With the holidays behind us now, and decorations all put away, our homes may seem a bit spartan, but a nice contrast to all the hoopla of the past month. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Christmas season, the planning, the anticipation, the entertaining. But it's nice to be quiet again, to get back to reading, practicing music, making new plans. It been kind of crazy; it's been Bedlam!
Bethlehem Royal Hospital (Bedlam), a palatial asylum for lunatics in Finsbury Square in London, was open to the public until 1770 as a sort of human zoo. Visitors could pay a few pence to enter and gawk at the inmates for as long as they liked. Thousands of sightseers came each year, wandering through the wards and brutally teasing the patients in order to heighten the fun. At one point, Bedlam's governors felt that the sightseers were behaving so badly, they decreed "the doors be locked on public holidays against all visitors."
Ha! Ha! They were locking the doors during the holidays!
The doors at The Owlery were wide open in December, and a good time was had by all. Now, we move on to enjoying some early Spring cleaning, re-arranging, redecorating, and re-evaluating. Bye, bye Bedlam; hello Sanity!
Interesting! Where do you find all these tid bits?
ReplyDeleteGlad you find them interesting! That's why I scour the net, books, magazines, etc. There's always something more to learn.
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