Bob W wrote:
-----Original Message-----
From: mike wilson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ah yes, of course. I hadn't considered that.
No such problems with my brother's place. The same families
have lived
on the mountain since they were Neanderthals.
--
Cheers,
Bob
We have the same syndrome on some estates near here. They go
back two or three generations. We are lucky ot live in such
a stable society.
You're right. And when I say Neanderthal, I mean it almost literally. I seem
to recall that the Iceman, Oetzi, still has plenty of relatives living in
the area where he came from - some remote valley in Austria. And they found
someone living near the Cheddar Gorge who is a direct descendant of Cheddar
Man (9k years old).
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9707/31/cheddar.man/
There are websites dedicated to the European races that were dealt
with by forcible migration during the 20th century.
This is one group that I know of <http://www.lemko.org/>
I've been in Ruthenia, when I went to Romania a few years ago. It's like a
fairy tale in many ways. I went to the county of Maramures, and decided to
follow a road which on my map petered out somewhere near the Ukrainian
border. I got a lift to the end of the road, which was a village at the head
of the valley, and followed a track that led out from the church. People
still drew water from wells. The track ended near a stream and a broken down
old house which looked abandoned to me. But when I got there somebody like
Hansel and Gretel's witch appeared. So I photographed her. I've shown the
picture before: http://www.web-options.com/Image2.jpg. She was only about
4'8" / 1.4m tall. When I'd finished photographing her she insisted on some
money and wouldn't let go of me until I gave her some change from my pocket.
It was about 30p (50c US), but when she took it she fell on her knees and
kissed my hand profusely.
I remember the story. Meeting people who are at such an opposite end of
my own European culture is much of what I find interesting about
visiting that part of the world.
m
