Myth Versus Million

You Know How It Is -

One comes across a word that's familiar from frequent use and then stop to think about where it comes from.  Or is that just me?

     Yes, this does come from Conrad's deconstruction of that folk tale "The Red King And The Witch" which is a misnomer as it's mostly about Peterkin avoiding old age and death by living with The Wind for either a hundred or a million years, the timeline is a bit debatable, frankly.  Art!

ONE MILLION POUNDS!

     It seems, from a couple of sources I have consulted, that the very concept of 'million' did not come about until the late Middle Ages, because only by that time had economies developed to the point where it became a necessary number for chancellors and exchequers to use.  The word itself is derived from the Italian for 'Thousand' - "'Mille" as you might hear in the sense of "Mille Grazie".  Conrad is pretty sure TRKATW uses it as an exaggerated way to express the passing of a very long time, because - think about it.  How far will the evolution of Hom. Sap. progressed in a million years? not to mention language.  

     ANYWAY 

'It is not twenty years, old man, since I departed from my father, and dost thou tell me that thou knowest not my father?' (It was a million years since he had left his home.) 'Follow me if thou dost not believe me.'

p. 62

And he went to the cross of stone; only a palm's breadth was out of the ground. And it took him two days to get at the chest of money. When he had lifted the chest out and opened it, Death sat in one corner groaning, and Old Age groaning in another corner.

Then what said Old Age? 'Lay hold of him, Death.'

'Lay hold of him yourself.'

Old Age laid hold of him in front, and Death laid hold of him behind.

The old man took and buried him decently, and planted the cross near him. And the old man took the money and also the horse.

     If you remember, that cross of stone was where Peterkin had buried his ten sacks of ducats.  Art!

Book and beer tokens!

      Given the time-span it's probably a good thing Ol' Petey never invested his coinage in the banking system of the time, as the entire wealth of Earth would now be owed to him thanks to compound interest*.

    We also see that Old Age and Death, at least in his case, had been stuck in a box underground for a million years, so no wonder they were groaning: no food, water nor sanitary facilities.  The old bloke seems to have done best of all out of this: a free horse and ten sacks of ducats.  Art!

CAUTION!  Large bladed weapons may create police interest

What A Difference A Year Makes

Your Humble Scribe likes to pretend that he has impeccable taste in music, which is true for the most part, yet he also has a weakness for lightweight pop, which he listens to via headphones just in case broadcasting it to the masses would hurt his street cred.  Thus we come to "Summer The First Time" by Bobby Goldsboro, a classic Sixties tune with a killer piano riff.  I shall provide you with a Youtube link:

(1) Bobby Goldsboro - Summer (The First Time) - YouTube

     And even a picture, that's how thorough I am.  Art!

     It got a lot less airplay in South Canada than it did in Europe and This Sceptred Isle, because at one point our protagonist mentions that he's seventeen, and his paramour is thirty-one.  DANGER!  DANGER RADIO STATION! and you probably couldn't get away with it today, unless they overdubbed 'Eighteen'.  Conrad never paid any attention to the lyrics, you see.

     Still a corking piano riff.

     And now - the empanandas!

     Which were very tasty alongside a big helping of soured cream.

What's That?  Not Enough Sand?  You Want A Positive "Sea Of Sand"?

You got it!  As YOU SHOULD SURELY RECALL The Doctor was surreptitiously trying to wheedle information out of a group of archaeologists, whilst also trying not to sound as if he were completely hat-stand.

Albert and Borguebus swapped glances.  Professor Templeman looked around the site, nodding in silent agreement.

‘How accurately you state the case.  How accurately – oh, I beg my pardon, I didn’t ask your name.  “Doctor John Smith”.  Thank you.’

The Professor’s bulk turned to face into the site, at the big pseudo-Acropolis.

‘We call that “The Temple”, for want of a better description.  I take it you’d like to see it up close?  Done.  We’ll go over straight away.’

He set off promptly, leading the Doctor, and the other two men, who brought up the rear whilst whispering together.

On nearing the awe-inspiring “Temple”, the Doctor noticed that one face had been overlaid with a scaffold of wooden planking, creating steps and risers more suited to human physique.  Templeman led the way, up to the central atrium of the huge building.  He stood there like a king, arms stretched wide.

‘Easily bigger than the Temple of Diana, and the dias is three times the size of the Baalbek Trilithon,’ said the Professor.  ‘And completely intact!’

Yes, pondered the Doctor, not feeling happy about the intactness of the building, which bespoke continual care and repair.

‘I don’t see any decoration.  No heiroglyphics, either.  No adornment or embellishment of any kind, in fact,’ he pointed out to Templeman.  ‘So – who did build this “Temple”, and why?’

Templeman sagged a little.

‘Thereby hangs a tale,’ muttered Albert from behind them.

‘Actually we know more about who didn’t build it,’ explained Professor Templeman.  ‘Not Roman, not Phoenecian not Greek, not Egyptian, not Arabic.  The why I can explain more easily – this is a religious complex, dedicated to deities deemed to be larger than life, which is why it was constructed to a larger-than-human scale.’

A Baalbeck trilithon, with puny human for scale

Empanandas.  Just so we're clear.

Kind Of Moving Forward In Reverse

NO!  Nothing to do with Tom or SPVs.  No, I refer to "The War Illustrated", because I blithely followed their chronological illustration list, which has Allied troops well inland.  Only now, further in, do we get actual pictures of the invasion and beaches, which should be sufficient sand even for you lot.  Art!

     Here you see a Sherman tank coming down off a landing craft, having been brought close enough to the beach that it needs no waterproofing or wading adaptation.  In fact water would have come in through gaps and holes in the hull, yet not much and it would drain out once on dry land.  You can judge that the water is shallow and narrow since the driver and hull-gunner both have their hatches open and are having a good nosy round, also indicating that there's little if any enemy fire.  Below are the infantry coming ashore, again with no enemy fire present.  The ship is adapted to allow two columns of soldiers to disembark at once.

     Here's the bow-eye view of the above.  Soldiers wading through the shallows to shore, again without any enemy fire incoming.  There are no wrecked vehicles or bodies waiting for burial, so this particular bit of the invasion coastline seems quite pacific.  Nobody even worried about hostile aircraft, which is not surprising given the aerial umbrella the Allies always operated under.

Aha!  Another BBC Photography Theme

Only on a single webpage, so I can't sustain this one for weeks <sad face>.  They begin by mentioning cities that have become underwater for various reasons and then have five examples, of which this is the first.  Art!

Baiae

     Back in the early days of the Roman Empire, Baiae was the place to be, having a more bearable climate than hotter regions of the peninsula, and with hot springs said to have healing properties, which were generated by underground vulcanism.  Not that the Romans were bothered by such trifles THOUGH THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

     Because said underground vulcanism brought about a phenomena known as 'Bradyseism' which, simply put, causes the land to fall in height.  Art!

     So it went from sublime to submarine.  Art!

And you thought the UK was wet!

Finally -

Given that the weather in This Sceptred Isle is so Dog Buns! hot of late - you cannot please the British, it is too cold if it's not too hot or too dry if it's not too wet or too windy or there's not a breath of a breeze or it's so humid if it's not achingly dry <cont. ad nauseum> - Conrad has been dreaming of sitting in the fridge to cool off whilst working.

     Hrrrrrrmmm.  Been beaten to the punch on that one.  Art?

*  Not sure about Death Duties, however.