Break My Bones - It's Quindar Tones!

Ah, What A Redolent Name -
Quindar Aloysius Tones, Irish rebel, fighting in the hills against the wicked British with his band of Celtic cut-throat crusaders in the eighteenth century -
     Or, perhaps, Quindar Tones MSc, that very epitome of the Victorian Gentleman Detective, who solved cases like Hijacked Hog of Hackney Hollow or the Distracted Dog of Deeping Down -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrB6uCV2F0k

     Actually I'm making it up out of whole cloth, as usual.
     "Quindar Tones" are those bleeps you hear in NASA communications.  You know:
     <Bleep> Hello CAPCOM, this is Houston, how do you read us? <Bleep>
     <Bleep> Roger Houston, reading you five by five <Bleep>
     They're called "Quindar tones" because the electronics company that made the electronics was called - Quindar.

Yamantau
More of your reluctant immersion into the weird and woeful world of the Big Bang Bombs.  You will be familiar with the image and function of NORAD - not least as it was featured in the first and far superior "Wargames".
     It's not widely known that there is a Russian equivalent, situated in the bowels of Yamantau* Mountain.  This is close to the site of one of the Russian's nuclear research laboratories, Chelyabinsk 70.  The nearby town of Meshgorje is closed - no Western tourists allowed, thanks, nor Russians without a valid work pass and permit.  There are three military garrisons atop the mountain, it has extensive rail links and large excavations have been undertaken there since 2003.  
     The Russians are rather reluctant to admit what it is, and have variously described it as a mine, a food repository, a secure location for military and political staff, or a hiding place for national treasures.
     Come on - look at the name!

"I would encourage you, Conrad, not to speculate any further. Just a friendly warning."

"Pathfinder" By David Blakeley
There's a lot of set-up in this account of the 2003 Gulf War, which ends up with three British soft-skin vehicles having to make a 175 kilometre dash through enemy-occupied Iraq, evading hundreds of Iraqi militia, driving through ambush after ambush, with no communications or air support.  Their Landrovers get shot up but amazingly none of the nine crew are injured, after encountering hundreds if not thousands of Iraqi soldiers trying to brass them to bits.

British tourists home-away-from-home

     Then the author is seriously injured when behind friendly lines as his Land Rover rolls over and on top of him.
     What you might call "Irony writ" large.


Ice Cream Breakfast man
Apparently having ice cream for breakfast is not usual.

But it is still delicious!

     I don't care!
     I'm carrying on having it for breakfast, so there.

The Pub Quiz
I confess to feeling a little ambiguous about attending at The Halfway House now.  
     Why is this so?
     Have a look at this:

My exquisitely-crafted John Shuttleworth flask

     Because Mister Landlord has decided that the quiz entrants are a captive audience and he therefore sets up his Farfisa organ to regale us with pub ballards.

The Weather
Summed up by the word "Changeable", grey sky, blue sky, clouds, rain, sun, wind, chilly, tabasco sauce**, warm.  I suppose the meteorology reports would class it as "Scattered showers and sunny intervals" which ducks the issue rather, as this covers nine months of the year here in the UK.  

The triumph of hope over circumstance

     Forgive me leating about it but weather is a peculiarly British obsession in that it's never extreme enough to be dangerous (or exciting) although it can make you utterly miserable, and it is notoriously unpredictable.
     Thank you for your patience.


Oh Hello Coincidence Fancy Meeting You Here
So, there I am on the bus, reading "Soldier From The Wars Returning" by Charles Carrington and he mentions a cousin from King Edward's Horse (a cavalry unit).
     By Jove, what's this cavalry formation mentioned in the "History of the 51st Highland Division"  - King Edward's Horse.  Just come across it as I'm creating my riveting and not-at-all-boring index for the latter volume.

King Edward's Horse
(They take turns riding it)

Who Decides?
As was very well put by Anthony in the office.
     You may not be aware of it, but this week is <drum roll> National Tomato Week!
     Conrad's not especially fond of them as a salad item, but is happy to have them pureed and put on a pizza.

     Then Tuesday the 19th was World Irritable Bowel Disease Day. 
     So - the tomato gets a week but a debilitating set of diseases only get one day?
     Again, who decides?

Tomatoes are dull.  Here's a giant crane instead

Okay, I Was Wrong

Still out.

     Those bulbs aren't replaced by telekinesis whenever the Scarlet Witch has a day free, it's done by TELEPORTATION!
     Who do we know who teleports?
     You got me there, and obviously my employers are equally at a loss or that bulb would be replaced.



* Meaning "evil" in the local dialect.  What a gift!
** Just testing.