The Great Personality Shift

\/()43's man-in-the-pub theory of life, the left and the right

Rejoice, readers, in the satisfying knowledge that this is the last article in my series of three; soon there will be no more of this unreadable nonsense. Even better, I only have one ideosynchratic absurdity remaining to be clumsily examined - The Great Shifting of the Personalities. Best of all, there are diagrams! Hooray!

In the 14th to 18th centuries, language historians claim we changed the way we pronounced the so-called "long" vowels. If no-one can remember the 14th century, how do they know? Via some very dubious conjectue, it would seem. Anyway. One of the most interesting aspects of this great shift is the way some vowels seem to "shunt along", each taking the place of the next. Thus, out used to sound like boot and boot used to sound like boat. It's also interesting that we developed the printing press before the shift was complete, so that our spelling had to remain the same. We are left with a wierd spelling/pronounciation mismatch.

Postcard from Bad Zwischenahn

Victoriana 3

Chapter 3

Nanny Prewitt woke with a start, and looked around for Victoriana. Not only was her charge nowhere in sight, but there was an ominous silence. ‘Really!’ she muttered to herself, ‘I rest my eyes for half a moment and that girl disappears. If she’s quiet, she’s probably making trouble.’

Operation TELIC – Why the British were defeated in Southern Iraq 2003 – 2011

This may be a difficult read for some people who come across the post and perhaps for those personnel who may have served in Iraq during the various iterations of Operation TELIC.  I make no apologies for this.  I firmly believe that the only way we can avoid making mistakes in the future, both political and military, is by genuinely understanding and learning the lessons of the past.  For all you men, women and the various other categories this inclusive government wishes to label, at GCHQ who are no doubt reading this, I have checked that all the information is open source on the internet, which of course is where it came from. 

I am using AP3000 (Third edition), to guide me through the principles of war and how the British effort in Iraq fell well short of these guiding doctrines.  They may be in a different order to those laid down in the AP, but that is to match the historical narrative rather than the doctrinal.  In addition, some of the principles have been grouped to illustrate common points.  My apologies to the JSCSC.  AP 3000 is a thumping good read and I commend it to all.  I think our senior military officers and politicians should get within at least a nodding acquaintance of it.  It is as relevant to project management in the private sector as it is to operational planning.  To those of you who have lost friends and loved ones in Iraq, I am truly sorry.  There isn’t a day that goes by when I don’t think of those young Toms lined up with their APCs, waiting to go out and I still sometimes awake in the small hours, sweating and breathless with the night terrors.

Watching The Detectives, Elvis Costello

Review - The Strange Death of Europe, by Douglas Murray

Much has been made of Douglas Murray's Strange Death of Europe.  I've just finished it and present a quick review.  Needless to say, there are spoilers.

TL;DR – well worth a read as long as you have something nearby to destroy.

 ---

Overall it's not a happy read, on how our political class have by ignorance of consequence, cupidity and actively virtue signalled us into the present state.  Murray begins by taking us back to the 50's and the concerns people had of the Windrush incomers through to today.  The text is peppered with a lot of off the record conversations with European MEP's and Euro nation MP's, with few of them having either the wit to negotiate a better settlement for us all or to convincingly lie their way through his questions.

In Memoriam - Tony Lucas, "Bloody but Unbowed"

Tony Lucas at home in Suffolk credit: Laura Hynd

When Allied forces surrendered Singapore 75 years ago, 80,000 troops became Japanese prisoners of war. For Tony Lucas, thus begun an ordeal that almost broke his body, but could not bow his spirit.

It is difficult to envisage Tony Lucas as an arsonist – either now, at home in Suffolk, aged 98, his benevolent face capped with hair of an almost celestial white; or 75 years ago, when, on February 15, 1942, as a clean-cut pipe-smoking Territorial lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he, like 80,000 other Allied troops in Singapore, became a prisoner of the Japanese.

