Let Us Try To Be Sophisticated

And See How Long That Lasts

Okay, Conrad is still plodding his way through "The New History Of Korean Civilisation" because I only get to read a couple of pages on the bus, so short is the journey.  I'm about half-way through and we've reached what the book calls the  "Choson" era, currently about the 13th century.  The spelling and pronunciation of Korean in this scholarly tome differs from Netflix translations, where they spell it "Joseon".  This period of about 500 years is seen most fondly by the Koreans, almost like a Silver Age.  Art!

KILLER EELS!  KILLER EELS!
THEY DESTROY CARS BY EATING THE WHEELS!

     Well there you go, being sophisticated lasted all of one paragraph.

    Okay, let's pause here for an aside.  That grumpy looking fish above is a Giant Moray Eel, a species of eel that can grow to 10' long and weight in at over 60 pounds.  They tend to lurk in niches in reefs and, as you can see, have lots of big sharp teeth, and two sets of very powerful jaws.  In actuality they don't deliberately seek out Hom. Sap. as mobile aperitifs; their eyesight is pretty poor, though, and they DO NOT like being disturbed or taken by surprise.  If that happens they are liable to come out biting.  Were you to best one, DO NOT make jellied eel out of it.  Their body tissues accumulate ciguatoxins from the fish they eat, and in high concentrations, too.  If you ate a Giant Moray it would be the last thing you did.  Art!

     Stretching the aside a little further, this debut album is an absolute classic, loaded with fantastic songs - a killer, you might say.

     ANYWAY - back to Korean sophistication.  Conrad, because he is a dinosaur, carefully folded over the edge of TNHOKC pages in he needed to make notes on, and today I made good on that at lunchtime.  Let's see if any of these Korean architectural wonders still exist.  Art!

    This is the Miruk Temple Pagoda.  As you can plainly see, it is made of stone, and hence rather different from the wooden pagodas you might be used to.  'Twas not always so pristine and alluring, gentle reader, because this is how it looks after 20 years of restoration.  It is the oldest and largest stone pagoda in Korea and was designated a National Treasure in 1962.  Original construction was in the 7th century, so one might compare it to some Anglo-Saxon churches - except that would require too much work on the part of Your Humble Scribe, so we shall move swiftly on.

   Sophistication Co-efficient slightly restored.
    I do have a list of other archaeological sites and notable pagodas, which will get trotted out over time, don't you worry, it's just that Conrad doesn't want to overwhelm you with intellectual rigour, because, after all, this is a blog that loves loves loves it's Atomic Tank Zombies.

     I'm not going to Google that because someone, somewhere, will have done artwork for it.  Instead - Art!

     I have no idea about what this is, and I strongly suspect nobody else has, either.

     Motley! 

     Yes, these guys are in a Pagoda.  More later!

Talking Of Wheels -

The Killer Eels bit, haven't you been paying attention?  Watch out, for both my Remote Nuclear Detonators stand ready.

     Okay, Conrad's early morning jaunt to work takes him past the car showrooms at the end of Queensway, shortly before it turns into Kingsway - don't say British street-namers lack creativity - where there is a peculiar little Pedestrian Protection Projection.  I think.  Essentially it is two short lengths of kerb laid perpendicular to the actual kerb, with a stripey pole on top to warn motorists.  I noticed walking between the kerb-stones today that there originally had been four poles, just that the two closest to traffic were sad basal remnants.  Art!

     As I approached, a taxi either unfamiliar with the road layout or careless, hit one of those projecting kerbs, and it's hubcap came whizzing off.  You can just see the hubcap lying in the road behind the furthest pole.

     This, Vulnavia, is why there are only two poles left standing ...

Talking Of Which -

You may not be familiar with President Duda of Poland, but O my! are the Ukrainians familiar with him.  He recently paid an initially secret visit to Ukraine, and was both mobbed and feted.  Art!

Er - a bit less than secret

     Conrad supposes that, if there were only two Poles left standing, one would be Duda, and he'd still be supporting Ukraine.

That Dog Buns! Crossword Again

I hope this item continues to teach you the benefits of a public-school education, where one learned Latin, Greek and Biblical studies whilst being beaten with canes at the slightest provocation or even none at all.  So, what is today's 'clue'?

"This sensible old man refused to tread The path to Hades in a youngester's stead (7)"

     The answer is "ADMETUS".

     I know, I know, my response was the same: "Who?"

     Art!

"The Sea Of Sand"

Our plucky band of humans and the Doctor are considering getting back into the much-fought over Field Supply Depot at Mersa Martuba.

Forty minutes later, Tam ground his teeth together and condemned himself for ever considering the mention of their enemy abandoning the depot.  He condemned himself, and the bio-vores, the bio-vores most of all.

          He was the driver, in one of the Saharianas, ferrying the Doctor, Lieutenant Llewllyn and Capriccio north of Mersa Martuba.  Far, far north of the depot.  The idea was to move back in from the north and determine if any of what Davey called the “nose-goblins” were still lurking around.

          Instead the car came across a series of tracks, long ploughed slots in the sands running from west to east, made by a caravan of animals.  The Sahariana ran parallel to the tracks for almost a mile, before they suddenly turned south and then abruptly ended in a confusion of debris.  At first no-one realised what they were looking at, until the Doctor dismounted and picked up a semi-cylindrical mass of dehydrated paper, as it seemed, which crumbled in his hands.

          ‘A saddle,’ he stated, in a flat and emotionless voice.  ‘For a camel.’  He toed a mass of withered fibres at his feet.  ‘And this was the camel.’

Tam looked over stringy, dessicated remnants spread over the desert for yards and yards.  Hideously similar to the remnants left after the killer tanks attacked Mersa Martuba the first time.

     Sorry, it's determined to centre-align and it's not going to move for me or you.  Well, I think our Hom. Sap. characters here are working up a considerable hatred for the bio-vores that may well come into play later on.  What use is Chekhov's Gun if it isn't fired?

Finally -

My secret weapon this evening was a torch.  You will have become familiar with Conrad's traversing of a canal towpath early in the morning and late in the evening.  The year is sufficiently advanced for my morning walk to be in semi-daylight; in the evening it's like traversing the inside of a coal-sack whilst wearing a blindfold and wearing roller-skates on a greased rink.  SO!  The torch.  It was pretty useful in showing where and what I was stepping upon and saved a couple of minutes.

     Hooray for Conrad and torch.