What if?

This was actually a topic came up with weeks ago but while locked in my eternal pit of damnation it got put on the back burner. A while back during the traditional 3AM neither of us can sleep conversations me and wench started discussing various What If? scenarios. Of course some of them are over in two seconds (i.e. What if Hitler didn't invade Russia - WW2 over by the end of '41) but sometimes you can go on and look over matters with a bit more depth.


One that often comes up is "What if Henry VIII hadn't divorced Kat?" I always find it quite interesting, as a starting point would England have split from the catholic church? I think ultimately, we wouldn't have done. The only reason we ultimately split from them was that Annie B was a bit of hooker and Henry had become obsessed with having a son which given Kats' breeding always made me laugh. A lot of other countries that left the Papal faith behind had a trigger, I don't know if the English would've had this afterwards. Potentially with the civil war but I think it would've happened catholic/protestant this is assuming after Mary lines remain unbroken of course.


As for Mary. The woman has been demonised almost since the day she was born, ultimately for being the wrong gender. Thing which gets me is had her mother remained queen and Henry not started persecuting Papists she probably wouldn't have earned the moniker "Bloody Mary" as the bitterness would not have been bred into her. Accordingly of course with the strong breeding in her she may have had a much better reign and that may instead be referred to as Englands "golden age" as opposed to that of her half-sister, given that her death seems to have been linked with the stresses she imposed on herself to stop Dizzy Liz from taking charge.


Around these great historical turning points, and I've kept it brief before going on too much of a lecture (any comments to discuss anything in further of course), we moved onto the "insignificant" turning points, or rather our own lives. The conversation inevitably turned into "what if we'd not got together?" and ultimately I honestly couldn't really give a plausible scenario. Wench seemed to watch it better than I could (I got scarce further than less headaches) and saw ultimately in her mind that I would've been managing at the company I was working at when we first got together. Had I not been coming through yet another bout of depression I would've focussed on that and overcoming the demons in that way, instead I'd opted to drop the work stress and took the time to recover by spending more time in Poxford.


Relationship wize she went bolder still and predicted that I'd have got into a relationship with one of three girls she's seen me with using the assumption that I'd have still been involved in the same groups which I guess is pretty solid. I refute all three of these as I was always an expert in getting to the "you're a great friend but..." scenario and put a lot of the relationship with wench down to putting her off a relationship for so long to avoid my depression and as a result mood swings harming her had we got closer it'd inevitably have gone wrong well before it finally happened. Incidentally I'd have got a lot less stress from her so with a higher paying job and a partner who according to her I'd "make the perfect couple with" something tells me this what if went the wrong way! :P


In the end we just had a nice conversation spending time together and looking at those little things that make up our lives and how in little changes the way our directions and history is built up. Of course, nothing can change now but sitting there and taking alternative looks at certain events no matter how small or minor can be a great way to pass the time. Now to start checking the library for some "alternate history" novels to along side the Cornwell and Iggulden.