International Women’s Day Kaliningrad

6 March 2020 ~ International Women’s Day Kaliningrad

Travelling across Kaliningrad today on our way to the garden centre, we marveled at how the city had swung into action in readiness for International Women’s Day on Sunday.

The city was festooned with flower-selling stalls, ranging from one person with literally a handful of flowers to stalls of two and three tables profusely bedecked with all manner of blooms.

International Women's Day Kaliningrad beautiful tulips — Tulips Rule OK!!

The flower-selling booths, which are there on a permanent basis, were, of course, also in full swing, turning the city into an early spring festival of refreshing and natural bright colours.

To Kaliningradiens, International Women’s Day is an important date in the yearly calendar. It is a celebration of femininity, a time to show appreciation for the love, devotion, work and commitment that women invest in relationships and the value they impart to motherhood and family. I remember last year, even with the sleet and snow, how many men of all ages were out on the streets of Kaliningrad purchasing flowers to present to their wives and girlfriends.

I tried to compare the Kaliningrad experience with International Women’s Day in the UK but, try as I might, I could not recall anything. Perhaps I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time or, then again, perhaps buying flowers for one’s other half is frowned upon in the UK as an unforgivable act of sexism.

Hmmm, well, the last thing that I would want to be accused of was sexism. Perish the thought.

So, I refrained from purchasing my wife flowers this year (makes it sound as if I bought her flowers last year) and instead I bought her a shovel and trowel so that she could plant her own in the garden.

Which just goes to show that leading your wife up the garden path does not have to be a gender war!