It’s been kind of a roller-coaster week, with the highlight being finally catching and dispatching one of the bolder mice which inhabit our humble home.
Monday I came down with the dreaded lurgy (otherwise known as the norovirus) and couldn’t stir too far away from the downstairs loo or eat much of anything. Monday was a washout, although the letter carrier left a note in my mailbox saying s/he had a parcel for me that she had to bring back as no one was home. Well, had she rung the doorbell, she would have quickly found that someone was home. I was livid. More to come on this subject.
On Tuesday I could finally wait no longer and enquired of HR what the terms of redundancy vs. a negotiated settlement would be (she was supposed to have gotten them to me by the end of last week). When I got them, I quickly decided that nearly
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One of the parcels was my 2009 proof set of coins from the Royal Mint. I am still puzzled by the fact that none of the coins now have their denomination in Arabic numerals, only in English words. So, the five-pence piece used to have a “5” on it somewhere. Now, it just says “FIVE PENCE”. If you are not able to read English, you’re sunk.
This has been true of US coins for as long as I can remember, and longer. And (starting when I was old enough to notice this kind of thing at all) I’ve always thought it was incredibly stupid and arrogant.
Of course, the US system is even worse, because the units are all different: “five cents”, but “one dime” and “quarter dollar”.
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I hadn’t made that connection, though of course you’re right. One of the things that comes with living in an officially bilingual country, all our money has either dual English/French text, or it uses bilingual words/symbols. “dollar(s)” and “cent(s)” and “Canada” mean the same in both languages, so all our coins bear such captions as “5 cents” or “dollar” or “2 dollars”, and “Canada”. The titles around the Queen are her name, and Latin titles (no-one’s language) Elizabeth II D G Regina
The titles around the Queen are her name, and Latin titles (no-one’s language) Elizabeth II D G Regina
I liked your explanation of the difference between Liturgical Latin and Legal Latin (i.e. Italian vs. British pronunciation), as in “Re-jee-na Coeli” vs. “Re-jye-na Brittania”.
(Spa-dee-na, Spa-dye-na, Re-jee-na, Re-jye-na, let’s call the whole thing off…)
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my short street is a place where sex-trade workers ply their trade too, and most of them are actually boys-who-present-as-girls. They don’t bother moi – everyone has to make a living – but then the actual activity never takes place nearby. It would surprise me if any of them wear knickers of any kind while they’re engaged in business – all the faster for action, rather than any safety consideration.
I’m so glad that you’re enjoying the papal caganer. I think he should take up residence in your loo, given his activities, when he’s not actually participating in a nativity setup.
‘murricans are incredibly conservative about their money. The survival of the dollar bill, even though it is expensive to produce and has a lifespan shorter than the mouse I killed last week, is incredibly wasteful compared to the life of a dollar coin, which has a fixed cost greater than a paper note but lasts for decades before it gets so worn it has to be melted down.
The pound note was discontinued in England and Wales in the 1980’s, I think. No one seems to miss it publicly and pound coins are relatively thick and heavy, making them easy to separate out in your coin purse. Two pound coins are even heavier.
I had never noticed, while living in the US, that US coins did not have the denomination in numbers–although I believe that the Presidential dollar coin series does have “$1” on the reverse, next to the Statue of Liberty. As few people want to use them, perhaps this is a coin hiding under a bushel basket.
The phrase “Victoria Regina” forms a very unfortunate Spoonerism when “regina” is pronounced “re-JYE-na”.
I am not happy about this going on next to the building in an outside area that might also attract, for example, drug use or even a place for kipping in between tricks. The detritus spread around, including used condoms, is also aesthetically unpleasing as well as unhygienic.
I would prefer that sex work were legalised and moved to quarters where people could ply their trade safely, healthily, and taxedly, just like any other profession. In fact, as St. Matthew was a tax collector, I’m sure that he would be very pleased if the sex workers using the side garden of St. Matthew’s Court were safe, legal, and taxed.
I am blissfully unaware of the underwear habits of sex workers, and I devoutedly wish that to continue. Thus, if any sex workers were offended that I accused them of wearing knickers, my sincerest apologies.
Which reminds me, almost irrelevantly, of one of the Rev. Spooner’s own: “Let us drink to the queer old Dean”. I always quote this one on‘s birthday, at least when I remember.
I suppose it would also have uses in universities and Anglican cathedrals.
Me, I hold in my heart a half-warmed fish.