Happy Halloween

We bought a house!

Even though we've been searching since June, and have seen at least 50 homes and driven past 150 more, you'd be hard-pressed to understand why we like this house.  It's ugly, it needs a lot of work, it's on a crowded street, there is no parking, it feels like its a million miles away from London, and the garden is north-facing, so it won't get much sun in winter.

Yet, we actually quite like it.  The rooms are larger than usual except for the kitchen, and we plan to expand the house slightly to fix that.  The yard is private, the street is a dead-end, we're surrounded by parks and fields, there's a nice supermarket nearby, it is walking distance to the tube station so it is easy to get into the city, and it has easy access to the M25 so it is easy to get out of the city.

In short, it was a good house in a good area, and we think we got a good deal, so we're happy to do the improvements ourselves.

In addition, most of the residents seem to be older, having raised their families here, so we expect there to be a lot of turnover as they retire to smaller houses, and young families move in.  (There is an excellent primary school just three-quarters of a mile away.)

The owners are retiring to Cyprus, so if all goes smoothly we could be in there by the end of November.  However, we plan on doing the improvements first, so move-in will more likely be the end of January.

Here is a link to the property and the "before" photos -- I hope to have "after" photos soon!

Orange Revolution

Martin Luther probably had no idea the storm he was unleashing when he nailed his grievances on the door of a church at Wittenberg. The Protestant Reformation spread like wildfire, and within 50 years half of Europe had split from the Catholic church.  In England, Henry VIII was strongly pro-Catholic until the Pope refused him a divorce, at which point he declared the entire country Protestant.

But the reason he wanted a divorce was because his wife had only born him one daughter, Mary, and when she came to throne not only was she Catholic, but she had her own grievances against those who helped her father divorce her mother. (History would know her as "Bloody Mary.")

For the next 100 years, it was almost farcical as each heir came to the thrown alternated between Catholic and Protestant, and the winds of the country shifted appropriately. Elizabeth I succeeded Mary and restored the Church of England.  Her successor would have been Mary, Queen of Scots, but she was Catholic, so Elizabeth held her in the Tower of London for 19 years, and then executed her.  Her son, James I, was a protestant, and his son, Charles I, was also protestant but made the grave mistake of marrying a Catholic, and was executed.  After a brief flurry as a Republic, Charles II -- protestant -- was invited  to restore the monarchy, but was succeeded by his brother, James II, a Catholic.

But it gets better: James II had two daughters by his first wife, who were protestant, and one son by his second wife, who was Catholic.  When James named his son as heir, it was too much for Parliament, who invited his eldest daughter -- now married to the Dutch King, William of Orange -- to invade.

When William and Mary sailed to England, James II promptly fled to France, making it probably the easiest invasion in history.  And in fact, most historians completely ignore the fact that it was an invasion, claiming James II had abdicated the throne, and today it is referred to as the "Glorious Revolution." However, had it been a succession, Mary would have been queen and William merely the 'Princess Consort' (similar to today, with Elizabeth II as queen and her husband, Prince Phillip, as her consort).  However, William -- who had brought an army with him -- forced Parliament to declare him King, and Parliament made the odd choice to make them separate and joint rulers, "William and Mary."

Both died childless, however, so Mary's sister, Anne, succeeded.  When she also failed to provide an heir, things got weird.  Parliament was not tolerating another Catholic monarch, but the next 50 or so people in line for the throne were all Catholic!  The 'Act of Settlement' in 1701 passed over all 50 people to settle on the Electress Sophia of Hanover, a province in Germany!

The House of Hanover -- or more accurately, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha -- has ruled since, although in 1917 George V changed the name to the House of Windsor, due to anti-German settlement preceding World War I.

That's enough nattering today, but here's a nice trivia question: What is Elizabeth II's surname?  (And no, it's not Windsor.)

Towton

I'm reading an excellent book on the monarchy which, like the book on Jewish history I just finished, tries to compact a lot of history into a very short narrative.  Naturally, some parts get glossed over, and one of those was the battle at Towton.

Coincidentally, though, I was travelling for work last week, and was in a hotel room channel surfing when I came across an entire program on the battle, and was riveted.

The next day I had to travel to the other side of the country (which is a 3 hour drive -- it's a small country) and I happened to look up Towton.  It turns out I'd been less than 20 miles from the battlefield!

Of course, I didn't have time to go last week, but someday I'd like to visit, perhaps when I finally see the armoury at Leeds.

