New Eggs

And then there's

and

and

and this one, just to show what Google has saved me from.

On the other hand

I'm still in with a chance on this:

Update: no, it went for double my bid. Damn. I should have gone up. How can Gina Hancock resist things like this?

For one glorious moment

I was the highest bidder. For five minutes.

It's still not outrageously dear. I know I'll regret letting it slip away.

Well, that (going to Options, changing Line breaks tick from 'Use
tab' to 'Press Enter for line breaks', Done) didn't work.

Try again.

Line breaks

Apologies. Apparently the switch to the new Blogger/Google + format meant that posts no longer took a simple Enter key as a line break - you had to add it in HTML. Which plays merry Ned with William Carlos Williams. I have now reset it. I'm still having trouble getting to Edit old posts quickly; currently I have to go all round Robin Hood's barn, to throw in another good old English idiom too little used in these degenerate times. Though somebody in the cricket commentary the other day did use the term 'curate's egg' correctly. Which is a plus.

Bishop: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones". Curate: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!"

This is just to say

I have been anointed with
the oil
that was in
the ampulla

and which
you were probably
saving
for the sanctifying of a king who would regain the realm lost by his ancestors

Forgive me
my lice were itchy
so soothing
and so cold

Personal Grooming, Importance Of

From Lancaster and York, the War of the Roses, by Alison Weir:

On 13th October 1399 Henry was crowned in Westminster Abbey with oil said to have been given by the Virgin Mary to St Thomas a Becket for the sanctifying of a king who would regain the realm lost by his ancestors. Unfortunately, as the sacred moment of the anointing arrived, the Archbishop discovered that the King's head was alive with lice.

So, as Rose says, what happened then? Did the Archbishop withhold the benison? Did he swash the oil around in the hope that St Thomas could work a miracle and do a NeutraLice? Did he scream "Ooh, yuck" and jump, spilling everything so that the courtiers all slipped in the oil and did pratfalls? Regrettably, we are not told. Just that

At the offertory, Henry dropped his gold coin, which rolled away and could not be found.

So, more slapstick, then.