Wave Farewell, Say Goodbye

Conrad Now An Unempoodle

Yesterday was my last day at Sainsbo's HR in Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell, being made redundant as all our work is now being done in Mumbai, presumably at a fraction of our wage bill.  We'll see how that works out, a few people are being retained until October.  Back-channel comms and all that.

     It's not all bad news, at least I don't have to work Saturdays.  If I were, then this would be into the fourth hour with another five to go.  

     Of course there were post-ending drinks, in a club called '7 Sins', whose main attraction seemed to be the five pool tables in the basement.  Art!

     Here's the Before and After shots, and that lady hogging the shot is Danielle, who is great value if you want to spice up your party.  The blonde lady to port is Miranda, who was a little worried that I might be showing too much decolletage, so she got first approval.  To her port is Joshua - never Josh - our magnificently camp style guru, who always tried to push the dress code boundaries.  Second row back you've got Matt, Mike and Connor THE UNSPEAKABLE SWINE he's trying to grow a moustache, good job we don't work together or there'd be a competition between the Alpha Tash Males.  Art!

     Last shot from Floor 18 on an atypically bright and sunny day.  Just off dead-centre you can see a building spire concealed with a hat.  No, I don't know why either.

     As preparation for The Last Day, Your Humble Scribe needed a haircut, so I called Pepe's in Chadderton.  Seriously, I looked like Santa Claus having a bad hair day.

     O NOES DISASTER STRIKES! I got a recorded message that the salon is closed.  I should have remembered, in the summer he drives across Europe to Sicily via Belgium, where he has friends.

     Wonder Wifey to the rescue - she's a pretty dab hand with a pair of scissors and an electric trimmer.  Art!

Our favourite writer expressing good cheer

     I think this one is appropriate for those who are looking to hire a Professional Tea-Drinker And Crossword-Solver, which is admittedly a  pretty niche field.  Then there's this one - Art!

     Ooooh yes, a lot more sinister.  I think this one will be for scaring small children and nervous pensioners.

After A Ten-Month Hiatus

You will need a long memory to recall when I first posted about this back in December 2021.  Your Humble Scribe had come across a Polish-language newspaper, and coincidentally discovered that one article covered the Poles under British command during the siege of Tobruk.  Art!

     Inevitably, Conrad decided to translate the article into English, and then almost immediately moved on to other things.  I have just recently picked up on the translation idea again, so permit me to show how far I've got.  Art!

Not very far

     That's about two paragraphs-worth of text.  I have found that the longer the passage you type in to be translated, the more sense you get out of the software.  I wonder if they mention Wojtjek The Bear?

The Haul

You are probably aware that it was by 61st birthday on Wednesday because I've not stopped banging on about it.  Well, I did threaten to show you what I got as presents, so here we go.  Art!

     I Dog Buns! love that Marmite-flavoured Graze stuff, and it's pretty pricey, so Conrad is trying to make it last.  However, nearly finished the first packet <sad face>.  And anything about Professor Bernie Quatermass is always a good read.

     The upper photograph is a collection of lemonades I'm not familiar with.  You know Conrad - you'll get a progress report in the near future.

     There, brief and to the point.  Next!

"The Sea Of Sand"

To recap, Sarah Jane Smith had gone a-looking for the TARDIS and had instead found trouble, as an arm takes her from behind in a stranglehold and a bayonet is pressed into her neck -

     Petrified, Sarah noticed the ingrained dust in the pores of the arm that held her, the acrid smell of sweat and garlic, the notches in the bayonet blade.

     "Silence!" hissed a voice.  "If you try to run or cry out I will kill you."

     The sweaty arm withdrew, allowing Sarah to turn a little and see who had been threatening her.

     A burly, mustachioed man in a grey-green uniform, dusty and sweaty, clutching a bayonet in his right hand.

     "A woman!  You are lucky I heard you talk, woman.  Few people walk away from my embrace.  Now, walk towards the vehicles."

From beneath the cover of the camouflage netting, Tenente Dominione watched Sergente Maggiore Cappricio prod the prisoner forward, toward the command car.  It took several uncomprehending seconds before Dominione realised that the unusually slim British soldier with the unusually long hair was actually a woman.  What in the name of the Blessed Virgin was a single woman doing wandering around in the wastes of Cyrenaica?  A nurse?  Separated from her unit?  Not in uniform either, but given the piratical dress the desert-canny British wore that wasn't surprising.

     He held up the netting to allow both of them to enter, dropping it carefully afterwards, making sure it didn't sag off the pole.  His English was limited and he might need to summon Corporal Balduccio, who spoke it fluently, to interrogate the prisoner.

     "Miss," he said, bowing slightly.  He dismissed the roguish Cappricio with a nod and dart of the eyebrows.  There was no risk from the woman, not with a private sitting behind him in the Sahariana, watchful behind a machine-gun.

     Out of the frying pan and into the fire, hmmm?  O my Sarah, you have a positive knack of getting yourself into trouble.  Plus, nobody back at Mersa Martuba even know's she's missing as she snuck out without informing anyone.  

More Of Those Post-Apocalyptic Telly Programs

This selection of a Top 10 does seem to be heavily slanted in favour of recent releases, because otherwise I'd expect to see the excellent version of "The Day Of The Triffids" starring John Duttine.  I may come back to Brian Aldiss claiming that it's a 'Cosy Catastrophe' as I utterly ref

     ANYWAY this one is called "The Boat".  Unlike most of the others mentioned here, I'd never heard of it before.  Art!

Spanish for "The Boat"

     Hmmmm my ignorance is possibly due to it being 11 years old, and it only ran for three seasons.  Conrad is fairly certain that only very exceptional series of any ilk continue being good after the third season and woul

     ANYWAY this one does sound intriguing.  An adventure-training sailship, the "Polar Star", is at sea when overnight, due to a particle accelerator in Geneva, 90% of the world's landmass is sunk.  Conrad unsure if the oceans rise or the continents fall.  So the ship and it's crew are all alone, trying to find solid land again.  Art!

The boat in question

Finally -

Well well Osbert Sitwell, we've got to this point without any asides or asterisks, which is an achievement in itself given how prone I am to going off at a tangent.  I have to also note that I've got to copy out my Word documents by manually typing them - no ability to copy and paste <sad face> O well one takes the rough with the smooth.  I shall now take a comfort break and then it's off to take Edna for a trot whilst the weather stays reasonably sunny.

     Chin chin!