The Millstone Times April 2020

Did you know…? Across the Continent By Pam Teel

Did you know the town of Baarle-Nassau is split between Belgium and the Netherlands? The border isn’t a straight line so bits of each country are scattered throughout with some buildings divided between two countries. Dutch restau- rants close earlier so when its closing time, table and chairs are moved to the Bel- gium side. The complicated borderline has numerous small enclaves of Belgium and counter enclaves of the Netherlands. There are 22 enclaves in Belgium and three others on the Dutch Belgium border. There are 6 Dutch enclaves located within the largest Belgian enclaves. For clarification and for the interests of tour- ists, the border is made visible on all streets with iron pins. You can actually be holding hands and be in two different countries. Also visible are house numbers, which are different in both countries and there is usually a small flag next to them showing what country you are in. A University in Sweden allows its students to scream out loud out of their dorm windows and balconies every night at 10:00 pm sharp. It’s called the Flogsta Scream and students at Uppsala’s Flogsta neighborhood keep up the tradition and collectively scream out their windows and rooftops to help blow off steam and stress from their college exams and workload. The tradition has been around since the 1970’s.

Tower of London current Ravenmaster

In Norway people use the word Texas as slang for crazy. It doesn’t refer to a person, but rather a chaotic atmosphere or state of mind, so saying a party was totally crazy in Norwegian would be,” det var helt texas, meaning it was totally Texas! Usually, when the word “texas”—as an adjective, most often without capitalization—appears in Norwegian, the context involves the phrase, “det var helt texas,” which translates to, roughly, “it was totally/absolutely/ completely bonkers.” The expression itself has to do with associations. It’s something that brings to mind chaotic, crazy conditions, like the “wild west,” and at least back when the expression was coined, the “wild west” held very strong Texas associations. The expression dates back several decades, and speaks to how the myths of Texas have been interpreted in one Scandinavian country: “Texas” = “cowboys” = “Wild West” = “an unpredictable, exciting, sometimes scary atmosphere,” and thus can be used to describe a party that had people jumping off the roof into a swimming pool, a soccer game where fans were getting tense, or even a troubling traffic situation. According to legend, six or more ravens are kept at the Tower of London at all times and cared for by a ravensmaster. Their presence is believed to protect the tower and the Monarchy. Legend has it that if the Tower loses its ravens, the crown will fall and Britain with it. The earliest known reference to this goes all the way back to King Charles II. The legend attributes that the royal astronomer to the King kept complaining about the ravens always getting in his way so the king ordered all the ravens to be killed. The astronomer, being a superstitious person, told the king if he killed them all a curse would befall him and the Monarchy. Rather than kill the ravens and risk losing it all, the king had the observatory moved and kept the ravens and made sure at all times there were some in the London Tower to avoid bad luck. Today there are 6 or more ravens living in the Tower. They are cared for by a Ravenmaster. Today Chris Skaife proudly holds this job. He is the 6th ravensmaster. It’s not an easy job to land and like Chris, you’ll have to be a Yeoman Warder, a position which requires a minimum of 22 years in the military, an exemplary record, and the rank of warrant officer or above. But the birds themselves cast the deciding vote. When the previous Ravenmaster, Derrick Coyle, saw that Chris was fascinated with the ravens, he decid- ed to test their chemistry by putting Chris in the cages with them. Chris was deemed suitable by those most discerning judges. He studied under Derrick for five years before taking over the job. Chris now looks after the seven ravens at the Tower (six by Royal Decree and one spare): Harris (Male), Merlina (Female), Munin (Female), Rocky (Male), Gripp (Male), Jubilee (Male), and the sisters Erin and Hugine. Most are quite young – Munin is the oldest, at 21 years old. The ravens come from breeders in Somerset, but two are wild – Merlina, from South Wales, and Munin, from North Uist in Scotland. Chris tries to keep them all as wild as pos- sible, giving them free rein around the grounds. New open-air cages have recently been erected, at Chris’s insistence. The most difficult part of the job is the hours. Chris’s daily routine starts at first light, when he lets the ravens out, cleans their cages, and prepares their food – a ration of roughly 500 grams of meat a day, mainly chicken and mouse, in addition to whatever they nick off the tourists. They are out wild during the day, though he keeps an eye on them, and puts them to bed at nightfall. Chris does all the normal duties of a Yeoman Warder, with the extra respon- sibility of looking after the ravens. A team of three helps him out, covering his off days when he’s not at the Tower. The best part of the job, Chris insists, is the ravens themselves. He enjoys caring for them and bonding with them, and he is constantly fascinated by the scope of their inner lives. Ravens are extremely intelligent animals, with a complicated understanding of past, present, and future. In fact, university stu- dents visit the Tower to study raven behavior and cognitive ability, which is thought to be similar to that of chimps or dolphins. Chris has recently written a book about his life as a ravenmaster!

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