Free pub lunch

[BoSoxGal]

She's 2 million votes ahead in the popular vote.


I think it's a lovely gesture by an obviously kindhearted woman.

I'm planning to spend Christmas this year caregiving in hospice; I can't think of a better way to mark a holiday which has become so crassly commercial I have in recent years loathed it.

[Gob]

As for it being on the 21st instead of christmas, so what? It's still a nice gesture to some who may otherwise have no joy in the holiday season.

Not all pubs open on Xmas day either.

[Jarlaxle]

Is it legal for them to be?

[Gob]

Yes.

[dales]

Just not ADA compliant.

[Bicycle Bill]

Just not ADA compliant.

ADA = AMERICANS with Disabilities Act
Remember — you're talking about a pub in Merrie Olde England, and the ADA (an American law) doesn't have any status over there.
And even if there was something similar, the establishment may hold an exemption because bringing the building up to an arbitrary code could permanently and irrevocably alter the original historic appearance, design, or construction of the pub.

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

ADA is for new construction and what is 'readily achievable' in an existing building. So even if the Brea Inn were magically shifted from Poldarkshire to USA they would not be forced to comply.

[Burning Petard]

Forget the individuals with mobility problems. That is a distraction. The Big Headline at the top calls attention to those who will be alone on Christmas.

The rest of the announcement does nothing about it. Instead 'a nice gesture' is described. Sort of like John D. Rockefeller passing out shiny new dimes to the poor.

The world is full of nice gestures. My online dictionary: third definition of gesture • "an action performed for show in the knowledge that it will have no effect" Those twenty five people selected by these generous humanitarians as deserving of their largesse are still alone on Christmas.

Call me Scrooge if it feels appropriate to you. In defiance the true spirit of modern Christmas merchandising, I shall purchase nothing today (Black Friday) My daughter reported for work at 3am this morning to set up the cash drawers and other prepparatons in a retail store that opens at 5am. I keep the dream catchers and note pads and calendars sent blindly to me this time of the year by many fine charitable organizations and shred the return envelops and printed appeals.

snailgate

[Scooter]

Since you insist on parsing an act of kindness to death, the Big Headline at the top does not speak about those who are alone "on Christmas" but rather of those who are alone "at Christmas" i.e. during the Christmas season, rather than precisely on Christmas Day. If you're going to piss in the corn flakes, at least you could attempt to aim at the correct bowl.

Yes, this is only a "gesture". That would be so whether it occurred on Christmas Day or on any day before or after, because it attempts to substitute the company of real friends and family with the company of strangers. But just because it is a gesture does not automatically make it a hollow or meaningless one, as you appear to be implying by your use of the word.

Finally, even if your interpretation were correct, and this was all about those who are alone on Christmas Day, do you find it inconceivable that they will not carry the kindness shown to them through to Christmas Day, when it will cheer them even if they are alone? Will those attending be afflicted by a collective amnesia that will wipe out whatever merriment they experienced the moment they leave this gathering, so that no trace of it will remain with them four days later?

[Burning Petard]

Please note The Christmas season (in the Christian calendar) begins on December 25 and continues for 12 days, the final day commemorating the day the infant Jesus was presented at the temple for the traditional sacrifice of Jewish males.

In America, the secular season of Christmas used to begin on 'Black Friday', the day after the Thanksgiving holiday. I have no idea when it begins now, since many places announce special observance of 'Christmas in July.'

For most adult males, pissing on the cornflakes or in the punchbowl or commode or urinal involves aerosols that escape beyond the target.

snailgate. (expired equines cheerfully flogged)

[rubato]

IMO, in Europe very little would be ADA compliant. In Paris it is rare to see a disabled person other than an athletic 20-30 something getting around on crutches with what looks like a sports injury. There are stairs everywhere including most Metro entrances and almost nothing to accommodate the disabled.


yrs,
rubato

[Big RR]

BP--I thought the bris occurs on the 7th day after birth (hence New Years) and the 12th day was the day the magi traditionally arrived at the birthplace of Jesus (many hispanic countries call it El Dia de Reyes--(three) Kings Day and celebrate that as the day to exchange gifts.

[rubato]

So what day was the holy weenie whacking? Traditionally it is the 8th day so would that be Jan 2nd?

yrs,
rubato

[Scooter]

It is the 8th day but you count the day of the birth as day one (so for Dec 25 the eighth day is Jan 1).

[rubato]

So why is there no major ceremonial observance for this important event?

Hmmm?

And is there some reliquary in some Catholic church with the holy foreskin?


Holy crap, these people really are primitive:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Prepuce

"...

According to David Farley, "Depending on what you read, there were eight, twelve, fourteen, or even 18 different holy foreskins in various European towns during the Middle Ages."[3] In addition to the Holy Foreskin of Rome (later Calcata), other claimants included the Cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay, Santiago de Compostela, the city of Antwerp, Coulombs in the diocese of Chartres, as well as Chartres itself, and churches in Besançon, Metz, Hildesheim, Charroux, Conques, Langres, Fécamp, Stoke-on-Trent[citation needed], Calcata, and two in Auvergne.[3]

One of the most famous prepuces arrived in Antwerp in the Brabant in 1100 as a gift from king Baldwin I of Jerusalem, who purchased it in the Holy Land in the course of the first crusade. This prepuce became famous when the bishop of Cambray, during the celebration of the Mass, saw three drops of blood blotting the linens of the altar. A special chapel was constructed and processions organised in honour of the miraculous relic, which became the goal of pilgrimages. In 1426 a brotherhood was founded in the cathedral "van der heiliger Besnidenissen ons liefs Heeren Jhesu Cristi in onser liever Vrouwen Kercke t' Antwerpen"; its 24 members were all abbots and prominent laymen. The relic disappeared in 1566, but the chapel still exists, decorated by two stained glass windows donated by king Henry VII of England and his wife Elizabeth of York in 1503.

The abbey of Charroux claimed the Holy Foreskin was presented to the monks by Charlemagne. In the early 12th century, it was taken in procession to Rome where it was presented before Pope Innocent III, who was asked to rule on its authenticity. The Pope declined the opportunity. At some point, however, the relic went missing, and remained lost until 1856 when a workman repairing the abbey claimed to have found a reliquary hidden inside a wall, containing the missing foreskin. The rediscovery, however, led to a theological clash with the established Holy Prepuce of Calcata, which had been officially venerated by the Church for hundreds of years. ... "

It's like the miracle of the loaves and fishes, foreskins multiplied over and over again until all the amusement parks that wanted one, had one.

yrs,
rubato

[dales]

Just not ADA compliant.

ADA = AMERICANS with Disabilities Act
Remember — you're talking about a pub in Merrie Olde England, and the ADA (an American law) doesn't have any status over there.

No shit?

[Scooter]

So why is there no major ceremonial observance for this important event?

There is. In Roman Catholicism, January 1 is a holy day of obligation. In Anglicanism, it is one of the seven principal feasts. In other Protestant traditions is it also celebrated. In all of these, the gospel reading for the day includes an account of the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

[RayThom]

A Rabbi and foreskins:
After sixty years, a Rabbi decides to retire. Taking the box of foreskins he has collected over the years of doing circumcisions, he goes to a leather goods manufacturer and says to the man, "Can you do anything with these?"

The man says, "No problem, come back in two weeks."

After two weeks the rabbi returns to the shop, and is presented with a wallet. In total dismay, he says to the craftsman, "After sixty years, the best you can do is a wallet?"

The man replies, "Don't worry, just rub it a few times and it will grow into a suitcase."