Blind Melon - No Rain

A Demographic, Disenfranchised - Part Two

Fallout

Following the referendum and after  over 9 years and three stints as leader of UKIP Nigel Farage resigned his post for the very last time (he said), in November 2016. He had stepped into the breach as acting leader when, after only 18 days, Diane James resigned claiming she didn’t have the mandate to bring forward the changes she felt the organisation needed. Paul Nuttall took over as leader in November 2016 and Nigel quietly and with dignity left the political stage. Many members and supporters were devastated; Nigel had held the party together in the face of a constant barrage of negativity from the MSM and the other parties. The parties of the left and their sinister acolytes in Momentum and Hope not Hate had been particularly hard on him and his family. As disappointed as we all were we probably accepted he deserved the break, he was doing other things too, both in America and at home and his LBC radio show would give him a platform to keep an eye on the progress of the Leave strategy.

An Unholy Book, Part Five

The Cardinal

One morning, some two years after these events had passed, a small sleek haired man wearing spectacles and sober   clerical garb, sat alone in a cool room, at a highly polished desk, looking out over an extensive vista of  gardens and trees ending in a view of hillsides which in the right light could appear purple. This of course was  His Eminence Cardinal Xavier Ximenes, known familiarly as Doublecross, not, we must hasten to add, because he was  of a notably treacherous disposition, but because he liked to joke that as a Prince of the Church he bore the  weight of both sacred and secular concerns and it was reflected in the initials with which he annotated  documents.

As his fingers slowly played with his prized family heirloom of an antique fountain pen, so much more impressive  than the goose feather quills used by his secretaries and other scriveners, his mind and gaze turned from the  view over his palatial gardens where his servants toiled amid the splashing and tinkling of carefully contrived  fountains, to the three documents in front of him. One was the notorious ancient magazine or 'Unholy Book'. The  second was as detailed an analysis and commentary upon it as the troubled Father Mendoza had been able to  compile. The third was his own note on the matter. He had determined that all three should be kept together in a  locked leather briefcase in a secret archive, and he hoped that none of them would again see the light of day  until long after he and all those involved were dead, if ever. He could have destroyed the magazine as almost  every other remnant of this remote past had been destroyed, but had decided not to do so for a variety of  reasons.

Postcard from Belgrade, No 2

It's Only Rock and Roll

Kayser Bondor Hall (now Tesco) in Baldock

In the Summer of '63 my buddy Pete and I were edging toward being mods.
Frankly, the catch appeared better, rocker chics always looked like they needed a good scrub, long lacquered  hair, dirty fingernails, white stilettos and fishnets with holes in just didn't do it for us any longer, time to  move on.

We couldn't afford state of the art Tonik mohair suits as callow student boys but Gabicci Italian polo shirts  were accessible and a puff of your mum's hairspray could fix your college boy haircut into a nice backcomb mod boy look.

Extremism and Hyper-Reactionaryism

Illustrative example of personality traits

\/()43's man-in-the-pub theory of life, the left and the right

In my previous unreconstructed rant, I took the unwilling reader though the formation of life out of the primordial soup all the way to the reason lefies see the world as one big happy family (in spite of ample evidence to the contrary) and why they see the right as sociopathic when in reality all the right want to do is regulate socially disgusting behaviour. At that time, though I didn't spell it out, I was mostly talking about the moderate left and right.

In order to understand extremism, we must first take a look at the nature of personality spaces. This is a bit maths-y, but don't worry, we will soon get to the real, concrete details of the extremists and what they're like. Then we'll do hyper-reactionaryism if I remember to add that bit before clicking "send".

Postcard from Belgrade

Victoriana 2

Chapter 2

As Victoriana passed back through the garden gate, a terrified scream rent the air. 

