posted April 15, 2006 06:39 PM         

*******

The next time you are washing your hands and complain
because the water temperature isn't just how you like
it. Think about how things used to be. Here are some
facts about the 1500's:

*******

Most people got married in June because they took
their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good
by June. However, they were starting to smell, so
brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body
odour; hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet
when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice
clean water; then all the other sons and gentlemen;
then the women; then the children; and last of all the
babies. By then, the water was so dirty you could
actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying,
"Don't throw the baby out with the bath water."

Houses had thatched roofs: thick straw piled high,
with no wood underneath. It was the only place for
animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small
animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained
it became slippery, and sometimes the animals would
slip and off the roof. Hence the saying, "It's raining
cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the
house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where
bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean
bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over
the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something
other than dirt, hence the saying, "dirt poor." The
wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in
the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on
floor to help keep their footing. As the winter
wore on, they added more thresh until when you opened
the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece
of wood was placed in the entranceway; hence the
saying, a "thresh hold."

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a
big kettle that always hung over the fire. Everyday
they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They
ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They
would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in
the pot to get cold overnight and then start over
the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had
been there for quite a while; hence the rhyme, "Peas
porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the
pot nine days old."

When visitors came over, they could obtain pork, which
made them feel quite special. They would hang up their
bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man
could "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a
little to share with guests and would all sit around
and "chew the fat."

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with
high acid content caused some of the lead to leach
onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This
happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400
years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the
burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or "upper crust."

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The
combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for
a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would
take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They
were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of
days and the family would gather around and eat and
drink and wait and see if they would wake up, hence
the custom of holding a "wake."

England is old and small, and the local folks started
running out of places to bury people. So they would
dig up coffins and would take the bones to a
"bone-house" and reuse the grave. When reopening these
coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch
marks on the inside, and they realized they had been
burying people alive. So they would tie a string on
the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin
and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.
Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all
night (the "graveyard shift") to listen for the bell;
thus someone could be "saved by the bell" or was
considered a "dead ringer."

posted April 17, 2006 05:14 PM         

not too long back tony robinson did a tv series on the ' worst jobs in history ' ..
one of the contenders was the 'urine collector ' .. no idea of title of said job ..

urine was a source of one of the key components of gunpowder ..
(it's possible that other chem sources were depleted)
so just like folks leave empty milkbottles out for the milkman/lady to collect ..
the residents would leave full urine bottles out for the pee collector ...

I believe the job was thought up to quench the need for gunpowder
during national wartime ..
.. i.e. if the king said 'pee' .. u had to do your duty ..
.. 'n leave it outside ..

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

and .. here's an almost useless animation .. ( it didn't 'work' as intended)
brought about by flks in astro land asking " whats going on"
regarding a couple of agro. threads ..

frame delay is half a second .. so a bit fast ..
its' value is debatable .. may Illustrate .. if the degree numbers are watched
.. just how fast / slow some of them move ...
they are the various major aspects for the day concerned ..

it's about 60k i think ..
animation of grid aspects for Aprils' dates 17th - 24th
* http://www.happydragon.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/temp/17.gd.24.gif *