Exeat: Day 132/84: Put the flag[s] out .... quarantine or not!

Protocol old chap and etiquette. Need the flag out for the Baron's return from overseas. The Dolphinstouns have lived with a dilemma and a challenge for a couple of months since the Spring high winds broke the loop that holds the toggle for their banner that flies above The Manor House here in Milton. It's one of life's serious challenges to rethread a flag rope if it's gone AWOL. You have to hope it's not totally unthreaded and that the worst you have to do atop a ladder is get a grabber that can grab the knot that remains wedged at the pulley; that was our need. I'm a tad past such escapades myself so we decided that whilst the Dolphinstouns were enjoying Tenerife we'd do them a favour by asking Tony Porter and his steeplejack colleague, Henry, to see if they could reach the sky! After not inconsiderable effort and Plans A-C the job was done and the new rope threaded on the coat tails of the old. Here is the evidence including the two steeplejacks. [P.S. My repeated offer to fund a short term rental of a cherry picker was regularly turned down. It's always looked like fun to me and we'll need it in The Pans one day for that Totem Pole we also proudly own alongside the Italian lift to the Thomas Nelson Suite. They were both unveiled by the late Sir Garth Morrison KT, Lord Lieutenant of East Lothian and a Founding Trustee of the Battle Trust - himself an ex RN submariner.]
August 1st is Swiss National Day. The date is inspired by the date of the Federal Charter of 1291, Pacte du Grütli when three Alpine cantons swore the oath of confederation (Schwyz, Uri and Unterwald), an action which later came to be regarded as the founding of modern Switzerland. The alliance was mainly formed against the Habsburgs who were striving to strengthen their position in the strategic region leading to the Gotthard Pass at the time. There have been memorable dates since … the Old Swiss Confederacy had been mostly associated with the Bund of Brunnen of 1315 or with the Rütlischwur, dated to 1307. The Federal Charter of 1291 first assumed great importance in a Report by the Federal Department of Home Affairs of 21 November 1889 suggesting a celebration in Bern in 1891 that would combine the city's 700th anniversary with the Confederacy's 600th anniversary. It has been an official holiday since 1994 following the acceptance of a federal popular initiative in its favour in 1993. There's proper protocol for the day with flagged rolls at breakfast/ lunch/ tea, paper lantern parades, bonfires, hanging strings of Swiss flags, and fireworks. These certainly show the flag!

P.S. Something we never knew …. … it's also Yorkshire Day celebrating that fine county where Mathew and Julian and granddaughters Lorna, Natasha and Francesca were all born. Here's the extraordinary fact: Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate was founded in 1919 by a Swiss baker and they celebrate both his national day and the county's day in its six café-tearooms across Yorkshire. Swiss National Day is regularly held at University College London organised by the Swiss National Day London Committee with the support of the Swiss Embassy London and other Swiss clubs such as City Swiss Club, New Helvetic Society and Unione Ticinese. Yorkshire Day celebrates the historic English county of Yorkshire since the event was established by the Yorkshire Ridings Society as "a protest movement against the local government re-organisation of 1974".