Props To Steve

 We've Mentioned This Chap Previously -

Over the past few months.  My memory, remember? Organised in the manner of a skip, as I often claim, yet I know where everything is, which is what matters.

     "What was the title of that novel I read as a teenager?" popped up in my mind recently.  Could I recall?  Could I what.  About a young pilot in the First World 'Special' Military Operation.  Whom was the author?  Blessed if I know.  Art!

     I chose that because 'Anonymous Author' doesn't do well when you Google for it.  Interestingly enough it's a Ruffian industrial product, completely coincidental I assure you <insert limp military joke here>.

     ANYWAY because Steve never throws anything away, merely mis-files it, I did recall that the novel in question had a few blurbs in the back about other novels for Young Adults, and the title of one stuck: "Four Wheel Drift".  Sounds like it involves motor-cars, thus a yawnfest for Conrad.  Yet a point to begin searching from.

     Well well well.  What did I find?  "Bruce Carter' and "B Flight".  Art!

     I definitely recognise that cover illustration.  There was a brief blurb that also rang a positive carillion of bells.

In 1916 sixteen-year-old Will, bitterly disappointed at losing an important race for his school, lies about his age and joins the Royal Cadet Flying Corps as a cadet pilot and soon finds himself flying dangerous missions over war-torn Europe.

     'Bruce Carter' turns out to be the pen-name of one Richard Hough, used when he was aiming at a more youthful audience.  Art!

     Yeah, told you so.  And with un-natural succinctness, we are done with this Intro.

More Of Moskva

Actually not really.  You see, I checked out a news item on Youtube under 'Times Radio', where they were discussing Tsar Poutine's next move (climbing into a bottle of vodka?), and the person they were interviewing was Mark Galeotti.  I've mentioned him before; he's an expert on Ruffian military matters and puts the information across in an entertaining style.  Dry he is not.  Art!

     There's the chap in question in a screen snip that I'm frankly surprised worked.  We'll come back to the subject matter in 'Finally -'.  For now I want to present you with a screen snip of a screen snip.  Art!

     That, ladies, gentlemen and those unsure, is a Spectrum Pursuit Vehicle in all it's caehelium-hulled glory.

     I know it's not creating fusion power or proof of alien life, but it amused me.

'Into The Blue' Again

I hope you realise that Your Humble Scribe has not looked ahead to the next picture in this BBC exhibition, so I am as much in the dark about what it is as you are.  Having said that, let's see what is in store.  Art!

Courtesy Madeline Carter

     Mrs. C. said that this is her daughter's art supply, which she arranges by colour, blue being her favourite.  One cannot argue with that one.  Mind you, that hollow tube to port seems to have more of a shade of green to it.  Next!

Bring On The Torment!

I would like to point out to those alleging I stick these extracts in merely to bolster the word count, that I hit at least 1,200 words to compensate.  Some of my longer screeds have hit 1,400, which is a consequence of 1) Not having an editor and 2) Being creatively lippy.  ANYWAY 

The hardest part of the day was only turning up to monitor Laura for her seminar, sneaking in just before she started and darting out the instant she finished.  He’d never forgive himself if Morgan or one of the Dark Ones picked on Laura simply because she happened to be in close proximity to him regularly.

               Yvonne appeared next to him on the bus home.  He was alone at the back, reading the free paper when she gently tugged at the page to get his attention.

               ‘Thank you for helping me last night,’ she said, solemnly.  ‘I would have been leeched away completely by that thing, or left nearly drained.  A husk.’

               You’re welcome, he mouthed.  There were too many people on the bus for him to risk talking openly.

               ‘So you’re feeling better?’ he asked the moment the bus drove off and the other passengers were out of earshot.

               ‘Miles better!  I feel the way I used to after a good opening night!’

               She linked arms and they strode off in the gathering twilight, remaining comfortably silent.

              

               ‘Things are going to change,’ Louis told her dramatically over his thrown-together tea.  Macaroni, baked beans, scrambled egg and tinned ham.

               ‘Cordon bleu cookery lessons?’

               ‘No!  Damn it, how can spirits be sarcastic?  No, I mean instead of sitting around waiting for the Dark Ones to attack me, I am going to take the fight to them.’

     Hmmmm man proposes ...

Yes, Conrad Still Angry

I cannot fault the Codeword in the 'Oldham Times' because they give you three letters and don't use ridiculously exotic, obsolete or foreign words.  I'm keeping my eye on them, though, and the instant they start to stray the Remote Nuclear Detonator is going to be hit more than the piano keys at a Rachmaninov recital.  ANYWAY on with the rant.

"HALCYON": Yes yes yes, I know what it means; 'dead good'.  I even have an album on CD with it in the title: "Halcyon Digest' by Deerhunter.  Art!

     Don't ask me because I've no idea either.  As expected it has a Greek origin: 'Alkuon' meaning "Kingfisher" because those wacky ancient Greeks, hmmm?  Besides that, when was the last time you used it in conversation?  Exactly!  In fact the only usage is by journalists trying to look intellectual, the drunken reptiles.

"BONHOMIE": You WHAT?!  IN ENGLISH PLEASE!  <seethes violently>.  You do see my point here?  It refers to someone being excessively friendly, probably shortly before they ask to borrow money from you, and comes from the French 'Bon' for 'Good' and 'Homme' for 'Man'. And is the exact opposite of how I feel right now.  Art!

Poster boy for 'malhomie'

"JINGOISM": 'The belligerent spirit or foreign policy of jingos' a la Collins Concise.  Hmmmm not seen from This Sceptred Isle since the withdrawal from Empire, then, hardly contmporary, is it?  There's more to this subject, which we will come back to, O Yes Indeed.

You can be jingoistic when your Royal Navy is this big

     I can only remember it being used in print once, by George Orwell, whilst I cannot remember which work it was.  He was railing against jingos, and said that because air travel had become a thing, that we might witness that rarest of sights, 'a jingo with a bullet-hole in him'.

Finally -

More musings on 'Moskva', matey.  The Ruffians are now having to be careful with their Black Sea Fleet, because they've lost two out of the twelve originally present, and the Turks aren't letting any warships through the Bosphorus, so these losses cannot be replaced.  One wonders what this might do to the Ruffian ability to ship supplies by sea into Crimea.  The loss of the Moskva itself is quite a worry for the Ruffians because it proves to the world that, yes, the Ruffian navy is quite as inept as the Ruffian army and air force.  Art!

     More seriously is the fact that it was the C3 ship for the BSF - that is, Command, Control and Communications.  Any other ship that takes over the role will be less capable.  Then, too, it was an AIR DEFENCE ship, providing half the anti-aircraft capabilities (perhaps 'incapabilites' is more apt) of the BSF.

     Watch this space.