Fiction

No!  Not The Album By The Comsat Angels

Although it's an excellent album, and you will get to hear it being played on a loop on International Comsat Angels Day when I take over.  Art!

     I was walking past a record shop in Amsterdam when I heard what definitely sounded like the Comsats, except it wasn't a song I recognised, so I went inside and Hay Pesto! 'Fiction' had just been released, so I bought it.  Remember, this is the Eighties when CDs were just a gleam in an engineer's eye, so Conrad had to travel back home with a fragile vinyl record a foot square.

     CAUTION!  MAY CONTAIN POLITICS!

     ANYWAY I was referring, more generally, to fictional things as in things made up.  There is a chapter in Jon Sopel's entertaining and illuminating memoir "If Only They Didn't Speak English" where he and his cameraman were travelling back to the BBC offices in a cab.  This is in 2016 after Trump became Prez.  And in the political background you have these people.  Art!

     The Clintons, lest you be unaware.  The cabbie's radio was tuned in to a 'news' station, which breathlessly reported that the Clintons had taken their stolen $1.8 billion fortune and sent it abroad already, either to a Swiss bank account or a tax haven in the Bahamas.  They had chartered a jet to flee the country ahead of the FBI, the IRS and the DEA.  Their residence at <checks spelling> Chappaqua was due to be raided by a task force so they were getting out of the country before the writ was executed.  Their charter was going to head to Qatar in the Gulf, since it had no extradition treaty with South Canada, where they could bask in the sun and enjoy their purloined wealth, probably in a luxury suite of the Bourj Khalifa*.  Art!

Doha, Qatar

     Fascinating stuff!

     Yet completely untrue.

     The thing is, a lot of Ice Cream Bandit supporters hated the Clintons, especially Hilary, so much that their thought-processes short-circuited and went from Hearing immediately to Believing.  This isn't unique, the Wizard Lizard Gizzard supporters had previously suffered from what was hilariously dubbed 'Bush Derangement Syndrome'.  They lapped up this stuff about Hilary.  

     Interestingly enough, when Trump was merely Citizen Trump and on the campaign trail, he brayed ceaselessly about how he was going to send Hilary to jail, and a meme 'LOCK HER UP!' circulated, until he became Prez Trump and the whole theme was quietly dropped.  Gosh, one wonders why!  Art!

      Well, one can guess why in light of that judge awarding $937,000 in legal sanctions against (now) Citizen Trump and his lawyer Alina Habba - who seems to have gotten her appointment with Trump based solely on looks not ability - for mounting frivolous and vexatious legal cases:  No Basis In Law.

     O and an interesting aside from Jon's book.  Prez Obama invited an experienced political operator, Jim Messina, to go for a swim whilst on holiday in Hawaii.  This is not an offer you can politely refuse, even if you can't swim.  Off they went, so Prez Obama could ask Jim to run his forthcoming campaign.

     Jim was distracted by a cloud of bubbles coming up underneath them, and asked what was going on.

     "Oh, that.  It's from the Secret Service divers underneath me in case I start to drown."

     Hmmmm indeed on occasion truth is stranger than fiction.

     Hmmmm well do you know that wasn't the Intro I was expecting to write.  Ah, what it is to be a creative genius!

Remember The 'American Star'?

The ship that gradually fell apart, not Clint Eastwood.  She had a long and interesting career from the very beginning, because she started her service in August 1940, whilst the Second Unpleasantness was raging in Europe.  To ensure that nobody mistook her for a British or French vessel, the South Canadian flag was emblazoned on both sides of her hull, and she ran at night with all lights burning, for only a ship with a guilty conscience would skulk in the dark.  Art!

     Also of note was the fact that two Teuton spies were aboard, Franz Stigler and Erwin Siegler, who carried out liaison between other Teuton agents and generally reported back any naval or troop movements they became aware of.  Both were kicked off the ship when it was acquired by the South Canadian Navy, and both were arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced in December of 1941.

     There's more, lots of it, but I'll keep it in reserve.

A Smidgeon Of Sophistication

Yes, we are back on the subject of Korean architecture, in this case dating back to the seventh century and the Punhwang Temple; once again translation conventions differ here and I note that it's 'Bunhwang' on teh Interwebz.  This may be why I couldn't find 'Chongnim Temple Pagoda' - I'll try it tomorrow with a 'J' instead of a 'Ch' and see what comes up.  Art!

    Sorry, no pictures with puny humans present to give a sense of scale.  Just judge by the dimensions of the doorways.

     It was constructed in 634 AD, so it's pretty hale for a structure that old.  Being made of stone not wood has advantages, clearly.  A small number of worshippers still use it; back in the day it was one of the four most important temples during the Silla era.

"The Sea Of Sand"

The intrepid band of survivors have now shown their hand by killing two of the repellent bio-vores, so the enemy know they are present.

‘Attenzione!’ warned Capriccio, pointing down the lane between the supply stacks.  ‘Doctor Smith, get under cover immediately!’

Having used up his petrol, the Doctor had little choice.  He feinted to the left, then dived to the right, a dart plucking at his sleeve as he did so.  Hiding behind a collection of oil drums, he ducked as the sound of gunfire bounced around the pyramids of supplies.  Tam and the Sergente seemed to be having trouble keeping their enemy at bay, until a deeper weapon began firing, going through dozens of rounds.  It seemed to be coming from further to the east, behind the attacking bio-vores.  A Bren gun, the type of light machine gun that Lieutenant Llewellyn carried.

‘Ahoy!  Enemy dealt with!’ came the young officer’s voice.

All three men emerged from cover, to see Roger standing atop a pyramid of crates, switching magazines on the machine gun he cradled.  He waved and pointed to the bodies of three bio-vores below his perch, riddled by gunfire.

‘Thought I could gain a better perspective and look down on them,’ he said.  ‘I kept a sharp eye out, up on that pile, and there don’t seem to be any more of them.’

‘That one, the one that took a petrol bath, it’s still alive,’ said Tam, pointing with the muzzle of his tommy-gun.

     Not for long, matey, not for long!

Finally -

Time to get this dog and pony show on the road, for I wish to hie me hence to Sainsbo's, as my supply of their knock-off reduced salt Marmite has run out.  I may also pop into the Oxfam bookshop, for they had an interesting selection there last I was in.  I may also have a look at their World Foods section to see if there are any possible Korean ingredients present.  Just so you know.  Art!

NOT LIKE MARMITE AT ALL IN ANY WAY

*  Yes it had been built by then, I checked.  Conrad is thorough.