The phoenix of mythology, unlike other birds, does not lay eggs, rather it retires to it's nest every 500+ years where it reincarnates itself through the vehicle of fire, indeed uses it's wings to fan the flames, and thus expedite the process.
Likewise, a scotch egg is not an egg per se. Rather it is a hard boiled egg, covered in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and deep fried.
On that tangent, today, fresh from the BBC, we read of developments at Culloden battlefield - the one referred to very recently in the context of Her Majesty's visit and the English Butcher Cumberland (squaring the circle ) - under the headline Anger at "war graves picnickers.
It appears that a Mr. Alasdair MacNeill, "a member of A Circle of Gentlemen, a society which recalls the Jacobite cause", is furious after spotting a family of tourists on the site indulging in an alfresco lunch on top of one of the grave mounds. Seemingly "the father was leaning against the headstone, eating a Scotch egg and smoking a cigarette".
Of the Circle of Gentlemen I unfortunately know little. According to the BBC it takes it's name from a secret society in Edinburgh which was loyal to Charles Edward Stuart - Bonnie Prince Charlie - after his defeat at the aforementioned battle and continued to meet late into the 18th century. They do have their own website which, in addition to a rash of advertising albeit perhaps sympathetic to their cause, states that the only ancient society which could be compared to theirs is the notorious Hellfire club who's motto was Fais ce que tu voudras - do what thou wilt - later adopted by top occultist and mountaineer, Aleister Crowley. On writing this, it strikes me that eating a savoury snack on a old war-tomb is surely doing as "thou wilts".
Their site also states that no part of it shall be used without their permission, but, given the above and their claims, I have no hesitation in cutting and pasting the last paragraph of their history section:
Some also may say that ours is a secret society and as such should be viewed with caution. One only has to scratch the surface “The Circle,” to find that it holds many learned individuals and men of influence. There is no place for bigotry nor extremist views within our ranks, something that we are extremely proud and steadfast over.
Sounds familiar.
cheers
3 comments:
You just had to post a picture of cigarettes...
It does sound familiar. Circle of Gentlemen = CoG, like the tooth of a gear...?
Oh, and thefreedictionary.com had this other definition of "cog": An instance of cheating; a swindle.
Cheers Tommy. Take it you have "stopped". I should myself but I love them so much they would have been my answer to Bilbo's riddle. I don't normally smoke the king size though, but if I do get them, I nip half a centimetre off the end. The wee bits come in handy. Nice pyramid/triangle formation on the pic too.
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