quiet weekend

This weekend we hung around York. It was open heritage day weekend which means that some of the historic sites that are usually closed, open and some that charge a fee are free. We went to the Treasurer's House in York.

The Treasurer's House was named at a later date by Frank Green, but was originally built on the grounds of the Minster church for the church treasurer. After Henry VIII took all their money, he abolished the treasurer post, etc.

So Frank Green was this eccentric guy that "restored" the house between 1897 and 1930 (his remodeling isn't true to the original house). There are 13 rooms in the house all decorated and furnished in the style of 4 different centuries. It was interesting if you like to look at guilded stuff.

The most interesting part of the house, in my opinion, is the basement. They were still charging an entrance fee for that so maybe we'll hit it later. York is supposedly one of the most haunted European cities. The Treasurer's basement is the site of the most substantiated York ghost story.

There was a young workmen who was doing something in the corner of the cellar by himself and heard the sound of a far off trumpet. He turned around and was petrified to see Roman soldiers dressed in green marching right past him. The weird thing, besides them being ghosts, was that they were cut off at the knees. When he came out of the basement, the foreman took one look at him and said "you saw them didn't you." I think this happened in the 50s so the guy is still alive and talks about it.

Apparently, part of the house sits on the old Roman road leading from the headquarters built approximately where the Minster is. There were some details of the story that didn't make sense to people, but having put more research into it, turned out to be accurate. People wondered why they were wearing green tunics instead of red which was much more common. Apparently they wore red for war, but green for training and one of their major practice fields was just outside of York along the road running under the Treasurer's house. People wondered why they were chopped off at the knees. Turns out the floor level of the cellar is about 2ft. or so above the level of the old Roman road that they were walking on which is why he couldn't see their feet. Believe it or not. I for one would love to see them march past even though it would probably scare the shit out of me.

This weekend was also the beginning of the Rugby World Cup. We have watched probably 4 games or so in the course of the weekend. It's probably the closest thing we have to hand-to-hand combat anymore, somewhat regulated of course. They wear no pads to speak of, no helmets, just mouth guards and, I would hope, cups. There is regularly blood running down people's faces and muscle injuries. The trainers come in, tape them up to stop the bleeding and send them back in. Like Pat says, it makes American football players look like whiny out-of-shape pansies. I think the field is bigger than a soccer field (maybe the same) and the players play the whole game with very few substitutions. They are fit, muscle-bound oxes. Most of them just look scary.

We caught some of the England vs. US game which was expected to be a blowout. The US team aren't professional Rugby players like a lot of the others and I doubt you even heard they were playing at home. They actually did surprisingly well. They gained respect from the announcers and put up a decent fight. The British are very nervous about their chances now. They still beat the US by a substantial amount, don't get me wrong, but they should have steam-rolled them so they're more worried about the better teams now.

I think my favorite part is when the island teams play. They do this warrior dance that's an invitation to do battle. It is so interesting to see these guys do it in unison on the field with their chanting, scary faces, and gesturing. It shows such a great appreciation of their heritage and couldn't be more appropriate for a game like this. I can't wait to see two island teams play eachother so I can see their competing dances. I'm pulling for the All Blacks from New Zealand. They do a warrior dance and seem to be the most fierce, best coordinated team that I've seen so far. It's such a weird combination of brute force and grace.