Why "PIAT" Is Not Latin

It Is In Fact, English
Although I cheated a bit and, since it's an acronym, there ought to be full stops in there as well. "P.I.A.T."  There.  Happy now?
     PIAT sounds as if it's Latin, as in some droning acapella hymn, 

Like Liverpool Cathedral tonight, as they do not play the organ on Wednesdays

except it stands for "Projector Infantry Anti-Tank", and it was a rather Heath Robinson-esque British anti-tank weapon (the clue is in the name) of the Second Unpleasantness.  You can hear Anthony Hopkins, playing Colonel Frost in "A Bridge Too Far", shouting 'Bring up the PIAT!' at the bridge in question.

PIAT, Brought Up, One Of

     "This is going well beyond obscure," I can hear you expostulate.  "Into the daft."
     It doesn't come out of nowhere, I assure you.  There I was, watching "Archer" and the episode "Bloody Ferlin" - and I have to caution you that this series is most definitely NOT for the young or easily shocked - and there's Ray breaking into the ISIS arsenal.  That's "International Secret Intelligence Services", just for your information.

To the left

     'I say!' blurted your humble scribe.  'That's a Bren gun!' and indeed it is, behind Ray's left hand.  It was clearer on the actual episode but I'm not going to track it down to do a screenshot as I only have a finite time to live.
     Anyway, at chest level to Ray is the unmistakable maw of a PIAT.  Art?

Proof

     Now, somebody at the animation studios certainly knows their British infantry weapons of the Second Unpleasantness, as these items were only used during it and then withdrawn immediately afterwards.
     To fire one - oh, you didn't think you were going to get away that lightly with a couple of pictures, did you? - to fire one you compressed a giant spring, placed a bomb in the spigot tray and fired.  The backblast then re-cocked the spring - usually - and you were good to go again.  It had a range of about 50 yards and unless you were inside a main battle tank when one of the bombs hit, you were in for a bad day; frequently you were in for a bad day even if inside a main battle tank.  One PIAT peculiarity is that they gave off very little flash or smoke, so it was very difficult for the opposition to see where the fire was coming from.  I have read of a German assault-gun being fired on 16 times by a PIAT team, who managed neither to hit or destroy it, yet the hapless Teutons couldn't find out where they were being bombarded from and retreated.  Points win for Brits.

Usually - and if not ...

"The Girl With All The Gifts" By Mike Carey
This time I am banging on about the novel, which I got last Friday and have just finished.  It's bound to be on display in your nearest reputable bookshop, and perhaps also in a few disreputable ones.
     There is a significant presence in the novel which is omitted from the film: "Junkers".  No, not the militant Prussian aristocracy (some of whom might have been on the receiving end of a PIAT bomb or two), but rather a tranche of society named after junk. 

Like this, except with less sun and Australian accent

 They are what might be called a third force; those who refused to go into refugee camps and who live literally outside the wire.  They occur at least three times in the novel, twice in numbers and with equipment.  This is probably the reason for the omission, and don't forget Mike Carey wrote the screenplay as well as the novel: cost.  Not only more people but more props and more vehicles.  You can only do so much on a budget of £4 million, after all*.

Redundancy
Conrad has been walking up and down Tandle Hill Road for decades.  This is not in the service of stalking anyone, it's merely that this is the route to and from Tandle Hill Park, most usually encountered whilst allowing Edna to stretch her legs.  For ages there was an old brick letterbox about half way down, which had been recently vandalised.
     They must have been very determined vandals, as they'd managed to knock the stone mounting completely off the letterbox.
     So, the Post Office replaced it, with a modern metal pedestal-mounted letterbox.

Et voila

     Can you see the deliberate error here?

Finally
Only one photograph of Edna outdoors, this on her first trot down Tandle Hill Road.

     She is now whimpering because, rather than pay her unlimited attention, I am crafting words at my computer, which in her world counts as Beyond Wicked Neglect.

Chin chin!


*  This sounds like a lot but in film-making it's not