pilgrim

absinthe makes the heart grow fonder?? mix a little water in and it goes cloudy -- milk of amnesia.................

My point was that 'money' is an abstract concept which has become the driving force rather than the convenience it was developed for. We are moving towards a 'cashless' society and the money only exists in the ether. It's not as though you can trot along to your bank and ask to see your money and it's in a neat pile of notes in the vault with a post-it with your name on it. The 'debt' only exists on paper/and many banking servers and would anyone actually suffer if it was written off? A Ponzi scheme was mentioned earlier and to some extent that is right. I was questioning how someone's money can be worth a different amount to someone else's. The exchange rates have been manipulated for years for profit and not profit of the members of the EU. I would go back to the concept of the 'Common Market' with a single currency and not the monster that the EU has become. Products do cost different amounts to produce in different countries and the GDP differs, as does employment levels and social care funding, but, we live in the UK, made up of four regions. Each produces and prints their own money (notes) and the only difference is the picture on each, and each is honoured in each of the regions (although a Scottish £50 takes some explaining) without any differential exchange rate, a system that dates to well before any European involvement, to me that sounds very much like a single currency, So if it has worked here for centuries why not on a broader scale? The political persuasions/systems/beliefs of any country should make no difference.

this is getting a bit 'continental' for the shire

pernod?? pastis surely ?? lol

I was in Yugoslavia when their currency crashed when Tito died - don't ask -- a place I used to eat at couldn't put prices on the menu as they didn't know what they could buy and at what price from day to day. the world is too wrapped up in 'money' which if you think about it is an abstract concept and is worth nothing. now I am not advocating going back to a barter system and living in caves, but a little bit of - step back - take a deep breath and lets think this through --- would it really make all that difference if ALL debts in the Eurozone were wiped out and we started again?? of course not - the people would still be there, the countries would be, and life would go on -- probably for the better on a more level playing field. think it through -- all the debt from various countries goes to ??? and then gets ploughed back into ?? hate to say it but its actually a very good argument to justify the single currency if all debts were wiped and we started afresh. (loss of points for repetition!!)

oh and if you do visit the plough take a walk to the church - lovely building - and a tremendous example of a motte and bailey castle right next to it -- have a pint or three - have lunch - loom at the castle and work up a thirst for another 'glass pie'

reminds me of the USA in WWII - they used native American indian speakers on the radio as encryption wasn't about then and no-one could understand them -- far better than code - maybe the Mike Nevile and George House books on 'larn yasel goerdie' should be made compulsory in schools - and herself has a huge problem with spellchucker !!! - when she does her circulars for cub camps etc every time she types in wellies it changes it to willies!!!! (although spell chucker shreds decent English and makes it all American anyway!) (that was me having a rant)

came into this thread a bit late and this might be a bit off the main line of it - but .... afore nationalisation, when all the private mining companies were about - I knew an old dear that worked in the offices of one of them from the age of 14. she told me that the surveyors had two sets of mine plans. the official set and the 'other set', as all the private companies were robbing the seams of their neighbours!!! - made me wonder how accurate the plans are????

maybe a hybrid?? a very large kitchen knife and throat? could it be down to the pig killing at end of the year? have a listen to the national archive of audio recordings re the pig killing and other things which are fascinating

and anyway I liked Baldric's version - rubber buttons.............

nooo - with one of the old licenses you could drive all sorts of obscure things!!! mine includes steam powered !!! and an admission -- was on a jolly and had a go with a T34 -- er oops - dinged that a bit (but don't tell anyone) had another look at licence -- track laying vehicles ok -- no L plate - but need one for steam powered if carrying passengers????

have to admit I never took a 'test'- did a course and did a drive and 3 written papers on 'car sympathy' highway code and mechanics and they gave me a licence. although I see on my latest licence I have to display 'L' plates if I drive a tank now ?? strange old world

I read over the above and suddenly recalled the craze for stick on bullet holes on car windows - but just cant recall where they originated from??

history written by the victors - as ever was ... from the roman times through the Russian communist era- north Korea and closer to home -- the many many incidents of their less than greatest claims to fame in the past being expunged from the biographies of politicians here over the last 20 yrs. (and most of them didn't win!!)

my favourite quote from any of the old Basil Rathbone/Sherlock films was -- Watson eating dinner in Holmes apartment and having great difficulty finishing off the 4-5 remaining peas on his plate as they were defying his efforts with knife and fork - (we all at some time have problems with wilful peas --ahem) - in the meantime Holmes was striding back and forth with his pipe pontificating on the latest case --- hope that sets the scene.... Holmes looked at Watson, walked over, took his fork, inverted it - flattened the peas thus allowing them to be scooped up with said fork, which he did and handed the ensemble to Watson. Watson looked at Holmes aghast and said ..... 'I say Holmes, it just isn't done for a chap to squash another fellows peas!' am I sad for remembering that?? or is it a shadow of bygone days??

