Yes, It's A Typo
However, it's not MINE - O look I accidentally used the Remote Nuclear Detonator and now that chap in Batavia who was laughing (mockingly, I might add) is now a cloud of radioactive vapour.
Stan Perry. There's a chap. Stan was a troop leader in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry of Second Unpleasantness fame. Art!
An M5 of the Regiment's Reconnaissance troop
Conrad has long asserted that the reason they were so good is because they'd done everything except become paratroopers: they began the SU as horsed cavalry (and actually charged rioters in Tel Aviv when stationed in Palestine), were then un-horsed (after a disastrously expensive stampede) and acted as infantry, then converted to artillery and served in Tobruk and Crete (from where only 50 returned) and then became an armoured regiment, so a species of cavalry again.
ANYWAY the "We Have Ways" podcast re-did a speech that Stan did, as he recently passed away, and By Jove! I hope I'm as lucid as Stan when I get to his age. Art!
That pic on the left shows the reason the tank crews of Perfidious Albion suffered a disproportionate level of head injuries: you couldn't wear your headphones with a helmet on, and you ABSOLUTELY HAD TO wear your headphones. I'm not just talking about serious injuries, because the inside of a tank turret is full of pointy metal bits that are O-so-easy to inadvertently hit with one's bonce.
ANYWAY AGAIN (get used to this going off at a tangent) Stan had an explanation for the curious naming of Sergeant Dring's tank. Art!
"AKILLA"
(Sgt. Dring with the bins)
The idea had come from HQ, that all 'A' squadron's tanks had to have a name, one from classical mythology, that would be painted on the side. "AGAMEMNON", "ARGUS", "AESCULAPIUS" and so on. Well, Sgt. Dring's tank was going to be "ACHILLES", which he explained to the crewman with a pot of paint and a brush. Said crewman did not go to public school and did not get taught the classics, hence the name. Sgt. Dring then had to go to the OC, Colonel Christopherson, and confess what had happened, which the Col. thought was hilarious.
- and a literal killing joke. The sergeant is mentioned in Keith Douglas' "From Alamein To Zem Zem" when he was but a corporal and he'd fought with the regiment all the way from El Alamein. His tank was responsible for knocking out seventeen enemy 'Hornet's by the time he was invalided out.
"Phew!" said the enemy
Motley! Let's play Tanks. You climb in the dustbin and I'll hit it with a hammer.
O No You Don't!
As you should surely know by now, Your Humble Scribe is constantly doing Codewords, not least because they present such a bountiful source of both apoplectic seething rage and blog content simultaneously, which is quite an achievement. Today I caught the compiler out - Art!
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| <insert loud swearing in jubilation here> |
"A_AMA" and you're probably wondering which of the twenty-four possible letters go in there. Yes, even "Q" because the <vulgar expletive deleted> compilers use so many foreign words. I can tell you.
But not yet. You can stew a little.
Back To That Theme Of "Derelict"
As Conrad has observed on occasion, having a theme you can return to takes part of the heavy lifting of creativity from one's shoulders. So thanks to the BBC. Art!
Courtesy Charlie Curtis
Atmospheric and a tad surreal. From the abandoned car's number plate I take it this is South Canada. It's taken in daylight so whether or not that barn-cum-house is also abandoned is moot; the tiles on the roof are all in good trim and all windows intact, the side panels look well-maintained and there's no fallen branches on the roof, so I suspect it is still occupied. Not so sure about that sad-looking caravan.
Frank Tinsley And His Sunny Whimsy
Back to Ol' Reliable! You can count on Frank to have painted or drawn a flight of fantasy waaaaay back in the day that is either totally impractical or obsolete in the present day. Or he gets it kind-of right. Art!
From the heady days of 1953
At first my thoughts ran along the lines of "Surely the resale value of that house would be affected by all that ironmongery?" until I realised it's a power plant. The article gives a potted account of how much FREE energy the Sun delivers to our planet's surface, and possible ways of 'harvesting' all that FREE energy, because South Canadians love nothing more than getting something for nothing, and that's what you get with all that FREE energy. Which is FREE.
Okay, today we have solar panels on many houses, which is kind-of what the author of this article - Frank again! - meant. They are a kind of pious hope here in This Sceptred Isle, because for solar power to work, you need sunshine. Art!
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| And this is what we get |
Then again -
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| THEMIS |
Finally -
More work-related stuff, which you gloss over at your peril, for Lo! I know exactly what you're reading and when. Sinister alien talents, before you ask.
So! I have been asked to visit the HR Ops department on 03/11/2021, to sit in with them for the day and see how they operate. Donna, the manager, said they principally deal with forms but will interrupt their work to answer phone calls, of which they may individually receive as many as five or six per day. !
To someone who thinks his phone is quiet if there are only 28 calls in the day, and who hit 54 last week, this was interesting news!
Don't panic, I haven't forgotten that Codeword solution. It's "AGAMA", which I recognised as they've used it twice before. A species of lizard. Art!
Make up your own pun, I'm off to lunch
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