Haro Krishna Haro Rama

If anyone doubts the wonders of Sark, let them read this – it’s not some quaint bit of history (well, it is), but pertains to this very day:

Clameur de Haro: Under Norman custom a person can obtain immediate cessation of any action he considers to be an infringement of his rights. At the scene he must, in front of witnesses, recite the Lord’s prayer in French and cry out “Haro, Haro, Haro! A mon aide mon Prince, on me fait tort!” The Clameur must be registered at the Greffe Office, and a deposit (£7.50) made. All actions must cease until the matter is heard by the Court and if, after investigation, the complaint is disallowed, the deposit is forfeited, and the complainant can be liable to a claim for damages.

Or, if that’s not enough for you, how about:

Pigeons: The Seigneur’s right to be the sole keeper of pigeons (Droit de Colombier) is still enforced and a colombier is maintained at La Seigneurie.

I LOVE Sark!

Pancakes tomorrow…

It turns out Warminster has its very own pancake song:

Dame, is your pan hot?
Lard and corn is dear;
I’ve come a-shovin’,
Tis but once a year.
So up to the flitch
and cut a gurt stitch;
If your hens don’t lay,
I’ll steal your cock away
Afore next Shrove Tuesday.

Though obviously with all that talk of shoving and cocks, I think it’s probably about repairing your central heating system.

More of that nonsense *just in*

Hey, the police have come up with a great new idea. I’m all for it. You see, there’s an enormous amount of crime going on all over the place, and it’s simply a waste of VALUABLE PUBLIC RESOURCES to go round catching the people who actually perpetrated it. So, under a new scheme FUNDED BY AN INSTITUTE, the police are now going to capture (with a large net, I believe) exactly the right number of people, but randomly selected from people at large. Not only will this send their success rates rocketing up to 100%, but it will of course act as a spiffy deterrent. Although criminals might initially be tempted to capitalise upon this opportunity to do bad things and let other people take the rap, SOCIETY AT LARGE will realise that the more crime there is, the more of society will be locked up, and gradually the rates will fall.

(Actually, the POWERS THAT BE could also run a new lottery system based on all this: buy a ticket with someon’es name on it and if they get captured, you win a prize, related to the number of years in prison they have been selected to undertake. But that’s just my humble contribution.)