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I was today years old when I learned that the Chinese invented chemical bombs, long before WWI. In 1268, while being under siege by the Mongols, they got together a lot of lethal ingredients (including powdered human excrement and poisonous beetles) mixed it all with gunpowder, lit a fuse and fired it from a trebuchet. It exploded above the heads of the besiegers and sprayed disease and choking clouds of shit everywhere. It was very effective.
I am currently reading a marvellous biography of Kublai Khan by John Man. I have just finished a chapter where he writes about the problems with language within the Mongol Empire. Mongolian, Chinese, Arabic, etc were all spoken but not always understood, something that happened to me today.
Generally, I can work out what people are saying (or trying to say) in foreign tongues but, there are times when I come acropper.
We were at Nicoline’s for lunch, along with a couple of French Belgians. The idea was to have a sort of Tower of Babel situation, with Mirinda and Chantal speaking Swedish. However, there was also quite a bit of French and English spoken as well. It should be stressed that Flemish was not attempted.
At one point, Chantal asked how old the girls were. I didn’t understand what she said and said as much. It turns out she was speaking English. Just goes to show what concentration can do. Mind you, it wasn’t quite as bad as Mirinda thinking that Chantal was talking about pistachio pasta rather than paste.
Actually, it was all a lot of fun and gave Mirinda a chance to show off her improved Swedish and me the opportunity to do the opposite, proving I can be quite the unreliable Babel fish.
Lunch was lovely, as was Nicoline’s homemade ice cream. The company, too, was a delight with Matthias providing quite a few laughs and great plate clearing skills.
Afterwards, we popped over to the Button People’s veg stall. And I have to say, it is a vast improvement over last year. Especially the pricing which had us quite baffled when we purchased tomatoes last time.
Nicoline told us that they are moving to Norrtälje and giving up the farm. Such a shame.
Btw, my addition to the wiki page about grass experts still includes Donald Trump.
