Today, The Grandma has been readingabout the quest for the HolyGrail, one ofthe most incredible and mystery legends. The Holy Grail is a vessel that serves as an important motifin Arthurianliterature.
Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish or stone with
miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in
infinite abundance,often in the custody of the Fisher King.The term holy grail is often used todenote an elusive object or goal that is sought after for its great significance.
A grail, wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, an unfinished romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Here, Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the Grail as a stone.
In the late 12th century, Robert de Boron wrote in Joseph d'Arimathiethat the Grail was Jesus's vessel from the LastSupper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the Crucifixion.Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the HolyChalice, the Last Supper cup, a theme continued in works such as the Vulgate Cycle, the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Thomas Malory's LeMorte d'Arthur.
The word graal, as it is earliest spelled, comes from Old Frenchgraal or greal,cognate with Old Provençal grazal and Old Catalan gresal,meaning a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal, or other various types of vessels in different Occitan dialects. The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latin gradalis or gradale via an earlier form, cratalis, a derivative of crater or cratus, which was, in turn, borrowed from Greek krate, κρατήρ, a large wine-mixing vessel. Alternative suggestions include a derivative of cratis, a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin gradus meaning by degree, by stages, applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal".
In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old French san-graal or san-gréal, meaning Holy Grail, by parsing it as sang real, meaning royal blood. This etymology was used by some later British writers such as Thomas Malory, and became prominent in the conspiracy theory developed in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, in which sang real refers to the Jesus bloodline.
The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders.
In this incomplete poem, dated sometime between 1180 and 1191, the
object has not yet acquired the implications of holiness it would have
in later works. While dining in the magical abode of the Fisher King, Perceval witnesses a wondrous procession in which youths carry magnificent
objects from one chamber to another, passing before him at each course
of the meal. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two
boys carrying candelabras. Finally, a beautiful young girl emerges
bearing an elaborately decorated graal, or grail.
Chrétien refers to this object not as TheGrail but as a grail, un graal, showing the word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun. For Chrétien a
grail was a wide, somewhat deep dish or bowl, interesting because it
contained not a pike, salmon, or lamprey, as the audience may have
expected for such a container, but a single Mass wafer which provided sustenance for the Fisher King's crippled father.
Perceval,
who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through
all of this and wakes up the next morning alone. He later learns that if
he had asked the appropriate questions about what he saw, he would have
healed his maimed host, much to his honour. The story of the Wounded King's mystical fasting is not unique; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa. This may imply that Chrétien intended the Mass wafer to be the significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop.
In the modern era, a number of places have become associated with the Holy Grail. One of the most prominent is Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury was associated with King Arthur and his resting place of Avalon by the 12th century. In the 13th century, a legend arose that Joseph of Arimathea was the founder of Glastonbury Abbey. Early accounts of Joseph at Glastonbury focus on his role as the evangelist of Britain rather than as the custodian of the Holy Grail, but from the 15th century, the Grail became a more prominent part of the legends surrounding Glastonbury. Interest in Glastonbury resurged in the late 19th century along, inspired by renewed interest in the Arthurian legend and contemporary spiritual movements centered on ancient sacred sites.
Montségur, a medieval castle in Occitania, has become identified as the Grail castle in modern Grail lore. In 1906, French writer Joséphin Péladan identified Montségur as Munsalväsche or Montsalvat, the Grail castle in Wolfram's Parzival.
Montségur was a fortress of the Cathars, a heretical Christian community in Occitania from the 11th-14th centuries. This identification has inspired a wider legend asserting that the Cathars possessed the Holy Grail. Similarly, the 14th-century Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, Scotland, became attached to the Grail
legend in the 20th century. This idea began in the 1950s, but took new
prominence in the 1980s when a succession of conspiracy books identified
it as a secret hiding place of the Grail.
Today, The Grandma has been reading about a community that fascinates her, the Cathars, who lived in Occitania until they were massacred by the Catholic Church and the French forces.
On a day like today in 1244, over 200 Cathars who refused to recant, burnt to death after the Fall of Montsegur.
The Siege of Montsegur was a nine-month siege of the Cathar-held Château de Montsegur by French royal forces starting in May 1243.
