Today - January 28

Today (Actually Yesterday, I missed it) – January 28.

In 1754 Horace Walpole first coined the word Serendipity. Other than being an English art historian and Politian and what not, he was also famous because he revived the Gothic style and for his Gothic Novel, The Castle of Otranto. Now coming back to the word, everyone knows the meaning. But this word has been voted as one of the ten words that were hardest to translate. But this word is so widely used that it has been imported into many other languages rather than just being translated.

And then in 1896 something really interesting happened. Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent became the first person to be convicted of speeding. Now guess what happened then? Correct! He was fined! And he was fined 1 shilling, plus costs. That’s a shocker! ONE SHILLING. Any idea how much one pays these days? But don’t you want to know at what speed he was driving. He was speeding at 8mph which is 13 kilometer per hour, thus exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2mph or 3.2 km/h!!! I think I can walk at 6 kilometers per hour. How much fine I should have paid.

Jai Gurudev!
Love!