what they do, we must intercede for their own good”.

Kind of like the Trump thing here.

Can the average Brit talk about their views on Brexit?
Are there folks with VoteBrexit signs in their yards? Hats? Chats around the water cooler?

Or has it become like American politics where no one dares to wear a Trump hat or put a sticker on their car?


Comment from Uncle Badger
Time: June 17, 2016, 9:26 pm

There are some striking similarities, Tom. There are a lot of posters in our (rural) area for Leave and I hear that it’s pretty much the same across the country. Remainers tend to congregate in the cities.

Starting to sound familiar…?

Immigration is certainly a key issue here. The last (socialist) government not only threw the doors wide open to immigration, it actively went out and recruited immigrants. This isn’t hearsay, they are proud of having done it!

Unlike the USA or Australia, space is at a serious premium here. There is a huge housing shortage and, whether it is right or wrong, our socialised healthcare system and state schooling are under very obvious strain. It is now quite common for it to take two weeks to get an appointment to see a GP, for example. People are having trouble finding schools and in some areas their kids are among a minority of English speakers.

The government has, in effect, no control over this. In theory it can exert influence over immigration from non-EU countries, but what happens is that refugees flood into Europe, actually invited in by Frau Merkel in fact, and then head for the easy benefits hotspots, which tend to be the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Holland and the UK.

However, this isn’t just about immigration, whatever the left likes to pretend. The EU is a proto-state and sets the rules for all sorts of things. Old rivalries are played out behind the scenes, deals are struck, corruption is rife and the entire system is run by a self-perpetuating oligarchy of unelected functionaries.

The bottom line is that immigration and an enormous democratic deficit are what is driving this debate.

It is not, let me add, a comfortable process. You can get a strong sense of what a country facing a civil war must have felt like, with family members and close friends bitterly divided. It isn’t a conversation to be undertaken lightly and, for example, at the social ‘do’ we attended last night, it wasn’t raised once, as far as I am aware.


Comment from OldFert
Time: June 18, 2016, 1:58 pm

Too bad we can’t have our own kind of Brexit — except for us it would be cutting off the Washington ruling elite, lobbyists and other rent-seekers. Re-establish the Capital in a more centralized location (maybe Nebraska, or Kansas, or –my preference– Texas).
I’ve always been amazed at how the same kind of stupid positions can be held on both sides of the Atlantic by the ruling class. Kind of like there was collusion or something. Oh, well, maybe Mrs Fert and I’ll go grill out today. For some reason I’m thinking I should build a burger or something. Maybe a three-sided one — something trilateral. I just hope I can get my lights working on the porch so there is plenty of illuminatiation.


Comment from tomfrompv
Time: June 19, 2016, 6:18 am

Oldfert,
You have to admit Donald Trump irritates both parties of elite politicians. Democrat is understandable, but even Republicans hate that guy. As a bonus, it seems many Euro leaders hate him too – esp Merkel and the Mayor of Londonabad.


Comment from OldFert
Time: June 19, 2016, 4:52 pm

Tomfrompv: Yup, he irritates both sides of the aisle. Irritates me a lot of times, too. But I think the current party leadership for both Dems and Reps are of the same cloth. Was there some bacteria or virus that infected the brains of those attending law schools, Ivy League colleges, and also Oxford, Cambridge, U of Leipzig, Panthéon-Assas University, etc.? I agree. They all seem to be warped in the same wrong direction.

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