After the castle surrendered, about 210 perfecti and unrepentant credentes were burned in a bonfire on 16 March 1244.
Although the Albigensian Crusade had been concluded with the Treaty of Paris-Meaux in 1229, local resistance continued. The Cathar Church was still able to operate and oppose the Inquisition that pervaded the Languedoc.
In 1233, the Cathar Bishop Guilhabert de Castres asked Raymond de Pereille for permission to make Montsegurthe seat and head (domicilium et caput) of the Cathar Church.
As a haven for Cathars, Montsegur gained symbolic and strategic importance in the resistance fight against the Catholic Church and the French forces in subsequent years.
In 1241, Raymond VII made a token attempt to capture Montsegur, primarily to impress the King and the Catholic Church of his allegiance. At that time Montsegur housed about 500 people.
In the context of Occitan resistance and possibly linked to Raymond's efforts to free himself from the chains of the Paris Treaty, two representatives of the Inquisition, William Arnald and Stephen de Saint-Thibéry, as well as their companions and retinue were murdered by about fifty men from Montsegur and dispossessed faidits at Avignonet on 28 May 1242. This event led to the decision to send a royal military expedition to eliminate the stronghold.
In May 1243, the seneschal Hugues des Arcis led the military command of about 10,000 royal troops against the castle that was held by about 100 fighters and was home to perfecti, who as pacifists did not participate in combat, and civilian refugees.
Many of these refugees were Catharcredentes who lived in huts and caves outside the castle on the mountain. The initial strategy was to besiege the castle in expectation that water and supplies would run out, a strategy that had worked well for the crusaders before.
However, the defenders were well supplied and able to keep their support lines open, being supported by many of the local population; some reinforcements even arrived. Thus eventually it was decided to attack the place directly, a difficult task due to its well protected location high on a massive limestone rock.
After many failures, Basque mercenaries were able to secure a location on the eastern side of the summit across a depression which allowed the construction of a catapult. This forced refugees that were living outside the walls of the castle to move inside, making living conditions difficult. Apparently by treachery, a passage was found to get access to the barbican which was conquered in March 1244.
The catapult was now moved closer and the living situation inside deteriorated under the day-and-night bombardment. When an attempt by the garrison failed to dislodge the invaders from the barbican, the defenders gave the signal that they had decided to negotiate for surrender.
Surrender conditions were quickly decided on: All the people in the castle were allowed to leave except those who would not renounce their Cathar faith, primarily the perfecti. A two-week truce was declared. The last two weeks were spent praying and fasting. A number of defenders decided to join the about 190 perfecti and received their consolamentum bringing the total number of Cathar believers destined to burn to between 210 and 215.
On 16 March, led by Bishop Bertrand Marty, the group left the castle and went down to the place where the wood for the pyre had been erected. No stakes were needed: they mounted the pyre and perished voluntarily in the flames.
The remainder of the defenders, including those who had participated in the murder of the inquisitors, were allowed to leave, among them Raymond de Pereille who was later, like others, subjected to the Inquisition.
It has been claimed that three or four perfecti survived; they left the castle by a secret route to recover a treasure of the Cathars that had been buried in a nearby forest in the weeks prior to the surrender. The treasure not only contained material valuables but also documents and possibly relics. Nothing about its whereabouts is known.
Catharism continued in the Languedoc for many decades, but it had lost its organization, and, under the pressure of the Inquisition, adherents if not captured moved to other places, such as Catalonia and Italy, where conditions were less oppressive.
Montsegur Castle was destroyed; today’s ruins are a remnant of the French border fortress of a later time.
At the base of the mountain, in the Prat dels Cremats, Occitan for Field of the Burnt, a modern stone commemorates the death of the victims; it is inscribed Als catars, als martirs del pur amor crestian. 16 de març 1244, in Occitan for To the Cathars, to the martyrs of pure christian love. 16 March 1244.
Today, The Grandma has continued her Logistic course in Sant Boi. They have been talking about modes of transports and handling equipment. Transport is essential in Logistics. If you want to send something to somewhere you need a good transport and a quick and cheap route.
Since the beginning of the humanity, people have created routes to exchange products, to create commerce, to enjoy tourism or to escape from wars, prosecutions or natural disasters. These last routes are also known as the routes of exile.
