Today We Insult Internationally!

Also Intentionally
Earlier today Conrad fulfilled contractual obligations (or that's what it feels like when you get stared at by a desperately despondent doggeh) and took Edna for a walk, during which he was brought up short when passing a driveway.
     No, nothing to do with the lead, it was a car marque.  Skoda the maker.
     Here an aside.  You may not be aware of Skoda as an engineering entity in Europe, though they were a bit of a joke when the yoke of Sinister hegemony* lay over Central and Eastern Europe.  Not very high quality cars, it was deemed.  However, they did have a tradition for making tanks pre- and pur-Second Unpleasantness.  Art?

Czech T38

     Thanks in part to the spineless Chamberlain government's selling the Czechs down the river, the Nasties got their hand on scads of the above.  In fact about 25% of the Teuton  tanks that invaded the West in 1940 were Czech models, which is proof of something.
     Anyway, back to that marque:  "Yeti".  Proof I am not raving**:

Er - yes.  Quite.
Quite what, I'm not sure

     I don't know if "Yeti" has a different connotation in Czech than it does in English, but surely not?  Who, in the focus group, spiked their water cooler with 200% gin? As linking your sleek passenger-carrying vehicle with a hairy-arsed behemoth from the frozen wastes does seem a little - shall we say "counter-intuitive"?

"Don't fret, Forrest old chap.  In years to come we'll inspire - cars!"

     Or perhaps a politer species inhabits the Tatra Mountains, less abominable and more "amenable if trained and given cake".
     What next - the Ford Oroville?

Well, that's our Slavic brethren of Central Europe insulted, even if only mildly.  Just to balance that, I have always felt that the Czechs are what you'd get if you crossed the Ruffians with the Teutons.

Now For Clerihew!
You've gotten away with an absence of these for the past few days, which I can no longer allow.  Sorry and all that.  Let the mockery begin!

Vladimir Putin

Needs shooting.

With a camera, I hasten to add, 

Not with a gun, because that would be bad.

Whizzing across the Pacific, or the Atlantic if you prefer retrograde, we then pick upon the South Canadians -

Alexander Graham Bell

Damn that chap to Hell!

He invented the telephone

Now the world won't leave me alone.

     I may have done that last one before, in shorter form, but genius repeated is still genius, right?

A Word On The Weather
Another passing occurence that caught my eye whilst walking Edna was what might be called "run-off", a testament to just how wet it has been of late in the Allotment of Eden.  I say "Allotment" because we've had four days of non-stop sunshine, which is remarkable enough to earn a comment here.
     "Yes yes yes, but about the running stuff?" I hear you quibble.  
     This will be easier with an illustration. Art?

Portrait of landscape with Edna

     As I said, the weather's been dry for the past four days, yet there is still water coming off the hills behind that fence and hedging.  Obviously the hills act like a sponge and soak up the rainfall, before allowing it to flow freely over the pavement and to allow pooch paws to paddle in it - Edna inevitably heads for the wettest, muddiest stretch of tarmac.
     So.  Now you know why it also gets known as the Pond of Eden.

More About Water
In our continuing look at tidal islands around Britain, may I present to you the Hilbre Islands.  This is a rather grandly-named archipelago at the mouth of the River Dee, near the Wirral peninsula on Merseyside.
     There are 3 islands in the chain; Hilbre, Middle Eye and Little Eye.  They can be reached from West Kirby at low tide and are a popular tourist destination in the summer months.  Art?

Hilbre and Middle Eye at high tide

     There is a bird observatory on Hilbre, as well as a disused lifeboat station, but there are no permanent residents there.  Wirral Council, who own the islands, had trouble recruiting a wildlife ranger who was willing to put up with - er - "basic" amenities; for which read there is no mains electricity nor running water.  Babywipes and chemical toilets ahoy! which is probably not selling it, either.

With the tide out

  

*  That's a great word, isn't it?  Even if I am a bit hazy about it's exact meaning.
**  Not this time.