In 1672 Charles promulgated the Declaration of Indulgence, which suspended the penal code against all religious Nonconformists, Catholic and Dissenter alike. But a declaration of toleration could not bring together these mortal enemies, and the king found himself faced by a unified Protestant front. In 1673 the Cavalier Parliament compelled Charles to withdraw the declaration and implement, in its place, the first of the Test Acts (1673), which required anyone entering public service in England to deny the Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation and to take Anglican communion. When Charles II’s openly Catholic successor James II attempted to issue a similar Declaration of Indulgence, an order for general religious tolerance, it became one of the grievances that led to the Glorious Revolution which ousted him from the throne.

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We retired early last evening. We were exhausted from the day’s performances; and had tired our interest in and capacity for the tragedies and unfolding political dramas in the news.  We easily slept the recommended eight hours. As a result it was effortless to get going at a respectable hour this morning.  Shortly before seven o’clock I attacked the world and arose – or rather peeled my aching carcass – from beneath the huge duvet. By 9:30 am I was bathed, dressed and munching slices of a large Granny apple, a moderation punctuated with a remaining half of Naan bread sans butter. The butter that tempts me in the ‘fridge is Kerrygold Pure Irish butter, a supplement I would willingly consume by the spoonful! My dietary vigilance was spirited today by the uncommon success I had in buttoning my latest fat-size Nautica shorts. Certainly it is a small compliment but every inch in these matters counts!

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As our internal temperatures and landlubber apprehensions gradually diminish, the weather moves in another direction – around 73°F today and clear. The polarization is a welcome adjustment as we successfully organize our digs for hibernation on Hilton Head Island – and contemporaneously flatten the curve on our domestic apparel suited for beach weather, cycling and transitioning to a life of unparalleled indolence.

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Since we were summarily ejected from Longboat Key in March, 2020 on account of the then emerging COVID-19 pandemic, we have pinned to reactivate our winter sojourns. And it was only as recently as the first week of November, 2021 (when President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr opened the American border from Canada) that we were able to take any affirmative action in that southerly direction.  Admittedly we initially tried to locate a long-term rental on the Florida Keys (but without success) so we succumbed to investigating a similar ambition on Hilton Head Island from which we last exited over five years ago.  The task on Hilton Head Island was at the outset discouraging; but following a recommendation from our erstwhile estate agent Gail Edmonds of Destination Vacation she put us onto a new property manager Beverly Serral. From the start our conventions with Ms. Serral et al. have been exceedingly happy ones.

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“But look, the morn, in russet mantle clad,
Walks o’er the dew of yon high eastward hill.”
Hamlet, per Horatio, Act 1, Scene 1

This morning – the final leg of our two-day motor vehicle drive from Almonte to Hilton Head Island – began shortly after 5:00 am from our overnight stay in West Virginia. The immediate morning hours upon daybreak took us through the Shenandoah Valley. We had begun our journey early enough to escape a good deal of what I know historically is intense traffic punctuated as always by endless transport trucks.

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Although the hotel offered a hot breakfast – and we were out of bed and showered before 6:30 am when the service apparently began – our travel enthusiasm propelled us to the American border-crossing nearby Hill Island adjacent the Ivy Lea Parkway. When we twisted our path to what we perceived to be the correct lane for cars, all four lanes were surmounted by a glaring red neon CLOSED signs. Suddenly however one changed to OPEN and we proceeded to the wicket. The officer asked the usual questions in addition to requesting me to lower the rear window so she could have a look inside. Unwittingly I lied that we were not importing any fresh fruit.  I forgot about the Granny apple in my overnight bag. Then we were on our way south on Interstate 81.

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At 2 o’clock this morning I awoke and trudged to the study where I flipped through the television channels. I stumbled upon a TCM (Turner Classic Movies) black and white Italian film called “Kapö” about the holocaust. It involved a young girl who, unlike her parents, escaped execution under false pretences and a pseudonym with the Nazis. Her real name was Edith.  It was a tragic love story between her and a dashing prisoner. Aside from the historic violence and horror of the movie it spoke to me as a predicate to the subsequent Federico Fellini films about which I am so notoriously enamoured.

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There is no nice way to say poverty.

Poverty is a strong word, stronger than being poor; want is still stronger, indicating that one has not even the necessaries of life ; indigence is often stronger than want, implying especially, also, the lack of those things to which one has been used and that befit one’s station ; penury is poverty that is severe to abjectness ; destitution is the state of having absolutely nothing …. [Century Dictionary]

late 12c., poverte, “destitution, want, need or insufficiency of money or goods,” from Old French poverte, povrete“poverty, misery, wretched condition” (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertatem (nominative paupertas) “poverty,” from pauper “poor” (see poor (adj.)).

From early 13c. in reference to deliberate poverty as a Christian act. Figuratively from mid-14c., “dearth, scantiness;” of the spirit, “humility,” from the Beatitudes.

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To my eternal discredit I spent upwards of two hours early this morning trolling TikTok. As the saying goes, “It’s a hard act to follow; but so are most dog acts!” Literally!

TikTok, known in China as Douyin, is a video-focused social networking service owned by Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts a variety of short-form user videos, from genres like pranks, stunts, tricks, jokes, dance, and entertainment with durations from 15 seconds to three minutes. TikTok is an international version of Douyin, which was originally released in the Chinese market in September 2016.

As of October 2020, TikTok surpassed over 2 billion mobile downloads worldwide.

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Years into my law practice I had to endure financial hardship.  My income from professional services for an entire year after payment of operating expenses and staff was $750. I wasn’t the only one suffering.  I had clients who for example were either unable for exceedingly long periods to sell properties listed for sale or who had to sell at a substantial loss. Naturally it followed that as a servant to those clients I should be subjected to the same unpleasantry as they. When I chanced to discuss the matter casually with senior counsel I proffered the suggestion that I was mistakenly overcharging for my services to which he unhesitatingly replied, “Let the shit go down the street!” At the time I thought his lapse into the vernacular was no more than a social nicety.  I have since learned otherwise.

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