You Know Conrad -
Pedantic, picky and not at all backward in voicing his displeasure about something. About anything, if it comes to it.
However, clouds and silver linings. Yes yes yes, we'll get to the "Cross" bit shortly, do have patience, I'm working on a mise en scene here. You may be aware that Babylon-lite ("Oldham" if we're being formal) has seen a major uptick in Covid cases, and new restrictions are being placed on travel and assembly; keep this in mind as it has a bearing on what follows.
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| Oldham is dull. This is the much more interesting Mysteron complex on Mars. |
At about 17:00 yesteryon my phone rang, which is unusual in itself. "O noes!" was my first thought. "I've not logged-off from my work number and a store or candidate is calling me!" so I killed the call, then checked that I was logged-off. I was. So I rang back, and it was Sue, the Number Two in our office heirarchy, who asked if I'd mind working from home next week, rather than travelling in to Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell ("Manchester if we're being formal) due to the situation in Babylon-lite. "Mind? Not at all! Count me in! or out, whichever."
This is good news for my wallet, as I shall no longer be passing Travelling Man or Waterstones <sad face>.
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| I weep for thee |
Now is where we get to me being cross, and of course - obviously! - Your Humble Scribe is annoyed about the MEN's recent cryptic crosswords. ART!
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| 8 Down |
Motley! Make me a heterogenous sandwich.
Back To Bass Rock
That sounds like a particular type of music, doesn't it? Featuring Roger Waters and John Entwistle, perhaps, with sound effects courtesy -
NO! It's nothing of the sort. Less of the whimsy, Memory. Actually I said "Back to -" when we've not been there before. Close to yet not actually there.
I refer, of course - obviously! - to Bass Rock Castle. This stands on Bass Rock, which is only a mile and a bit away from Tantallon Castle. Art?
| Rock and castle. Sounds like a bad comedy duo, doesn't it? |
The castle's exact date of construction is a matter of conjecture, though it seems to have been begun in the fifteenth century. Let's have a close-up. Art?
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| No people, but millions of gannets |
Note the stairway to starboard, carved out of the very rock itself. Conrad guesses the castle would have been built from stone quarried on the island itself, as bringing hundreds of tons of dressed blocks from the mainland would have been an incredibly arduous exercise. You can see the lighthouse (now automated) that was built out of castle stone. Note also the tower, known as Crane Battery, thanks to it having a crane for winching supplies up to it.
The castle concerns us because it was a very real threat to Cromwell's shipping as he invaded Scotland. Ships had to run the gauntlet of both Tantallon and Bass Rock, or navigate a much longer route to avoid them. Crommy eventually dealt with it by starving it out; as you can see, there's not a lot of edible objects. Unless you like roast gannet.
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| A close up, just for you |
This will all make sense on Facebook, honest -
As will this -
Hitler, Sparta, Athens And Rome ("We Have Ways" Podcast)
More musings from the redoubtable Tom Holland (brother of the more famous Jim) about the above. Herr Schickelgruber, as we know, was a big fan of all three of the above cultures (especially Sparta). The thing is, all three civilisations eventually fell; Athens was overthrown by Sparta (whom Herr Schickelgruber was a big fan of - I may have mentioned this) and Rome was split in two with the Western half falling to the barbarians.
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| Rome, falling |
So, Herr Schickelgruber decided he was going to blame the decline of these cultures on - waitforitwaitforit -
Saint Paul!
Ol' Pol, you see, was responsible for spreading the Christian philosophy, which in Herr Schickelgruber's toxic-lensed vision, "infected" civilisation and therefore he intended to kill all the Jews, which would prevent the Nazi civilisation from ever falling. Then he'd get rid of the Christians ... who also believed in that nonsense about all men being equal, and that the slave may overthrow the master.
Hmmm, this podcast has legs, because we've still not exhausted all the possibilities inherent in it. Fascinating stuff, I have to say, and a worrying look into the mind of someone with a strong streak of bonkers about them.
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| Saint Paul (Who was Jewish) |
And Now For Something Fast
Also a bit furious. Once again I have to apologise for a random item popping up from the depths of my mind, this one being the B58 Convair Hustler. Art?
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This thing looks fast standing still, which is always a good indication of how high performance an aircraft is (check out a stationary Spitfire). It also looks as if the designers thought "How many engines can we get away with?" and answered "as many as will fit". It was the first bomber to be able to do Mach 2 and was intended to scoot over to the Sinister Union, drop a multi-megaton bomb somewhere strategic, then scoot home. Art?
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| Pilot's-eye view of the cockpit |
It was way ahead of it's time, and incidentally a difficult aircraft to fly. It also required a lot more maintenance than other aircraft of that era, making it costly to run. Art?
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| With puny humans for scale |
That big fuel tank underneath is also half-nuclear weapon and there doesn't seem to be much ground clearance, so hopefully there aren't any gopher holes on the runway. You can also see the three separate crew compartments with their hatches open.
And with that, we are done!
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