Monday 29 August 2016

Short Sighted Roman Lottery


Went to our local church for afternoon tea again yesterday. It's becoming a bit of a habit - all in support of the fabric of the old place, you understand; I'm not suddenly becoming religious. We met many of the friends we've made in the village since becoming more involved in village life through joining the Village Hall Committee and it nearly became a cream tea lock-in, fueled by cake.

Before we left the church I made a note of the lottery numbers someone had kindly put on a board earlier in the day; however, I was unsure whether they were meant to be read across or down, as they were in groups of three. I finally worked out they could only be read downwards, as I'm certain there's no number 00 in the lottery. The numbers are obviously divinely inspired.

This National Trust thing is becoming a habit as well. I wonder if Roman fathers in Britain around  300 AD ever said; "Come on, let's break out the chariot and go to see the National Trust's Neolithic ruins this weekend!"?

Thinking of the ancient Romans, they never had spectacles. I wonder if a lot of the battles they had in ancient times were conducted with a heavy contingent of myopic individuals aimlessly flailing their swords around hoping to strike someone - anyone?


5 comments:

Archdruid Eileen said...

Of course Romans had spectacles. What do you think gladiator contests and chariot races were?

Chairman Bill said...

Touché!

Roger said...

Let's hope that the hymn numbers will be lucky for you sir :-)

Chairman Bill said...

Hymn numbers? What do you mean - they were obviously lottery numbers.

Steve Borthwick said...

Most didn't live long enough to need them.. average life expectancy at birth in those days was a meagre 20-30 years.