Just trolled through the scroll for the first time in a long time, and have come to the conclusion that the Pprune edition has to be an abridged version of the original. I can distinctly remember reading the scroll not long after its “discovery” in Knoteatinghamm not long after I first arrived here and there was a passage in it about how onions were the one vegetable that was definitely not allowed to be grown in Knoteatinghamm, as onions “brought tears to the Cherif’s eyes”. (Anyone who’s lived in Knoteatinghamm long enough to remember Yasser Whateverusay and his minions’ big panic when they heard that the Ozmates had imported an “onion” into Knoteatinghamm will be able to decode that passage quite easily.) I don’t know why the onion comment was dropped from the version that made it onto Pprune. (I know that the author just about did a back flip on learning that someone had sent it on to Danny.) Maybe there’s someone out there with an original copy who could share the onion bit with us?
If a new scroll is discovered and translated, maybe they should call it “The more things change, the more they stay the same”, for there’s an awful lot in the original that as current today as it was when it was written, and I suspect that the Cameleers over in Qatar and maybe Abu Dhabi would find it even more familiar than the Knoteatinghamm Cameleers would.
I had dinner with a mate last night and after a couple of wines, (a very dangerous time to be suggesting anything) we both thought it would be really good if someone came up with a glossary of terms and names. I know the fabled doubleparkoutsidethesharwmashoppe is certainly still there, and the conch shells, while they might have gotten smaller, are certainly thicker on the sand than ever. The Phorwhealdryves are even more numerous, as well as bigger and scarier today than they were then, and they still flash their eyes angrily as they attempt to secure their position at the head of any queue.
Edited to add the the "goleposts" are also still certainly "...on the backs of fast moving camels."
Last edited by MTOW; 13th August 2005 at 09:21.