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Helen Bristol 21 August 2004 16:16 Re: heroes and Villains
I bow to your superior knowledge, I didn't take history either. I decided I
couldn't cope with a history teacher who gave me an "A" for an essay
on Nelson just because I included a drawing of the "England expects"
flags. Now, if in my day, I could've taken archeology I'd have been in there.
I really don't want to know about your Sundays... just keep taking the
tablets.
Vile Jelly 23 August 2004 09:34
What? You did all the message or just the 'England expectorates' bit? That's a
lot of flags in the former instance. No wonder you didn't get anywhere with
Hysteria as a subject. You're supposed to write words not doodle piccies!
Nice try! I'm sure you feed me these gag lines so you can complain that I am
always being rude to you. There is such an obvious one arising from "if
in my day, I could've taken archaeology" that I shall resist your trap
this time. Just.
I don't want to know about my Sundays either. They are, ironically, godawful.
Yesterday I had to belt out 170 starters in two hours, then go and do the
carnagery for 80 bods in just over an hour ..... and then come back and do it
all over again at 5.30pm. Day of rest? I think not. Day of worship? Well,
judging from the frequently heard words and phrases used in the kitchen we all
seemed to be having some sort of religious experience!
Helen Bristol 23 August 2004 11:40
All of it. My point exactly. Though what about your "thesis"?
Histry is facinating but not the Notes, Treaties and Wars. I was always
concerned about what was happening to the ordinary every-day people left
behind to fend for themselves.
Darn it! - you've sussed it.
We went to Rutland (Multipla in parvo) yesterday to the British Bird Watching
fair. Lots of gorgeous (and vastly too expensive) hols. Lots of
wonderful (and vastly too expensive optics - no not the pub sort) But a good
day was hod and the weather stayed kind until we got home.
With my usual immaculate diary co-ordination I've taken a day off today
(legit!) and BM has gone to Durham. My car's in for a service so I'm
stuck at home with the iron and a duster. Complaining about the hours/days you
work is a bit like me saying I can't stand dealing with people who are
disabled -- goes with the terratory.
Vile Jelly 23 August 2004 14:18
Good grief, you must have had a big set of crayons. If you mean the Brief
Pictorial History Of The Crusades that was actually a seminar presentation.
PowerPoint hadn't been invented in those days. Unfortunately ordinary history
is mostly very boring. The very definition of ordinariness means that nothing
much of significance actually happens. I mean the much cited first instance of
preserved 'ordinary' people's history is/are the Paston Letters. But they were
hardly Joe Q. Public as they ended up as the Earls of Yarmouth! Also, ordinary
people don't tend to be very bright and/or well-informed. I did actually study
Oral History as part of my degree and the conclusion, sadly, was that despite
the other merits of recording ordinary peeps' recollections of their past as
histories they got an alarming number of things wrong. I can give you a
classic example of that from another field. When David Putty made Chariots of
Fire Eric Liddell's widow was still alive and so he gave her a pre-release
viewing to see how she reacted to the fictional portrayal of her hubbie. At
the end she said that she thought it was all very good apart from one thing
..... he didn't flap his arms like that when he was running. As Putty said
about the one concrete piece of info they had about Liddell was old film of
him running ..... flapping his arms exactly like that.
Sorry my Latin's a bit rusty. Many live in poverty? Were there any boids at
this fair or was it all just human beans. Did they fly in a special display
team of rare south american parakeets? Did everyone hide in bushes observing
each other's mating rituals? Surprised BM was able to resist the optics (both
sorts). And why did you end with a brick-carrying? "But a good day
was hod"!
Well, there's only so much time you can spend ironing a duster so you might as
well open a cask or two to keep you company while you wait for BM to leave old
Durham town.
Helen Bristol 23 August 2004 16:03
It can be the mis-remembering that can be interesting.