These historical routes are the same routes that nowadays are used for commercial reasons and where we used GPS today, ancient cultures used maps -The Game of the Goose- or travelled following the stars.
China is working in a new silk route that, probably, will change the future of transport, commerce and communications.
The Silk Road was a network of trade routes which connected the East and West, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century. The Silk Road primarily refers to the land routes connecting East Asia and Southeast Asia with South Asia, Persia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Southern Europe.
The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk carried out along its length, beginning in the Han dynasty in China (207 BCE–220 CE). The Han dynasty expanded the Central Asian section of the trade routes around 114 BCE through the missions and explorations of the Chinese imperial envoy Zhang Qian, as well as several military conquests. The Chinese took great interest in the security of their trade products, and extended the Great Wall of China to ensure the protection of the trade route.
The Silk Road trade played a significant role in the development of the civilizations of China, Korea, Japan, the Indian subcontinent, Iran, Europe, the Horn of Africa and Arabia, opening long-distance political and economic relations between the civilizations.
Though silk was the major trade item exported from China, many other goods and ideas were exchanged, including religions (especially Buddhism), syncretic philosophies, sciences, and technologies like paper and gunpowder. So in addition to economic trade, the Silk Road was a route for cultural trade among the civilizations along its network. Diseases, most notably plague, also spread along the Silk Road.
In June 2014, UNESCO designated the Chang'an-Tianshan corridor of the Silk Road as a World Heritage Site. The Indian portion is on the tentative site list.
The mode of transportation is an important consideration when planning the shipment process. Besides the costs, the urgency of the shipment, the value of the goods being shipped as well as the size and weight of the goods need to be evaluated when determining the form of transportation. In this article, we want to help you determine, which mode is best to transport your cargo and freight!
OCEAN
Seaborne trade accounts for about 90% of the global trade, and as per UNCTAD, 1687 million tons (2015 estimate) were carried in around 177.6 million containers (2015 estimate) covering 998 billion ton-miles (2016 estimate).
Because of size or volume, there are several types of cargoes that cannot be or is economically unviable to move by other modes of transport than the sea.
Ocean freight
Ocean freight is a less expensive method of shipping goods, but the drawback is a longer transit time. Another benefit for ocean freight is while size and weight may be an issue for air; it is not for ocean freight.
Ocean freight is used quite extensively for the movement of bulk commodities such as agri-products (wheat, maize, soya, etc.), coal, iron ore or for wet bulk products such as crude oil and petroleum. Also, larger, odd-shaped items including engines and propellers may move via this mode as well, depending on how sensitive the delivery time is.
Ocean freight is also a preferred mode of transport for the movement of high volume and heavy cargo such as minerals, metals, ores, steel coils, etc. which would be impossible to move by air freight.
Additionally, businesses are placing more of an emphasis on the environmental impact on shipping. An air freight service emits a higher amount of polluting gases with less space capacity compared to sea freight services which are considered a much greener transportation mode with a higher carrying capacity.
Key benefits of ocean freight include:
-Suitable for wide range of products with long lead times
-Large volumes. A single, ultra-large container ship can carry +/-20,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU)
-Most environmental friendly among all modes of transport
-Economical. Liner shipping is the most efficient mode of transport for goods
Over the next 15 years, as the world GDP grows, there will be a demand for higher value goods. As per Boeing's 2016-2017 world air cargo forecast, there will be a proportionate growth in the value per ton of total traded goods around the world.
To meet the demand for growth, world air cargo traffic is forecasted to grow an average 4.2 percent per year.
Air freight
Air freight
is a critical mode of transport. It serves markets and supply chains
that demand speed.
One of greatest examples goes back to 1997 when Apple
began innovating on the nitty-gritty details of supply-chain
management. Almost immediately upon Steve Jobs’ return. At the time,
most computer manufacturers transported products by sea, a far cheaper
option than air freight. Steve Jobs took advantage of the benefit of air freight and used an innovative strategy. He paid $50 million to buy up all the available holiday air freight space to ensure that the company’s new, translucent blue iMacs would be widely available during Christmas season giving them a massive competitive advantage over their rivals. -It was an Oh s- moment, recalls former HP supply chain chief Mike Fawkes.
