Today is one of Jersey's centrepiece holidays - The Battle of the Flowers. For synical little me it means a half day off work, allowing me to roast my lily white bod on the beach for a couple of hours. Enter, stage left, Lobster Man! *clack clack clack*
When I first moved to Jersey I presumed the Battle of the Flowers was something historic, along the lines of the War of the Roses. Alas, no....
It has nothing to do with romantic British history; about 100 years ago some Victorian dude decided it would be fun to make a couple of carnival floats out of flowers, parade them around town and then at the end of the day everyone would tear the petals off their respective floats and throw them at each other. Wow.
Nowadays it is a similar affair. Well, except the floats are crap and they don't have a petal fight at the end of it, instead choosing to leave the floats intact so you tourists can pay a couple of quid to look at them in a museum until such times at they go mouldy and rot.
I remember a few years ago (I think it was for the 100th anniversary) that Jersey thought they would do something special to celebrate. The idea was for a large RAF plane to fly over the Esplanade and, at a key moment, it would open it's cargo doors and allow a plethera of rose petals to gently flutter down over the parade.
Unfortunatley, due to a small bit of bad weather, the plane didn't manage to fly high enough. It opened it's cargo doors and dumped half a tonne of petals in one solid block right on top of the unsuspecting tourists. 5 people were injured.
The best part (from the viewpoint of a jaded individual who has to put up with this shit year on year) is the funfair. It's not quite yer Blackpool/Disneyland type thing but it passes a few hours and acts as a stress reliever. I get to throw wooden balls at coconuts and shoot dodgy air rifles to win tatty stuffed toys but hey, it's a bit of fun isn't it?
Later dudes and dudettes
When I first moved to Jersey I presumed the Battle of the Flowers was something historic, along the lines of the War of the Roses. Alas, no....
It has nothing to do with romantic British history; about 100 years ago some Victorian dude decided it would be fun to make a couple of carnival floats out of flowers, parade them around town and then at the end of the day everyone would tear the petals off their respective floats and throw them at each other. Wow.
Nowadays it is a similar affair. Well, except the floats are crap and they don't have a petal fight at the end of it, instead choosing to leave the floats intact so you tourists can pay a couple of quid to look at them in a museum until such times at they go mouldy and rot.
I remember a few years ago (I think it was for the 100th anniversary) that Jersey thought they would do something special to celebrate. The idea was for a large RAF plane to fly over the Esplanade and, at a key moment, it would open it's cargo doors and allow a plethera of rose petals to gently flutter down over the parade.
Unfortunatley, due to a small bit of bad weather, the plane didn't manage to fly high enough. It opened it's cargo doors and dumped half a tonne of petals in one solid block right on top of the unsuspecting tourists. 5 people were injured.
The best part (from the viewpoint of a jaded individual who has to put up with this shit year on year) is the funfair. It's not quite yer Blackpool/Disneyland type thing but it passes a few hours and acts as a stress reliever. I get to throw wooden balls at coconuts and shoot dodgy air rifles to win tatty stuffed toys but hey, it's a bit of fun isn't it?
Later dudes and dudettes
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Love and kisses
Michelle xx