Open Mike: Be Prepared

The Boy Scout motto is "Be Prepared." The Johnston clan motto is Nunquam non Paratus, never unprepared.*

I set out to take Butters on a short walk yesterday, with the sky clear and the sun shining. Less than a mile from home, a giant mass of dark cloud hove up from behind the Bluff. The wind freshened, the cloud mass loomed, the sky darkened, the temperature dropped ten degrees, and just as I decided I ought to turn for home, big raindrops began to smack into the pavement in a random staccato. As I looked around for places where we might take cover, I found myself thinking, "good thing I don't have a camera with me."

(Is that the kind of thing I should be thinking?)

But the big black cloud mass blew over us, the sky brightened again, and by the time we got home again...the sky was clear and the sun was shining.

Life in the Finger Lakes.

The reason this came up is that Amazon's "Deal of the Day" today was a Dyson Animal DC65 vacuum cleaner, a product I own and am still impressed with. So I was going to link to it. But by the time I had the post ready to go, at 10:38 a.m., I checked again, and they were all gone.

So much for that.

Was I ready with something else? No. Maybe my motto should be nunquam paratus.

Mike

"Open Mike" is the off-topic Editorial Page of TOP. It appears on Wednesday if Yr. Hmbl. Ed., a trusted man of Clan Johnston, is ready aye ready.

*In 1307, to furnish himself with a pretext for war, the new King Edward II of England sent a message to the Scottish clans through their king, John Baliol, demanding that the clans swear fealty to him. He knew they never would, and was already preparing to attack across the border. King Baliol, needing to get the all-important message to the previously exiled Robert the Bruce, picked a trusted aide, a man of Clan Johnston, to deliver the message. He wanted to send the message in "code" to avoid interception by English spies, so he picked up a pair of grouse wings from the forest floor, a symbol of swiftness, and tied them to a spur, the symbol of war. When he asked the Johnston if he was ready to depart, the Johnston replied "ready, aye ready." He delivered the message to Robert the Bruce, who understood the implication of the grouse wings and spur immediately. He went on to defeat Edward II's lieutenant Aymer de Valence at the Battle of Loudon Hill. It was Robert the Bruce's first major victory in a series of wars which eventually established the independence of Scotland.

In gratitude, as King of Scotland, Robert the Bruce allowed Clan Johnston to use as its shield a spur with grouse wings, and as its motto "Nunquam Non Paratus," intended as a formalized version of "Ready, aye ready."

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Nigli: "'Hold fast' there Mike. From a McLeod."

Steven Willard: "My personal motto is 'prepared but not for this.' I can’t find a good Latin translation."

Mike replies: Try Paratus, sed non propter hoc.

David Brookes: "My mother was a Johnstone, born in Scotstoun on Clydebank. The motto probably explains why my camera bag has so much in it, and is getting too heavy!"

scott kirkpatrick: "There's a lot of pride involved in coming from the Borders, which does tend to obscure the things that went on there. The Kirkpatricks have as their motto 'I mak siccar' ['I make sure' —Ed.], which Roger Kirkpatrick uttered before confirming the kill of the Red Comyn, a contender for the crown which Robert the Bruce held, with a few thrusts of his own."

Comments

[John Lehet]

"good thing I don't have a camera along."

-> "I should carry a weatherproof Olympus at all times."

[Stephen Scharf]

Always interesting to me how folks think about things differently in the same situation or photographic context. Your first thought was "good thing I don't have a camera with me." My first thought would be, "Cool, I have my X-T2 with me, no worries; maybe I can get a cool pic." If you had had your X-T2 with you, it would not have been an issue either, and you would have been "ready, aye ready".

[Jonathan]

A plastic grocery bag can come in handy.

[Benjamin Marks]

You knew it was coming from the commentariat:

Tom Lehrer (with apologies to the Boy Scouts):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoEVPtVk9nE

[John Igel]

I think you have been trying to use "random staccato" in a post for long time and finally found a way...

[That's as good an explanation as any for this post. Let's just be charitable and say I sometimes have nothing to say. :-) --Mike]

[Bob Johnston]

I didn't know about the motto, so that was really interesting Mike. But you do realise that our ancestors were border reivers. Nowadays we would call them bandits. Oh well it could be worse!

[Jeff Johnston]

I've seriously considered getting that shield tattooed somewhere. Though in my case it would be purely ironic.

[David blankenhorn]

Just maybe, given the motto, the belt on your crest might be accompanied by a pair of suspenders...

[Jan Kwarnmark]

Don´t expect anything. Be prepared for everything. / Samurais and street photographers.