canny lass -- I had heard that rumour many many years ago - but ..... the coal measures were too far down at Netherton for that!!! (they would have been better off just going out at night and helping themselves to the coal from the yard and if they lived there they were prob entitled to free coal anyway!!)- although they might have tried!!! (I do recall seeing a lease from the 50's that said chopping sticks on the hearth was forbidden as well as many other things --) what I found interesting was the bit at Plessey - it wasn't Neolithic etc but def. post mediaeval .,.. there were signs up on the south bank warning of 'adits' -- there were also def. ingress into the coal seams from opposite Humford Baths (now who can recall them??) and along the Halfpenny Wood. The monks prior to the dissolution were the micro managers of the state. they had about a ratio of 10 to 1 lay workers to manage their lands - and strangely enough were the progenitors of the welfare state. A challenge for ya Canny lass- since ya are ancient and retired and have nowt better to do ............. (runs and hides..) have a look at the monasterial enclaves in the north -- there is a huge gap atween Tynemouth and Alnwick and Brinkburn, Mitford and indeed the 'Cuthbert' sites. I think there are one or more locations not yet found!!! the D'Veshys ( an irish norman 1066 family had the land until the Percy's did a dastardly deed with the Bishop of Durham - in the 'dark ages' not the post roman times but in the the dodgy/dealing - robber baron times -- it seems that Bedlington and a lot of the southern county had been expunged from the records - although they had protection under the bishopric of Durham - your task if you should accept it is to work that out --btw this message wont self destruct in 30 secs - as this is tinternet and its all on the NSA database for a thousand years (...now where did I hear that phrase? oh yes the third Reich)

They were originally used by primitive types to extract flint (we don't have flint up here in the far north as it's fossilised sponge in chalk deposits and we have no chalk) All the flint on the beaches is a result of the coal trade to London where flint was used as ballast for vessels returning and then dumped. The higher bit behind Dean Street in Newcastle is called ballast hill. Anyways - a bell pit was a hole in the ground and the mining operations spread out below it in the shape of a bell. The Tan Hill Inn (highest pub in England) had one in the field behind it. Bell pits were not big things but would be one or two man operations. Unlike the south side of the river at Plessey where they bored straight in from the riverside cliffs and went in some considerable distance following the seams. The old opencast actually cut into to some of the workings and I seem to recall wooden shovels were found.

used to go there when at school at morpeth in the early 70's - they had a minor bird in the bar which everyone taught to swear and a function room in in an outbuilding - very laid back -- last time I was in Mitford was for a funeral a good few yrs ago and still think the castle is a fine example which most folk don't even know is there

I have tried to avoid posting on here but the voices made me do it .... ok here goes how do you make 200 old ladies say F*** at the same time ? ...... say 'House' ....

canny lass - you are wonderful !! I know a high up in the 'wee free' who is a linguistic fanatic and says almost the same thing - look at the lliad where the repetition of such things as ' he fell to the earth in a crash of brass' show both the era and the fact that it was a an oral tradition by repetition, before being but to script -- same with beowolf. we are but a product of what we were in the past and that reflects on our thinking and outlook -- the idea of a 'Viking invasion' does not hold water (sorry York has that destroyed your tourist industry?? lol)- but the gradual merging of cultures through trade and immigration (oops that's UKIP doing a regressive revision of history) makes us what we are -- a bastardised homologation of genes - but thats what all races are and all the better for it!!! Cornwall had tin trade with the Phoenicians many centuries pre AD and one wonders if perhaps the old Cornish language holds some of the lost language of those people?

all nicely researched - well done and very interesting!! a lot of the 'Christian' sites were already sites of importance and were merely sequestered. its the same with the 'accepted' dates of all the major 'Christian' festivals. Christmas day is a 'takeover' over the old festival of Saturnalia hence the number of days of celebration. Easter was set by the diet of Whitby - and of course don't forget the change over of the Julian and Gregorian calendars which means any dates are at least 11 days out!! In reference to Mawer - its goes back to what I said in another post many moons ago - to seek the basic whys and wheres - strip away the history and look at the geology then the geography and only then look at the demography and then the history - it gives a much clearer insight. the 'ton' suffix seems to generally appear to relate to a settlement - the 'ham' suffix to a farm stead - a lot of the place name parts derive from the Danish /Anglo Saxon era and often incorporate a name at the start. (although the Viking influence is much over emphasised in the Northumbria region) as that lot mainly went round the top to Ireland and then came into 'England' from the west, although a lot of the Northumbrian vernacular has roots in the Norse -- cheble- sneck- and many others, but I think derived from trading and settlement, not from raiding which only was very limited

being elderly and an insomniac for the last 30 yrs - read the last continent - overnight -- magic (and I don't mean wizards lol) his perception and the ability to put a different slant on things was incredible (we have all met Dibblers -in fact they seem to gravitate to 'elected' posts - ahem) but reading that last night, I did like the concept that geography was inversely proportional to time -- ( maybe that is why Bedlington has so many issues)

samphire is brilliant with mackerel --and any other high oil fish and its free!!!!

probably should have added re the polish family -- his father was Russian and her father German - not a good combination in that country post war!!! but the vodka was made by his father. Strange but drink it straight and you never get a hangover...

..ok - it wasn't all the voices -- its my 60th tomorrow and need a bit of leeway (and probably a zimmer!!)