“Old Blogger’s Almanack, A Big Book Look, and a 2012 Delve..”
What – ho!
Well, Blogfollowers…Happy New Year, and all that; now, I don’t want to alarm you, but… according to this book about the ancient Mayans, we’re all doomed in 2012…
Gosh!
Gosh again!
The end of time?
It seems that the ancient Mayans deemed that 2012 would mark the end of recorded time, and didn’t think it be worth prophesying any further…
Gulp!
Our old friend Nostradamus, too, expressed concerns about the forthcoming year… “A great smell will emanate from Lausanne but its origins will be unknown” he writes (although this isn’t mentioned in any of the current travel guides). “People from far away will be put out; fire is seen in the sky, a foreign people is defeated” he goes on, and “The seven branches will become three…the elder ones will be surprised by death. Two will be attracted towards fratricide, the conspirators will die in their sleep.”
Goodness, that is a worry…
Then “At the turning of the great seventh number, it will appear at the time of the games of great public sacrifice” (the Olympics, perhaps?...) and finally “The dethroned woman will return to her reign, her enemies found amongst the conspirators. More than ever she will rule triumphantly, at seventy-three she will assuredly die.”
Well, that’s all a bit of a worry too…Happily, though – I`ll be alright – I’ve purchased some earmuffs and have laid down some nice new thick carpet in my garden shed, so that should see me through the worst eventualities…
Anyway, in keeping with this theme of foretelling the future, my Research Team have been busy: they’ve polished up the Bexley Library Service Crystal Ball, read the runes, and divined their entrails (I never knew librarians had such guts!) and here’s what they’ve come up with for 2012…
It’ll be a leap year, and the Chinese Year of the Dragon…
On the sporting front, we’ll have the Olympics, of course…Plus the European Football Championships (alas, my researchers can’t foretell whether Wayne Rooney will start play or – indeed – how luxuriant his new hair will be)…
Looking ahead, we’ll be celebrating a cornucopia of historical events – our own dear Queen will be marking her Jubilee (I`m particularly excited about the Thames Cavalcade)…It’ll be 100 years since the Titanic went down, and 200 years since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow…
On the literary front, we’ll be celebrating Mr Dickens’s 200th birthday, The Hobbit’s 75th, and Adrian Mole’s 30th. What larks!
So, there’s lots to look forward to in 2012, as long as the Mayans were wrong…Enjoy reading all about it with Bex-L and Bexley Libraries!
...(Oh, breaking news, dear readers – sorry, but the proposed Bexley Librarians’ inaugural psychic fair and soothsaying seminar has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances…Boom boom!)
TTFN, dear readers, and a Happy New Year!
What – ho!
Well, Blogfollowers…Happy New Year, and all that; now, I don’t want to alarm you, but… according to this book about the ancient Mayans, we’re all doomed in 2012…
Here’s the ‘blurb’: “2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy is a literary and metaphysical epic that binds together the cosmological phenomena of our time, ranging from crop circles to quantum theory to the worldwide resurgence of shamanism, supporting the Mayan prophecy that the year 2012 will bring an unprecedented global shift. In tracing the meaning of the prophetic Mayan 'end date' of 2012 to our present society, Daniel Pinchbeck draws together alien abductions, psychedelic visions, the current ecological crisis and other peculiar aspects of 21st century life into a new vision for our time. 2012 heralds the end of one way of existence and the return of another, in which the Mesoamerican God Quetzalcoatl returns, bringing with him an ancient - yet to us, wholly new - way of living. There are many hints, both in quantum theory and elsewhere, that humanity is precariously balanced between greater self-potential and environmental disaster. Pinchbeck's journey, which takes us from the endangered rainforests of the Amazon to Stonehenge in England, tells the story of a man in whose trials we recognise our own hopes and anxieties about modern life”.
Gosh!
Our old pal Sting liked the book, too: "'An intriguing and deeply personal odyssey of transformation… robust, and original”
Gosh again!
The end of time?
It seems that the ancient Mayans deemed that 2012 would mark the end of recorded time, and didn’t think it be worth prophesying any further…
Gulp!
Our old friend Nostradamus, too, expressed concerns about the forthcoming year… “A great smell will emanate from Lausanne but its origins will be unknown” he writes (although this isn’t mentioned in any of the current travel guides). “People from far away will be put out; fire is seen in the sky, a foreign people is defeated” he goes on, and “The seven branches will become three…the elder ones will be surprised by death. Two will be attracted towards fratricide, the conspirators will die in their sleep.”
