Post by Fewms on Feb 20, 2009 3:11:33 GMT
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page 15
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Aggravation in the Capitalist Camp
By Clerk Ptacary
"I wasn't angry," said Barnet. "I saw an immense selfishness, a monstrous disregard for anything but pleasure and possession in all those people above us, but I saw how inevitable that was, how certainly if the richest had changed places with the poorest, that things would have been the same. [...] Of course the rich were vulgar and the poor grew savage, and every added power that came to men made the rich richer and the poor less necessary and less free. The men I met in the casual wards and the relief offices were smouldering for revolt, talking of justice and injustice and revenge. I saw no hope in that talk, nor in anything but patience...." But he did not mean a passive patience. He meant that the method of social organisation was still a riddle, that no effectual rearrangement was possible until this riddle in all its tangled aspects was solved.
- H.G.Wells, "The World Set Free", p. 64.
After a long walk through the desert and across the muddy track of road I finally reached my destination Ankh-Morpork, a city which I had heard much about but had not visited before. Armed with directions to the Council building I walked past the urchin and into the squalid unknown, a Cortez on an undiscovered continent-spanning slum. The directions stated that I should walk north along Short Street and turn right at the end if I was to find Speedwell street, which is Ankh-Morpork's Avenue of Pharaohs; and such was the course I followed. As I travelled along, I received a number of strange looks and giggles from a group of children. One of them pointed at my head, but I could not understand the quick patter he offered his friends. I caught the word "raghead" several times, and something about a "sandsnake". The fashion of turban wearing was obviously completely foreign to them. At the mention of a snake I wondered whether I should take out my snake-charmer's pipe, but looking around I could only see rats and cockroaches, and decided it was a colloquialism beyond the grasp of my limited Morporkian.
Soon I pasted a gentleman whose fingers steeplechased a coin as his eyes followed me thoughtfully. Next to him was a banker, two guards and a poor beggar. The banker outraged me; I could not believe that I was looking at a man weighed down by wealth and fine clothing standing next to someone reduced to begging on the streets for a few pennies. Where was the sense of community, comradery, compassion?
After composing myself, I slipped some coins to the beggar and continued along the street only to be startled as someone behind me was arrested for murder and dragged off by a watchman. Walking several more blocks (quite a distance for a "Short Street") I came across the right turn I had been told to anticipate, and took it. Along this street I came across a number of temples, priests and preachers. In front of me was a woman complaining about the high prices of houses in the area. "Houses are just for the wealthy. We will never have a chance of getting one on my husband's income." A complaint I had never heard before, for this problem does not exist in Djelibeybi, where houses only cost a pittance and are never competed for, even though they don't often come up for sale. A fellow citizen, Nabber, acquired one of the the largest houses in Djelibeybi - a mansion - for only a few tooni. I had given several times as much to that beggar!
Just after the temple of Sek, I travelled north-east, and looked aghast at the spectacle of a large, well built citizen attacking a priest and a cat. I tried in vain to stop them from the horrific act of killing such sacred creatures, but it was too late. My only comfort came from a voice that stated "I BELIEVE THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR THOSE THAT KILL CATS"; this I knew to be the case, and I was gratified to see the man shudder deeply.
I came to the end of the windy road to be faced with a choice between going north-west and south-east. Neither matched my directions. Standing there, wondering what to do, I decided it was best to ask for directions from a man wearing a long black coat. "Dear Comrade," I began, when he suddenly thrust a dagger into my side. I dropped to the floor in pain and shock. Then he was gone - as was all my money. In its place I found a small slip of paper stating what I already knew, that I had been mugged. Distressed by the whole ordeal, I retraced my steps and followed my directions more carefully, walking as fast as I could to avoid thieves and streamstresses.
