I recently decided to travel to London, including a
day trip to Paris. London as most people know, has some great history that can
rival some of US history when looked at through the humor- prism. Electing Harry
Baals to office in the US is on par with what I read at the Tower of London
regarding the grooms of stool.
The Grooms of Stool were
the most intimate of a king’s courtiers responsible for assisting the king in
his bodily functions. The physical intimacy required for that role meant that
they were thought to be very close to the king, and much confidence was placed
by him as they would end up being privy to many royal secrets as a consequence.
Over decades the role became more and more important, enough for them to become
powerful enough to be involved in setting national financial policies. King
Henry VIII had four of them and were his intimate confidants with regards to
his personal life, including his thoughts about one of his queens, Anne of
Cleves.
In a pub southeast of
London I recalled having a conversation with an old bloke who dressed like Rod
Stewart and claimed to have been the guitarist for Petula Clarke on the song “Downtown”
after he did an impromptu set that included the Eagles “Hotel California” which
was a shout out to “his new American” friend, we talked about all the “birds”
we have known, and he said these words that still perplex me.
“why is it you never hear
a woman say he made love to me in the ass?”
I went to Paris for a day
using the high-speed train which travels under the English Channel, through a
tunnel- hence they call it a “chunnel” I rather like saying that word, and used
it throughout my trip usually using it when talking to women as it seemed to
increase the sexual tension, although I have no proof of that because I have to
admit I spent the trip sleeping with my hands. Oh well it is fun trying, but
the women in Paris will not speak to you in English so other than using the
word chunnel and using hand gestures like grabbing my junk it was difficult to
connect with them- maybe because they could sense that I had taken a bath
within the last month? I will never really know.
I made sure to take in all
the sights of both Paris and London- there are a lot of statues of serpents, gargoyles,
swine and other weird animals with and without wings, one thing they all seemed
to have in common were balls, yes ball-sacks hanging in full bloom for all to
take notice. I’m not sure what that says about the European culture but it was
an odd quotidian.