pumpkinstrokemarrow

So I think that anger, like the other violent passions, just wells up in one. Sometimes one is not quite sure why one is angry. Sometimes one is not allowed to be angry with the cause of the anger; perhaps because the cause is god, a loved one or a loved object. But, in any event one is angry and the anger needs to be vented in some way. So quite often, one vents the anger on whatever happens to be at hand, cooking up whatever excuse comes to hand. Toast overdone, toast underdone, toast not done at all. Whatever.

But the Greeks, anticipating Freud in this as in so much, thought of the wheeze of the scapegoat. So you pick out a handsome and valuable goat and the population of the village all join in in beating it up and beating it out of the village, carrying all the pent up anger with it. They talked in terms of carrying all the pent up sin with it but we don't have to believe that. Many years later, witches were used for similar purposes. And even now, we still go in for what amount to witch hunts. We are angry about something going wrong and we want someone to vent our anger on. OK, so witch hunts are a bit more complicated than this, but I think I have part of the truth.

There is a catch though. I think scapegoats and witch hunts only work well for more or less public problems. A public problem with a public and shared solution. Private problems, private angers, need a more private solution. Which is apt to mean that someone or something nearer home is going to get bashed.

All this brought on by a very sedate morning. Started with Couperin, lately organist to the king & etc. Presumably the king in question being the Sun King. Works for the harpsicord; Book 1; Order 3; La Tenebreuse & etc. La Tenebreuse especially striking. Such command, control and depth of tone - all from an anglophone too, one Kenneth Gilbert, despite it coming on a French imprint, harmonia mundi. Not sure what a tenebreuse is in this context though. The word seems to be an adjective meaning dark and mysterious - which the music certainly was - but my sources don't say what it might mean used as a noun.

Followed up by a good read over breakfast of the May 26 edition of the 'Cornish Gazette'. Proper provincial newspaper with lots of fascinating small ads. So, for example, I could become a pasty crimper, experience preferred but not necessary. Several posts vacant in Indian Queens. On the other hand, according to Her Majesty's 1978 classification of occupations (CODOT aforementioned), this occupation does not exist. The nearest among the half dozen or so baking occupations is a 'Table hand (bakery)', a sort of semi-skilled bakery assistant. Not sure that being in a non-existent occupation would be a very good career move. Maybe I ought to write to the Her Majesty's secretary about this lacuna in her classification.

Or I could buy a Copper Maran in good condition for £12. One of these, it seems, being a sort of hen. BH thought it was something to do with tin mining. This among several pages of fish, fowl, horses and other country life. There were also several ads. advertising boxes of household stuff which should be of interest to a car-booter. I had not realised this secondary wholesale market in goods for car boot sales existed. Rather in the way of fancy goods wholesalers who supply the souvenir shop trade.

Overall, one got the impression that Cornwall must be reasonably poor, despite the price of property, with a lot of ads. for things costing less than £5. Don't think that would be worth the bother in Surrey. Maybe e-bay does not reach all the way to Lands End.