Taking of young men who I’m proud of I had a phone call from Richard this morning inviting me for a walk by the canal. It’s been wet here so we all had a good collection of stout footwear for a walk along the canal side, watching swans and running around the old castle on the way. We didn’t see any sign of knights of the Round Table but we all came home hungry for bacon sandwiches.

Talking of castles part of one of the original Camelots is up for sale in the States. Sothebys is holding a sale of the clutter of the Kennedy family homes. The last time this happened, after the death of Jackie, the auction sold out with 300, 000 people in the salesroom pushing the proceeds up fro $5 million to $34.5 million. Most interesting seem to be the personal items from Hyannisport, the Summer White House, where you can own an original “Kennedy Rocker” for $4,000 to $6,000. Even a rusty pitchfork comes in at a respectable $200.

The 1st December saw the death of Christian Engeldrum. A NYC fireman of Ladder Company 61 in Co-op City in the Bronx and veteran of 9/11 he was killed when a roadside bomb exploded wounding another NYC fireman Daniel Swift, of Ladder Company 43 in Manhattan. Engeldrum was one of the firemen to raise the Stars and Stripes over Ground Zero after the attack. Firefighter Engeldrum had completed his service with the National Guard, but re-enlisted. He did so, his colleagues said, in outrage at the Sept. 11 attack. “It had an effect on him,” said Lt. Brian Horton of Ladder Company 61. “His country was attacked, he was a soldier, and he wanted to defend it.”

See, there are still Knights left in the world who believe in what’s right and try their hardest to do it.