Again, On The Scene -

With A Mangosteen!
Gotcha - you were expecting this to be about N.C.I.S. or H.M.S. Upholder or the evolution of Torpedo Boat Destroyers, weren't you?  Or at the very least something about submarines.  Well, never one to disappoint my audience, let us take a look at more Irwin Allen underwater shenanigans.  You have, if you read earlier blogs this week, seen pictures of his recycled opus "City Beneath The Sea", which re-used props and sets from other of his television series; Ol' Ir was a believer in squeezing: a dollar out of a dime/a pound out of penny/an actor's throat till they agreed to work for scale (delete where applicable).  Art?

City Beneath the Sea!
(Or all the vacuum tubes and valves from a Fifties television set)

     As I said, previous television programs, which include that eternal classic "Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea".  Great theme tune, chaps.  Conrad wonders how slowly the 'Seaview' submarine travelled, since it seemed to take years to get to the bottom of the briny.  Since I mentioned submarines, let Art illustrate the 'Seaview' <sounds of cattle-prod being charged>

One weird-looking submarine.

     But wait!  We're not done yet, for Ol' Ir also had the Flying Submarine, which deployed out of Seaview, before gaily disporting itself like a swallow across the heavens.  Art?

Step One

     And -

Conrad not entirely sure how it flew, exactly.*

     Well there you go, and I bet you hadn't even noticed that we'd changed the font today from Trebuchet to Helvetica, just to see what difference it made.  Not much, to be honest.
     Okay, I think it's time to tie the motley to the back of a (hungry) crocodile and see what fun evolves from there!

HMS Upholder a.k.a. P37

You Lucky People
I did state that you'd only get a picture of the maps that came with Volume II of "Official History of the War: Naval Operations" if you'd been good.
     Have you been good?  Or at least undetected in your malfeasance?  Very well then, you may view a picture or two.  Art!

     These are the separate maps for 'Home Waters' and 'Eastern Mediterranean' and I have to stand back at this distance to get both into shot, as they are whopping big things.  I doubt you get these with the 2007 Naval and Military Press reprints, eh?
     One more.  Art?

     The hunting and destruction of SMS Dresden, whom I bet you've never heard of.  Don't worry, neither have I.  
     Right, you may now go back to your malfeasing.  And don't get caught.

Pub Quiz Is Back!
That is, back at The Pleasant Inn, it's stamping fields of yore.  A new landlord and landlady have arrived, meaning that the quizmaster, Steve, has been able to run the quiz.  This your humble scribe discovered last night en route to The Summit, where they have a much larger clientele of much younger people in a much, much noisier environment.  Conrad was immediately the oldest person in the venue when he ventured across the threshold, whereas he is automatically the youngest at The Pleasant.  Art!  A picture for the readers.

The old fogey's refuge

     A small thing, but an enjoyable life is full of such.

A Mangosteen, because there'd be trouble if one failed to turn up

I May Have Mentioned This Before -
E'en if we are dabbling dangerously close to the turbid waters of Current Affairs, I think we can risk dipping a long, malformed, taloned toe in there.  I see the Beeb's website is reporting that dangerous 'selfie' activity has killed 259 people over the past 7 years, followed by a list of countries where such things mostly occur, and the most risky selfie activities: drowning, road accidents and falling from tall things.

CAUTION!  This is not a playground.

SURPRISE!  Neither is this.

Do I even have to say it?

     The researchers behind the Beeb's article numbers also assert that Death-by-Selfie is actually under-reported, which I can quite believe, since those killed by or in traffic are put down as road traffic fatalities.  Conrad cannot quite believe the number of people he has witnessed strolling ignorantly into traffic whilst utterly engrossed on their devil's digital device.  This is why "The Darwin Awards" will never run out of material.
     Or is there another explanation?

Well, yes, he could get away with it ...

*  It's in the script