Monday, April 18, 2005

Chimney watch

Good grief. Who would've thought that watching a tiny chimney on tv could be so exciting? Will there be smoke tonight? Probably, because there hasn't been an announcement telling the world that the college of cardinals has left the building... (Haha.)

I'm sitting glued to my sofa (except for now, of course - and damn it, if the puff of smoke arises while I sit here!) and watching BBC World's live coverage from the Vatican. The cardinals in the Sistine Chapel are voting away behind locked doors and people all around the world are watching that chimney. Any bets on when the college of cardinals will arrive at a result and the Catholic world will have a new pope? I'm thinking Wednesday, third ballot? :) That could be a bit optimistic, because that would mean only eight rounds of voting (one tonight, four per day from tomorrow on), but hey, I'm an optimistic person. And I'm thinking they might select an Italian pope again. A wild guess.

Btw, I'm not going to bet my money on any of this. Not one cent. So that you know and there are no misunderstandings. You can bet anything you want, I'm just playing with the thought. :)

Edit about 10 minutes later: Well, there was smoke. And also an oddly intense moment, when the BBC reporter pondered: "That does look white to me..." Gasp! But after a while, it was clearly black smoke. Quite a bit of it, too. I wouldn't have thought 115 ballot cards on a string would've made the chimney huff and puff for so long. I wonder what chemicals they use to secure the color of the smoke? Hmm.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was watching BBC World too and it truly was exciting although it doesn't sound like it.
The best reality TV show ever. ; )
Although Queer Eye comes quite close...

I also think they will choose Italian pope this time, but I boldly say that it will happen tomorrow (tuesday) already. But I won't bet any money on it.

Gosh, it's ten o'clock and I am still awake. This is highly unusual!

Sarin

Anonymous said...

This is not a bet, as I got a tip from a higher authority. ;)

The white smoke will rise on Friday 22nd and the new pope will be from South America.

-Ben-

PS: Hail Eris! All Hail Discordia!

Anonymous said...

Whee! For once I was right.
It happened today just like I said.

And now back to BBC World...

Sarin

Johanna said...

We have a pope and Sarin won all the imaginary money! :) Way to go!