If I Were To Say "Nakers Banging" -

Then I Would Subsequently Have To Add 

WASH OUT YOUR DIRTY MINDS! For how many times have I boasted that BOOJUM! is very much SFW*?  Because it is.  True, we may only have a nodding acquaintance with truth, logic and facts - O and common sense too - but what does that matter between friends?

Or fiends, even.

     ANYWAY I wrote this down whilst reading "Sir Nigel" because, if taken out of context, it does seem rather rude, and I know you lot are all about context.  Besides which, given that it was written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in 1905, one is highly skeptical that it would involve what Youtube calls "passionate hugging" (if you don't want to get demonetised).  Art!

Passionate rugs.  That's as saucy as we get around here.

     Okay, the passage in question has a large cog** setting out from the port of Winchelsea, with an array of musicians on deck, some of whom are banging nakers STOP SNIGGERING AT THE BACK! in a ceremony at departing the harbour.  Thus, we can establish that a 'naker' is a variety of instrument, probably percussion given that they are being ban- being hit hard.  And so it proves.  Art!

Nakers

     There you go, we are all better-informed than we were five minutes ago.  And, continuing with SN, Your Humble Scribe made note of a couple of other words.

     "PESSONER": From context - that word again - this is a variety of boat or small ship, and wouldn't you know it, there are exactly nil images available via Google - passenger ships and prisoner, O yes plenty of those.  Very little available on medieval shipping, I'm afraid.  Use your imagination.

    "CREYER": Similar to the above, I think.  Large boat, small ship.  I have found a picture, which is of a model, although they spell it "Crayer", because language and spelling was rather elastic in the Middle Ages.  Better than nothing I suppose.  Art!

Only a model.  It's a craying shame.

     Now, we've filled the swimming pool with petrol and are going to see how well - or ill - a motley floats upon it.  No, no, no need to worry about the neighbours having a barbecue!

Still On A Watery Theme

As you may have gathered, Conrad is interested in dams.  Their construction, their operation - and their occasional collapse.  A dam collapsing is a major disaster, as millions of tons of water travelling as fast as a speeding car, laden with enormous amounts of debris, are not going to brighten anyone's day.  We have recently covered the near-collapse of the Fontenelle dam, and the actual collapse of the Teton dam in South Canada.  Let us now view the Connecticut First Lake Dam, courtesy that champion with a rake, Post-10.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLW1qhQZwGA

     That's the link to our anonymous hero's video on the subject.  He is indeed anonymous, for nowhere is his name given on his Youtube channel, and even when he appeared on a local news broadcast he was still only 'Post-10'.  Art!

Crumbling like cheese

     Notice the distinctly low-tec (for which read "cheap") solution to water overtopping the dam: wooden boards.  Not sure how they'll resist water pressure or rot.  Note also, as Posty pointed out, the discolouration caused by previous leaks and the current leaks to starboard, issuing from A GREAT BIG CRACK.  If water does overtop the dam then it's going to exacerbate (not a word you expected to see today!) those cracks,  Art!

     Blimey heck, Posty, you make me nervous standing there in front of the NOTICEABLY LEAKING dam wall.  Definitely a braver man than I (not that it's hard).  He points out the plant life now growing in the cracks, which again won't do any good thanks to root damage.  One of his Dutch followers said that if a dam in the Netherlands was in this state, the lake would be immediately drained and a new dam built.  Well, we're not done yet.   Art!

     Posty pointing out more discolouration caused by more leaks.  Notice to port of his arm where the outer layer of concrete has been eroded away?  It seems that the only thing holding this structure up is hope, spit and duct tape.  O, don't worry, that huge geyser of water is being deliberately released, it's not a leak.  Not yet.

"Having a cracking time!"

     Hmmmm he also points out cracks in the abutment wall, which have to be substantial to be clearly visible from thirty yards away.  Indicative of the ground shifting, one feels.  This is one case where the earth moving is a phrase you do not want to hear.

     Your Humble Scribe wonders if this video might lead to New Hampshire doing more about their dam than putting up a bit of plywood and crossing their fingers.  If it does collapse, then remember you read about it here and Posty warned about it even earlier.

     Dog Buns!  A 409 bus just went by with a definitely new poster on the side - and I missed it.  O.  And a bin wagon with a strange advert featuring a teddy bear - went by too fast for me to read what the text was.  

     

My Thunder - Stolen!  

Conrad has not baked for an age, mostly because there's nobody to consume cake, as Wonder Wifey has discovered eggs in any state turn her insides outside, and working from home means there are no office ganterpies to scoff cake either.  However - and you just knew that word was coming, didn't you? - WW has bestirred herself, cranked up the Breadmaker 3000 and baked a wholemeal loaf using by-guess-and-by-golly as a technique. Art!

     Conrad had some yesterday to dip into his weekly cup of Marmite and it's not bad at all, dammit.

Finally - 

Only a short item needed to hit the Compositional Ton, folks, after which I think we might venture into the sunshine, 'we' being Edna and myself.  Only problem with nice weather is that all the other dog owners have exactly the same idea, and Edna does not play well with other pups, regardless of how much larger they are than her (which is nearly all of them).

     Ah, the sun is out again, time to venture forth!

*  87

**  A variety of medieval ship.  We've covered this before.