History is all it takes

So, Roger Waters performing "The Wall" in Oslo on May 1st. I was sat in fornt of the computer half an hour before the tickets were released, and I got through quite fast. I found GREAT seats, filled in all the credit card information, and pressed next. All great. Then I had to verify my card, and then; TECHNICAL BLEEDIN ERROR! Probably due to huge pressure on the servers. I nearly cried, honest to God! So, although I was one of the first, and had as I saw it, the best seats we could get, I was thrown out of the queue and had to re-enter and this took me over two hours. Luckily my dear friend Vegar phoned me and told me they had put up another show, the day after the original, due to the insane amount of interested people. So we both started to search for available tickets there. In the end I was able to score three tickets, and in seats that aren't too bad. In this picture they are in section 6, and in the third row, which means it isn't that far back!



It is a seated concert, which I think is great really. I can't believe I got them. I had so much trouble with it, and spent nearly 3 hours fighting! YAY! That's something really fecking fantabulous to look forward to!

Well, you all know that I am deadly passionate about history. Actually I'd say I am almost a tad obsessed by how things used to be. Sometimes I find myself wanting to have lived in earlier times, and not to mention; to be able to travel in time. Ultimate dream! Perhaps there are topics that stand out; WW II, Pompeii/Herculaneum and the Vesuvius' eruption in AD 79, The Roman Empire, agricultural history and The Middle ages. In all of history it's the lives of ordinary people that fascinates me the most. What did it look like, how did it smell, the flavours of the time, how much more flowers and vegetation were there, what songs did they sing, what did it feel like to live in a world with no electric lights outside or inside, how did people treat each other in a village, what did the food taste like etc. It's not always the great battles that tell us the most; it's all in the details, I think.

I was just thinking about the Black Death today. Can you imagine such horrors!? Take the French city of Avignon for example, in one year 50% of the population died. In total around 2/3 of the population perished. Within the city walls 8000 houses stood empty. Now, this would have been a huge number even today, when there are a lot more people, so imagine the impact it must have had back then!! It killed around 25 million people in Europe; 25-50 % of the total population. And as usual when tragedy strikes; humans need a scapegoat, and as always the Jews were blamed. And, did you hear about the flagellants? Well, they questioned the authorities of the Church, and to show their disbelief they walked around from city to city, wearing long robes with red crosses on them. They chanted Christian litanies and beat themselves, and others, with whips made of leather and spikes. Blood floated. They were also significant participants in blaming the Jews for the plague. To them, and other Christians, the Jews had to be the most terrible thing. After all, they didn't even believe that the true Messiah was THE Messiah. So, then of course, they had to be blamed, because of their unholy conducts and beliefs. In less than a year ALL the Jews of over 100 European cities were burned alive on huge bonfires. So, Hitler was certainly not the first one to find a "final solution" on this, to them, problem... *chills* It is terrible. And what was the aftermath of it all? People began to question the economic and social order that had prevailed in Europe for hundreds of years; the Black Death was one of the most important reasons for the downfall of feudalism in Europe, and that says a lot. The prestige of the Catholic church was weakened. Even priests/the gentry couldn't protect people from it all, and those who survived became disheartened. Some others turned to devil worship. This in turn led to the beginning of the Renaissance and the modern age. So, yes, the very social, economic, demographic and political structure of Europe was forever altered. One tiny flea, overthrew feudalism and changed the course of history in Europe. 

Well, that was today's little "history lesson". Hehehe...

Monsoon :-)