Tuesday, May 28, 2013

We all have pets...

Being so close to home one would think that you'd not find strange traditions or weird rules here in the UK, but that, my dear, could not be more wrong. My favorite inexplicable rule so far involves these animals:


Swans. Right. While anywhere else in the world you are free to hunt them or at least catch them if they don't have an owner (apart from mother nature) the British came up with something else: Why should not ALL swans in the United Kingdom AUTOMATICALLY belong to... let´s say... the Queen?!
That's right. the queen owns all the swans. Don't ask me why. I tried to look it up but everyone only seems to be confused in forums. 
If you are a passionate swan-lover and want to have your own, there is hope for you though! During the event known as Swan Upping (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Upping as you can see I am not making all of this up...) you have the chance to pick one and mark it. Then it belongs to you. So to be completely correct the Queen only possesses the unmarked swans of Britain. (I am not sure if you have to be part of a team for this upping thing, so before you run out with your branding iron you might want to ask around how that works, because...)
... attacking the swans is considered treason the crown (or that is what I have been told). You might think they don't prosecute people and it's true that they don't control everything but apparently some areas are really being watched.
Only driving on the left was apparently not special enough. 

1 comment:

  1. me gusta lo de that's what i've been told, a ver rruapi wir wissen alle das du peleas de Schäne organisierst und deswegen schon von der queen gehängt wurdest

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