AC asked me about the origin of my London address on the Isle of Dogs. The Mudchute, a fertile high hill, grew from the dump of 17th-19th century Thames River dredgers. It now is a municipal farm, with nature walks and horse trails, fields of cows, pigs, goats, barnyard fowl, and llama. It is a nearby stop on the Docklands Light Railway. Manor is ironic.
The big problem with the Isle of Dogs is slow ADSL Internet under the shadows of the largest financial center in Europe, Canary Wharf. We are across the Mudchute from the skyscrapers and connection is very slow.
The trend toward debasing currencies is clear as we move toward the beginning of Passover on Mar. 29. When Cromwell readmitted the Jews to England, they translated the family Passover readings into English. These are narrations built around the special symbolic foods of Seder Table commemorating the Exodus from Egypt, interspersed with songs and riddles and a treasure hunt to keep the children amused. Among the songs is Had Gadyah, about a tiny baby goat (kid) bought by Father for two farthings. A farthing was a silver coin worth quarter of a penny or 1/480th of a pound sterling back in the 17th century.
The tiny kid is eaten by a cat which is chased by a dog which is hit by a stick. The stick is burned by a fire which is doused by water which is eaten by a bull. The bull is slaughtered by a butcher who is killed by the Angel of Death. And the Angel of Death is in turn slain by God who establishes the immortality of the soul (which Jews invented first). And all for a tiny animal worth half a penny. The chorus is Had Gadya, Had Gadya.
A Hebrew coin for two zuzim no post-biblical immortal soul has ever seen. When Israeli independence was declared (1948), they had a coin worth 1/100 of a shekel, the agora. (The name of my company, Agorot Limited, means limited pennies.) But there are no agorot circulating in Israel nowadays, to say nothing of zuzim. They eliminated the penny worth 1/00th of a dollar in Australia. Can the US and Canada be far behind?
In case you are wondering, Oz prices are rounded up or down, I suspect mostly up.
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