She rushed up the steps and entered the house to hear another squeal of horror which seemed to emanate from the nursery, towards which room her father and mother were hurrying, followed by one or two of the braver domestics armed with brooms and dusters and whatever else they had to hand. Her father was carrying a ancient umbrella with a carved eagle’s head, with which he thrust open the door whence the screams were crescendoing. What a sight met their eyes – Nanny Prewitt was wobbling dangerously as she stood on a chair clutching her skirts around her.

Postcard from Way-Els

Sophie

Operation Ironclad 1942 - The Almost Forgotten Art of Fighting and Beating the French

The Madagascar Campaign of WW2 was a combined operation fought by the forces of the British Empire, to  capture and occupy the island of Madagascar in 1942.  It took place in a seemingly remote backwater  and the operation has been overshadowed by events in the Middle East and the Western Desert.   Madagascar was a French Colony and even in wartime there are political considerations.  While the  Free-French forces were aligned to Britain, the Vichy Forces of Marshal Pétain were not.  The Vichy  Government was pro-Axis and the British feared that Madagascar would be handed over to the Japanese.   This would constitute an unacceptable threat to British and Allied supply routes in the Indian Ocean,  specifically the route round the Cape and through the Mozambique Channel.

British agents on Madagascar reported on 17^th February 1942, that three Japanese warships were in the  harbour at Diego Suarez.  The British Government made a request to South Africa for a photographic  reconnaissance flight over the harbour.  Two SAAF Glen Maryland bombers fitted with cameras and long  range fuel tanks, were dispatched to Lindi on the East African coast.  The aircraft flew 700 miles  across the Indian Ocean, photographed the harbour and returned safely to Lindi. More recce flights were requested, which revealed a further six merchant ships, a cruiser and two  submarines.  These flights involved a flight of eight hours, often in atrocious weather conditions and  the SAAF crews should be commended.

Postcard from Cornwall

Turin Brakes - Painkiller

A Demographic, Disenfranchised - Part One

The Referendum and the Immediate Aftermath

I know this isn't news, and probably isn't even worth a comment TBF, but, we're getting lied to, about  child poverty, recession, prices, Grenfell, inflation, the ABBC, suicide rates, mental illness, the EU,  Russia, Labour voting patterns, Tory briefings, Donald Trump, faggotry, "climate change", emissions, the  NHS, Foreign Aid, Charities, immigration, housing, homelessness, the far right, the rabid nasty left,  terrorism, Islam and may many more things on top.

The above is a recent post that I made on this esteemed blog. The point I wanted to make, which a few of  those that didn’t read it picked up on, was the dilemma that I face, as a “normal” sort of person, when  it comes to deciding who to vote for in any upcoming election. For several years now I have taken some  comfort in the fact that, along with quite a large number of other people, I have been able to “protest  vote” by putting my X next to the UKIP candidate where such a choice has been available. I even  harboured the faint belief (for a short period of time) that my protest vote could become something more  and might even be instrumental in UKIP getting a couple of MP’s  into parliament and from there creating  a small “revolution” as it were.

Postcard from Honduras, No 1

An Unholy Book, Part Four

The Crisis

The priest was even more alarmed, for the souls as well as the bodies of everyone involved. The theological implications of these developments appalled him. He felt responsible, and knew that the Church would hold him responsible, for unleashing a pack of heresies to endanger the souls of very many people. He foresaw that he would be condemned as a heresiarch and probably burnt, if the mob didn't do it before he fell under the condemnation of the Church. He was surprised at the speed of developments. These people had not had more than a glimpse of the magazine. They had not even seen its contents before they fell into the clutches of error, and errors moreover which were not even those stated in the text so far as he had been able to guess at the contents.This in itself was suggestive of an immense power to cause evil. He continued to be tormented by imaginations, visions or hallucinations which he believed were sent by the Devil. In one he became, or was forced by the mob to become, the Priest of the Book, being borne across the country as leader or prisoner of the dionysiac rout, preaching a mad collection of vile heresies to the mob as it laid waste to towns and villages, plantations and estates, robbing, burning, raping and looting as an ever swelling horde, until disease, dissension, starvation and finally an army of nobles and professional soldiers put an end to their existence, and his own. A variant of this was that the mob succeeded in overwhelming or converting the entire country and he became hailed as the founder of a new religion which would be spread across the whole world by his successors. In another he was martyred by the mob and managed to become both martyr and heresiarch and also to end in hell burning for eternity. None of his imaginings contained any hint of salvation, although he now spent all his waking hours in heartfelt grief and prayer, for everyone around him including the mob and all those unknown to him who would be affected by these terrible occurrences, as well as for his own soul.

