22nd January 2024 - Zulus

Thought for the day :"Apparently you can’t keep a metal item found with a metal detector if it is already in the British Museum" 

Rain 15 : Dry 7

Off to get layer's pellets for the ducks and chickens, cat food for the Peacocks, and straw, chopped wheat and sawdust - £64  !!  Costing a fortune. I think each egg is costing about £5.

But that was very little by comparison to the Vet - where worm tablets came to £112 - though in fact Susie decided that we did not need some of the ones that the Vet had suggested so I need to go back sometime soon and get some money back for a return.

Managed to get Susie's prescription and faced the "Road Closed" signs all around the village - but found that I could drive all the way through !!  

Cup of tea in Penrwhipal with Mark - need to get my act together and start collecting hardcore again soon.

Much of the day was actually quite pleasant and not quite as cold as recently, but Susie got a soaking when she let the girls out in the morning, and a couple of showers later.

Squeak Pea is doing well. 

 

Cold this evening and there is a fairly full moon, and it is light and cold outside...

In other mews:

Zulu Wars!

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Rorke's Drift.

The Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, began on January 11th when the British Army, invaded the Zulu kingdom in an attempt to extend British control in South Africa, as it was realised that this could only be achieved when the Zulu's with its standing army of 40,000, had been suppressed.

The first major encounter was the Battle of Isandlwana on January 22nd 1879, where a Zulu force of some 20,000 warriors equipped mainly with the traditional assegai iron spears attacked and overwhelmed a portion of the British army consisting of about 1,800 men and was one of the British army's worst and bloodiest ever defeats. As the battle drew to a close several Zulu regiments reached the Tugela River chasing the few escaping British and buoyed by their success crossed the Tugela and attempted to capture the British base at the river crossing called Rorke’s Drift and which was manned by a company of approximately 90, mainly Welsh infantrymen, with the entire garrison's strength being around 155.

The fighting was fierce and often hand to hand, but the British maintained discipline, stood firm and only gave fire when the enemy was right upon them. They then fought them off with bayonets and as the night dragged, they were reduced to a mere handful of men. Then when they were almost out of ammunition, the Zulu, who had themselves taken heavy losses, retreated. King Cetshwayo was captured in August 1879 and Zululand was broken up and annexed.

The bravery of those men of whom seven were awarded the Victoria Cross is now immortalised in the film Zulu, starring Michael Caine, Stanley Baker and Ivor Emmanuel.

And from 9 years ago.. (Facebook used to allow notes but you cannot access them now other than when they come back in memory)

On the subject of tax avoidance - thanks to Bob Williams...

The Sibyls were oracular women believed to possess prophetic powers in ancient Greece.

The earliest Sibyls, ‘who admittedly are known only through legend, prophesied at certain holy sites, under the divine influence of a deity, the first being at Delphi. The Sibyl held her rites when people came to consult her, and her acolytes would take a small fee.

All went well until the rulers at Delphi realised that money was slipping through their hands, so told the Sibyl that she could only continue conducting her rites if she paid what amounted to a tax to the rulers.

The Sibyl was understandably very upset at this and decided that she and her entourage would ignore the rulers at Delphi and move lock, stock and barrel to the Hellespont.

This is the first recorded incidence of a Sibyl rites movement.

Cheers !