Other industries such as the automotive and retail industry also utilize air freight to achieve just-in-time (JIT) inventory replenishment. JIT option allows stores, production lines to place order fulfillment based on demand as, and when required. It provides greater flexibility and reduces inventory and storage costs.
Also, perishable goods such as foods, flowers, and some pharmaceuticals also take advantage of shorter transit time. Another positive for air freight is that there's less handling of cargo overall, so the likelihood of damage or theft is less likely when utilizing air.
But air freight also has its own disadvantages such as being one of the most expensive due to the requirement of speed and the fuel that is used.
It also has its size and weight limitations. Regulatory bodies limit what can and cannot be transported by air, and as such, oddly shaped or very large items may be more suitable for other modes of transport.
Another mode of transport which is also considered a green option is rail. Trains burn less fuel per ton-mile than road vehicles and a train, which can have as many than 100 wagons, only needs one driver. There are, however, some additional costs which are incurred in a rail journey: at each end of the rail transit, a road delivery will be needed, and there will be a lift cost to transfer the container between the train and the road vehicle.
On average, longer journeys tend to be less expensive by rail, and shorter journeys are less costly by road. Where the point of cost neutrality comes is governed by many factors which are route and commodity specific, but in general, the point of cost neutrality can be expected to lie in the range of 130 to 150 miles.
Rail freight
In 2015, the first freight train carrying ISO freight containers from China arrived in the Port of Rotterdam in 18 days as against the normal 44 odd days by the sea.
This movement of containerized cargo by rail from China to logistics hubs in Europe such as in the Netherlands, UK is seen as a significant step in the development of trade between the two continents. It has encouraged multinationals such as Hewlett-Packard and Ricoh to use the route from Europe to China for their cargoes.
The Manager of European Transport at Ricoh notes that if one can set up an effective planning, rail is a relatively quick mode of transport taking only 20 days to China. In addition, the move by rail also has some advantages such as all containers being transported to the location in one go, while being environmentally friendly as a train releases far less CO2 than a plane.
Key benefits of rail freight include:
-Reliable transit times and schedules
-Railroads are the most efficient form of land transportation. One train can haul the equivalent of over 400 trucks
-Fast and cost-effective deliveries over long distances. Typically over 500 miles
-Traditionally, rail has a strong safety record
-Helps in alleviating road congestion, thus lowering emissions
Road freight is one of the most common of all modes of transportation. It is widely used in continents such as Europe, Africa, and North America. The single customs document process provides a seamless movement of goods even across various states and countries.
Road freight provides several advantages over other modes of transportation such as:
-Cost-effectiveness
-Quick and scheduled delivery
-Local, over border, long or short haul deliveries even in rural areas
-Flexible service
-Saving in Packing Cost compared to other modes
-Track and trace of cargo and truck
-Complete door-to-door service and it is one of the more economical means of transport.
However, truck transport is limited somewhat as to what it can carry by the size of the vehicles used and by size and weight restrictions. Another limitation is that it is affected by weather, road conditions and traffic.
Another option to keep in mind is multimodal solutions -the utilization of more than one mode of transport.
Multimodal is a combination of different modes of transportation such as rail, road, and sea which allows the customer to cost-effectively manage shipments from start-to-end, ensuring optimum care and efficiency every step of the way.
Multimodal
One such example is the cross region rail network combined with truck.
Providers including DHL, Geodis, UPS and DB Schenker are offering such a solution along China’s Silk Road network.
According to UPS, the service can offer savings of up to 65% versus air freight costs while providing transit times up to 40% faster than standard ocean movements.
Sea-Air is another example of multimodal transport. The service is considered less expensive than air and quicker than ocean service.
An alternate solution to pure air or ocean, Sea-Air provides the global transportation industry time and cost savings along with eco-friendliness.
Sometimes using this mode of transport helps to avoid demurrage fees.
Key benefits of multimodal transport include:
-Cargo can be moved to any part of the world using multiple modes of transport
-Reduces the distance for the goods between the manufacturer and consumer
-Customers can deal with one entity to handle all modes of transport under one document
Conclusion. What mode of transportation should you use?