The battle of Towton was the final battle of the War of the Roses.  If you thought that was just a Michael Douglas movie, you're an idiot. It was the English civil war, between the houses of York (the red rose) and Lancaster (the white rose) for nothing less than the kingship.

And it was an epic battle, with 42,000 for the Lancastrians and 36,000 for the Yorkists.  It was the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil and several times the battle was paused to move the dead out of the way. There were estimated to be 28,000 casualties. To put that in perspective, the entire English population at the time was about 2.5 million, and 1% were killed in one day.

By comparison, 400 years later, the Battle of Antietam -- the bloodiest day in the bloodiest war on American soil -- had 23,000 casualties, but started with 55,000 Confederate soldiers and 75,000 Union soldiers, out of a total population of 23 million.

Part of the reason it was so bloody was both sides promised "no quarter" -- it was a fight to the death.  The tide turned when Yorkist reinforcements arrived that afternoon, forcing the Lancastrians to retreat, which turned into a rout.  Bridges broke under the weight of the armed men, plunging many into the freezing water, and stranding others who were easy targets after they had dropped their weapons and thrown off their helmets to flee.  The fields were full of bodies from Towton to Tadcaster, over 2 miles away.

We can summarize the War of the Roses as a dynastic feud, starting in 1399 when Henry Bolingbroke, of Lancaster, deposed his cousin, Richard II, to become Henry IV. In so doing, he ignored the normal lines of succession and when his grandson, Henry VI, became unpopular (and was quite probably insane), Richard of York challenged on the grounds of legitimacy. In the first major battle, the Yorkists were defeated and Richard's head was displayed on a pole wearing a paper crown. However, his son, Edward, continued the fight and after Towton was declared Edward IV. (Shakespeare actually documented this entire period in a set of seven plays,starting with Richard II and ending with Henry VI, part 3.)

However, the real issue is that England always liked the idea of a monarchy, but not often the reality. As such, it often put controls on the king that were unthinkable elsewhere, and when the king did not suit the country, it was often able to justify his removal.  Just look at the text of the Magna Carta, written 500 years before the US Declaration of Independence; it is a stark limitation of kingship, whereas other monarchs were believed to be divinely chosen and above all laws.

The significance of the Wars of the Roses wasn't the line of succession -- in fact, in a few short years Henry Tudor of Lancaster would retake the throne from Richard III, and marry Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the two houses as Henry VII. The significance of the Wars of the Roses, on the other hand, emphasized the insignficance of the king.  While still a major political player, it had taken a secondary role to Parliament, and who occupied the throne was largely immaterial.

Of course, Henry Tudor's son would change all that when, as Henry VIII, he challenged the Pope and declared himself head of the Church of England.

Pub quiz

I stole this from www.freepubquizzes.com.  Answers are below.  This is self-scoring and no cheating is allowed.  I think I got 18 right.

