British In Poland

Our baby crying woke me up at 4am this morning, my wife too. First thing she said to me was "aren't you going to wish me happy women's day?" I couldn't believe it! I told her that until my brain wakes up in at least another 4 hours time it's not women's day or any other day and to go back to sleep.

Of course when we finally did get up today I had forgotten all about our earlier verbal exchange and so again got another nagging.

So anyway, this got me thinking, what exactly is this women's day thing? I remember being equally confused about it last year and presuming it was some communist throwback. I have heard the stories many times from my mother-in-law about how my father-in-law used to get incredibly drunk (as all the men did) and give flowers and tights to the female workers at the local factory. But my wife insists it's an American tradition and not communist at all. Being sceptical about that I turned to the holy grail of knowledge - wikipedia - which says that the tradition started in America and was adopted by Russia (amongst other countries).

I presume that this day has died out in America or isn't so popular, because as a Brit I have never heard of it or seen it mentioned in any films or news. Therefore I still reckon it's a communist throwback, just don't tell my wife.