Putting It In Perspective

I Am Sure You've Heard About Tonga

After an underwater volcanic explosion and a consequent tsunami, the only thing left to worry about now would be a hurricane - except that would probably get rid of the volcanic ash now lying everywhere, and perhaps also relieve the water shortage.  Almost unbelievably, the death toll is only at three people, and aid is being mustered, notably from The Polite Australians (or New Zealanders if you insist on being formal).  Art!

Good neighbours

     Your Humble Scribe has been perusing a webpage on the BBC's News website, which details the volcano's explosion as being at 10 megatons equivalent (Conrad shelved today's blog title "Megatonga" as being in especially poor taste).  For Your Information, this yield is the equivalent of those fission warheads deployed during the Fifties and early Sixties, and the jaw-dropping picture of the explosion's aftermath had a chilling similarity to the post-test detonations of some of those foofoodillies. Art!

     Impressive and terrifying at the same time.  If you crop the upper plume it would fit right in alongside shots like Knothole or Castle Bravo.  Fortunately - definitely a glass-half-full take on things - ONLY half a million tons of sulphur dioxide were created by the explosion, meaning global weather conditions won't be impacted very much, as this stuff is what causes a drop in received sunlight at ground level.

     Conrad has musingly sat and complained about the weather that besets This Sceptred Isle for years, but at least we don't have to contend with submarine volcanoes and tsunamis.

Except here!

     Motley, have you tried any of these day-glo green carrots?  

Success!

Your Modest Artisan has now completed his Beer Lovers jigsaw - it may only be me, so - does anyone else get there mental wires crossed when doing a jigsaw and call it a 'crossword'? - with only one piece missing.  Let the evidence be put forth - Art!

Missing!

     It was really easy, to be honest.  Tons of detailing and not much in the way of repetition, and only 499 pieces.  A small win is still a win.

     Also, notice how in the first picture there is a background of crimson quilt cover?  Someone else has noticed this, and because the Unofficial Dog Nest has gone (it got laundered) they have re-located.  Art!

The Champ of Scamp

     It takes a real effort for her to get up there as the bed is high and she is small.

Legitimately Back To "The War Illustrated"

Since it's now the 22nd of January, which is the publication date for the edition I'm covering.  Don't forget that most of the content was deliberately delayed by a couple of months, to ensure the opposition didn't fillet any useful information out of it.  Art!

A sop to the Sinisters

     You know how needy and greedy they get when it comes to publicity.  

Sinisters:  We're fighting three-quarters of the Teuton army!

Allies: And exactly none of the Japanese.

<loud silence>

     ANYWAY here we see a Ruffian ski patrol, leading man with a 'Pipesha' sub-machine gun, the third man with a Degtyarev light machine gun, all following ruts in the snow, which means nobody can track them or tell how many there were afterwards.  In the bottom photograph we see captured Teuton tanks Under New Management, the print quality not being good enough for me to tell you what they've scribbled in Cyrillic.  Probably not complimentary about the Teutons.  Art!

     Here we have the noble Norks, busy practicing for when they can travel back to Norway and inflict pain and suffering on the occupying Teutons.  There was a regular sailing service between Scotland and Norway nicknamed "The Shetland Bus" which would land Norks to commit acts of mayhem.  Over two hundred times.  If you prod a Nork hard enough for long enough, you will regret the end result.  Art!

     Still with the international theme, in that first picture we see French soldiers protecting a British anti-aircraft gun (actually a Swedish design), then a couple of French sentries on a bridge, and finally a French mule company moving through a badly battered Tunisian town.  Don't sneer at mules; if you are conducting mountain warfare of any sort, they are essential for getting bulk supplies up to the front lines in terrain that vehicles cannot cross.  Guess what Tunisia had lots of?  Mountains!

Ah.  According to the motley, those carrots were fresh from the Ukraine.  A place called Cherny Bill.  I wonder what ne dlya spozhyvannya khumamu   

means in English?

Gore Blimey!

Yes, yet another thrilling extract from "Tormentor" because nobody's asked me to stop posting it yet.  Not that I'd bother if anyone did, I'm horrid that way.

‘Ouch!  What’s that for - ’

               ‘Don’t joke about God.’

               ‘I wasn’t joking.  No, I wasn’t!  It makes me worried about you.’

               ‘Aww!  Really?  I take back the horrid comment.  Now, what news do you have for me?’

               Thinking, and trying to put it coherently, Louis paraphrased what the two clerics told him about the withered horror that mindlessly twisted on the gravestone: the appearance of a spirit depended on the subconscious perception of self by a person.  Marjory had explained it in her own vocabulary the previous night.

               ‘A trapped spirit?  What’s one of those?’ asked the ever curious Jen.  ‘Are they going to exorcise it?’

               ‘I don’t know!  Father Geoghan didn’t hang around for an interview once he understood what I’d seen.’

               ‘Oooh,’ whispered Jen.  ‘Him – now I’ve heard of him.  He’s been all over the world.  They say he hunts demons.’

               Louis drained the last sweet dregs of his tea, and cocked a knowing eye at Jennifer.

               ‘No such thing.  No – really, I was reading those books on religion last night.  From what I understand, you can ascribe demonic possession to mental illness.’

               Jen gave him a look, at which Louis threw his hands in the air.

               ‘Look at me!  Arguing the finer points of psychotherapy and religious iconography with a spirit.  If anyone told me what my life was going to be like a week ago, I’d have rung the funny farm.’

               Casually, Jen put the next question with all the innocence she could muster, to judge from her expression.  How she found out was never made clear – invisible eavesdropping, probably.

               ‘What’s Uncle Dave up to?’

     Dirty deeds, young lady, dirty deeds!  (Done dirt cheap*)

Finally -

We don't need a lot of words to hit the Compositional Ton, so what should I pontificate upon?  Muse - strike me either now or in the seconds to come!

<long silence>

I see.  Taking the Sinisters as role models, hmmmmm?  Okay, let's go with the Rubjerg Knude lighthouse in Denmark.  This was originally over 200 yards from the sea when erected in 1900, but erosion and wind and tides had brought it perilously close to the water's edge.  Or the water's edge perilously close to it.  One of the two, perhaps both.  Art!

     The Danes decided that no, Nature was not going to win, and so they -

     Put it on rails and moved it out of the danger zone.  This is thinking outside the box in a big way.  Well done Denmark!

*  AC/DC in-joke for you there