Finally, I reached Speedwell Street, and walked into the Ankh-Morpork Council building to see a room of clerks rifling through piles of paperwork. "What a waste of time", I thought. I handed over a letter to be sent back to Djelibeybi, to only be handed back six forms to fill in. Annoyed, I completed them. Something needs to be done about this vulgar city, and I pray to the Gods that something will happen. Until then I vowed never to return, and safely waited in the lobby of the Council chamber for my ptaxi to appear (a member of Djelibeybi's free taxi service), who I had implored to return me to civilisation.
page 15
---
Aggravation in the Capitalist Camp
By Clerk Ptacary
"I wasn't angry," said Barnet. "I saw an immense selfishness, a monstrous disregard for anything but pleasure and possession in all those people above us, but I saw how inevitable that was, how certainly if the richest had changed places with the poorest, that things would have been the same. [...] Of course the rich were vulgar and the poor grew savage, and every added power that came to men made the rich richer and the poor less necessary and less free. The men I met in the casual wards and the relief offices were smouldering for revolt, talking of justice and injustice and revenge. I saw no hope in that talk, nor in anything but patience...." But he did not mean a passive patience. He meant that the method of social organisation was still a riddle, that no effectual rearrangement was possible until this riddle in all its tangled aspects was solved.
- H.G.Wells, "The World Set Free", p. 64.
After a long walk through the desert and across the muddy track of road I finally reached my destination Ankh-Morpork, a city which I had heard much about but had not visited before. Armed with directions to the Council building I walked past the urchin and into the squalid unknown, a Cortez on an undiscovered continent-spanning slum. The directions stated that I should walk north along Short Street and turn right at the end if I was to find Speedwell street, which is Ankh-Morpork's Avenue of Pharaohs; and such was the course I followed. As I travelled along, I received a number of strange looks and giggles from a group of children. One of them pointed at my head, but I could not understand the quick patter he offered his friends. I caught the word "raghead" several times, and something about a "sandsnake". The fashion of turban wearing was obviously completely foreign to them. At the mention of a snake I wondered whether I should take out my snake-charmer's pipe, but looking around I could only see rats and cockroaches, and decided it was a colloquialism beyond the grasp of my limited Morporkian.
Soon I pasted a gentleman whose fingers steeplechased a coin as his eyes followed me thoughtfully. Next to him was a banker, two guards and a poor beggar. The banker outraged me; I could not believe that I was looking at a man weighed down by wealth and fine clothing standing next to someone reduced to begging on the streets for a few pennies. Where was the sense of community, comradery, compassion?
After composing myself, I slipped some coins to the beggar and continued along the street only to be startled as someone behind me was arrested for murder and dragged off by a watchman. Walking several more blocks (quite a distance for a "Short Street") I came across the right turn I had been told to anticipate, and took it. Along this street I came across a number of temples, priests and preachers. In front of me was a woman complaining about the high prices of houses in the area. "Houses are just for the wealthy. We will never have a chance of getting one on my husband's income." A complaint I had never heard before, for this problem does not exist in Djelibeybi, where houses only cost a pittance and are never competed for, even though they don't often come up for sale. A fellow citizen, Nabber, acquired one of the the largest houses in Djelibeybi - a mansion - for only a few tooni. I had given several times as much to that beggar!
Just after the temple of Sek, I travelled north-east, and looked aghast at the spectacle of a large, well built citizen attacking a priest and a cat. I tried in vain to stop them from the horrific act of killing such sacred creatures, but it was too late. My only comfort came from a voice that stated "I BELIEVE THERE IS A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR THOSE THAT KILL CATS"; this I knew to be the case, and I was gratified to see the man shudder deeply.
I came to the end of the windy road to be faced with a choice between going north-west and south-east. Neither matched my directions. Standing there, wondering what to do, I decided it was best to ask for directions from a man wearing a long black coat. "Dear Comrade," I began, when he suddenly thrust a dagger into my side. I dropped to the floor in pain and shock. Then he was gone - as was all my money. In its place I found a small slip of paper stating what I already knew, that I had been mugged. Distressed by the whole ordeal, I retraced my steps and followed my directions more carefully, walking as fast as I could to avoid thieves and streamstresses.
Finally, I reached Speedwell Street, and walked into the Ankh-Morpork Council building to see a room of clerks rifling through piles of paperwork. "What a waste of time", I thought. I handed over a letter to be sent back to Djelibeybi, to only be handed back six forms to fill in. Annoyed, I completed them. Something needs to be done about this vulgar city, and I pray to the Gods that something will happen. Until then I vowed never to return, and safely waited in the lobby of the Council chamber for my ptaxi to appear (a member of Djelibeybi's free taxi service), who I had implored to return me to civilisation.