Conrad Unsure What Makes The Woman
If it's sugar and spice and all things nice, then this fat old diabetic is in trouble.
ANYWAY this Intro was supposed to begin with " - And So Does The Music" before I got side-tracked - DOG BUNS! I knew I'd been too hasty and selected 11 = E in that Codeword, no wonder nothing made sense but I was under time pressure as it was done at work an
ANYWAY AGAIN O quick Art, divert them -
This is a thing? Who knew! Now all they need are tactical nuclear weapons and we're good to go! Actually Conrad would never dare pick up a computer game like this one, because it would consume every waking m
ANYWAY AGAIN, AGAIN Kreplach, the non-stop party in my head makes it hard to concentrate at times.
Conrad is unaware if he's unburdened himself with the sheer hideousness of life in the office as a temp, so forgive me if I repeat myself. You'd better be in a forgiving mood, the Remote Nuclear Detonator has been for it's 100,000 clicks service and is squeaky clean and super efficient. So, the office is a confined space and has a broadcast speaker unit that picks up Spotify playlists from nearby mobile phones, possibly due to Bilberry (sp?) connections. Digital Devil Device technology, anyway. Art!
 |
| That's going to break when it hits*. |
The thing is, Conrad can't connect to this speaker and thus has to endure everyone else's music, which he HATES WITH THE BURNING PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUPERNOVAE. It's all rap music and it's ghastly mutant offspring and they all use the same production techniques, which means Your Humble Scribe has to spend most of the day scowling and listening to the 20th century's best invention, the i-pod. "Conrad not a team player" whisper the managers to each other, and probably "good thing he's not permanent, he's got a little black cloud over his head all day long". Art!
My Precioussss!
During a whole day I might hear as many as two tracks that I like. Yesteryon I was upsmacked in the head (as the youth say) when I heard what sounded like a dance re-mix of Sigur Ros' 'Hoppipolla' from the first album of theirs that I bought, "Takk", which I believe is Icelandic for "Thanks" and I know this as I was translating from a Norwegian e-mail yesterday. I've put a full stop there as that sentence was getting rather unwieldy. Art!
Somebody at the BBC liked them too, because 'Hoppipolla' got used as an instrumental break between programs.
ANYWAY YET AGAIN Conrad used the Shazam app on his mobile and he was correct; what he heard was 'Poppipola' by Chicane. Conrad somewhat horrified to learn that Takk was released in 2005. Chicane is the moniker of an English musician and producer, who was christened Nicholas Bracegirdle. Art!
Nic being chic
So thanks, Nic, for five minutes of remixed relief from the daily sonic sewage that today's youth <hack spit> like.
O and by the way, 'Supernovae' is the correct plural of 'Supernova'.
What's In A Name?
One of our team leader's name is 'Liton', him being the first Liton I'd ever met, Conrad - naturally curious as ever - asked what it meant. He'd no idea, beyond that it was Bangladeshi, so of course - obviously! - Your Humble Scribe had to look it up. There's two variants defined by others: either 'Flame Of Fire', which is pretty cool <pun intended> and 'Gift Of God', which will give the chap a swollen head if admitted, so I'm going with the hot one. Art!
More Of Lord Peter's Crossword
Yes, more of Ol' Dot's confusing confabulation that required a sound working knowledge of Latin, Greek, the mythology of both, the Bible and Shakespeare. Sadly Conrad is deficient in all these, as he never went to a public school**. Here's the next 'clue': "When all is read, then give the world it's due, and never need the world read this of you."
I actually solved it without solving it, if you see what I mean, since it was only two letters long and the Across answers had already filled it in. It was
"RD"
Conrad hopes you're as baffled as he is. From the 'clue' it doesn't seem to mean 'ROAD', and Google was of little use -
| RD | Read |
| RD | Round |
| RD | Rainbow Dash (animation) |
| RD | Residential Development |
| RD | Remote Desktop (computer networking) |
| RD | Receive(d) Data |
| RD | Research and Development |
| RD | Rural Development (USDA) |
| RD | Regional Director |
| RD | Ranger District (USDA) |
| RD | Rear Derailleur (bicycle equipment) |
| RD | Retired |
| RD | Reserve (Officers') Decoration |
| RD | Red Deer (Canada) |
| RD | Roller Derby |
It definitely isn't 'Remote Desktop' as the PC was science fiction when the story was written and 'Roller Derby' isn't apt for a description of anyone. Art!
Possibly a little under-dressed for Ol' Dot, too
"The Sea Of Sand"
The Doctor has met up with our little band of heroic resisters outside the Field Supply Depot.
Roger and
Torrevechio unloaded the arms, tinned food and canteens of water they had
removed from the doomed convoy.
‘Sustenance
enough. We won’t perish from lack of
food or water,’ observed the Doctor.
‘The other
Sahariana had some food and water in it,’ explained Sarah. ‘And the Doctor brought more from that truck
Albert and the Professor came in.’
Roger looked
for Dominione, who was over at the wadi rim, keeping an eye on the depot.
‘Miss Sm –
Sarah. I want to apologise to the
Tenente. Can you take a message to him?’
‘I speak
fluent Italian: Northern and Southern dialects, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Milanese,
heroic couplets and ribald verse to order,’ grinned the Doctor. ‘Your message is?’
Tenente
Dominione twitched with visible annoyance at first when the Doctor passed on
Roger’s terms of apology. Sarah could
see the body language from the other side of the wadi, the officer being
outlined against the sands by dusk. His
start of horror meant that the Doctor told him about the molten glass ambush.
Later, when
relieved by Torrevechio, the Italian officer sought out Roger, beckoning Sarah
over for translation.
‘He says that
he is sorry your men perished in such a fashion,’ she conveyed. ‘And that for the forseeable future he will
fight alongside you as a brother in arms.’
Harmony in the ranks, that's what we like to see.
"The War Illustrated"
This is the back cover illustration, slightly tinted - only slightly maybe due to colour fading over time or it was too expensive to tint properly - of Issue 167. Art!
In case that small print is too small, let me explain. This is pretty obviously not a tank going into normal contact with the enemy, as otherwise the infantry would have dismounted and the crewmember (wearing a black beret) would only have his head sticking out of the turret. The accompanying blurb explains that they're looking out for snipers, which is why everyone has their weapon unslung and to hand. It would be spectacularly unwise to snipe at a tank like this, because it might well retaliate with a high-explosive shell.
Finally -
People usually do a review of the year at this point in time. Okay. I had a job, got made redundant in August, had a three month holiday, and am now temping a lot closer to home than Gomorrah-in-the-Irwell. I added to my book mountain, watched a shed-load of K-drama and am practicing Korean cooking. I still hate all musicals, pineapple and parsnip. There you go.
* GOOD!
** Confusingly for anyone not of This Sceptred Isle, these are actually very expensive private schools
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