damnit!!

I just realised now--at six PM, too late to do anything about it--that today is Waterloo Day, a major holiday that no one cares about or remembers. Except for me! but I'm too tired to do anything about it. Waterloo, for all you Americans, was the sad, sad day that the proud Napoleon Bonaparte was taken down by the combined Anglo-Prussian forces as he attempted to spread his message of revolution and democracy. Granted, he did this by crowning himself emperor, but much of the legal doctrine he wrote when he first came to power (the "Code Napoleon") is the basis for the governments of Europe today.

Napoleon: Genius

He also was responsible for the Lousiana purchase, because he wanted to get that land off his hands so he could concentrate on conquering Europe. Basically without him, we wouldn't have the middle third of America. All the more reason to love the French.

The Allied forces were led at Waterloo by the Duke of Wellington, who is so English, so devoted to his monarch and country that it hurts. That and he died in bed with all his limbs. Ffft. Supposedly a humble soldier-made-good, after the war Wellington spent a lot of his time in Paris picking up Napoleon trophies, including, I might add, an 11 foot tall statue of Napoleon as the Roman god of war wearing nothing but a fig leaf. (!!!) As well as paintings, china, furniture and a couple of mistresses. This collection of Napoleana is at Apsley House, Hyde Park, where Wellington lived, and which is open to the public for FREE on Waterloo Day...which I completely forgot about until about fifteen minutes ago. Damnit!!! I have very little patience with Wellington, since he spent most of his time being popular and polishing his trophies, but I would really like to see this collection of Napoleon-era stuff. I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and pay the £5 entry fee.

Wellington: Wanker

I've spent the day lying around and resting my legs. Seems that commuting with a backpack full of scripts, props and books is not good for the knees and they have been very sore lately. The solution, of course, is more exercise, but today--my only day off this week--I am spending wrapped up around a good book waiting for it to be late enough so I can call home...

...and wish Dad a HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Which I remembered because it is vastly more important than some 18th century battle.