All Comments on 'Ancient Liberties'

When the hearts are in the right place all else seems to be too...Loved the plant an acorn idea at the joining of these two. An Endearing tale.

Hey, great story, meant even more to me as I'm from around the corner in New Addington. Nice to see a locally based story with places I recognise.

Great story. Loved it. Not all good, well written, and grammatical yarns have to be dripping with sex (though that doesn't hurt generally). In fact, most of the sex-dripping yarns on this site lack most of those other qualities. And some are drip-dry besides.

I was particularly interested because I happen to be both the son and a grandson of a freeman of the Borough of Sunderland (the one in Durham). My father always gave me to understand that unless I won a VC I had no hope of exceeding that honour. But your story makes me wonder whether Sunderland's freemanships are hereditory. I doubt it, but I'll see what their web-site, if any, can tell me.

As far as I know, Toronto, where I was born and grew up, doesn't go in for freemen, even if I had done something to deserve one. And Rugby, where I did a grad apprenticeship, certainly doesn't.

Thanks again

Bruce Dodd (duncastle@hotmail.com)

I'm a notorious Anglophobe (horrid Irish/Manx republican and labour union activist), who loved the story. Ancient liberties and peculiar local customs are part of our heritage as human beings. To hell with any who would treat them as trash, be they "Labour" or Tory.

Heck of an odd venue for it, though....

Only the Great Oggbashan could give us a story about a computer nerd and his girl defending ancient freedoms only to reveal that they're really rich kids who honeymoon in Nice and go around planting acorns. :)

It can't be easy to write a story in which the climax happens by committee, but this one was sweet. Not being English, a lot of the arcana was lost on me (what's a "Freedman" anyway?), but I got the gist. Very neatly done.

It certainly was something different, away from all the other contest entries. Tough to write and carry off but Og, you do it with your usual style. :)

Thank you for the comments which are much appreciated.

A 'Freeman' used to be similar to a Member of a Chamber of Commerce except that it was essential to be a Freeman to be able to trade in that city. Any apprentice-served tradesman could become a member of a Guild e.g Fishmongers and be a Freeman. You could, and probably still can, become a Freeman of the City of London by birth (son or daughter of a Freeman) by redemption (serving an apprencticeship) or by purchase (paying a sum to the City treasury). In all of these the candidate has to be sponsored by two Freemen.

Honorary Freedom of a City is very different. That is given by unanimous vote of the City Councillors to honour someone whom they think has made a significant contribution to their City or in general. Nelson Mandela has many such honours as had Winston Churchill. Honorary Freedom can also be given to a military unit. That Freedom allows the unit to march through the City with bayonets fixed and standards flying.

The Freemen of the City of London have one main responsibility and one privilege. They must defend the City Liberties with their pike and musket when called on to do so by the Lord Mayor; and the have the right to drive their sheep across London Bridge without paying a fee.

perhaps even the bulls (Ps 22:12) and cows (Amos 4:1) of Bashan may graze contentedly as the sheep and the lion and the ox lie down together and the wolf and the lamb live together in your Ancient Liberties. Thank you a good story and one worth thinking about

Great story of mutual cooperation and anticipated promises. It's refreshing to see a romance story without the obligatory sexual episodes.

A classic Ogg, LOL. Deliciously conscious of the power which social class can exercise. And insistent that one person can make a difference. Well, OK, two people. If their Uncle is the Pope ;) and one of them flashes a bit of leg, LOL. (Not the leg encased in a Savile Row suit, LOL.) I loved the grandfather with a mistress in Monte!

There is no central mailing list of Freemen other than their address when the freedom was granted but as most freemen are freemen as Liverymen, each Livery will have a mainly up to date list. In practice, if the City wants to communicate with Freemen it asks the Liveries to do it for them. The Liveries when aroused can be a very potent force as they have some very powerful members. When the Government did go raiding into the City they got a seriously bloody nose and I think your timing for this tale is right. The hacking bit is a tad anachronistic as if my memory serves me right the internet was still DARPANET and there were no civilian links, and to be fair, most Liveries were still using pen and paper to maintain their membership rolls.

A computer hacker in a suit from Savile Row. Where does he keep his personal Pike?

Great story

Thanks

I'd say it belongs in Humor and Satire.

I enjoyed it, certainly.