There are numerous options for transporting goods, and there may not be one solution for your transportation needs. Each mode of transport has its advantages and disadvantages. Prioritizing your needs, understanding your shipment and comparing costs is important when planning your shipment and choosing the best mode of transport.
When you have chosen your best transport, it is time to talk about which type of goods you want to send and which containertype you are going to use. An intermodal container is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different modes of transport -from ship to rail to truck- without unloading and reloading their cargo. Intermodal containers are primarily used to store and transport materials and products efficiently and securely in the global containerized intermodal freight transport system, but smaller numbers are in regional use as well.
These containers are known under a number of names, such as simply container, cargo or freight container, ISO container, shipping, sea or ocean container, sea van or (Conex) box, sea can or c can. Intermodal containers exist in many types and a number of standardized sizes, but ninety percent of the global container fleet are so-called dry freight or general purpose containers, durable closed steel boxes, mostly of either 6.1 or 12.2 m standard length. The common heights are 2.6 m and 2.9 m -the latter are known as High Cube or Hi-Cube containers.
Just like cardboard boxes and pallets, these containers are a means to bundle cargo and goods into larger, unitized loads, that can be easily handled, moved, and stacked, and that will pack tightly in a ship or yard.
Intermodal containers share a number of key construction features to withstand the stresses of intermodal shipping, to facilitate their handling and to allow stacking, as well as being identifiable through their individual, unique ISO 6346 reporting mark. In 2012, there were about 20.5 million intermodal containers in the world of varying types to suit different cargoes. Containers have largely supplanted the traditional break bulk cargo -in 2010 containers accounted for 60% of the world's seaborne trade. The predominant alternative methods of transport carry bulk cargo -whether gaseous, liquid or solid- e.g. by bulk carrier or tank ship, tank car or truck. For air freight, the lighter weight IATA-defined unit load device is used.
Finally, The Grandma has explained how to make comparisons and how to avaluate which is the best transport or container using comparative and superlative adjectives.
Today, The Grandma has studied a new lesson of her IntermediateLanguagePracticemanual (Chapter 50). The new chapter is about the quest for the HolyGrail, one of the most incredible and mystery legends. Meanwhile The Grandma was reading about this amazing story, she has received some sad news about The Queen of the Soul. ArethaFranklin has left us and with her goodbye we lost one of the most incredible singers of the history, an important figure for the AmericanBlack community and a great fighter for CivilRights, Freedom and Respect. We will miss you, Aretha, although your legacy will be always with us.
The Holy Grail is a vessel that serves as an important motif in Arthurianliterature. Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often in the custody of the Fisher King. The term holy grail is often used to denote an elusive object or goal that is sought after for its great significance.
A grail, wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, an unfinished romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Here, Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the Grail as a stone.
The Quest for the Holy Grail
In the late 12th century, Robert de Boron wrote in Joseph d'Arimathie that the Grail was Jesus's vessel from the LastSupper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the Crucifixion.Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the HolyChalice, the Last Supper cup, a theme continued in works such as the VulgateCycle, the Post-VulgateCycle, and Thomas Malory's LeMorte d'Arthur.
The word graal, as it is earliest spelled, comes from Old French graal or greal, cognate with Old Provençalgrazal and Old Catalangresal,meaning a cup or bowl of earth, wood, or metal, or other various types of vessels in different Occitandialects. The most commonly accepted etymology derives it from Latingradalis or gradale via an earlier form, cratalis, a derivative of crater or cratus, which was, in turn, borrowed from Greekkrate, κρατήρ, a large wine-mixing vessel. Alternative suggestions include a derivative of cratis, a name for a type of woven basket that came to refer to a dish, or a derivative of Latin gradus meaning by degree, by stages, applied to a dish brought to the table in different stages or services during a meal".
In the 15th century, English writer John Hardyng invented a fanciful new etymology for Old Frenchsan-graal or san-gréal, meaning Holy Grail, by parsing it as sang real, meaning royal blood. This etymology was used by some later British writers such as Thomas Malory, and became prominent in the conspiracy theory developed in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, in which sang real refers to the Jesus bloodline.
The Grail is first featured in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes, who claims he was working from a source book given to him by his patron, Count Philip of Flanders. In this incomplete poem, dated sometime between 1180 and 1191, the object has not yet acquired the implications of holiness it would have in later works.
Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail
While dining in the magical abode of the Fisher King, Perceval witnesses a wondrous procession in which youths carry magnificent objects from one chamber to another, passing before him at each course of the meal. First comes a young man carrying a bleeding lance, then two boys carrying candelabras. Finally, a beautiful young girl emerges bearing an elaborately decorated graal, or grail.
Chrétien refers to this object not as TheGrail but as a grail, un graal, showing the word was used, in its earliest literary context, as a common noun. For Chrétien a grail was a wide, somewhat deep dish or bowl, interesting because it contained not a pike, salmon, or lamprey, as the audience may have expected for such a container, but a single Mass wafer which provided sustenance for the Fisher King's crippled father.
Perceval, who had been warned against talking too much, remains silent through all of this and wakes up the next morning alone. He later learns that if he had asked the appropriate questions about what he saw, he would have healed his maimed host, much to his honour. The story of the Wounded King's mystical fasting is not unique; several saints were said to have lived without food besides communion, for instance Saint Catherine of Genoa. This may imply that Chrétien intended the Mass wafer to be the significant part of the ritual, and the Grail to be a mere prop.
In the modern era, a number of places have become associated with the Holy Grail. One of the most prominent is Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury was associated with King Arthur and his resting place of Avalon by the 12th century.
Tapestry of the Quest for the Holy Grail
In the 13th century, a legend arose that Joseph of Arimathea was the founder of Glastonbury Abbey. Early accounts of Joseph at Glastonbury focus on his role as the evangelist of Britain rather than as the custodian of the Holy Grail, but from the 15th century, the Grail became a more prominent part of the legends surrounding Glastonbury. Interest in Glastonbury resurged in the late 19th century along, inspired by renewed interest in the Arthurian legend and contemporary spiritual movements centered on ancient sacred sites.
Montségur, a medieval castle in Occitania, has become identified as the Grail castle in modern Grail lore. In 1906, French writer Joséphin Péladan identified Montségur as Munsalväsche or Montsalvat, the Grail castle in Wolfram's Parzival.
Montségur was a fortress of the Cathars, a heretical Christian community in Occitania from the 11th-14th centuries. This identification has inspired a wider legend asserting that the Cathars possessed the Holy Grail. Similarly, the 14th-century Rosslyn Chapel in Midlothian, Scotland, became attached to the Grail legend in the 20th century. This idea began in the 1950s, but took new prominence in the 1980s when a succession of conspiracy books identified it as a secret hiding place of the Grail.
Today, The Jones have had an intensive day in Hogwarts. The family is advancing in their English classes learning more grammar every day, writing better compositions and questioning more and more things, the real way to understand things.
First, the family has done some exercises of Social English to practise expressions, dialogues and structures.
Second, The Jones have revised some grammar with the Adverbs of Manner.
Next, The Grandma has explained a short story about the word Hazard and its Arabian origin connected with the flower of the orange tree. This story has introduced a long one: A theory about the origins of The Game of the Goose which involved two cultures -the Cathars and the Gypsies- and a common final: the exile.
King Jaume I, Merche A.H. Jones and Paqui Jones
Moreover, the exile has been the linchpin to connect the hidden meaning of The Goose Game with the hidden meaning of Salvador Espriu's Poetry.
In fact, the three stories have something more in common: the spring. Flowered trees in spring; routes of exile in spring -never in winter because of the extreme weather conditions-; and them metaphoric meaning of 'spring' in Espriu's poetry as the end of dark ages and arrival of better ones.
Finally, the family has learnt some clues to work with the article The and has been talking about an incredible mystery: the missing of Susana Jones in Hogwarts. Nobody knows where she is.
Tomorrow, the family is going to find SusanaJones and learn how to create good compositions following the essential rules: cohesion, coherence and adequation. Additionally, they are going to talk about equality comparisions.
Carcassonne, Carcassona in Occitan, is a fortified town in the French department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. Inhabited since the Neolithic period, Carcassonne is located in the Aude plain between historic trade routes, linking theAtlantic to the Mediterranean sea and the Massif Central to the Pyrénées.
