Retirement Ends?

Categories: sport, history

Tags: stalin, u2, monitor, Merrimack

Date: 09 March 2009 19:56:44

Saturday afternoon was spent out in nature.

I left FW to do some gardening for the afternoon and drove off to spend some time beside the river in a nearby village. It is a very quiet place, if you ignore the main road running past with few people to disturb your concentration.

Thankfully all this boloney was interrupted by a rugby match. And the rain.

In the end it was a miserable afternoon stood under some fir trees trying to stay sheltered from the rain. My rugby team performed like a bunch of headless chickens - without the organisation. This is no exaggeration but even I, at the age of 44 and unfit, could have done a damn sight better.

Maybe I should come out of retirement and start training.....

History Today Yesterday:

1074: Pope Gregory VII excommunicates married priests in a bid to impose strict clerical celibacy. When has biblical accuracy challenged some parts of the Catholic church? Not offense intended mind.

1796: Napoleon - the midget corporal - marries Josephine de Beauharnais. We don't know whether "not tonight Joesphine" was said or not, at this time.

1862: The first ever clash of "ironclads" takes place between the Minitor and the Merrimack in the American Civil War.

1916: Francisco "Pancho" Villa leads a band of Mexican rebels across the US border in a raid. The Americans retaliate by launching a Persching missile.

1932: Henry Pu Yi, formally Hsuan-T'ung the Last Emperor of China, becomes the regent of the Japanese puppet state of Manchuko. In 1934 he was promoted to Emperor of Manchuko until he was captured by Soviet soldiers in the last few days of WWII. In 1950 he returned to China and was imprisoned until released by Mao Tse Tung in 1959. He lived out his days working in a mechanical repair shop in Peking.

1945: American bombers begin the "firestorm raids" over Japan in which 250,000 people die.

1967: Jospeh Stalin's daughter requests political asylum at the US embassy in India.

1987: U2 release The Joshua Tree. Today, to celebrate, I bought the latest one.