I THINK WE SHOULD perhaps take the news that the Church of England is considering replacing Saint George with Saint Alban as its patron saint because the former is "too warlike and may offend Muslims" with a grain of salt or two; after all it comes from UK's sensationalistic tabloid Daily Mail, not as loony as the Sun or the Daily Mirror, but quite.

In any case, my concern is that this will give ideas to my fellow countrymen: Saint George is the patron saint of Catalonia (the region for which Barcelona is the capital), and in fact there's this century old tradition that on April 23 men buy roses to their girlfriends/wives, and women buy books to their boyfriends/husbands. Yes, a bit sexist, and in fact during the last decades it's basically becomse a book thing (both get them), though usually the man still buys a rose (or more) to the woman too. I mean, just try to skip the rose thing with your lady (even young urban professionals, feminists) and see if you can survive the next day...

Anyway, if it's one of these sunny days of early spring, it's extremely pleasant to walk around the city and see flowers and book stands all over town. But, if people here in PC-land hear about the CoE's plans, I'm afraid they'll move the tradition to November, or something... Rainy days, thick coats. Depressing.

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