Vikings

Had a hoot with the boys last night.

A short day at school as the bones of Don Bosco were in town. I had to laugh. Panic-striken nuns running around for days jabbering, "Don Bosco! Don Bosco!". scores of teachers and hundreds of children preparing decorations and teams of workmen building special ramps for the sacred bones.

"Who is this Don Bosco?" I asked Pitt. She didn't know. "There was a Rosco on TV." I chimed. "He was a fat, stupid policeman who smoked cigars." She wasn't listening as usual. A teacher confirmed he was a saint. At home I looked him up on the Net. Yes, some Italian dude who helped children back in 1888 or such.

I don't have very positive views of the catholic church and I found the whole thing rather sad. I am sure 99% of folks at the school didn't have a clue about it. If there smart they will have held on to their Buddhist beliefs, which makes far more sense to me. The teachings of a wise man, as opposed to an invisible god. "Church of the Holy Spook." as Shane McGowen aptly put it.

Anyway, back home I indulged in a Guinness before Danny came over. He is preparing for his final trip back home. He is quite sad to leave Thailand, but he has been offered a well-paid job in a mine is Tasmania. As he is getting on, he says he needs to get some cash behind him. A thousand dollars a week as an unskilled miner. I said it was ironic that they pay the best prices to extract the resources of this dear old Earth. I expect most of it goes to China. Teaching kids? Take a couple of months to earn that. Strange how Man prioritises things.

Tom joined and then so did Patrick and Adam. We had a wild hoot and everyone enjoyed a chin wag. Tom and I finished up in the small hours watching Stephen Fry and Simon Callow in a sit down audience chat in Norfolk which was highly entertaining. A lot of Guinness and cheap beer passed our lips and everyone went home happy.

A really wonderful podcast this week is In Our Time with intellectual humbug, Melvin Bragg. This week he was discussing Vorda Vikings. The Vikings that sailed down the Vorda river in Russia and set up wey-stations in Kiev and such forth. Trading war axes with the Arabs and carrying out bloody and daring raids upon the townships surrounding Constantinople. Fascinating stuff and quite horrific, sacrificing slave girls to honour their dead leaders and mass raped by the local warlords before she is executed. I doubt much has changed really, but well worth a listen if you like your history. And who doesn't like Vikings?