18th June, of course, is just like any other day, and this year it happens to fall on a Thursday, but, as you go about your business today, do not forget that this is an important anniversary. As anyone with the slightest awareness of history knows, on this day in 1892 the first Macadamia nuts (which are native to New Guinea and Australasia) were planted in Hawaii.
For anyone with more of an interest in military and political history, this is also the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty (or Pacification) of Berwick (1639), by which Charles I was forced to acknowledge that he had been defeated - expensively and embarrassingly - by the Scots, and this brought to an end the First Bishops' War. He followed this up with the equally successful Second Bishops' War, and - since he was now on a bit of a roll - then proceeded to declare war on his own parliament, which caused a great deal of unpleasantness and killed a lot of people - including himself.
Oh well.
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| Bishops' Wars |
Also my wedding anniversary, seventh wedding anniversary in this case.
ReplyDeleteA fact that will no doubt be marked by future generations with festivities the likes of which we cannot even imagine.
My congratulations and compliments to yourself and your dear wife.
DeleteNicely done. It is important to acknowledge and reflect upon these important historical milestones. The cultivation of Macadamia nuts is particularly important, since selling small quantities of these in mini-bars largely underpins the financial viability of the modern hotel industry.
ReplyDeleteROFLed and LOLed so much the poor old dog thought I was choking on my morning coffee.
And I believe there have been a number of people of no great historical note born on this date in very many days.
ReplyDeleteThank you, gentlemen, for your contributions, which have helped to dignify the occasion.
ReplyDeleteI also received an email from Prof De Vries, who wished to make the point that the people signing the Pacification of Berwick did not actually know they were ending the First Bishop's War until after the Second One started. In the same way, he also points out, the people present at Mont St Jean and the surrounding area in 1815 did not realise they were about to fight the Battle of Waterloo, since they did not yet grasp the significance of the date, and the battle itself would not be named until the opening of the railway station, many years later. Prof De Vries also went on to explore our fascination with anniversaries - the length of a year, he suggests, is a physical property of our own planet, and the names and measurements we apply to this are a human invention, and fairly approximate. He goes on to explore whether we should be commemorating the 200th anniversary of the day two days after the Battle of Ligny - why is the anniversary significant, he asks. There is more stuff along the same lines, but I shall gladly spare you that, and thank the Prof for his interest and for the liberality with which he shares his views.
I checked a list of who was born on this date, since it seems the sort of dumb thing that I should do, and the list was disappointing. Lots of baseball players, for some reason; more interestingly, Sammy Cahn, Paul McCartney and Red Adair (who had nothing, of course, to do with that Ginger Rogers); and then there is my Uncle Harold.
An interesting aspect of hotel minibar Macadamia nuts is that they all seem to have a sell-by date sometime in 2003, as do the Bourbon creams and the little pots of long-life milk for the coffee. Maybe I use the wrong hotels. Maybe these are the anniversary dates we should focus on.
I am glad we decided to share our antipodean macadamia nuts.
ReplyDeleteIt is a delight that others should be able to appreciate.
They are pretty good, I have to say. Who are they named after? Somebody named Macadam, I guess - I'll check...
DeleteYep - apparently they were named after John MacAdam in 1857 - he was a noted Scottish-Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician. Not bad - no-one ever named a nut after me. Life can be cruel, in many ways.