Re: The joy of actual numbers, was Democracy

The Natural Philosopher <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

On 08/11/2024 00:57, Peter Flass wrote:

rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

On Thu, 7 Nov 2024 11:40:50 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
 

Spending 8 hours a day including 3 hours of coffee and lunch breaks
doens't compare with digging up ten tons of soil and wheel barrowing it
to a donkey cart to build a Roman road.

 
I worked one summer for a contractor building a new development. Most of
the work was building leach fields which required pushing wheelbarrows of
gravel along 2x12 planks to dump in the ditches. In would drive to work
morning using my palms on the steering wheel since it took a while for my
fingers to work.
 
Other tasks were little better, strictly grunt work. It could have been
1960 or 196 AD.
 

 
I was thinking more of the small merchant or craftsman. Live above the
shop, no commute. Do some work in the morning, go to the games in the
afternoon. About the equivalent work week to what we have - two days off a
week, although randomly distributed.
 

The vast majority of people in mediaeval and Roman Britain were peasants
pure and simple. Bluesmock workers.
 
To have a trade or be in trade and be part of a guild was a huge step up
to the middle classes  was being a servant in the Lords manor house.
 
Or you could become a monk.
No worries, cradle to the grave socialism, but not much in the way of
food, no shagging (officially) and an awful lot of god bothering. But
you learnt to read and write
 

I think mediaeval monks ate pretty well, certainly better than the
peasants. Ascetics they weren’t.

--
Pete