Old Sparky

Ah, Yes, About That -
Probably not what you expected, at least in the first place.
     Okay, I shall apologise to readers both in South Canada and the Allotment for what may seem misleading, because it is misleading.
     Let me introduce I Spy.  No!  Not the old television series with (whisper his name) Bill Cosby and Robert Culp.  Art?

Here you are - some not-very-covert spies

     This is not what I mean.  Let's try again, if Art can put down that plate of coal?
 

Ah, there we are!

     There you go, I Spy.  His gimmick was that you never, ever saw his face - shades of Judge Dredd there - and he could produce anything from beneath his trench-coat, as the quote went "from a battleship to a pork pie" enabling him to take on either the Kaiser's navy or an evil bar mitzvah.
     "Er - yes, Conrad, but where does this get us?" I hear you asking, querulously.  "The 'Spark' bit?"
     Simple enough.  Art?

Gender-equal

     Please note that date - 1974 - so that makes this an <ahem> Old Sparky.

Thank You Pete
As you know, Conrad is, frankly, a smartarse when it comes to words and language, and he finds it entertaining and diverting to tackle Cryptic crosswords on a daily basis.  Thus he was obliged to thank Pete who confirmed the answer was indeed "Reverse" - the crucial bit was "Erse" meaning "Irish" which Pete knew and I didn't.  Thank you, Pete.  He also provided The Metro for Thursday and Friday.

Friday's

     Hoorah for Pete!
     I thought it would be nice to recognise  Pete's purveyance of papers, except he's extraordinarily averse to being photographed, so Tom - noble Tom! - agreed to be the stand-in.  If I can get the photograph to load, Dropbox and my mobile Devilbox being rather problematic.

Tom being Pete

     Now, how many blogs do you know that have Stunt Photo Doubles?

Numbers Of Naughtiness
Ah yes the numbers!  Allow me to dull your attention span with a few observations about BOOJUM! and statistics.  NO!  Don't leave!  I can't make percentages sexy but I can make them entertaining*.
     Let's jump back in time in time.  18th June 1847.  Hey, National Day in the Seychelles!  Okay, only joking.  Let us jump back to June 2013 when BOOJUM! began, and then jump forward to November 2016.
     Why?  Because it's my blog and I can jump around in time like The Doctor on a TARDIS binge if I feel like it.
     Anyway, November 2016, traffic for 3 1/2 years comes to 40,000.  
     Okay, TARDIS binge, - jump forward to today and Presto! In less than 2 months we've acquired an additional 20,000 hits.  

Well, this is good news as BOOJUM! and Conrad are poised to take over the world.
     Don't worry, I shall be a merciful master**.

Old Sparky
Ah, yes, now, BOOJUM! cannot be accused of bursting with good taste, exactly.  A preoccupation with atom bombs probably hinted at that.  So, let us now actually move onto a subject that chimes with today's blog title:  Old Sparky.  More formally known as The Electric Chair, a matter of ghoulish interest for your humble scribe, springing of course from acquiring The Chair.

The Chair: non-lethal version

     The electric chair, if you can believe it, was invented as a more <ahem> humane method of execution than hanging, presumably along the same lines where the guillotine was introduced as being more humane than <thinks> being thrown into a pit of wild animals?

Pit of wild animals: the modern equivalent

     Bear in mind that it once took 11 minutes for the condemned to expire in the electric chair and I think you might begin to wonder about how humane our great-great-grandparents were.  Also, it was not uncommon for those strapped-in to catch fire - useful if the witnesses present had pockets full of marshmallows or chestnuts, although liable to smell somewhat.  A case of more Singe Singe than Sing Sing, you might say, and altogether more redolent of that old Medieval standby for execution, being burnt at the stake.

Close enough

     The reason "Old Sparky" looks the way it does is because the driving force behind it's design was - a dentist.  He thought that a dentist's chair, an instrument of torment in it's own right, would be Just Right! for immobilising unwilling victims.  Well, he would know.
     We here in the Allotment were offered electric chairs by the South Canadians in lieu of Good Old-Fashioned hanging and politely declined.  No New World novelties for us, thank you, we're British!

*  Perhaps.
**  Mostly.