A Flash In The Pun

Let's See How Many Hits We Can Get Out Of "Mercury"
For one, there's the element itself, which is derived from the ore cinnabar, and which used to be profligately and (unbeknownst at the time) dangerously used in mercury fountains.  Conrad has been lucky enough to see one of these in real life at the Juan Miro museum in Barcelona.  Art?

Thus

     Hermetically sealed-off, of course, so that nobody goes and sticks their fingers in it because the signs say not to.
     Then there's the South Canadian Mercury rocketry program, which, if Art will get off his duff about - 

The Mercury is rising

     The manned capsule is that little navy blue bit at the top.  Literally riding a missile to the heavens, as it was adapted from an ICBM*.  
     Then we have Mike Mercury, ace pilot and eyebrow model, as imagined by Futurologist Gerry Anderson.  Art?

No strings on him

     Then of course we get to the meat of the matter, Freddie Mercury, whom we visited yesterday as regards his lyrics to "Flash".  Let the madness begin!

King of the impossible

     Your Humble Scribe is not convinced about this, as Flash seemed to be an ordinary everyday mortal with no rights to the crown of any kingdom, let alone that of the Impossible.  You know, the South Canadians have a worrying fondness for monarchs of every iteration, which is passing strange in a so-called 'republic'.

Looks like there's already a pretender to the throne

He's for every one of us

     O Freddie!  Stop being so Poetically Licensed, he can't possibly be for every one.  Some people are beyond being for, like the Sulky Fat Lad of Norkland

Stand for every one of us

     CAUTION!  A Doctor Writes: standing for long periods can cause foot, knee and hip problems

He saves with a mighty hand

     Conrad saves using a bank account

Every man, every woman

     See above

Every child, it's the mighty Flash

     Understudy to - 

Perhaps.  It is a musical link, after all

     And I think that's quite enough of that.
     Motley!  Bring me notepad and paper and the thirteen volume's of De Belgiacque's "The Albigensian Crusade", for I feel intellectual and up to a challenge.

Foxy
No!  Nothing to do with "Citizen Smith", which was a bizarre yet popular sitcom that ran in the Seventies here in the Allotment of Eden, about "Wolfie" Smith, who was a workshy unemployable radical determined to follow Marxist-Leninist revolutionary doctrine to the absolute dialectical letter, and whose slogan was "Freedom for Tooting!", and whose girlfriend's mother could never remember his nickname, and hence called him "Foxy".  
     Here an aside.  A program that could never, ever be remade in South Canada, and I strongly doubt it ever got exported over there, for if it did there would be a lot of protest letters being sent, and television sets being blasted with shotguns.

Wolfie trying to be all Che

     Anyway, what I wanted to complain about <what again? a character pointer courtesy Mister Hand> was a clue in my Collins Crossword Book, which was "Crafty; cunning (7).
     I shall spare you - yes, it actually is that talented actor Robert Lindsay pictured above - spare you having to exert your brain cells as I did UNSUCCESSFULLY**.
     VULPINE.  

All vulpy

     It comes, of course, from Latin, "Vulpes", meaning "Fox", which then, via "Vulpinus" leads to "Vulpine".  Because foxes are known for their cunning and craftiness, it would seem.
     This Collins Crossword book is not as simple as I'd expected.  Well, that's a good thing, I like a challenge.

Why I Was Late Posting Yesteryon
Conrad does have a sketchy, palsied yet undeniably present social life, the right to which he exercised yesteryon after work, since our depty head Sue had reserved tables for us from 16:00 until 19:00.  These were at The Mitre, a pub that Your Humble Scribe has never been in before.  Art?

The exterior

     This place reminds me of the TARDIS.  From the outside you see little more than a doorway, yet once you squeeze past the choke-point bar, it goes back and back and widens out on either side.
     An unobtrusive passageway then leads to further chambers within, which is where our party were ensconced.  I even managed to get a picture.  Art?

Thus

     I merely wanted to show the contrast here between The Mitre, where you can also pay by contactless card, and my local The Pleasant Inn.  No wall-mounted televisions in any Samuel Smith's pubs, you see, and you would be immediately barred if you dared to use a mobile phone in front of Humphrey Smith, O yes indeed!  Plus he'd probably shut down the pub if more than one person was using their Digital Devil's Device.
     It was an entertaining and lively night out, thanks for asking.

A Hundred And Five Years Ago Today
Not quite but close enough - one day out isn't here or there between friends, right?
     I noticed an article on the BBC's website on Thursday about a naval wreck being discovered off the Falkland Islands, namely the SMS "Scharnhorst", which was the flagship of the Teuton's Pacific Squadron back in the First Unpleasantness.  Art?

Think of the pollution!

     This four-ship squadron sank two of Perfidious Albion's warships at the Battle of Coronel, which was a spectacularly unwise thing to do, as every spare British warship at sea promptly headed for the South Atlantic intent on revenge.  Hence the Scharnhorst and her sister ships ended up on the ocean floor, their locations lost until right now.  Art?

Poignant and timely

     The wreck will be treated as a war grave and left untouched by the locators, and given that it is in the South Atlantic, where dreadful weather is regarded as a good day, one doubts there will ever be divers tempted to poke around it.



*  A moment's diabetic and reverent silence for Ice Cream Breakfast Man
**  Upper case as this is an unusual event. Mister Hand shut up already!