On March 1, 1244, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, eldest son of Llywelyn Fawr, died in an escape attempt from the Tower of London. He was being held prisoner by the English king, Henry III, and although he was kept in comfortable confinement, it was still confinement, and, always a bold, impulsive man, he tried to climb down from the upper story of the White Tower on knotted sheets. An English chronicler laconically noted that he was a big man and had grown heavy in captivity and the sheets broke, hurling him to a gruesome death; I will spare you all the gory details in case some of you are reading this while having breakfast. Ironically, he died on the feast day of the patron saint of Wales, St Dayvdd. So…..Happy St Davydd’s Day, everyone!
Good luck to those in the path of yet another snowstorm on Monday, and yes, I am among them.
And the same for my California friends and readers, who are facing flooding and mudslide threats. It might be time to consider making a sacrifice to a very irate Mother Nature. I would not mind losing some of those stubborn souls who continue to claim there is no global climate change in the face of all evidence to the contrary.
Published on March 01, 2014 06:26