PMQs with Going Postal, 19th July 2017

Gif EJ

PMQs live stream here on Going Postal TV.

Postcard from France, No 2

Click to enlarge

Ella Vos - You Don't Know About Me

The Power of 10 – A Trip Around the Universe – Part 1 of 2

The Positive Power of 10

I have copied most of this from various sources.  I thought I would do this after looking at those fascinating pictures of the relative size of the planets in our solar syatem, then the sizes of different suns that were posted in comments I did not read the other day.

In order to see the big picture, we shall use the power of 10.  From Wikipedia, the power of 10 is:

Postcard from Mexico, No 1

Evolution of the Political Personality

\/()43's man-in-the-pub theory of life, the left and the right

In the beginning there were puddles of chemical soup. It was warm, and frequent lightning triggered chemical reactions that produced somewhat exotic byproducts including amino acids - important building block of life. Now, there are loads of candidate definitions of "life", but one necessary property seems to be the existance of a "boundary" (or "membrane" or "skin") which seperates the substance of the lifeform on the inside of the boundary from its environment on the outside, so that the lifeform has a definate location, a definite size and so on.

The envionment, for our purposes, comprises a chaotic mixture of threats and resources. The boundary will protect the lifeform from the threats and yet it will yield to permit exploitation of resources (which we could generalise to "opportunities"). Within the outer boundary further, more delicate, bountaries can form permitting lifeforms to develop internal structure, making them more effective at surviving. We thus introduce the idea of multiple, layered boundaries - but also that the outside of the outermost boundary is only environment - not part of the organism - constituted only of threads and opportunities.

Victoriana 1

VICTORIANA  AND  THE  TELECTROSCOPE

By Tachybaptus, HB and CLD

Chapter 1

‘Victoriana!’ said her father. ‘Put that cardboard tube down now, and come and have your tea.’

Victoriana looked at him crossly. Major Adalbert Parkin-Parkinson was already plump at thirty-five, and his heavy walrus moustache and sidewhiskers made him look older. Her had taken off his uniform jacket, sword and boots, and was lolling comfortably at the table in collarless shirt and braces, his feet in carpet slippers. Victoriana was confined in a heavy flannel dress and starched blouse, itchy woollen stockings, and button boots that took Nanny Prewitt ten minutes to do up with a buttonhook every morning.

Postcard from Japan

Mount Fuji, taken from the Shinkansen ('Bullet Train') going from Hamamatsu to Tokyo

Cameron and Osborne - Beyond Downing Street

"On her hands and knees, she was, Gidders," brayed David Cameron, chuckling maniacally and throwing back his throbbing, boiled ham head. "You jolly well should have seen her - prostrate on the floor, clawing away at my ankles like some kind of ghastly wild animal."

He paused to drain the contents of a colossal, bulbous brandy glass.

"And the tears, Gidders, the floods of tears. I really didn't know where to look. Neither did the other diners. I won't be able to show my face in Apsley's again for a while, I'll tell you that. It was all quite mortifying, now I come to think about it."

Albert Ball – The Angel-Faced Killer

Breakfast
His place was laid,
The messroom clock struck eight
The sun shone through the window
On his chair.

No one commented on his fate,
Save for a headshake here and there;
Only old George who’d seen him die
Spinning against the autumn sky,
Leaned forward and turned down his plate.

