Saturday, March 22, 2025

22nd March 2025

 

chiefs and Indians; I am not sure where I am going with this.  But chiefs and indians was a game we used to play on archaeological digs as volunteers.  Jim one of our team would say 'hey up, here comes the chiefs' (meaning the archaeologists).  Here were the experts though they could be talking rot but we had to be attentive and quiet.

Now of course we have to have leaders, foremen, teachers, sister nurses and even politicians but the thing we learn that each and everyone of them is just as silly as ourselves.  They are not divine gods - listening to Professor Ronald Hutton yesterday and his practical approach to the telling of history always impresses me.

But again I go off the subject, as I have often written about Lillie, now 18 years old and  she belongs to a scout group.  She is a leader and trustee which is a bit of responsibility, especially when she has to act and talk with adults, so this holiday back at home she was nervous.  There had been a bit of a falling out whilst she was away with the other leaders, leaving the group split in half and she was worried.  Luckily she managed it fine and this third day, she has been every day, will monitor a walking competition. 

Professor Ronald Hutton: Yesterday he described the builders of Stonehenge as 'cowboys' (note: someone who does a quick lousy job of building work).  The trilithons of the monument are based on a wooden method of building, a tenon on the two uprights fits nicely  underneath  the horizontal stone.  But apparently on one trilithon there was a long, vertical stone and a short vertical stone, so the long stone went down say five feet (they often go down much deeper) and the shorter stone rested in a shallow hole.  Of course it fell down in time.

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

Words as always interest me.  Fascism is the Word at the moment.  Terrifying to many of us. Tell me why are people voting for it don't they realise how serious it is?

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, and strong regimentation of society and the economy. Wiki

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


A Game of Henge - Stonehenge

Phillip Gross

A game of Henge, my masters?
The pieces are set. We lost the box
with instructions years ago.

Do you see Hangman? Or
Clock Patience? Building bricks
the gods grew out of? Dominoes?

It's your move. You're in the ring
of the hills, of the stones, of the walls
of your skull. You want to go?

You want out? Good - that's
the game. Whichever way you turn
are doors. Choose. Step through, so...

And whichever world you stumble into
will be different from all the others, only
what they might have been,
you'll never know.



9 comments:

  1. i think the term "too many chiefs, and not enough indians" is widely used..... and in many cases, still very appropriate.... at least it has been in many of MY jobs!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Think it happened in the NHS with too many managers.

      Delete
  2. People will believe so many crazy things these days. Misinformation and disinformation has gone out to hide the truth that people don't know what to believe anymore. They want to believe the things that give them permission to express their hate and long time prejudices.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am not sure people know what they are signing up to, though they should be intelligent enough to know that nothing ever comes of all the nonsense sprouted by various people, who will remain nameless, just in case I get tracked through my blog for being anti them ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love the Stonehenge poem.
    Always makes me smile when archaeologists pass off anything they don't know as 'Ritual'!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ritual of course extends in life to everything you do on a daily basis. But archaeology and ritual go hand in hand Sue.

      Delete
  5. I've always thought that Stonehenge was a very early version of McDs/ festival judging by the numbers of aurochs bones in the area.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. yes there was a lot of feasting Ruta, mostly at Woodhenge which was just up the road;)

      Delete
  6. It is frustrating to me to hear people ranting against socialism, as if there is no greater evil than taking care of your fellow man. They vote for fascism because he swore to root out socialism. And he is doing exactly that. People hook on to 'catch phrases' and they wield them around as if they know what they are talking about...but they don't.

    ReplyDelete

Love having comments!