Lovely Lolloping Lambs! Lovely Lolloping Lambs!

To Re-iterate, BOOJUM! Is Still On Full Charm
That is, if charm is composed one part smarm and another part alarm, with a dash of paranoia and a soupcon of schadenfreude*.  I have definitely toned down the usual array of nouns and verbs that tend to attract the attention of security services - we haven't been discussing "Z Nation" as it ended a few weeks ago, so that's the "z" word accounted for.  I have taken to using the word "foofoodilly" as a substitute for the bomb in atom bomb, and the term "Armoured Fighting Vehicle" instead of that word which fish live in.  Nobody is talking about atom-foofoodillying the Moon, and since I've forgotten what the fifth thing is it can't be very important.
    And yet - 

They're still there!

      Not just one but two anonymous white vans.  Two LARGE anonymous white vans to accomodate the number of intelligence agencies eavesdropping on the Mansion.  Just this morning there was a brief power cut and this afternoon a drone flew overhead, all highly suggestive.
     So -

Lovely lolloping lambs!  Lovely lolloping lambs!

Now To Bore The Eavesdroppers To Death
Don't worry, I shan't go reciting pi to ten thousand decimal places, nor the collected works of Shakespeare, nor yet still my collection of Mills & Boon paperbacks.
     Ha, no, instead we shall contrast and compare.  This is the repository of books down by my left-hand side before the weekend:

     A formidable cluster of long-slaughtered forest, I'm sure you'll agree**.  The total is open to question, probably fifty or so.
     Are you still awake, MI5?  
     I'm sure I can hear snoring if I lean against one of the van's sides ...
     Anyway, I did a little tidying of the books, into ones to read or retain for reference and ones to be put away.  "Put away" where I don't know, except perhaps for balancing atop an already filled bookcase.

Tidier.  Okay, okay, slightly tidier.  

     Whilst on the subject here's an example of that bookcase, together with some of Darling Daughter's degree note-work that she wanted to chuck out.  

They do liven the wall up somewhat, eh?

The Metro - 60 Seconds: David McCallum
I know what you're thinking: "But Conrad it's the weekend and The Metro isn't published on either Saturday or Sunday!"
     True enough.  But this is from earlier in the week.  Conrad hasn't left the Mansion this weekend - too risky with those relays of white vans out there.
     Anyway, the prose comic did redeem itself a little by printing it's interview with David McCallum, whom you probably know best as Doctor "Ducky" Mallard on "NCIS".  Conrad remembers him from back in the Sixties and "The Man From UNCLE"; this chap is 82 and still going strong.  His interview is wry and self-deprecating; Mr McCallum has never been precious about himself.  Art?

Like it says

     - and voila, to the present day -

Not sure how The Quintessential Englishman ends up working for the South Canadians ...

"History Of The Peloponnesian War" By Thucydides
I think I'm on safe ground here as there are no Things That Fish Live In, nor Foofoodillies in 430 BC, and they worshiped the Moon (or the Moon Goddess) rather than trying to blow it up with atomic foofoodillies.  I'm aware that we have the ancient Greeks to thank for the birth of literary drama but I don't think even innovators like them managed to invent the zombie.  Sorry - zombie.
     Earlier in the text Sparta had been patently unhappy at the prospect of Athens fortifying her environs, and when it comes to the siege of Plataea you realise why.  Plataea was a city allied to Athens, which the Spartans were determined to conquer.  They didn't manage to rush it, so they had to lay siege to it, which involved a long, slow assault that failed in the end.  After that they dug two ditches around the city, built a double wall with bricks made from the ditch excavation, roofed it over, added battlements and towers and sat to starve the garrison out.

Contemporary photograph

     The garrison was only 500 strong, so one can see the "force-multiplier" effect of the fortifications around the city.  Eventually half the garrison escaped in a minutely-described account that means Thuck must have spoken to one of the escapees.  Gripping stuff!
     There's also an account of a naval battle fought in the Crissaean Gulf - that is, a stretch of water near Crissa.  The Spartans (inferior to the Athenians in seamanship) managed to successfully defeat a small Athenian fleet within the constricted waters of the Gulf in a pre-planned set-piece battle.  When they pursued ten fleeing Athenian ships, matters took another turn; one Athenian ship took advantage of an anchored merchant vessel by sailing completely round it and coming up to ram a pursuing Spartan ship in the middle, sinking it quick smart. 

That'll take a bit of duck tape to fix ...

This rather shattered the morale of the other Spartan ships and they ended up getting much the worst of it from the Athenians.  Stirring stuff!  And again with such tactical detail that Thuck was taking testimony from a combatant who was there.

Right, I've got a letter to complete, laundry to iron, tea to eat and the old World Domination plans need a bit of a tickle to get them up to date.

 - oh, and just to divert - lovely lolloping lambs!

Er - Conrad unsure if this is "Lolloping" or "Blood-crazed mania"

Chin chin!


* Posing at no extra cost.
** Said with an element of sinful pride, I'm afraid.