I might've got it wrong, mixing the sexes or something - you can't have
..........a followed by ..........o can you? It might've been multiplum
in parvo, or possibly even multiplo in parvo. Anyway, it means a lot in
a little (I think) what with Rutland being a bit dimensionally challenged.
Lots of places in Leics. are something-or-other Parva as opposed to
Magna.There's even one or two places hereabouts with those definitions.
I think some were being ringed but we didn't see that. Mostly a lot of
peeps shuffling around with their binoculars hanging round their necks, a few
who even had their 'scopes with them which made not much sense in the marquees
until you got to the optics bit - then there was a lot of comparisonning going
on. The real anoraks also had their pagers beeping and Blue Tooth
earpieces. But we did see 3 ospreys wheeling above the A47. Strange to
relate we don't just spy on the mating rituals - there are other things in
life you know?
The duster is immaculate. And like those of the future Madame Bovary,
the worn corner has been darned! Bit of a problem here. I can't go out at the
mo, nothing to do with the weather which is sunny and warm, but am waiting for
my car to be brought back. Then I can go and get a cask.
Vile Jelly 24 August 2004 09:16
Interesting but not history. History doesn't have to be boring (as the Time
Teams, Simon Schamas, etc have shown) but it does have to be accurate.
Anything else is Mills & Boon fodder.
I didn't even know that Rutland existed during the Roman occupation. To be
honest I just thought it was something that Eric Idle invented. How did they
manage to fit BM into the county if it is so small? And what are ospreys doing
in Rutshire, I thought it was inland.
What! You are trying to tell me that you booked a day off work, got BM out of
the house and you hadn't already got in several vats of claret in
advance! What sort of planning do you call that?
Helen Bristol 24 August 2004 18:55
Its true to me if that is how I remember it.I agree it doesn't have to be
boring. I have a bit of an issue with Time Team (although I do enjoy the
progs) The accuracy sometimes seems to have been compromised for speed.
Where is all that thorough, painstaking trowelling? And how does 1
tessera "prove" that there was a Roman Villa in that field? There
are times when oversimplification becomes inaccuracy.
Rutland has always existed, it may have benn called other things, but its been
there since before the ark. Yes tis inland but has a large area of water -
wait for it.........Rutland Water. How imaginative can you get?
Well, I said it was a badly planned day. No wheels,no casks,no fun. The only
light relief was the visiting carpenter
Vile Jelly 25 August 2004 09:21
I'm sure it is but it's not history. Time Team made me laugh uproariously once
when they did a special in America. Talk about putting a nation's history into
perspective. The Yanks wouldn't let them dig anything by machine for fear of
losing some small piece of something near the surface whereas in Brit they
usually just get a JCB and hack through the first 500+ years worth because
we've got loads of that. Mind you, while I can actually understand the tessera=villa
thing (they just cut out most of the dull logical steps you have to use to
prove the theory, so you should approve actually!), it's the 'ah this
[completely non-descript] fragmentlet of pottery is from a second century
drinking chalice made for a left-handed blind man with a broken leg' that
mystifies me!
But is it/was it full of Ruts? Were they an ancient British tribe or was the
place just heavily ploughed?
An itinerant carpenter, eh? What did he do, just knock on your door and ask if
there was any joinery you wanted doing? I suppose he could have knocked you up
some casks. Then you could have sent him to the vineyards to get something to
fill them with.
Helen Bristol 25 August 2004 19:11
I know what a rut is, but what or who is a Rut?
There's nowt itinerant about m'carpenter and he's not a cooper.
Vile Jelly 26 August 2004 09:28
Well, I assumed that it must have been an original inhabitant. Y'know, like
the Cornese live in Cornwall, the Bretons in Brittany, therefore the Ruts
in Rutland. (They were also a fairly obscure punk/new wave band of the late
70s/early 80s. As opposed to the Rutles who were, of course, the legendary
Prefab Four). The least you could do when you travel abroad is find out a
little about the place you're pillaging.
Couldn't you persuade him to make you some small barrels and then he could be
a mini cooper!
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