https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/snowball-fights
"Few seasonal activities are as universal — across time, place, or culture — as
the snowball fight. As many of us head into the cold, winter months, hoping for
a holiday season with frosted trees or icicles dripping like stalactites from
the eaves of homes, we might also long for that slightly slushy grade of powder
that makes for perfect packing. Snowmen and angels can be created later. And
perhaps there will be sledding: on toboggans (for connoisseurs) or cafeteria
trays (for the crafty). Yet nothing signals the year’s first snowfall quite
like an apple-sized projectile cutting a parabolic path — through crisp evening
air, the haloed light of streetlamps, and exhalations of foggy, illuminated
breath — to make direct contact with an unsuspecting hat or coat.
And yet, like snowballs themselves, which vanish upon impact into a mist of
flakes, or melt on a hesitant mitten, which has missed its opportunity for
ambush, snowball fights rarely last more than a few volleys (before dispersing
toward cocoa) and are rarely preserved beyond the fleeting memories of
individuals, friends, or families. But certain significant battles make it into
the annals of history. If the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields
of Eton, as the saying goes, the Battle of Austerlitz may have been planned on
the snow banks of La Brienne. According to what might be more fable than
history, the teenage Napoleon Bonaparte famously organized a ten day snowball
fight at this military school, complete with trenches, regimens, and rules of
engagement (although, according to his classmate Bourrienne’s memoirs, the
combatants eventually worked their way down to gravel and stones beneath the
snow, until “besiegers as well as besieged, were seriously wounded”)."
Via Muse.
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