Goodness, that is a worry…
Then “At the turning of the great seventh number, it will appear at the time of the games of great public sacrifice” (the Olympics, perhaps?...) and finally “The dethroned woman will return to her reign, her enemies found amongst the conspirators. More than ever she will rule triumphantly, at seventy-three she will assuredly die.”
Well, that’s all a bit of a worry too…Happily, though – I`ll be alright – I’ve purchased some earmuffs and have laid down some nice new thick carpet in my garden shed, so that should see me through the worst eventualities…
Anyway, in keeping with this theme of foretelling the future, my Research Team have been busy: they’ve polished up the Bexley Library Service Crystal Ball, read the runes, and divined their entrails (I never knew librarians had such guts!) and here’s what they’ve come up with for 2012…
It’ll be a leap year, and the Chinese Year of the Dragon…
On the sporting front, we’ll have the Olympics, of course…Plus the European Football Championships (alas, my researchers can’t foretell whether Wayne Rooney will start play or – indeed – how luxuriant his new hair will be)…
Looking ahead, we’ll be celebrating a cornucopia of historical events – our own dear Queen will be marking her Jubilee (I`m particularly excited about the Thames Cavalcade)…It’ll be 100 years since the Titanic went down, and 200 years since Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow…
On the literary front, we’ll be celebrating Mr Dickens’s 200th birthday, The Hobbit’s 75th, and Adrian Mole’s 30th. What larks!
So, there’s lots to look forward to in 2012, as long as the Mayans were wrong…Enjoy reading all about it with Bex-L and Bexley Libraries!
...(Oh, breaking news, dear readers – sorry, but the proposed Bexley Librarians’ inaugural psychic fair and soothsaying seminar has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances…Boom boom!)
TTFN, dear readers, and a Happy New Year!
9 comments:
'Boom boom' indeed - the old ones are the best ;-).
If we are spared by the Mayans - I don't especially fancy being overseen by a feathered serpent! - my prediction for 2012 is that there will be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth generally as the economy fails to spring immediately back to life, but that this will be relieved by Mark Cavendish taking gold in the Olympic cycling road race.
Bread and circuses, that's what we want !!
Blogbrarian for London Mayor!!!
Dear Blog-Followers – many thanks!
I like the phrase “overseen by a feathered serpent”; it’s not one that you hear every day, is it?
Re Mark Cavendish…well, I always worry about sporting predictions – they tend to fall flat, rather like Devon Loch…(Otherwise, I’d confidently predict that Charlton Athletic will win the League title by a stonking margin, England’s brave cricketers will carry all before them, and that I’ll be picked for the Team GB beach volleyball elite training squad!)
Also, I hereby renounce any intention to stand for the post of Mayor of London…(But it’s an interesting thought…)
TTFN
Kindles?
Ah, yes…E-Books!...
This year could very well be the big breakthrough year for e-reading…I`ll get my research team on the case for a future blog, perhaps…
Meanwhile, don’t forget – WE DO HAVE E-BOOKS ALREADY! (Just click on the e-books picture on the front page of Bex-L to see what we’ve got…)
You can download them onto almost any e-reader apart from a Kindle, so – in the words of Nostradamus – “if you’ve got one, give it a whirl!”
TTFN everyone, and a Happy New Year!
I like your blog.
Ha ha ha those crazy Mayans! Lets hope they were wrong.
Dear Bony M…Thanks for this, glad that you like our Blogging and star-gazing…
Re 2012 – Never fear, I`m sure that we’ll all be fine!
TTFN
If 2012 marks the end of recorded time as the Mayans recorded it then that's probably a good thing. Here's a quick guide to the Mayan time keeping system:
1 Day = 1 K'in
20 K'in = 1 Winal
18 Winal = 1 Tun
20 Tun = 1 K'atun
20 K'atun = 1 B'ak'tun
And don't forget the five days at the end of each year that had no names and didn't really exist.
Well, thank-you Peter – that’s immensely helpful and practical information.
All that remains is for me to wish you a very enjoyable week-end … or k’in-top’ee, as I think the Mayans would’ve said it!
TTFN
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