First mistletoe auction of 2011 is next week – Tuesday 29th, 10.00am at the Business Park in Tenbury Wells.
And, for the first time ever, Santa will be there! Not your usual Santa either – this one is green, not red! This is not because of the mistletoe (well, actually, it is a little) but is intended to reflect the older tradition of a Father Christmas in green, considered by many to be the ‘proper’ colour. The Red Santa we’re all used to is, of course, an evil manifestation created by Coca Cola – or so urban myth tells us (see the wikipedia entry on this for background, though it may confuse rather than enlighten, or try this site for a simpler story).
Druids from the Mistletoe Foundation will be there too – though in civvies, partly to remain incognito, and partly to avoid confusion with Santa – who, in green, might well look like the popular concept of a druid.
Programme will, probably, be holly sales before mistletoe sales, and it will be interesting to see how many berries there are on it (the holly). There’s a story in the Daily Mail today that holly berries are in short supply, though I’ve not seen evidence of this – lots of them on all the plants I’ve seen, and the story is roundly refuted in the online comments too, so it may be another one of those Daily Mail shock, horror slightly made-up, or at least very exaggerated, stories…
Within the holly story they’ve managed to repeat the story that the ‘glut’ of mistletoe berries is due to a mild November – which they ran a couple of days ago and I pointed out was, er, entirely incorrect. Tried doing the same today, twice, but they didn’t let my comment through to publication… Phrases including the words ‘useless’, ‘inaccurate’, ‘bunch’ and ‘illiterates’ (I’m very polite) spring to mind – but it is the Mail, so I s’pose it’s normal for them.
The Telegraph is doing better, and I’m not just saying that because they had a picture of me (shown left, by Rod Kirkpatrick/F Stop Press) yesterday. Only a short caption to it (not available online), but at least they attributed the berries to the right season – the spring, when they first formed.
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