White Walkers?

There Has Been SNOW ...

I felt that I ought to add in an ellipsis there instead of three exclamation marks, because that would be unseemly, hysterical and nearly Continental levels of emotion.  However, because there is a light dusting of the chilly white stuff, the entire country will have ground to a halt.  The traffic was backed up for a mile into Royton today, but I got a lift in <thumbs nose at First Bus> which meant I sped quickly to my appointment with AN HYPODERMIC SYRINGE!  <blenches with horror>  Art?

     Notice all the white and the people walking, which is where the title of today's blog comes from and is in no way a click-baiting reference to that modest cult success 'Game of Thorns" or somesuch.

They filled THIS MANY with my precious go-juice!

Blowing Cold And Hot

We are back to the Battle of Medenine again, because I've already written it out and thus you get to hear about it, willingly or not.*  If you recall, your humble scribe was contesting the British losses quoted on Wikipedia, because they were wrong.  WRONG WRONG WRONG! - just to be clear.

     “But – but – but – why would the Axis lie?” I hear you quibble.  To save face, of course.  The Axis forces suffered an absolute drubbing in what was probably the stupidest battle Rommel ever planned.  They lost about 50 tanks, which remained on the battlefield; when they sneaked back after dark to try and recover them, they were dissuaded by artillery fire.  Lots of artillery fire.

Howlingly ironic credit

     To further prove that Rommel’s reputation is nothing like as excellent as believed, a post-script from Monty:  “He is trying to attack me in daylight with tanks, followed by lorried infantry. I have 500 6pdr atk guns dug in...I have 400 tanks...good infantry...and a great weight of artillery. It is an absolute gift, and the man must be mad.”

     I think there’s still some content to be squeezed from this topic, like an unfortunate lemon slice going through the press seven times too often.**

One of these is hard-working, reliable and easy to maintain.  The other is a Tiger tank

Blowing Hot And Cold

Hmmm.  I expect the Ruffian ambassador to be making a formal protest to the Court of Saint James any moment now, because you know Ruffian officials - anxious to avoid getting blamed for anything, and liable to blame other folks at the merest hint of a whisper of a hat about to be dropped.
     "What is the drunken old duffer going on about now?" I hear you ask.
     Pausing only to observe that it is only 12:26 post meridian, and that the strongest thing to pass my lips has been cobalt-salted nitromethane coffee, I shall explicate.
     It's the "Beast from the East".  Art?

Thus

     You can expect that ambassador complaining at such a negative association, because all Ruffia and Ruffians are made of sugar and rainbows.*** Or he'll complain that Perfidious Albion is nicking their winter, because - er - because - well, just because.

Hark At The Shark!

You've already seen this at a distance, but Conrad has decided that it needs to be brought to the forefront, for your attention, because Sharks Are Our Friends.  Art?

I park the shark

     Designed and crafted by Darling Daughter, there are no other such pendants anywhere in the world, not that I'm being elitist about it - oh, okay, I am.  It's Carcharodon Carcharias, or the Great White to you, as found in various marine environments, including the Pacific.

     Which, given that the Pacific is east of Perfidious Albion, means it's a -

"The Devil's Dictionary"
Oh my.  I remember going on about Ambrose Bierce, waaay back when BOOJUM! was merely a paragraph of text with no pictures.  He is the cynic responsible for TDD, which has nothing to do with Satan per se; rather, it presents a very, very jaundiced view of humanity.  Take the word "abatis" as an example.  Art?

Abatis: a breastwork or defence

   Under Ol' Amb, it becomes "Rubbish in front of a fort, to prevent the rubbish outside from molesting the rubbish inside."
     I have an edition of it lurking somewhere, and it truly makes hilarious reading.
     As for Ol' Amb himself, nobody knows what happened to him, except that he disappeared in Mexico in 1914 during one of their periodic revolutions, and his body hasn't been found since.^

*  I'm horrid like that
**  I have a way with words, haven't I?
***  And vodka.
^  Abducted by aliens.  The only explanation