Dig The Pig

You May Not Understand What I'm Getting At
That's okay, sometimes it eludes me as well.  We here at BOOJUM! are not asking you to march in support of the police, nor yet to bury a hapless porker alive in a shallow grave - I mean, you can if you want to; everyone ought to have a hobby, I always say.
     No, what we are doing in this Intro is carrying on where we left off yesterday, in describing how pipelines are cleaned out with 'pigs', one of which Art will now illustrate -

A big pig

     These are loaded into the pipeline at a 'launch station', after which the current within will carry it along, until it is extracted at a 'receiving' station, having cleaned all the accumulated filth upon the pipe's inner surface.  Let's see if we can find a picture of the end process.  Art?

A muddy pig

     You are no doubt wondering how on earth these things got the name 'pig'.
     Well, I'm not going to tell you.  Hah!

Okay, time to refill my teacup and get a sandwich from out of the fridge.  Conrad no like when sandwich cold.

Back in business!  All I have to do now is put up with the dog hanging around looking hopeful.  No chance, Edna; this is my lunch.

You Couldn't Get Away With That Nowadays -
Your humble scribe has been watching the 1959 iteration of "Journey to the Centre of the Earth", which, although the makers admitted it had very little to do with the Jules Verne novel, is still vastly superior to that recent remake. Art?

Conrad unsure why Pat Boone got top billing

     What sits rather uncomfortably with a modern audience is the somewhat cruel treatment meted out to some of the cast: to wit, the iguanas and another type of lizard which masquerade as dinosaurs.  Art?

A TERRIFYING DINOSAUR!  Or not.

     This is an iguana with a false 'fin' attached, in order to make it more closely resemble a Dimetrodon, because - dinosaurs.  Everyone knows the Earth's interior is infested with dinosaurs.*  Now, if our resident art specialist can get off his duff - 

                     Iguana                                                          Dimetrodon
     These chaps have it easy compared to the 'monster' lizard at the film's end.  Using close-up filming and matte shots, the director attempts to make a foot-long lizard come in at thirty feet and five tons.  Art?

"Quiver in fear, puny humans!" said the lizard's body language

     When the lava pours into Atlantis, this unfortunate creature is smothered in what looks like boiling scarlet porridge!** If you did either of the above today there would be a P45 on your doorstep by the morning.

     I say!  Those joggers outside are moving apace; more like sprinting than jogging.  You'll burn yourselves out, chaps, going like that.  And if you keep looking backwards so often you'll trip up.
     Here I should point out that we get a splendid view of those demented people who enjoy running up and down Tandle Hill en route to wherever.  Me - I'd take the bus.



Conrad: Weighty Chap
In any sense you care to mean it.  Your modest artisan is not so very modest when it comes to size, being 6' tall and 15 stone, and I know the latter figure because it features accusingly on my Fitbit.
     Speaking of which - Art?

Subtly wrong

     Instead of being at ninety degrees, this ought to be proudly erect - no sniggering at the back there! - and it holds this angle because I trod on it.  The contacts in the USB port were broken and the Fitbit wouldn't charge up, so on Thursday I apparently did nothing <sad face>.  The replacement arrived yesterday <moderately cheerful face> and Naval & Military e-mailed me to say my book is on the way <happy face>.  I know that last has nothing to do with Fitbits, I just like to keep you all in the loop.
                                                                                             I don't need to point out which is which, do I?

     That's odd: all the birds and insects have stopped moving around or making a noise.  Even the joggers and dogwalkers have apparently vanished. Oh, and something seems to be making those tins of marbles hung on our barbed wire rattle.
     The wind, you say?  Yes, except that it's dead still at present.

It's Not All Sunshine And Wine
In Italy, since you asked.  The lovely Laura, my work colleague from that very same country, has mentioned on occasion how enormously deep the snowdrifts in her village can be.  I believe I've mentioned the mountain warfare that took place there in the First Unpleasantness, where freezing to death was a very real risk.
     Enter the mighty Seventh Division, hailing from Perfidious Albion, whom were sent to Italy to help shore things up after the disaster of Caporetto (a blog subject in it's own right).  Art?

The Asiago Plateau

     On arrival at their destination (in late 1917), the plateau as named above, they were greeted with persistent rain, which made them feel right at home, after 4 soggy years in Flanders and France.  Unlike F & F, there was little soil, which meant far less mud but also a requirement to build up rock sangars and fortifications.  There was no drinking water and all supplies had to come up steep, very narrow tracks, on the back of mules.
     They were also greeted with a rapturous welcome from the locals en route and on the scene, which is when officers and men found out that Italian wine needed to be treated with respect, not drunk by the pint!

Why do they all need canes to stand upright?  - see above re. wine

     That's General Shoubridge and his staff stretching their legs in Italy.
     There you go, I doubt if one in a thousand of you out there knew that the armies of Perfidious Albion had fought on the side of Italy in the First Unpleasantness.  BOOJUM! - educating you one fact at a time.

Okay, since I have now finished my day's Working From Home and emptied my Inbox as well, I shall just pop outside to see what's -

GREAT STEAMING DOG BUNS!  It's Clarissa the Cannibal Combat Chicken - backed up by Tony the Ten-Ton Terror Toad!  Run - flee - save yourselves!
                        
                                                   Again, I don't need to point out which is which, do I?
     If I survive then I'll see you tomorrow -   

*  This may be a teensy bit untrue.
**  Roast lizard: a taste experience ...