Mike O'Toole

  Bonfire Night – What Is It All About Tonight, all over England (and perhaps other parts of the UK), people will be lighting fires and setting off fireworks in celebration of . . . What?  Well, we know that on this day, the 5 th  November, many, many years ago, a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament was thwarted, and the perpetrator, a certain Mr. Guy Fawkes, was arrested and sentenced to death. A rather macabre thing to celebrate, but we’ve been doing it for so many years now, the actual meaning of Bonfire Night is somewhat lost. Read on to learn more. Who was Guy Fawkes? Guy Fawkes was born on or around the 13 th  April 1570 in York, England, into a well-to-do family of Protestants, although his mother came from a staunch Catholic family. This may be what drew him to Catholicism after his father died when he was 8 years old when his maternal grandparents took more control over his education. He fought in the 80 Years War for Catholic Spain against the Protestant Dutch and in 160

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Day is a day for people in the US to give thanks for what they have and it takes place on the 4 th  Thursday in November. The celebration dates back to the mid 18 th  century, although the first Thanksgiving is said to have taken place in October 1621, when the Pilgrims played host to around 90 Native Americans. It is a time when families and friends get together for a meal, traditionally comprising a roast turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pumpkin pie. Well, you have to get rid of that pumpkin somehow after Halloween! This year will be different to previous years because we have… COVID-19! Yes, there will be rules governing how many can attend, what you must and mustn’t do, and where the party should be held. Each state will have different rules but in  California : Gatherings can not have people from over three households. This includes anyone present at the gatherings. Keep the households you spend time with stable. Don’t m

Halloween – Where Did It All Begin Halloween is a great time for kids to dress up and go Trick-or-Treating, but what is it all about? Well, Halloween is a shortened version of All Hallows Eve, which means the evening before All Hallows (or Saints) Day in the Christian calendar. However, the origins of Halloween as a night of celebration date back to medieval times with the Festival of Samhain, an ancient Celtic tradition when people would dress up to ward off evil spirits. Photo by Pixabay on  Pexels.com Halloween was introduced to America by Scottish immigrants in the early 1900s, and thus began the commercialization of the occasion. It died off somewhat in Britain and Europe, just as the celebration of All Saints Day on the 1 st  November became just another date on the calendar. However, as with many things and mainly thanks to Hollywood, what happens in the States one year will happen in the UK the next (or in this case half a century later) and Europe inevitably follows. Trick-or-

  What is Shrove Tuesday All About?   Shrove Tuesday is the day before the beginning of Lent, which is known as Ash Wednesday. Everybody knows that, don’t they? But what is it all about, and how is it celebrated across the Globe? It’s Pancake Day I always remember as a child my mother tossing pancakes in the air and serving them up with lemon and sugar. I loved them, it was one of my favorite days of the year after Christmas and Easter, oh and of course my Birthday (which happened to coincide with Bonfire Night as well, so double whammy there). The word ‘shrove’ comes from the old English term ‘shriven’, which means ‘confession’, and it derives from the fact that people used to go to confession on the night before Ash Wednesday to cleanse themselves of their sins. Lent is a period of fasting in the Christian calendar, so on the day before Ash Wednesday people would get rid of all their fattening food such as milk and eggs, and they would combined this with flour to make wha

Can a Hot Tub Be Installed Indoors?   I know most people like hot tubs because of the outdoor life they offer, but if it came down to it, can a hot tub be installed indoors? Well, I've owned a few hot tubs over the years and I located all of them in my yard. So I did some research, and this is what I found. Yes, you most certainly can install a hot tub indoors, and you can create a beautiful feature in the process. There are as many if not more options for indoor spars as there are for the outdoor variety. So if you're interested in creating your own spa room, let's dive right in.   What do you put under an indoor hot tub? The beauty of an indoor hot tub is that you can place them on just about anything. You don’t need to worry about insulation. However, the floor in your house was probably not designed to take a hot tub, so it’s not a case of what you put under it but what it sits on. The two primary considerations are: ●         weight ●         wate