And as he did, the sunlight fled,
As though the sky he’d loved so
Mourned her dead.

Hannah M. Hunt

Best of Deep & Tropical House Music Mix 2017

Watch here https://youtu.be/ky_Yful_7pY The cover image is too much for some people.

Extremist Remainers Want to Steal Your Vote

Just imagine for a second that an authoritarian leader of some banana republic decided not to recognise the  result of an election or referendum that went against him or said it couldn't be implement "because it went  against the interests of the country". There would rightly be international outrage and he would be condemned.  Sanctions might even be imposed. Yet this is broadly the logic that is being promoted by particularly fanatical  Remainers. They have convinced themselves that it is perfectly legitimate to quash a democratic decision in  this instance for the greater good. I can't recall this ever happening before in my lifetime and it is  incredibly disturbing.

I wish I was exaggerating with the title of this article, but sadly it appears all too true. If the likes A.C.  Grayling had their way Brexit would be cancelled tomorrow and your vote would be rendered meaningless, as the  immediate reaction from the MP for Tottenham David Lammy to referendum result suggested:

Postcard from Chile, No 3

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MØ - Nights With You

How Did We Get Here, Part Four

During the Petri dish 60s we see the UK undergoing fundamental changes.
The unions held the whip hand, the careful rebuilding and prosperity of the Conservative years was once again  demolished by the Labour party.
Slowly, clinically and with deliberate intent during the 60s and 70s the unions dismantled strategic  industries. Eventually coal, steel, ship building, car and motor bike manufacturing and electronics were all  effectively sabotaged.
Unemployment rose from a 2m average in the 60s to in excess of 5m and rising by the mid seventies. Fortunately  for capitalism and profit we now had the emerging Chinese markets and so Hong Kong and Taiwan now made all the  shit we thought we needed.
By the time Maggie got a grip it was effectively too late and we could not compete with the new world, we put a  Band Aid on the wound and curbed union activity but the horse had already bolted.

Postcard from Malta, No 1

Inquisitor's Palace, Birgu, Malta

An Unholy Book, Part Three

The Holy or Unholy Book

Huge excitement was felt throughout the district in the following days as news of the amazing discovery  reverberated throughout the villages and estates. People flocked to see it or talk to those who had seen it.  Tales about it spread rapidly, and lost nothing in the telling. Ladies and gentlemen were allowed into the  house to see it as it lay in state on a table in one of Don Roberto's waiting rooms, under constant armed  guard. No one but the priest was allowed to touch it, but once a day he would approach and slowly turn the  delicate pages under the awed gaze of the assembled gentry. At other times, to prevent the peasantry from  becoming too clamorous, they were allowed to file slowly past it when its table had been carefully borne  outside and placed on a veranda under additional guard. Many of them genuflected or crossed themselves as they  passed the magic book, muttering prayers.

PMQs with Going Postal, 12th July 2017

Gif EJ

PMQs live stream here on Going Postal TV.

Postcard from America, No 1

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Azealia Banks - Soda

The Listening Project (The Lost Transcriptions) - Brexit

Many conversations have been recorded for (make mine a hefty) Fee Glovers’ “The Listening Project”.

Due to the nature of some of the conversations and to other constraints many of the recordings are deleted  before they get chance to become part of the archive which is kept in the British Library.

Through a “friend”, (no names, no pack drill), Colin Cross has been able to obtain copies of transcripts of  some of these conversations. With the help of Swiss Bob and the indulgence of his fellow posters he intends to  publish them, verbatim, on the Going Postal Blog. It is Colin’s wish that these highly important historical  records are retained for posterity.

