19 June

Night Watchmen played the role of police long before there were police. And the name is important - it was the night and darkness that was thought to be the dangerous thing. If you have any interest in Victorian England, for example, what strikes me is how dark the general feeling of those times was, literally, and the centuries before it. Not just in lack of illumination, but in clothing, themes in literature and songs, obsession with the 'dark' arts, the devil etc. I still think light and dark are the key to understanding so many things.