1. Who fronted the band 'Culture Club'?

2. What does a bad workman always blame?

3. Which is more substantial, 'Afternoon Tea' or 'High Tea'?

4. In medicine what do the initials E N T mean?

5. In which soap would you find a garage known as 'The Arches'?

6. What is an 'Alto Cumulus'?

7. In which European country would you find Tuscany?

8. Which is the busiest passenger ferry port in England?

9. What weapons are used in fencing?

10. What is the German word for 'one' (spelling must be correct)?

11. Which golfer Jack was nicknamed 'The Golden Bear'?

12. In which Scottish City would you find Sauchiehall Street?

13. Which TV personality's catchphrase is 'Awright'?

14. Which musician was known as 'Satchmo'?

15. Which royal was once married to Lord Snowden?

16. What do the initials MEP stand for?

17. In children's television, what creature was Otis?

18. In which country would you find the pine scented wine 'Retsina'?

19. What is Mozzarella?

20. In which country are Rhineland, Bavaria and Saxony?

21. Which Joan starred in 'What ever happened to Baby Jane'?

22. Which part of your body does an orthodontist look after?

23. Is Sweden a Kingdom or a Republic?

24. What type of plant is associated with a viticulturist?

25. Which film contains the song 'Hi Ho'?

26. For which country did Gavin Hastings play Rugby Union?

27. Which ice dance partnership performed to Ravel's Bolero?

28. Which song contains the line 'Feed the World'?

29. What are the initials of the painter 'Lowry'?

30. What 'flock together'?

Answers below

1) Boy George

2) His Tools

3) High Tea

4) Ear, Nose and Throat

5) Eastenders

6) Cloud

7) Italy

8) Dover

9) Swords

10) Ein

11) Nicklaus

12) Glasgow

13) Michael Barrymore

14) Louis Armstrong

15) Margaret

16) Member of the European Parliament

17) Aardvark

18) Greece

19) Cheese

20) Germany

21) Crawford

22) Teeth

23) Kingdom

24) Vines

25) Snow White and the 7 dwarfs

26) Scotland

27) Torvill & Dean

28) Do They Know It's Christmas

29) L S

30) Birds of a Feather

P.S. There are actually three types of swords used in fencing: Foil, sabre, and épée.

MGN

MGNBKWRTTNNLLCPSWTHNVWLSPNCTTNRSPCSTHTSTHHBRWBBL

(Translation: Imagine a book written in all caps with no vowels, punctiation, or spaces.  That is the Hebrew bible.)

Fortunately, modern Hebrew isn't nearly as incomprehensible.  Of course, the letters aren't Latin, and so I can't even represent them here, and the vowels aren't letters at all, but lines under the letters.  But there are only 22 letters, the pronunciation and spelling are consistent, and the root of most Hebrew words are 3 letters (not including the vowels), so it should be easy enough to learn.  Remember to read right to left, on the other hand...

Modern English is completely unrecognizable from Old English, and that was just 800 years ago.  Imagine how language changed over a 4,000 year period!  Coupled with such an enigmatic text, and you can understand why it is so open to interpretation.

Politics as usual

National politics have dominated the UK news recently, which is surprising considering the next elections aren't until 2015.

Three weeks ago, the Liberal Democrats held their party conference in Liverpool, in which the leader had to explain to a very disaffected membership how supporting their arch-enemies the Conservatives while getting nothing in return was actually good for them.  Two weeks ago, Labour held its party conference in Manchester, where the heir apparent not only lost the party leadership to his brother, but then decided to drop out of politics altogether.  And this week, the Conservatives are holding their party conference in Birmingham, where the party leader (and Prime Minister) is back-peddling on his promise not to cut social benefits, by proposing that people who earn more than £50,000/year (US $80,000) not receive a 'child benefit' payment.

Introduced in 1945, the child benefit was a weekly payment for the second and subsequent children. In 1977, the eldest also got a payment, and in 1991 the payment was reduced for subsequent children.  Today, it is worth £20.30 a week (US $1700/year) for the eldest and £13.40 a week (US $1100/year) for the rest.

For a taxpayer making £50,000/year with 3 children, that equates to approximately 7% of net income, a not inconsiderable amount.  But here's where it goes off the rails: Like the stamp duty, it is not a phased reduction -- earn £49,000 and the government gives you $2,500, but make £50,000 and you get nothing.  In addition, the UK looks at each parents' income separately, so a couple earning £98,000 get the credit, while a single mom making £50,000 does not.

Even more interesting, the government is suggesting this be implemented in three years -- not because they want to prepare people for the cuts, but because the cost of changing the welfare system is so high, they can't afford to incur that cost for the next two years.

Part of the reason for the cost is that, in a related move, the government is also trying to simplify work benefits.  Rather than having jobseekers allowance (unemployment benefits), housing benefits, and a raft of other benefits, they are introducing a single 'universal credit' which will be tapered off at 65p per pound.  The idea is that right now, it's a bigger risk to take a low paying or temporary job because you then lose your benefits, whereas under the scheme you will be better off taking any job because you'd still keep a portion of your benefits. Of course, the devil is in the details, and some people will lose out significantly -- especially those who live in high rent areas, like London.  But I applaud them for at least trying to simplify the system, and since my work permit specifically states "No recourse to public funds," it doesn't really matter to me what they do.

Random thoughts

In the spirit of Jack Handey...

Some people celebrate the trivial; others trivialize the profound.

I don't know why I'm here, but I'd be a fool to squander the opportunity.

You choose your own reality; choose one you like.

When in doubt, jump.

Being prepared for failure does not diminish your reach, or lessen your accomplishments.

Live your life so you have nothing to regret.

Sometimes you have to open doors, sometimes they are opened for you; the important thing is that you went through them.

When you notice someone not smiling, let that be a reminder to smile, to appreciate life and your place in it.

Be grateful. The world wasn't created for you, but it's a pretty amazing place to be.

