Give Me More BAGPIPE!

Less Slash And Hack, More Doodlesack
If you are confused, I shall clarify matters in a minute.  Firstly, however, I would like you to stew a little about what exactly the sack of a doodle is, and whether you eat it with a spoon or sip from a cut glass.
     I have "Hielan' Laddie" playing in the background at the moment, just to fit in with the general theme.  Oh, that's "Highland Laddie" for the Sassenachs.  Here's a shot of the massed pipe and drum bands playing at the Edinburgh Tattoo -

Awesome stuff

     This impresses Conrad for several reasons.  One is their being able to play the bagpipes, for your humble scribe has no musical talent - he can indeed hit things very hard but you need a sense of rhythm to play percussion - yet can still appreciate talent in others.  The second is their being able to march around in fancy patterns without hitting each other, for your modest artisan is both large and clumsy and frequently has trouble putting one foot in front of the other, even when sober.  The third reason is being able to play bagpipes and march around in fancy patterns.  
   
About That Doodlesack -
Your humble scribe has now finished watching Episode 2 of Season 2 of "Game of Thrones" and is quite annoyed at the complete lack of BAGPIPES to date.
     "That's somewhat random, Conrad, even for you, old sport," I hear you query.  "Whatever next?  A maudlin comment about the paucity of sackbuts and crumhorns?"
     Leaving aside your worrying familiarity with medieval musical instruments, I shall elucidate.

Snow, yes, and ice and yet NO BAGPIPES!

     The Night Watch are bimbling around north of the Wall, in the land of the Wildlings, who in this world are analogous to the Scots.  Name one musical instrument associated with Caledonia, and if you say "accordion" I shall smite you on the head with this spoon.  Yet not a bagpipe do we see.  Not even a doodlesack.

JAZZ BAGPIPES!
Admit it, not two words you ever expected to see.  Nor did I.  Art?

     Any words here are really superfluous.  One can add that this is proof positive that our Teutonic brethren do have a sense of humour.

Bagpipes -

Go on, call his kilt a skirt, I dare you

Doodlesack -

Glad we cleared that up

You Know You've Made It When -
You feature on the cover of 2000AD.

Go on, mention skirts, I dare you

     It's actually a mobile sonic combat chassis, and it KILLS.  

Okay, lest you think that Conrad is getting a bit weird in his old age, in which case I have to ask how you tell the difference, we shall move on.  But retaining the ice and snow of a bit further up the page.

"Napoleon's Invasion Of Russia" By Paul Austin Britten
The retreat of the French army continues.  It is nothing less than a continual catalogue of catastrophe in the November snows.  The only good news for the French is that the appalling weather is keeping the murderous bands of armed peasants away.  The Grande Armee is now down to 110,000 men, of which 50,000 still have weapons, with the remainder being a disorganised, starving, unarmed rabble.
     And there's still trouble with the horses.  On icy Russian roads and ground the horses cannot get any traction as they have smooth horseshoes.  They ought to have been specially hooved - the term is "roughshod" - that is, horseshoes with protruding spines.  Only the Polish cavalry, with experience of winter campaigns against their Slavic brethren, have roughshod horses.

Hoofing it, for your education

     A minor point, but very important, as otherwise the horse teams cannot pull even the smallest wagon up more than a very faint incline.

Ha!  Outfoxed You!
Conrad took up the challenge offered by some entity on Facebook, about guessing what his favourite band was.  This would be difficult, as I am inclined to cheat at these things.  Here is their bold offer:

"Can we guess your favourite band?"
No.  No, you cannot.

     I answered 29 questions, some of which were ridiculous - me, attend an awards ceremony?  They dragged out the ridiculous cliche about which decade had the best music, which out to be carved in granite and used to beat the question-setter about the head with.  
     Here is their confident assertion:

Wrong!

     I had in mind Pink Floyd, who are not exactly minor or obscure, but if they had guessed that correctly I'd have lied and said The Comsat Angels.  I know, I know, I'm a terrible person!
     And not a single question about bagpipes.