Remember the dispossessed

St David's Day! A day for Glamorgan sausages [cheese, leeks, breadcrumbs]; quiche [ricotta, leeks, eggs]; leek and potato soup. While leeks Allium porrum like so many Alliums (onions, garlic, ramsons, shallots) are a cornerstone for cooking as we know it they don't look particularly emblematic. They say that Owain Glyndŵr rode into battle against the English with a leek attached to his helmet - but you can take that with a pinch of salt and pepper. You can see why the herald Rouge Dragon Pursuivant might have moved to run daffodils Narcissus pseudonarcissus as substitute in the world of Welsh symbols. Don't eat the daffodils! Although they are in the same family Amaryllidaceae as leeks, daffs are rich in a toxic alkaloid called lycorine. Most of the chatter about lycorine poisoning is about dogs; because as we all know, some dogs will scarf down any ould shite in an eye-blink. You'd have to be determined to choke down a lethal dose (~50g?), though, because daffodil bulbs taste 'orrible.

But we're not here today to purge you with emetics. Some other things are going down as well. Tonight, not for the first time, some of our family in England are going to be rough-sleeping in Alice Park, at the Eastern end of the City of Bath. They are, as before, raisin' money to support Julian House a local charity helping the homeless. They say Charity begins at home, but for the youngest generation in our family, it begins at homeless. They set a modest target £10K for the whole Bath Sleep Out and £200 for Team Bring Your Mittens but TBYM surged through that within hours of launch [snapshot R]. No real surprise there, because their network is top-heavy with Richie Rich types. 

But it's not really about the money, is it? Families start early and (un)consciously transmitting their values and aspirations to the children. For a disconcerting number of families we know, one key thread is about performative manners:

• "don't hold your knife like a pen", 
• "say thank you to granny"
• "share your stuff with your little brother"
• "don't speak with your mouth full"
• "leave the seat down" 

so many rules, so much baggage, not all of it good. But I think the Sleep Out is a good place to start. 

• it's habit forming after 7 or 8 years of being there
  
• it has been proselytised to sweep up young friends-and-relations
• it's one device-free night
• it's fairly uncomfortable
• it's not really dangerous
• soaking the rich rellies is no harm
• the dispossessed are the ultimate beneficiaries.

I'm not usually in favour of performative charity events, although I participated in one years before they were commonplace. But there are no air-miles involved in schlepping a sleeping-bag and some card-board sheets down to Alice Park with a sack-truck for the 1km (mostly downhill) journey to the venue. 

Prior planning prevents poor performance! In among the hi-jinks and star-gazing, the kids involved will spare a thought for the poor bloody infantry who do this every night because Western democracies privilege capital over people. I believe there are plans for a hot breakfast al fresco with, or probably without, Glamorgan sausages.