Today is Ascension Day (40 days after Easter), which is a public holiday throughout the rest of Europe but not in the UK. I know this because work has been put on hold by many clients I work with today, who have a nice 4-5 day weekend while we continue the normal routine. Re-reading the thoughts I shared on Lent a few days before it began, at first I found them rather angrily anti-religious (which I can, admittedly, be sometimes). However, today of all days, I realise once again that the UK is far less religious than the rest of Europe (NOT a reason to separate – but don’t get me started on all this UKIP crap, they’re just wrong)… Lent is ACTUALLY celebrated for religious purposes in countries like France and Spain, where public transport utterly shuts down over Easter weekend (I know – I got stranded in southern Spain once). But in the UK, Lent is just another excuse for self-deprecation and image consciousness to permeate every inch of the media. So, here are my thoughts on such things: