WesWorld

The Greve Kronborg sat in his office running through the schedule for the upcoming meeting with His Majesty.
He eyed the stack of correspondence on the corner of the desk with derision,
he always hated the wave of letters that seemed to hit him every January 5th.
He had often thought that he should not return to his duties until after the 8th or 9th,
but his conscience would not allow.
No, it was his to deal with, and deal with it he would.

He reached over and pulled the first 5 envelopes off the stack.
He held them face down and shuffled through them, with the intent of picking the first landmine of the day by random chance.
As he sifted through them, his eye caught the wax seal on th back of one.
He lay the rest down, and flipped the envelope over.
The hand was unmistakeable, it was that of his old friend Karl, and delivered by diplomatic courier, not by mail.

He picked up his letter-opener, sliced open the envelope with a neat flick of his wrist, and slid out the contents.

My Dear Christian,
I have some news , which i wanted to inform you of personally, as opposed to you hearing through channels.

I have been a little unfortunate recently, to have found myself in the position to test these old bones of mine.
I must report, old friend, that they are not what they used to be when we played hockey in college (remember the game against Uppsala?).
I have broken my right hip, as well as my right femur (as if to add insult to injury!).
The Doctors tell me I may be up and around again in about 3 to 4 months,but I am restricted to bed.

Christian, I had been toying with the idea of retiring a few years early,
to spend more time with my children and grandchildren at the country house,
and it now seems that Fate has forced my hand.
I do apologise for the suddenness of this, but as the French would say "C'est la vie".

I have forwarded my resignation on medical grounds to His Majesty and the Minister.

Maybe in some months we can get together for a few drinks and remember the old days,
when we broke other people's bones, not our own!!

I remain,
Your faithful friend
Karl.

The Greve Kronborg sat with legs crossed in the comfortable chairs
that lined the ante-room off the King's council chamber.
"He'll wear a hole in the carpet!" he thought to himself,
as he watched the young diplomat pace backwards and forwards;
his nerves obviously getting the better of him.
The 2 men were alone in the room, awaiting His Majesty's pleasure.

"Olaf, would you kindly sit down. His Majesty is not going to have you executed,
you would have noticed the shackles by now, if that were the case." said Christian,
trying not to chuckle at the young man's distress.
"What?" started Olaf, his runaway train of thought completely derailed by the nobleman's comment.
"You are here to be appointed to the position of His Majesty's Ambassador to Ireland.
RELAX." replied Christian, trying not to make it sound like an order.
"May I speak freely, your Excellency?" asked Olaf, coming to a halt finally, if not actually moving to sit down.
"Always, Olaf." replied Christian, "The comment that you keep to yourself may be the one that you will come to regret not having given utterence!"
Olaf took a deep breath, steadied himself, and started to speak.
"I am feeling......"
The door into the council chamber opened, stopping Olaf in his tracks.
The Court usher entered the ante-room, and nodded to Christian , who eased himself out of the chair.
Christian placed his hand on Olaf's shoulder, pulling the young man's attention away from the usher.
"You are MY choice for this post, Olaf. I have being following your career, and I am confident that you have what it takes to be an Ambassador. Now, steady yourself, and let us go in there and make the King happy to appoint you as his Ambassador to Ireland."

The usher waited until the 2 men approached the door, stepped in front of them, and announced to the people gathered in the council chamber,
"His Excellency, The Greve Kronberg, and The Honourable Olaf Schmichael, Ambassador Designate to the Republic of Ireland"

Hmm people breaking their hips to get away from Dublin?

Quoted

Originally posted by Vukovlad
Hmm people breaking their hips to get away from Dublin?

No, at this time Tallaght, Darndale, Ballymun, Clondalkin and Ballymun were all tiny villages well outside the city limits. (my 5 principal reasons for wanting to leave Dublin)

The Ambassador had just had one or two too many, and it was a cold winter that year in Dublin.

And anyway, I doubt if he intended it!!

They have the Guinness brewery in Dublin(1), why would anyone want to leave...however falling down is terribly understandable.



(1) Which only adds to the rony that the resturant my cousin Podraig took us to was out of Guinness.

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
They have the Guinness brewery in Dublin(1), why would anyone want to leave.....

....because the best pint of Guinness I EVER had was in a little pub in Kilronan, on the Aran Islands.

And anway, maybe I'm getting frail in my old age, but I just can't hack a night on the "Batter" (Guinness) anymore.
I'd prefer to rip the top off a keg of Erdinger instead, it doesn't leave me with a hangover!!

I find I have to drink more these days just to get wobbly......unless I get into the whisky.....

You developed a hollow leg!!!!

I've never developed this whole bit with drinking alcohol, seems to have missed my genetic disposition. The only stuff I've ever found which I didn't think tasted bad was strawberry daiquiri, and that was more like a fluffy juice drink. (I must confess my ignorance that I bought it with that in mind, and only when I got carded at the counter did I realize it was alcoholic.)

Here's a joke for y'all: A Scotsman walked into a bar and came out sober!

Are kegs smaller in size in Ireland Mac?

I must admit I'm quite a fan of Erdinger's Dunkel myself but tend to go for a wide variety of ales. Really bad hangovers only tend to happen after the Bath Cider Festival (complete with Wurzels music!) where they sell concoctions that really shouldn't be legal.

I'm not sure why anyone would drink Guinness - its the worst tasting stout I've ever had. The consistency and taste of watered down mud. Still better than;

Another logical threaddrift... from Ambassadors to Ireland to cider hangovers

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
Are kegs smaller in size in Ireland Mac?

Erdinger kegs come in a handy Half size, so when your walking home with one in each hand you are more balanced, than trying to balance a single full size one on your shoulder!!

Quoted

Originally posted by Red Admiral
I'm not sure why anyone would drink Guinness - its the worst tasting stout I've ever had. The consistency and taste of watered down mud.

You must have had some of that English rubbish they CALL Guinness!!!

I spent a weekend in the UK once, teaching barmen how to pull pints of it, you should have witnessed the crimes they were commiting on it!!!!

Quoted

Originally posted by Commodore Green

Quoted

Originally posted by Kaiser Kirk
They have the Guinness brewery in Dublin(1), why would anyone want to leave.....

....because the best pint of Guinness I EVER had was in a little pub in Kilronan, on the Aran Islands.

And anway, maybe I'm getting frail in my old age, but I just can't hack a night on the "Batter" (Guinness) anymore.
I'd prefer to rip the top off a keg of Erdinger instead, it doesn't leave me with a hangover!!

I don't recall if I had guinness on Inish ... rats forget the name. Inish Moire? All I can recall is ducking out of the rain shower for some pizza.

It may be imagining, but I thought the Guinness was a bit thicker in Ireland than England where it seemed watery. I found the Irish version better. As for hangovers, I seem not to get them, for which I'm happy.

As for RA's comment, well I have co-workers who don't like craft beers, but prefer "Bud", I suppose he falls in that category 8p

Budwiser? Blech, that stuff is more water than beer....

Quoted

Originally posted by thesmilingassassin
Budwiser? Blech, that stuff is more water than beer....

Well it must be easy on the liver, same color going out as in....

Ahaha! Thats likely true!