Nursery Rhyme #9 Goosey, Goosey Gander

Goosey Goosey Gander where shall I wander,
Upstairs, downstairs and in my lady's chamber
There I met an old man who wouldn't say his prayers,
I took him by the left leg and threw him down the stairs.

I always thought this was a very odd thing to write as a nursery rhyme but apparently it dates back to the 16th century when, in any room of a big English house there may be a 'Priest Hole' (a very small secret room) where Catholic Priests would hide to avoid persecution from Protestants who were against the old Catholic religion. If caught both the priest and members of any family sheltering them were executed. So, Goosey Goosey Gander implies that something nasty would happen to anyone failing to say their prayers correctly - meaning the Protestant Prayers, said in English as opposed to Catholic prayers which were said in Latin.

Our stand at the Lowther Game fair is overlooking one of the arenas, so were have been entertained by clever dogs today. A very nice part of the day was meeting up again with ex-blipper Joanthirlaway (After the rain) we first met her in our marquee at a show last year. I emailed her last week to congratulate her on having one of her shots chosen to go on the July page of the Look North 2012 calandar! It was nice to briefly catch up on how her photography is going.

It's raining, it's pouring is here.