It's July 4th!

In Case You Missed The Date
Celebrated across the pond in - go on, I'll use their name for themselves - America as the date they threw off the yoke of tyrannical imperial diktat, and all sorts of Yay! Liberty stuff like that.
     "Politics, Conrad, Politics!" I hear you chide.  True enough, except South Canadian independence is more than two centuries gone, so I think I get a pass on that one.
     Anyway, that has nothing to do with "Independence Day".
     No!  Not the film, nor the sequel either, although the prospect of Things Exploding Even More This Time Around is pretty appealing. 
     Sorry about the tangent going off at a tangent*.
     What I meant to say is that "Independence Day" is probably the best-known track by The Comsat Angels and herein a link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GJoTVLXUCI

     This is the original version, rather than the Gold version from "Land", which is technically more proficient yet lacks the passion of the original.  

The album from which it hails: "Waiting for a Miracle"

      Listen in awe to Steve Fellows laying down harmonic chords years before The Edge stole the idea, and how the keyboards only come in at the chorus, and marvel at the bleak abstraction of the lyrics.  Oh, and their record company suggested they might want to "enhance" the album cover photo by scattering a few mannequins across the motorway, a suggestion the Comsats politely declined.
     The Comsats were, and are, one of the best (if unluckiest) bands this country ever produced and this is An Undisputable Fact.  Go out and buy their albums RIGHT NOW!
     Right, enough of our musical salute.  Let the motley commence!

"Clouds Of Witness" By Dorothy Sayers
Yes, I know her novels are usually attributed to "Dorothy L. Sayers" but I'm not going to put the "L" in because, frankly, how many female literary genii are there called "Dorothy Sayers"*?
     The novel features Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey, that long-faced purveyor of persiflage, all folly and foldirol, with a mind possessing all the power of a bear trap edged with razors.

Motto: "As my whimsy takes me"

     Written in 1926, a kinder, gentler age - that is, apart from the murder and attempted murder and adultery and perjury and wife-beating and near-death - but with no swearing or <ahem> bedroom hanky-panky.
     Conrad first read it years ago.  Now, this is the curse of a retentive mind: he then had to wait several years for the details to fade as there is little more frustrating than reading a whodunnit when you already know the Who and the How.
     For this reason it will be years before I can re-read "Five Red Herrings".  The retentive mind, you see.

A Little Qualified Gloasting
The blog achieved 139 hits yesterday, a one-day record.  No idea what caused this - possibly the quotidian quantum quorate of quality's quintessence?  Conrad has found that - what's that?  Evidence or you don't believe me?  Very well.  Art!  Put that coal down and show evidence!

Sic.

     Conrad has found that these totals vary over time, since people go back and read old stuff, thus mucking up the daily stats.  Not complaining, tho'!
    "Conrad: Hates All Musicals" seems to have been the most viewed post evah, with 238 views.  If only I knew what brought the visitors in. Apart from that quotidian quantum quorate of quality's quintessence.

Lt. Colonel Alan Hamilton
This is the person depicted in this screenshot, as you can see presiding at part of the 1st July Somme commemorations.

     The Colonel is also a member in good standing of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers, and is a regular contributor to the Journal of same.  Bit of a busman's holiday, one might think. 

And For Today's Coincidence -
You remember yesterday, when Conrad was ever-so-helpfully filling in your critical information blanks as regards "Bleeding Edge", and he came across "LIBOR"?  This is the "London Interbank Offered Rate" and is i) not something you encounter every day and ii) still not something you encounter on a quotidian basis.
     So it was with a sense of unease bordering on alarm that he beheld one of today's stories on the Beeb website.  Art?

Egad!  Also, gadzooks!

     This is why I keep looking over my shoulder and never sit with my back to the door.

     Well, there would have been more, except I was on a late shift today and thanks to accidents on the motorway and a road in Chadderton being closed due to a "police incident", I got in late.  More scrivel tomorrow!



*  Conrad.  What a scamp.