The greatest gift you can give someone is your attention.

Flood control

On January 31, 1953, a 'perfect storm' of high spring tide, severe windstorm, and a tidal surge caused water levels to rise 18 feet above normal, overwhelming sea defenses and causing extensive flooding.  Nearly 2,400 people died, 70,000 were evacuated, and 47,300 buildings were damaged; 10,000 were completely destroyed.

In response, the government embarked on an ambitious project to reduce floods to one in 10,000 years.  Although the Delta Works were 'officially' completed in 1997, in reality they were finished in August this year with the opening of the last strengthend and raised water retaining wall.  However, the government is already revisitng the plans in light of global warming and coastal flooding.  The American Society of Civil Engineers listed the project on its 'Seven Wonders of the Modern World.'
 
By comparison, on September 9, 1965, Hurricane Betsy made landfall with winds of 110mph, driving a storm surge 10 feet above normal, breaching several levees. Although only 76 people died, the hurricane caused nearly $1.5 billion in damage, including flooding 164,000 homes.  In response, the government built new levees designed specifically to resist a fast-moving Category 3 hurricane like Betsy.

40 years later, on August 29, 2005, a large, slow-moving, Category 3 hurricane made landfall at the same spot, breeching the new levees and killing 1,836 people, causing $8.1 billion in damage, and flooding over one million homes. Five years later, most of the levees have been reconstructed to 'modern standards' but thousands of residents are still living in temporary accommodation, and there are ongoing funding battles over the remaining levee improvements.  There is no plan in place to prevent a similar disaster in the future, and the threat of global warming has not even been acknowledged.

The first example was in the Netherlands, and the second was in New Orleans.

Sometimes I feel like I'm just picking on the US, comparing it unfavorably to other countries.  However, what I'm really trying to point out that the richest nation on the planet could -- and should -- be doing things much better, and that secular ignorance is no excuse.  If other countries (with more limited resources) can do the right thing, there is no reason the US can't.

House offers

[The map shows the three houses (in blue) we're considering, plus where Jess and I currently live and work (in green).  The bottom-right corner is central London, so you can see how far out we are considering -- and how far Jess has to commute every day.]

Jess and I started looking for a house in June. That was 5 months ago, and in that time we have seen at least 100 houses, three of which we could consider living in.  (Four if you count the one an idiot estate agent showed us that was way out of our budget.)

What's amazing is that we've seen all three in the last few weeks.  That means either a) Our expectations are falling faster than the housing market; or b) prices are coming down and we're seeing nicer properties in our price range.   I like to believe it's the latter.

Jess and I made an offer on the first house, Mansfield, at just 5% below the asking price.  However, the owners had recently dropped the asking price, and weren't even considering going below that.  We weren't particularly bothered -- although the property was large (it had a loft conversion) and it backed onto a lovely green and a gorgeous wood, the layout was very odd, the flooring was horrific, the master bath needed to be re-done, and it was a mile to the shops or the tube.  Besides, the property was vacant, it had already been on the market for four months, and going into autumn meant prices were going to fall even further, so we were in no hurry to raise our offer.

On the second house, on Old Farm Avenue, we didn't make an offer, we just told the agent the asking price was ridiculous.  It was £40k higher than the rest of the area, and although the house was quite nice, it wasn't special, the area wasn't great, and it was right next to a synagogue. But it was an end-of-terrace property--so only one shared wall--with a large backyard, and the ground was sloped so you were looking at sky instead of surrounding houses.  It was also closer to the tube and shops, but the main supermarket was ASDA, which is owned by WalMart -- and most people know how I feel about WalMart.

(My feeling was the owner wasn't really interested in selling it, and was just hoping for a fantastic offer.  In England, it costs virtually nothing to list a property, so owners often 'float' a property, and in five months we've seen several houses taken off the market by the owners without a sale.)

The third one is Bosworth Road, which is owned by a Greek couple who have lived there for 35 years, raised two children and several cats, smoke like chimneys, and will talk your ear off given half a chance.  Unfortunately, they haven't done anything to the place in those 35 years, so it needs a lot of 'modernisation' and, more importantly, a good clean.  However, it's on a dead-end road near a park, the tube, shops, and there is plenty of space to extend the property later.  I made an offer today, although I feel a litle guilty because I offered them less than what it is worth, knowing they were looking for a quick sale so they move to Cyprus.  Cross your fingers.