Sick souvenirs.

Having got over the shock of seeing the gruesome pictures of Saddam’s execution in my morning newspaper and then again on the TV news, I noted the old fashioned ‘hangman’s knot’ used and was reminded of the saying … ‘Money for old rope’.

This saying originates from the days of public executions when executioners used to make a bit of extra cash by cutting up the rope used to hang a notorious criminal and selling it to the crowds as a memento of the event. The hangmen would usually cut the rope into short lengths of two or three inches, and very often would increase their income by cutting up any old rope after the actual execution rope was used up.

Well it seems that nothing changes in this sad old world, for it would appear that pieces of the ’genuine’ execution rope from Iraq have already turned up on ‘ebay’.

…  I wonder how long this one will prove to be ?