Mum's Day in the UK

March 6 is Mum's Day, and it's celebrated here pretty much the way it is in the U.S...as a marketing scheme carried out by flower companies and restaurants. I'm not usually too much of a traditionalist about Mother's Day (ask me own mum on this one!), so usually I just ask for a few hours to spend in the garden. That was a tall order this year, since early March is hardly gardening weather in Scotland, and since we are in a rental unit. However, traditions are traditions, so I did buy a flat of pansies at the grocery store for £3 and Emma and I spent about 30 minutes outside raking up the winter debris in our walled garden, and planting the pansies in between the crevices in the walls.

John has a rugby "fixture" on Sunday as well, and David, Leah and I went. I was surprised to see that John has been given a position that has him at the center of a big pile of boys at the beginning of some of the plays. I noticed when I saw him put his arms around two of his teammates, and at first I just thought he was being especially supportive. But as more of his teammates started to crowd around, I realized it was some kind of official formation, and he was at the center. I'm not sure it's an especially skilled position to have, and possibly he was given the position because he's a bit shorter than some of his other teammates. But when I saw he was to play some of the game in such a pile, I was thankful that we had purchased fluorescent orange rugby boots!

Otherwise, John played relatively well for a kid who still isn't sure what the rules of the game are. I'm not sure either, and I had a difficult time telling when one team scored a "try," so I had no idea who won the game in the end. When we went to the clubhouse to collect John after the game, one of his coaches came up to us to compliment John on his game. He asked us if we had seen John's first try, and we assured him that we had. In the car a few minutes later, I told John that I was sorry I hadn't realized that he had scored. "You know," he said, "I didn't even know if I did or not." So, we still aren't actually sure if he did score, or if the coach has him confused for the one other American kid on the team.

It's possible that he's in the end zone here, but we still aren't sure...though I am sure it's probably not called the "end zone" here.

In any case, his mates were happy with him!

After the game, Emma and I took a walk into town to do some shopping while Leah napped. We stopped into a bookstore, and tried on some clothes at a high street clothing store. We were going to stop for tea, but every place in town was chock-full of mums and their families celebrating the holiday. So, we went home and made a quiche instead.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. At the end of the day, out of curiosity, I looked up the UK date for Father's Day, and felt bad that it was in mid-June, when we will be in Germany. On a whim, I looked up the German date for Father's Day, hoping we could celebrate David with a pretzel and a stein of beer. No dice, though...it's May 5! I think we will manage to miss Father's Day in each country we visit this spring, so we will just have to celebrate him on our own this year!