The Man With The Golden Pun

That's Me -
 - in case you were wondering.  Yes!  We continue with our look at James Bond, and here's the thing -

Hmmm.

     - Ah.  Yes.  Art.  I'm busy now, I'll cattle-prod him later.  As I was saying - or was I?  It's a bit difficult to keep up with my thoughts, given the party going on in my head 24/7. 
     Anyway, James Bond and "Dr No":  Yesterday I confessed to an ignorance about the flora of the Caribbean, which had been partially redressed by Mr. Fleming's descriptions.  Now we move onto subject matter that I am familiar with - rocketry and missiles. 
    
     SPOILER ALERT!


     Our arch-villain Dr. No has boasted of affecting a whole lot of South Canadian missile tests via electronic tinkering, and names a list of same to Bond:  SNARK, ZUNI, MATADOR, PETREL, REGULUS, BOMARC, MASTODON.

Er - deadly when fired?

     I shall have to check this list completely - for I am nothing if not a completist anorak* - but I can tell you that SNARK, REGULUS and BOMARC were all real missiles, and that the latter two made it into production <checks> oh and SNARK, too.  Which, since this blog takes it's title from Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting Of The Snark", gladdens my fusion-powered pumping unit heart.  Art?

Hark, hark - a hunting Snark!

     Here an aside.  The SNARK, built 60 years ago, had a smaller CEP than those rather pathetic Nork Ding-Dong missiles have nowadays, which is either a mark of South Canadian technical proficiency or Nork primitiveness, take your pick.  As you can see from the photograph above, it was a big beastie, which is because it was designed and intended to cruise all the way from sunny South Canada to the icy wastes of the Sinister Union, whereupon it would fall on it's target and render it unto atoms.
     Hmmm. On checking, it seems that Dr No is a bit of a blowhard.  The ZUNI was an unguided rocket with no electronic guidance involved, so he cannot have goosed it in any way.  Art?

NO!  Or yes, whichever is appropriate

     Well, what else can you expect from a thief?**


Sugar Sugar
<smacks lips>  thank you, Kat, for gifting me that Caramel-flavoured coffee, which I enjoyed because I cannot have sugar any longer.
     THANK YOU DIABETES THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR MY LACK OF SWEETIES!
     <pauses to smack lips again - hey it was nice coffee - and allow rage to cool>

Diabetes is dull - have an Arbogast Mud Bug fishing lure instead!

     Because I can see you panting with anticipation - either that or you've been marathon running - I shall explicate a bit further.  Last year I got diagnosed as diabetic, with a blood sugar reading of 84, when the upper bound of what the doctors are happy with is 44.  So, basically, I had red treacle running through my tubes.  After a vile year of sacrificing everything that makes life worth living (ice cream breakfasts are now a distant memory) my rating as taken by the nurse yesterday was a comfortable 37.
     Whoopee.  If it had not fallen then I think I'd just have gorged myself to death with cake, after all that sacrifice (ice cream breakfasts are now a distant memory and I know I've already typed that, but IT HURTS SO MUCH!)

A man can but dream ...

     As mentioned yesterday, I may have a jelly baby in celebration.
     <makes a brave face that conceals a broken heart>


Aha!  Caught you out, Mister Fleming!  The MASTODON is an entirely fictional missile that never existed!


The Haul
One of the perks of - in fact the only perk of - having a medical appointment yesterday was getting out of the Dark Tower early enough to catch Church Street Bookbuyers whilst it was still open.  Eddie, the owner, opens as and when he feels like it, and is usually off and away by 4 post meridian, meaning your humble scribe rarely catches him.  So I - er - made up for this omission yesterday.  Art?

Quite a haul

     They are none of them small, in fact I could feel the tendons in my arm stretching thanks to the weight of the bag they were in.  I shall regard "The Narrow Margin" (upper left) with interest, as it formed the basis for that cinematic opus "The Battle of Britain".


I realise I've not continued here about Violet Club, as promised yesterday, but frankly I think you can only read so much about nuclear missiles.  And now for more caramel-flavoured coffee!  <makes happy face>***








*  Good thing?  Bad thing?  Only you can tell!
**  Mind you, it was a million dollars, so - a chief thief?
***  Mercurial, that's me