That Murderous Manitoban

Metaphorically, Mind
Or you might prefer the "Terrifying Torontan" or "Killer Kalgaryan", except with that latter we are exploiting capitalisation for purposes of shock.  Making things up to boost traffic? - surely not here at the blog!  Art?

There's a Union Jack in there somewhere

     Here's a thing.  Your average Canadian is a polite, friendly character who only bears a grudge against the world for thinking that Poutine is the sole good thing to come out of British America Canada.*
     However.
     Put said Canuck into a uniform and they become quite the Unpleasant Thing With Guns, taking on the dash in attack of their South Canadian cousins, and the dourness in defence of their Perfidious Albion motherland.  For Yes!  We are back in the History of the Canadian Machine Gun Corps, the 'Emma Gees.'  Don't weep so, I've actually finished reading it, and I knew you couldn't wait to hear a precis, so here it is.

The original article

     One thing did strike me in passing, as the diary hits October 9th 1918; mention is made of a new gas that the British were using, described as 'very effective'.  From the timeline, I know this to be mustard gas, an hideous chemical concoction dreamed up by the Teutons.  They had been using it since the summer of 1917, much to the extreme dislike of the Allies, who took until the autumn of 1918 to retaliate with their own version.  Once they did have it, the British gunners gleefully expended tens of thousands of mustard gas shells upon the hapless Teuton stubble-hoppers, who by that stage of the war must have been heartily cursing Fritz Haber for starting the whole business.

Looks like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, doesn't he?

     Mention is also made of the liberated town of Ramillies, which leads to -

The Battle Of Ramillies
Don't worry, I shan't keep you for long, although I could do a 15,000 word analysis of the battle if - No?  You're sure?
     Well then, this is to observe that back in 1706 the British were fighting alongside the Austrians - mutual enemies during the First Unpleasantness - against the French - mutual allies during the First Unpleasantness - and that the French were allied with the Bavarians - very much mutual enemies during the First Unpleasantness.
     War and politics do indeed make for strange bedfellows.  Art?

The British being beastly with bayonets
(It's a thing with them)

     Conrad also notes that the victory was thanks to the outstanding ability of the coalition commander, General John Churchill, who had a rather famous descendant - we may come back to this.  It has legs.

Now I Know
Ania very kindly translated the cooking instructions for "Squashes stuffed with meat and groats" for your humble scribe yesterday, and indeed they do differ from the cold, clinical and somewhat-lacking Google translation. 
     She also informed me that "dag" means "grams", so the minced meat needed amounts to less than an ounce.  Great. I have about a pound of remaindered turkey mince that needs using up, and making SSWMAG will barely tickle that lot.

This turkey nobly sacrificed itself so that we may not hunger.

  Hang on - is Donald Fagen still hale and hearty? He is?  Phew!  Apparently it was merely a hangover, not a myocardial infarction.  Drink plenty of water, Don, and less alcohol, you're not a young man any longer.

     Where were we?  Oh yes, foofoodillies.  Art?

Nucle - er  - foofoodillies

     Here we see a family cluster of B28 therm - foofoodillies,** in their natural environment.  Don't worry, this will make sense when I post the links in Facebook and Twitter.
To You, A Cruel And Unusual Punishment -
Conrad was shocked, alarmed, surprised and even horrified when checking his list of histories that he possesses which deal with the history of British divisions present in the Great War.***
     "Where - where, I say, is "The 36th (Ulster) Division" as compiled by Captain Cyril Falls?" I asked myself.  Struck by an even less pleasant thought, I checked my big list of Military History books.
     Nope, not there, either. 
     This was bad.  I clearly remember reading it last year.  In fact that big list hadn't been updated since October 2017.  Why, what else might be missing from it?
     Horrors!
     I think the only thing to do is to go through every military history book I have and see if it is on the big list, and add it in if absent.
     This is no easy task, for which see the following.  Art?

*  There is Tim Hortons, as well
**  Just in case those pikers from MI5 or UNIT are eavesdropping again.
***  That's what they called it at the time, so don't blame me.