Postcard from Devon

Downfall, by numbers

A few weeks back, somebody posted on this site a tweet giving the percentage of migration-background children up to six years old — that is, school age — in major German cities. It was a simple list of names and numbers (and you can see it in full at the bottom). Highlights were Hamburg: 48.94%; Berlin: 43.83%; Cologne: 50.98%; Munich: 58.44%; and Frankfurt: 75.61%. I looked at it in disbelief. Frankfurt at 75.61%? Come off it. I wanted to know more about those percentages.

The tweet, which seemed based on a piece on the Politically Incorrect (PI) website, did give a source: the official agency Statistische Ämter Bund/Länder (Bevölkerung nach Migrationsstatus regional), but with no page references. I tried to check online, but without success. Unlike some stats agencies in Europe, the German number-crunchers go into numbing detail on foreigners in the native population, and their 400-page pdf reports, stuffed with 8-column tables in tiny print, take some sifting. So I made a mental note of the key figures and filed it all mentally under “stuff to do on a wet winter evening.” I remained sceptical.

Postcard from France, No 1

I went to do some shopping this morning,

Guess what I found at this bar?

The escort Presidentielle enjoying a sneaky quick one and a fag or three, all the roads blocked off. I guess our budding Napoleon isn't travelling in France for a week or two.

Tilda -- A Comedy in Six Acts -- 6.6

ACT 6

SCENE 6

The Throne Room in the Royal Palace at Purdonium. Enter KING VUSILLUS,

QUEEN VULPECULA, PRINCE VISCUS and PRINCESS SHEBA.

Adventures in Teaching

2001, I had finished university, after paying all my fees up front, and taking out large student loans, I emerged with a Degree in History. How to put it to good use? After working in a call centre for a bit, I decided to embark on teacher training. I got my PGCE in 2003. There was a lack of jobs in Wales, but not in England where the birth rate was higher. I was naive at the time, but looking back now this was the first clue to demographic changes that have only accelerated since. So, I set off to the East Midlands for my first real job.

I taught there for the next 10 years. I taught mainly History, but also Geography and Religious Education. What I saw and experienced clued me in to what was happening in education, and to the country as a whole. I will point out that I was rated as a “good” teacher. Never “outstanding”, but good. I never had any disciplinary procedures against me, mainly as I kept my mouth shut at the right time. This became a very necessary skill as time went on.

Postcard from Australia, No 1

The Twelve Apostles, early 2017

Gmbd, coincidence, chance and fate

I have told this before
I used to be quite religious but not in the normal sense.
I had my own deal with Jesus.
He will provide.
I was sort of working on my thing then I went to Brighton ( just because
)
I know why but I am not telling ( that used to be my username ) anyway things just happened.
I developed a close relationship with an attractive fellow but not in the way that any of you mean We talked about our good fortune, "how can we be so good looking and lucky at the same time ? "
We would do bingo for a laugh and win every time, the flat was full of stupid trainsets and cuddly toys.
the idea that we could "just" make things happen started there.
I did not fucking care because I knew I was doing the work of Jesus.
The old jaded farts liked to employ guys like me to stir them up a bit in ideas and especially if like me you wore a pink suit.
don't get the wrong idea.

Lydia Ainsworth - The Road

London 2053: The Boobs Job

Some would say there will be no London in 2053. I’m not so sure.

At noon, Maxine had reached Our Luxurious Lounge No 5 at the Royal London (which was in fact The New Royal London, but not a lot of people knew that). She had drawn a number and was waiting to be called to one of the confessionals, or confis as most people now called them. Maxine was still a bit exasperated from her climb through the Crossrail and had given it much thought whether to have the tiniest of seaweed sandwiches at Organpool Street Station. But she had stuck firm to her beliefs, and invested her last five million Sweets in a small bottle of Cool Spring water, “The Drink that Gives Your Skin the Healthy Complexion Our Medical Profession Craves!”. At least, that’s what it said in the ad.

The Cuds, Part Three

The Flying Hospital

“Allan do you want to go for an early lunch?” Margin asked.

“Do you mind?”

