Blessing of the throats on St. Blaise’s day, February 3, at St. Etheldreda’s in London (probably the only pre-Reformation church in England restored to Catholicism). St. Etheldreda is the patron saint of throat complaints. I haven’t actually got a sore throat, but perhaps this is why:

Blessing of the Throats, London
Though not strictly a folk custom, the annual Blessing of the Throats service at London’s St Etheldreda’s church in Ely Place is quirky enough to figure in any list of strange British customs.
St Etheldreda’s is the second oldest Catholic church in England, returned to Catholic use in the 19th century. It is here that on February 3, St Blaise’s day, a ceremony is held to ask for that saint’s help in treating those with throat problems. Blaise, a 4th century doctor in Armenia who became bishop of his home city Sebaste, saved the life of a small child with a fish bone stuck in his throat as the saint was being led off to be tortured for his faith.

Meanwhile, in Wolfsburg:

Blasius-Segen gegen Halserkrankung, wird erteilt am Dienstag, 3. Februar, um 18 Uhr. (St. Christophorus)

Wikipedia says Etheldreda’s real name was Æthelthryth.

(Via Baroque in Hackney)

an old discussion on wer-weiss-was about the British and mixer taps (actually in this case a former Commonwealth country).

War jetzt zum wiederholten mal in einem ehemaligen Commonwealth-Land und hab mich wie immer gewundert:
Wie waschen die sich die Hände?
In der einen Ecke des Waschbeckens gibt es einen Brüh-Heißen Wasserhahn in der anderen Ecke einen Eis-kalten.
Gibt es irgendeinen Trick?
Und nur mal theoretisch ist EIN Wasserhahn (mit Mischregler) nicht billiger und einfachere/schneller einzubauen als ZWEI?

An Englishman replies:

but if having a good wash, then you put the stop in the sink and put hot and cold into the basin until temperature is ok for you

The Germans may not have thought of that one.

It’s one of those topics that heats national prejudices.

I ask myself: how long have the Germans had mixer taps? Were they introduced together with the autobahn?
I remember how impressed my brothers were when I was living in a ramshackle building in Germany with other students, and the fuse went. The fuse was a large round plug half the size of a rolling pin, and all you had to do was unplug some electrical device and push the fuse back in. They had been expecting work with a screwdriver. But I think that fuse system had existed since the early 1900s at least.

This follows a mailing-list discussion on u-forum about a use of the word spigot in British English and how to translate it into German.