How
Many Shades of Green …
As
every year there are most philosophical questions discussed at the annual
EWoT-Meeting. Seeing the gathering of excellent thinkers (and drinkers) it only
seems a natural conclusion to be drawn. So, after having been spending several
evenings to discuss the deeper meanin of smoked sheep and those specially in
combination with Australian farmers and high grass, this year's topic seemed to
present itself:
Ireland
being the "Emerald Island", how many shades of green are there?
Under
the combined efforts of the participants we managed though to solve this puzzle
of centuries – the question that has been tormenting poets and artists alike!
To
accomplish more thorough examinations we then sacrificed ourselves to a gravely
consuming trip to Dublin, our main aim there being the study of Shades of Green
in the literature of mostly contemporary authors and craftsmen. A stunning
amount of enthusiasm and self-sacrifice made it possible to turn the day into a
success. And so we could add another shade of green to our list: The colour of a
10 punts note (lovingly called "tenner" by the locals), changing hands
over the counter of a book shop. The ultimate shade of green that day though was
added in form of rather short and slightly … suggestive … velvety dresses by
the dancing lovelies at the Arlington Hotel, where we gathered our strength for
the long way back.
To
confirm our observations about the greenery of the surrounding country side we
repeated our trip to Mullingar again – this time though widening our
field-research to the there present off-license store. We were too much
fascinated with the changing of the shades of those lovely glass containers
holding the delights of our long philosophical discussions, namely spirits
(*winks* yeah, I KNOW that spirit and spirits are not the same) to allow our
research party to run out of study material. This evening, with reinforced
fervour and determination, we set again to the task of unveiling the secret of
the changing shades as the beverages were slowly (or not so slowly) melting away
and the fire was crackling peacefully. In educated and well mannered fashion we
exchanged our opinions about the last few days' occurrences, benevolent teasing
and witty, educated humour in a frivolous way getting the better of us
eventually.
With
particular commitment Falkon supported our quest during the following day. In an
unrivalled act of self-immolation he dived into the research and came up with
the most surprising, most fascinating and most stunning revelations.
First
donning a delicately lime-green bed sheet as a rather fashionable and becomingly
dress, he even went further in his explorations, outlining his slightly changing
facial colour of embarrassment-green with a touch of red lipstick and black
earrings, as well as a set of matching necklace and bracelet, although said
bracelet was to be worn by his leash-holder Ulrica. After putting his lime-green
dress in direct contrast to the meadow-green right outside the house he
obviously felt inspired, or rather urged, to deepen his greenness on account
of the survey cause. This was accomplished by imbibing more of a local
distillate of a soft amber glow. After parting with his lovely lime-coloured
dress (and thus with his female side) he then, giving his total self to our
research cause, took on a few more
shades of green, not possible to describe any closer, before finally collapsing
on the couch. In the name of research and science. I at this point want to
thank Falkon for his selfless commitment to our cause!
A
last throwing in of forces was attempted towards the end of the gathering by
means of extended travels again. Discovering the shades of green around Athlone
Castle as well as the Shannon river we had to bend though to the inevitable –
the running out of the so much fascinating and desired green walled, sparkling
and changing glass containers. And no further scientific research in this field
could be done
After
this discouraging and devastating tragedy nothing remained to be done but the
clearing out of research head quarters and leaving again – the last shade of
green for me the last view down on the emerald island where we had spent a most
enjoyable and educational week.
Although
the official number of shades of green for Ireland is 40, I do not hesitate to
declare that just by our stay there we may have easily added another 20. Thus I
declare our this year's meeting successfully closed. I am very happy to announce
that of course from now on we will accept registration for next years meeting
– the topic will be related to all parties interested in due time!