And it was yesterday, too. Your Humble Scribe must be doing something right. What did yesterday's blog consist of? <checks as his memory is not that good> ah yes, Russians, artillery and perfume adverts. A bit of a melange, eh?
I think we need to go back and explain or detail the last paragraph of the first item under "The Russians Are Missing!" because going back over it - well, it reads a bit obscurely.
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| They looked better with the big peaked hats |
So, to recap - " Your Humble Scribe wonders and ponders if posting this is going to invite scrutiny by the FSB - hello boys! - because if so, it might sow some dangerous ideas amongst them. I am minded of the BAOR signals detachment who coded and transmitted the Czech Charter 77 documents via radio, knowing that the GRU would intercept and decode it; I bet there were some feathers ruffled then.
Motley, let's play chess*! You can be Botvinnik and I'll be Fischer."
"FSB": The Federal Security Service and successor to the KGB, meaning they spy on the Ruffians as much as they spy on you and I. They have gotten sloppy and inefficient of late and have been taken to task by their commanding generals.
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| "Never a crim around when you want them, is there?" |
"BAOR": British Army Of the Rhine. This was the pre-1991 army that Perfidious Albion maintained in West Germany, back when there was such a thing. It was based in those locations the British Army ended up in at the termination of the Second Unpleasantness, rather than any sensible tactical reasons.
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| BAOR |
"Charter 77": This was a document that compiled all the human rights abuses of the Czech's communist government, only ever signed by 2,000 people but which sent the government (predictably!) into a poisonous rage that lasted for years. Typically, they protested so loudly and long that the document itself became widely known about by the Czecheslovak population, which is a case of shooting oneself in the foot by cutting off your nose, if ever there was one.
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| The rascals! |
Incidentally, the movement was sparked by the arrest of - The Plastic People Of The Universe, that psychedelic band whom we have met before. I have one of their albums on Spotify and My! it sounds verrrrrry dark.
"GRU": Which stands for Something Something Upravlany - Soviet Military Intelligence, an intelligence arm of the Red Army, who were frequently at odds with the KGB in battles about who did what and to whom and competitive empire-building. Having decoded the entirety of Charter 77, they would then have to burn it and all their notes and probably reassign those who worked on it to the Sino-Soviet border, just in case.
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| Art! No! |
I trust this explanation clears up any doubts or questions from yesteryon?
Okay, motley, let us be Ruffians for a dare. I've got a litre of vodka here, and two glasses. On your marks -
Hello Cheerio!
The Mansion has been graced by the rare presence of Darling Daughter, using us in lieu of an hotel, as we don't charge quite as much. She went to a friend's fancy dress party last night, and since we were much closer than home, here she came. Art?
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| Posing |
She is sitting cross-legged under that blanket, in case you were wondering where her legs had gotten to. And that dressing gown did belong to her mum, but since Sal was wearing it and liked it - well, it has gone to a better place.
Okay, we've had Ruffians, now for - artillery!
"Raising Churchill's Army"
There were two things that the armies of Perfidious Albion did unarguably better than the Teutons, which were: air support and liaison, and artillery coordination. Looking only at the latter today, the communication network established by artillery regiments, together with their painstakingly accurate mapping, allowed them to concentrate fire very quickly onto fleeting targets. It was possible to get all 48 guns of a division onto a target within minutes, which was a big reason Teuton counterattacks from Normandy onwards collapsed with predictable regularity.
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| Some Canuckistanian gunners making someone's day miserable |
Just in case there weren't enough guns around to begin with already, Perfidious Albion also introduced the "Army Group Royal Artillery", which had three regiments of medium artillery (72 guns), a regiment of heavy artillery (24 guns) and a regiment of field guns (24 guns). An AGRA went with each Corps of two divisions, which meant a potential total of 216 guns being on call to deal with any emergencies (see above for Teuton counterattacks). The Teutons themselves were horribly impressed by the British artillery's speed of reaction and precision, which is fair enough praise.
There you go, artillery! I don't have anything to say about perfumes today. Sorry.
How Infinitely Recursive ...
Darling Daughter was just telling me about Tom's youngest brother, Oz, and how he had bought a broken 3D printer, presumably because this was cheaper than buying one that worked properly? at a guess. Oz himself not here to ask.
| An "Ooops!" moment |
It wasn't completely broken, because Oz used it's printing capacity to print the pieces that were either broken or missing, then fixed it with them, and his 3D printer is printing again, hooray. No exclamation mark of joy since Conrad remains VERY suspicious of 3D printers and considers them as close to witchcraft as anything in the modern world. And this is why a dead 3D printer needs to be buried at a crossroads.
Right! Time to leave you with this, a little short, yes, but I have yet to get down to the Co-Op in Royton and have only 49 minutes to do so. Chin chin!
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