The Lion and the Unicorn

There have been quite a few messages in my mailbox recently commenting on the general insanity of the english. We're not mad. Here's a good summary of what we are:

"Here are a couple of generalizations about England that would be accepted by almost all observers. One is that the English are not gifted artistically. They are not as musical as the Germans or Italians, painting and sculpture have never flourished in England as they have in France. Another is that, as Europeans go, the English are not intellectual. They have a horror of abstract thought, they feel no need for any philosophy or systematic 'world-view'. Nor is this because they are 'practical', as they are so fond of claiming for themselves. One has only to look at their methods of town planning and water supply, their obstinate clinging to everything that is out of date and a nuisance, a spelling system that defies analysis, and a system of weights and measures that is intelligible only to the compilers of arithmetic books, to see how little they care about mere efficiency. But they have a certain power of acting without taking thought. Their world-famed hypocrisy - their double-faced attitude towards the Empire, for instance - is bound up with this."

The rest of the Lion and the Unicorn is well worth reading... i think.

It has been a miserable couple of days. I've still not got my head fully around all that happened in XML-land last week. As usual, i've been feeling guilty about sitting around thinking instead of just doing something. How many times can i write out all the options on a white-board and then rub them out again? I'll let you know - i fear i'm on my way to finding out.