WHAT'S ON WORLDWIDE

CHRISTCHURCH

14 - 23 Feb Festival Of Flowers. This, the largest annual garden festival in New Zealand, incorporates events, displays and exhibitions for diehard horticulturalists.

CRESCENT CITY, CALIFORNIA

16 Feb World Championship Crab Races. Crustacea-related fun, including live crab racing, crab feeding and children's games from the most eccentric country in the world.

PAJALA, NORRBOTTEN

21 - 22nd Feb Festival Of Northern Lights, in Finland. A final celebration of clear cold nights as winter draws to a close. Events include outdoor theatre, ski-boot dancing and reindeer racing.

KINGSTON, JAMAICA

16 Feb. The 4th annual marathon comes to the island of Jamaica as atheletes take to the city's streets.

SUMBA ISLAND, (INDONESIA)

Pasola Jousting Ceremony. This annual ritual in late February sees scores of colourfully attired horsemen charging one another with lances. It coincides with the yearly arrival to the island's shores of strange, multi-hued seaworms.

BAYAWAN, PHILIPPINES

16 Feb. Feast Of Tawo-Tawo. A cheerful annual tribute to the scarecrow, sentinel of Bayawan rice fields and guardian of its people's livelihood and prosperous future.

INVERNESS

22 - 28 Feb. Music Competition & Festival. Scottish entrants vie for awards in pipe, fiddle and traditional dancing categories along with classical and choral trophies. Gala concerts on 1st & 2nd March complete the programme. Further infomation on 01463 233902. Gala Tickets on 01463 234234.

THESSALONIKI

18 Feb. The city designated Cultural Capital of Europe for 1997 continues it's season with an evening devoted to local poet Nikos Alexis Aslanoglou.

HACHINOE, JAPAN

17th-20 Feb. "Emburi", a harvest festival where over 50 groups of villagers, each comprising 30 people, get together at Shiragi Shrine on Mt Choja in the morning and then join in a procession through the streets.