Or, Explorer Beware!
Rather than the more usual 'Caveat Emptor', which, since we live in the 21st century and have institutions like the Health & Safety Executive, not to mention Trading Standards, is less important than it used to be. After all, you don't need to worry that your Gloucester cheese has been adulterated with red lead (a heavy metal poison) to produce a lovely tawny tinge, or that your milk has been thinned-out with chalky water -
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| Gives you a lovely red colouration. |
This is OFD from above, showing it's 31 miles of caves, waterfalls and potholes. Conrad did try to find one in 3D to accentuate how deep it goes but failed; there may be one out there if you care to look yourself. It's over 250 yards deep at the lowest point, and is considered - by those who know, Your Humble Scribe has no idea - to be a very challenging cave system even for experienced potholers; so much so that you need a permit to be able to get in. Art!
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| Courtesy Auntie Beeb |
The thing is, as you might imagine, that getting a casualty out on a stretcher is no mean feat in an environment full of steep, slippery and holey pitfalls. The picture above shows that there was no way to evacuate via the entrance he came in by, so they took the scenic route. Art!
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| Claustrophobic. Cold. Draughty. Wet. Dark. Probably smelly, too. |
That photo gives you an idea of how cramped things were. Successive teams of cavers had to take over carrying the stretcher, and arranging for supplies and medical gear to be left at resupply points. Not to mention awkward bits like that below -
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| Erk. |
The happy news is that the casualty was successfully evacuated by Land Rover to hospital, and all 250 rescuers can give themselves a well-earned pat on the back. This is Rescue Number 7 from OFD; most of the early ones were back in the Fifties before it had become access-restricted. One pair of cavers - and you never go caving without a partner, because who do you think raised the alarm for matey above - got trapped by floodwater since OFD can flood within 2 hours of rain outside, and teams of volunteers had to divert a stream to allow them to exit.
Cavers also found a human skeleton in there, so one person never got rescued. Your Humble Scribe is a hefty chap, with a large head and a substantial belly (and also an utter coward), so cannot reallllly appreciate people who crawl into these narrow spaces for fun. Fun!
By the way, 'Caveat' <hack spit> means "Beware" and you should indeed beware of caves.
"The Armchair General" By Professor John Buckley
Just thought I'd emphasise his status for a bit of intellectual snobbiness. As mentioned before, this is a kind of 'Choose Your Own Adventure' except it's done with real historical backgrounds of the Second Unpleasantness. At present I'm reading about February 1942 in the Western Desert, and the crux of the matter is whether or not General O'Connor - Art!
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| The General in question |
- should continue his attack with the Western Desert Force on to Tripoli, or sit tight as happened in real life? Ol' Johnno puts forward a really interesting take on the Vichy French in Tunisia, who are caught between a rock and an even rockier rock when O'Connor's forces take Tripoli and crush the Italians there. The Afrika Korps has only just arrived, is quite disorganised and lacks heavy equipment in this scenario, and Rommel, out too far in front as usual, gets captured <loud sniggers>. It's a plausible scenario and doubtless any number of wargamers have tried it out already. Art!
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| The ugly but robust Marmon-Herrington with a couple of Teuton tourists |
It's an interesting look at the unexpected ramifications of potentially very small differences in conduct causing extremely large effects*.
Burgoo Burgoo Burgoo
A warming cold-weather stew. Your Humble Scribe made about a gallon of it and is now scoffing through a small bowl of it; small because I've already finished off a slice of pizza that went spare last night, not because I'm being abstemious.
ANYWAY the recipe called for 'Lima Beans' and since I had no idea what they are, I used Butter Beans. Conrad missing the obvious, I shall now Google as to what they are. Art!
Green Butter Bean?
Claes Oldenburg
Ah, yes, good old Claes!
Wait, who?
Another random word pairing thrown up by either Steve or Oscar first thing this morning. Unlike the Petit Trianon, I recognised his name, as he's an artist and we may have even covered his work previously in BOOJUM! Let us view one of his works. Art!
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| Hmmmmmm |
He's noted for his creation of 'soft sculptures' as above, which might even be dubbed 'Shamburger' <ahem> as well as very large 'installations' that mimic common household objects. Art!
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| With puny humans for scale |
All very worthy and arty and all that, but once again, WHY did his name pop into my brains this morning? I haven't been reading about art or artists nor anyone called "Claes" or "Oldenburg". O well, blog content created, I suppose.
Finally -
In an aside yesteryon, I queried why eating a persimmon made my tongue and teeth feel as if they had a layer of fluff all over them. An unpleasant feeling that led me to binning half the fruit NO NO MY PRECIOUS PERSIMMON and gulping down cold coffee to rinse the infliction away.
Here I am eating another persimmon from the same pack and - no Fuzzy Tongue Feeling. I am a little baffled, if still grateful. Had there been a mysterious chemical interaction yesteryon with food I'd previously eaten or a liquid I'd drunk? Or is it down to individual fruits?
A minor matter were it not for the fact that I could eat persimmons until the cows come home and get sent out again. Art!
I should also inform you, if yer glazzies are scanning these words of wit, wisdom and wonder on Friday, as they should be unless time-travel is involved, that today is my day off as I am working Saturday <dark imprecations muttered> BUT you are still only getting this one post. I have things to do and a world to take over.
* First person to mention The Butterfly Effect will be Remote Nuclear Detonated
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