The root cause

[piece-itpete]

Thats amazing JI! Horrible, but amazing.

Originally Posted by bobabode

Take that foolish idea up with the owner of the site, (Ms. Grumpy). Silly man! Better yet, float it by NegotiableTerms, first!

I ain't messing with Mrs Grumpmeister. I'd rather face the lawyer

Pete

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

That's beautiful eb.

This is the little town I'm familiar with in the Mother County, best pic I could find:



They also hung a monkey.

Pete

That's cute. Is the town on the seashore? It looks like it in the photo.

What do you mean by "hung a monkey"?

[piece-itpete]

Yes, on the North Sea, the Hartlepool Headlands. Home of Andy Capp. My grandmother was friends with the person Flo was modeled on.

Not sure if that's actually a compliment to the area!

The monkey story is well known in England. The old story goes: "During the Napoleonic wars, a French ship was wrecked on the English coast near Hartlepool. The only survivor was a monkey, which was wearing a French uniform (no doubt to provide amusement for those on board the ship). On finding the monkey, some locals decided to hold an impromptu trial on the beach. Since the monkey was unable to answer their questions they decided it was a French spy. It was sentenced to death and hanged from the mast of a fishing boat. ..."

"In former times, when war and strife

The French invasion threaten’d life

An’ all was armed to the knife

The Fisherman hung the monkey O !

The Fishermen with courage high,

Siezed on the monkey for a French spy;

“Hang him !” says one; “he’s to die”

They did and they hung the monkey Oh!

They tried every means to make him speak

And tortured the monkey till loud he did speak;

Says yen “thats french” says another “its Greek”

For the fishermen had got druncky oh!"

http://www.thisishartlepool.co.uk/hi...poolmonkey.asp


[IMG][/IMG]

Pete

[ebacon]

Pete,

That's a cool story.

A few months ago I was in the village of Bingen, Germany. While there I noticed an unusual number of references to mice. At dinner I even received a mouse shaped chocolate. I saved that for my daughter but before I gave it to her I looked up the town name and mouse. Here is the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower

[piece-itpete]

That's great! I love the old stories. Let me post a quote from it for posterity

They whetted their teeth against the stones,
And then they picked the Bishop's bones;
They gnawed the flesh from every limb
For They were sent to punish him!

Great kids story

Pete

[JJIII]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

That's great! I love the old stories. Let me post a quote from it for posterity

They whetted their teeth against the stones,
And then they picked the Bishop's bones;
They gnawed the flesh from every limb
For They were sent to punish him!

Great kids story

Pete

You are a sick man!

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by ebacon

Pete,

That's a cool story.

A few months ago I was in the village of Bingen, Germany. While there I noticed an unusual number of references to mice. At dinner I even received a mouse shaped chocolate. I saved that for my daughter but before I gave it to her I looked up the town name and mouse. Here is the story.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouse_Tower

Is that the town Hildegard von Bingen hails from?

[ebacon]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

Is that the town Hildegard von Bingen hails from?

Looks like it. Her wiki entry says that is where she died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

Never heard of her. How did you come across her?

[finnbow]

Sorry to step back a little late for the conversation about the Old World. As is clear to most here, I'm a big fan of Germany, though my fondest memories are from 3 years in the early '60's and eight years from 1978-1986. In many ways, I'm more comfortable there than here, though I have not a drop of German blood in me, but speak fluent German.

There's a lot to like about Germany. It's clean, honest and difficult to find a poor meal, shoddy goods, and lackluster service. Morever, the beer's great and the women are lovely. Though many aspects of its culture aren't all that foreign to Americans (and this becomes more true year after year), it successfully merges a vibrant economy with a very easy lifestyle. I love the place and would probably rather live in the alpine foothills south of Munich than pretty much anywhere else on earth.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by ebacon

Looks like it. Her wiki entry says that is where she died.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hildegard_of_Bingen

Never heard of her. How did you come across her?

She was a prolific writer of music. (See "Music" section of the article you posted.) I own a few cds of her music. Believe it or not, despite the fact that I frequently lampoon religion and in fact am nearly Agnostic, I love old religious music. Chants, mass choral, Pipe Organ, etc., etc....

It's as close as I get to the church these days.

Besides ".....von Bingen" means ".....from Bingen".

Regards,
Dave