“Nope.  Wheels were up 1045.  By the time it’s wheels down, got them on board, wheels up, flight time and down at Bastion it should be thirteen-hundred-ish.  I’m going to give the Role 3 at Bastion a call.”

“Thanks, Si…  Chris.  I’ve got my pager.  Just call-me.”

“I won’t hesitate.”

Margin watched the live feed from RC South and was delighted to see that the RAF Firemen were having a 24 hour volleyball match for Children in Need.  He ground his teeth and phoned the Patient Evacuation Cell at Bastion.

Question Time with Going Postal, 6th July 2017

Graphic EJ

David Dimbleby chairs topical debate from Burton upon Trent.

On the panel: Conservative MP and future PM Jacob Rees-Mogg, Labour's shadow justice secretary Richard the farting commie Burgon, Green Party co-leader Caroline loony Lucas, Mirror columnist Susie Boniface and David Cameron's former director of communications, Craig Oliver.

Caught up in Calais

Welcome to Worcestershire.
Never in my life have I been so thankful to read the road sign welcoming me back to my home county. To fully explain I must go back about 30 hours earlier.

How Did We Get Here, Part Three

I’ve discussed how post WW2 popular culture, especially music has influenced the current state of left wing influence we are seeing today.
Earlier parts traced the counter culture line from the Beat generation of the 40s through 50s beatniks and then the hippy movement of the 60s.
Much of today’s entrenchment of leftist ideology became firmly rooted during the post war years, it was almost the perfect storm, a Petri dish with virtually all the correct ingredients.

My objective is to show this through empirical evidence, what I saw, what I experienced personally so any political theorists and ideologists are out of bounds in this truncated summary.
There are hundreds of political savants and sophists and you can take your pick on who influenced who, Google whoever you like and you may or may not find some threads that make sense for you.
I am just dealing with what I personally was aware of and how the circumstances for an ideological shift took place as I saw it here in the UK.

An Unholy Book, Part Two

The Old City

The next day he made some notes of the stories which his host and his fellow guests had told him. Don  Roberto was pleased by the priest's interest in his family and in local history and offered to show him  some places of interest on his estate. He was well spoken and reasonably well born, with the manners of a  gentleman and connections to high ecclesiastical authority, and his visit allowed a diversion in the  somewhat monotonous social routine of country life; so the Don was pleased to entertain him for a few days  and to gratify as far as he could his interest in old books and antiquities.  The priest on his mule  accompanied Don Roberto and several of his men on horseback. As the Don talked and pointed out places of  interest Mendoza felt his pride and love of this harsh landscape made and kept fertile and beautiful in  places by the unremitting efforts of men.They passed through several villages where the peasants bowed  respectfully to the Don, who greeted them affably, enquiring after their families and their concerns. In  one they dismounted to accept the offer of mugs of locally brewed beer from the headman. The priest well  knew that at best these villagers would be barely literate and would be most unlikely to possess any books  either old or new. They might however have an interesting legend or folktale to tell, so he asked the  headman whether there were any interesting stories connected with this place. His persistence was rewarded  when after telling a couple of ghost stories, the headman became more thoughtful and said, "Of course  Father, there's also the ruins of the old city. We don't like to go there. Some people think that the  ghosts live there. Certainly only ghouls or bandits or slaves would be willing to live there." The priest  glanced enquiringly at Don Roberto, who laughed and said, "Its not far off our route home. We can visit  there on our way back, to satisfy your curiosity. There's really not much there. Just some old walls,  broken down houses and faint outlines from the Old Times. If we leave now you can see it before dusk. What  he says is true though - the peasants won't go near it, although there's a few slaves who hang around it."  Don Roberto and Father Mendoza thanked the headman for his hospitality, and after Mendoza had given the  villagers a blessing, the party rode away.

PMQs with Going Postal, 5th July 2017

Gif EJ

PMQs live stream here on Going Postal TV.