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 Ash Wednesday & St. David's Day
One wouldn't expect to find the best interests of Bermuda's
oldest and most exciting grocery business saying to much about a time like
Lent. But we have so many
good things that no matter how much fasting you might do, it will still be
a pleasure to shop at Miles. When
you stop fasting you deserve a real treat.
A real reward. And
that, of course, is the secret of why so many people go to Miles every
day. Miles makes shopping the
greatest reward.
However, if you are thinking of giving something up, here are some
intriguing facts about some of the very obvious things that people
consider giving up from time to time:
Tobacco:
One of the founders of the Virginia Tobacco Company (which
eventually put Bermuda out of the cigarette business)
came to Bermuda first with the Sea Venture.
He became pretty famous because he married Pocahontas.
The English King at that time, King James I, didn't like the idea
of smoking at all. What he
had to say about the smoking habit would have rattled the slats of Madison
Avenue even today. He wrote
that (the custome is lothsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmefull
to the braine, dangerous to the lungs, and the blacke stinking fume therof,
neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is
bottomless."
By the way, I still miss my pipe, King James or no King James.
Wine:
One of the more reverent and learned divines who played an active
role in opening up the New World, sailed in several of the earliest
galleons. Pere Labat in his
writing observed the savage Caribs, much feared, rarely ate Englishmen for
they generally treated them kindly. The
Spaniards were tough and sinewy. They
preferred the French who were esteemed to by usually tender.
Doubtless the result of their inclination to the drinking of good
wines. Never underestimate or
under value a good wine nor its beneficent effect.
Spirits: To deal with this is to behold and consider one of
the cornerstones of the very foundation of this island's economy.
apart from Bibbey, Bermuda has never produced anything to deserve
the title "wine of the country".
In 1739, Captain Edward Vernon became Vice Admiral of the West Indies
squadron. From his habit of
wearing a grogram boat-cloak he was given the name of 'Old Grog'.
In 1740, in order to reduce drunkenness among his crews, he ordered
that the rum issued to the sailors should be diluted with water, and the
mixture is still known as grog.
In 1703, a chance to inflict a severe defeat upon the French at Martinique
was lost, and the missed opportunity was blamed on rum and the hospitality
of Barbados. The senior naval
commander, Codrington, was furious because Hovenden Walker took his ships
to Barbados where, Codrington reported - "the planters think the best
way to make their strangers welcome is to murder them with drinking; the
tenth part of that strong liquor which will scarce warme the blood of our
West Indians, who have bodies like Egyptian mummies, must certainly
dispatch a newcomer to the other world".
The therapeutic values of fine rum ought never to be overlooked.
It ages will in oaken barrels, which of course, explains the term
"tapping the Admiral" as well as providing a clue as to how
Admiral Sir George Somers got back to England.
One of the first Bermudians to have a drink with his king in London
enjoyed the most obscure drink ever associated with Bermuda. Like old times in Bermuda, he and His Majesty enjoyed
Calibogus together.
Harry C. D. Cox.
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