by
Frank Hatton

A couple of days ago, I was reading an article, and among the many gems of wisdom contained therein was a snippet stating that man had been in existence on the planet earth for an estimated 1.5 million years. Not really important is it? Most of us knew that already, didn't we? It was when I started to relate the number of noughts (Zero's) involved that the message came through.------1,500,000 years. In January of this year I reached my 71st birthday, I would guess that if I am lucky, and don't drink too much beer, I just might last another ten, or maybe fifteen years more. ........Then I measured just how long I had lived thus far against the total time span of mans existence on earth. I tell you, it made me feel a little bit like the blink of an eye, or even less. Even the folk who can claim some sort of impact on history, will not last more than a few thousand years in the memory of mankind. In fact, you would have to go back only 8000 years to the before the start of agriculture, to find man hunting animals, and gathering fruits and roots for food. Our current lifestyle probably began only about 100 years back, with the inventions of electricity, the telephone, the motor car, then later, radio, television, and all of the other comforts of modern society. My main observation being that, as individuals, we aren't around all that long. Our chances of doing something which would endear us to the hearts of future generations, is quite remote, unless you could invent something to compare with the wheel, or the making of fire. So, while each of us feels that we are unique,....as indeed you are,...... nobody in the world is exactly like you, we also sometimes feel a sense of importance, some more so than others, dependent upon our station in life. Just remember, when your head starts to get too big for your hat,...... if you measure your time on earth against the timespan before you were born, and likewise against the years to come when you will no longer exist, it will help to give you a sense of proportion. As stated,.... as an individual, you are unique, but, try to keep in mind that there are five billion other people on this planet, each of them just as unique as you are, and just as important as you. Quite a few of the ones you meet, will be worthy of your consideration. Many of them will be there to help you,.... to deliver your pizza, bag your groceries, clean up the motel room you have made a lavish mess of..... If you are not in the habit of being extremely nice to these people, then the world will be a far nicer place if you try to do so. At this stage, I must confess that some of these thoughts were inspired by an American gentleman by the name of Bill Bryson. He writes a regular article for one of our Sunday newspapers, and he has this rather intriguing technique of making people think about life in general. He invited his readers to 'recycle' his material, and to my mind it is well worth doing. I for one, need somebody like Bill Bryson, to periodically give me a clearer view of the priorities in this world we live in.

That said, let us now move on to a lighter note. You have doubtless heard the nursery rhyme of Jack and Jill..... a very sad yarn about them both going up the hill, and both falling down with tragic results. To me, it has always been a childish piece of mumbo-jumbo, and not worthy of any further thought. Reading my newspaper today, I now find that the story is based on two very real people. The hill exists in the Somerset village of Kilmersdon, and the well in question, from which Jack drew his water, was sealed up only 75 years ago, mainly to prevent accidents to children going up the steep hill leading to it. The real Jack and Jill were believed to have been unmarried, and lived in the village about 500 years ago, during the reign of Henry VII, (1485-1509). They would climb the hill at Batson Quarry each day to draw water from the well. The hill,-- then known as Bad Stone- was dangerous because loose boulders regularly broke away, and indeed, Jack was killed by a massive rock which 'broke his crown'. Jill died a few days later as she gave birth to their son. The child was looked after by the villagers, who called him 'Jill's son'. The name survives today as the surname 'Gilson', it is more common in Kilmersdon than anywhere else in the country. The rhyme was probably a warning to young villagers of the consequences of an affair out of wedlock. It is said that the for decades to follow, the Christian name 'Jill' was shunned by local mothers because of its association with a woman of 'loose morals'.

Many times in the past, I have pointed out the fact that you and I know very little about each other,.... in terms of our lifestyles, our customs, our national problems, etc., etc.. With modern communications, this is gradually improving. However, I was forcibly reminded of this fact this evening, when I was watching a TV programme on the life of Paul Robeson. Who??? ask the younger ones.....I can only say that if you don't know of him, you missed probably the finest bass singing voice the world has ever heard. I am long enough in the tooth to remember this great singer....I collected every record he ever made, albeit that they were on the scratchy old 78's, they still sounded fantastic. The bit that I didn't know, was the persecution the poor man suffered throughout the latter part of his life. In the UK, we got so little reportage of the situation, it wasn't until I saw the programme this evening that I learned the sad details of that part of his life.

As is my normal wont, we will now change the subject completely. In this dear old country of ours, we have some rather strange traditions and customs, and among the foremost of these is the release of secret government documents after a period of fifty years. We have just had another batch released which appertain to the closing period of the war years, and, a very surprising piece of information has now emerged. It would seem that a number of plans to assassinate Adolf Hitler were presented to our wartime leaders for approval. They would seem to have been pretty serious proposals, ranging from straightforward use of bombs to blow up his personal railway train, through a sniper shooting him, plus a few more strange ones like infecting his clothing with anthrax, and poisoning his drinks. The amusing bit of all this though, is the fact that Winston Churchill considered the matter in some detail, but decided that as Hitler was making such a glorious mess up of trying to command his army,... much to the chagrin of his generals and troops,... that it would be to our advantage to leave him alive to continue his efforts to lose the war. Hence he vetoed the idea.

Finally, may I again thank those of you who have written to say how much you enjoy 'From over the pond'. It is much appreciated.

'Til next time,

Frank Hatton

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You can find more articles in the archive under From Over the Pond