Its strategic importance was quickly recognized by the Romans, who occupied its hilltop until the demise of the Western Roman Empire. In the fifth century, it was taken over by the Visigoths, who founded the city. Its strategic location led successive rulers to expand its fortifications until the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659.
The city is famous for the Cité de Carcassonne, a medieval fortress restored by the theorist and architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc in 1853 and added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1997.
Carcassonne became strategically identified when Romans fortified the hilltop around 100 BC and eventually made the colonia of Julia Carsaco, later Carcasum. The main part of the lower courses of the northern ramparts dates from Gallo-Roman times. In 462 the Romans officially ceded Septimania to the Visigothic king Theodoric II who had held Carcassonne since 453. He built more fortifications at Carcassonne, which was a frontier post on the northern marches; traces of them still stand.
Old memories of Elena Jones in Carcassonne
Saracens from Barcelona took Carcassonne in 725, but King Pépin le Bref drove them away in 759-60; though he took most of the south of France, he was unable to penetrate the impregnable fortress of Carcassonne.
A medieval fiefdom, the county of Carcassonne, controlled the city and its environs. It was often united with the County of Razès. The origins of Carcassonne as a county probably lie in local representatives of the Visigoths, but the first count known by name is Bello of the time of Charlemagne. Bello founded a dynasty, the Bellonids, which would rule many honores in Septimania and Catalonia for three centuries.
Carcassonne became famous for its role in the Albigensian Crusades, when the city was a stronghold of Occitan Cathars. In August 1209 the crusading army of the Papal Legate, Abbot Arnaud Amalric, forced its citizens to surrender. Viscount Raymond-Roger de Trencavel was imprisoned whilst negotiating his city's surrender and died in mysterious circumstances three months later in his own dungeon.
The Grandma in the Cemetery of Sinera
The people of Carcassonne were allowed to leave -in effect, expelled from their city with nothing more than the shirt on their backs. Simon De Montfort was appointed the new viscount.
In 1240, Trencavel's son tried to reconquer his old domain, but in vain. The city submitted to the rule of the kingdom of France in 1247. Carcassonne became a border fortress between France and the Catalan-Aragonese Crown under the Treaty of Corbeil (1258). King Louis IX founded the new part of the town across the river. He and his successor Philip III built the outer ramparts.
The city is also famous for being the set of Robin Hood, The Prince of the Thieves, a film performanced by Kevin Costner, Mary-Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Alan Rickman and Sean Connery.
The Bonds are spending their last hours with The Grandma, who is preparing a beautiful surprise for them. This is the end of the beginning and since tomorrow, the family will continue their adventures but without her.
The family has a new objective, the Cambridge B1 Exam, and they're working very hard for it. This is the reason because of the famiy has decided to stay in Ireland during some days and prepare this exam with a beautiful environment, which remembers some old friends like the Cathars.
Today, they have been reading the last three chapters of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and they've been talking about the universal message of this novel: burn your demons, accept your mistakes and pay for your sins. Everybody has a Frankenstein in her/his life and it's good to confront it with courage and decision.
Next, M.José Bond has talked about Los Amantes de Teruel (The Lovers of Teruel), a beautiful medieval story about two Aragonese lovers.
Finally, The Bonds have been practising with a B1 Cambridge example and they've been talking about their memories during these months.
Tomorrow, they're going to practice some speaking and they're going to talk about Ireland and its interesting places and people like James Joyce, Oscar Wilde or Molly Malone.
Today, The Poppins have studied the Present Simple in present, past and
future.
Before revising it, they had read the first chapter of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and written some passwords.
Next Friday
is going to be a special day for this family because The Grandma is a great fan of Saint
George. This is the reason because of she has explained them a part of a
long story about the origins of Saint
George and they’ve created some links between it and some cultures like Cathars and Gypsies.
Finally, The Poppins, who are now in Moscow, have thought about preparing a
plan to rescue M.Carmen, who is
still kidnapped in Siberia. The most
part of the members of this family are worried about this situation but there’s
a person who has the real clue: Eli
Poppins. Why is really M.Carmen
in Siberia? Is there a hidden
agenda? Which is her role in this story? There are too many questions and no
answers. We must wait for news...
Aqueres montanhes que tant nautes son, m’empèishen de véder mèns amors a o son.
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