Giving Wellington The Boot

Bear With Me -
This will take a bit of development, and we shall have to make a diversion via Roman triumphal arches, not  to mention an official War Diary.  But first!  off we go on a wild tangent, with a display of The Haul from yesterday.  Art?

     All strictly factual, of course.  Diabetic cooking, the ANZAC in the First Unpleasantness, and Mr. Brooks' thinly-veiled opus on zombies*.  He hides it well, but your humble scribe happens to know that he holds an official position as Undead Crisis Advisor to the FBI over in South Canada.  This work of 'fiction' is a hidden warning to the world.  PAY ATTENTION TO IT!
     Incidentally, please note the laughable stickers on both paperbacks - "Read it and return it".  Not fnorping likely!  Once Conrad's hot sweaty hands get lain upon a book, it resideth in his house forever after, yeah verily.
     Okay, Intro over, let us proceed with the motley!

The Triumphal Arch
As mentioned yesterday, Conrad has been musing on these structures - a man's Conrad's got to do something to keep his mind occupied, hasn't he? - and they do indeed derive from the Romans, who erected them for major events such as military victories, deaths of emperors, start of a new tax year, etcetera.  Art?  Example, please.

The Arch of Constantine

    Being present across Europe, these show-offs left an impression on later empire- builders, such as Napoleon, who had his own (admittedly impressive) Arch of Triumph constructed in 1806.  Art?

Still standing

     Although it stands at an intersection of 12 roads, the AOT is big enough for even French drivers to notice and avoid**.  In a bit of tit-for-tat, the Ruffians built their own AOT in 1814 to celebrate giving Nappy a right shoeing, but I'm not going to go on about that, because this is the bit about Wellington.
     Wellington Arch, that is.  Art? Put your plate of coal down and give us a picture.

Wellington, being arch

     This is the arch in it's original position, and it's not a wonderful photograph since it was taken in 1850, when people still believed having your pick-a-ture taken meant your soul was stolen***.  Come 1882 they moved the AOT to Hyde Park Corner, which must have been a major job as it weighs several hundred tons.  I suppose if you put it together bit by bit you can reverse the process.
     Anyway, the new version removed Ol' Welly and replaced him with a chariot .  Art?

With people for scale

     So there's today's title.  That's not all for the Wellington AOT, however.  Until 1992 it housed the Allotment's smallest police station in one of the legs.  

How very quaint!
(the police station, not the cat)

     I don't wonder that this features at some point in a "Bryant & May" murder mystery, and if it hasn't already then I want a royalty if it does.
     But wait, for there is more!  The underground Hyde Park Underpass needed a ventilation shaft, so one of the arch's legs is actually an outlet for this subterranean traffic route, rendered thus in the Sixties.  I think we have an illustration somewhere -

The greyed bit above

    So there you have it, a whistle-stop tour of one of Sodom-on-Thames' major landmarks.

To You, A Punishment
As you should surely know by now, Conrad does not think the way you Hom. Sap.s do, nor are his tastes those of You The Public - cars or football as topics for conversation hold no interest, but thermonuclear warhead design - yes please!
     Which brings us onto the following - Art?  Less coal more pictures.

Clear enough, I hope

     This is the official War Diary of the Canadian 6th Brigade's Machine Gun company for 1916 and 1817, which requires a little explanation.  Yes, Vulnavia, there were Canadians involved in the First Unpleasantness, lots of 'em, to the tune of 4 divisions.  Each division was split into 3 Brigades (of 4 battalions, each of about 1,000 men) and each Brigade had a company of machine guns attached to it.  If this was the 6th Brigade then it would have been part of the 2nd Canadian Division.

A Colt "Potato-digger"

     Originally they were armed with the above machine-gun, and there's a famous painting of the British Americans in action at Second Ypres, where you can see a jammed and discarded Colt MG.  Art?

Plus one in use left of centre

     I am going to enjoy scrolling through this War Diary and - inevitably and you are probably ahead of me here - I will be retelling you in excuciating detail what is being described and when and where.  Oh yes!



*  Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, if you want to know.
**  That's the M83's for you: they can conquer Europe, but they can't drive for toffee.
***  Ha!  how foolish of them!  Right?  I mean, they are foolish, aren't they?