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To Coin A Phrase

I shall explicate.  As you should surely know, I frequently post items on BOOJUM! that refer to terrifying revenge or malicious compliance up the wazoo, and in nearly all cases it's a tale from South Canada.  Hence the title.  Because, you see, most of these stories would be illegal and liable to prosecution in This Sceptred Isle and the rest of Europe.  Wonderful labour laws, rubbish for generating content.  Art!

     We of Perfidious Albion even gave the South Canadians a chance to build a new White House, after we got rid of the old one for them, that's how generous we are.

     ANYWAY Original Poster was working in a shop - 'store' to our South Canadian readers - in the rear, receiving deliveries, loading and unloading trucks, assembling furniture, putting it out on the shop floor.  A supervisor position came free, to which he applied but didn't get it, as another worker with more experience got the promotion.  Art!

     A year later this supervisor decided there's more to life than humping crated furniture around and stops showing up for work, without giving notice.  OP did the supervising whilst the store manager  tried to contact the absent supervisor (who was probably chilling on a beach in Thailand) and eventually fired him 4 weeks later.  OP thinks he's a shoo-in for the supervisor role -

     But no.  Otherwise it would be a short Intro, wouldn't it?  Manager not only refuses to approve the promotion, he openly mocks OP.

     What goes around comes around.  OP stops doing the supervision and after 5 days of this the manager notices and comes to rail at him for not doing his job.  Art!

     In true manglement style, the manager agrees that OP isn't worth the supervisor's pay BUT STILL HAS TO DO THE JOB.  I dunno, maybe he was off his meds?  OP points out to Mister Dense that if he's not being paid for the job then he's not going to do it, and to behave with a bit more respect considering they're already a man short.

     So, of course - obviously! - MD fires him.  Yeah, we could see that coming.  OP is a tad bemused, because now the back-end of the store is down to 3 people, not the minimum 5 needed, and none of these people were at all experienced.

     The very next day MD calls him, saying maybe they can negotiate about a promo - at which OP cuts him off, replying that he's not coming back and already has another job, and then hangs up on him.  Art!

I bet that felt satisfying

     It turns out DM was incapable of filling the two empty positions, and the excessive workload led to 2 of the 3 back-end employees resigning as well.  The store closed down and MD was suddenly unemployed.  Karma is sweet! (and has no calorific content).  OP was able to enjoy a little justified schadenfreude (which is also non-fattening).

     

Meanwhile, In Singapore ...

When last we mentioned 'West Point', previously 'SS America', she had sailed into Singapore at the end of January 1942.  This was during the Japanese assault on the island, when things were plainly going badly wrong for the Commonwealth garrison.  SS A/WP was docked in Keppel harbour when Japanese bombers attacked and bore a charmed life as bombs hit all around her, damaging the docks and sinking or badly damaging other ships but missing her.

     She was loaded up with civilian refugees, dockyard workers, spare soldiers and sailors and other human flotsam and left harbour on 30th January.  Her good luck stood fair and low cloud and squally weather prevented any air attack from the Japanese.  Art!

     No doubt all aboard breathed a collective sigh of relief with a heartfelt 'phew!' and exhale.  Next stop Ceylon!

     O, by the way, Singapore capitulated on 15th February before which time the Japanese air force ruled the skies.

A Snake In Salford

We have covered this before, but industrial archaeologist Martin Zero on his Youtube channel dug up more images and ones I'd not seen before.  Yes, we are talking about the Anaconda Cut.

     The River Irwell, you see, meandered a bit along it's route through Salford, and one particular loop was especially prone to flooding.  Art!

     There was nowhere for floodwater to go except into the local housing, and Martin came up with a photograph of the loop's top end, which gives one an idea of how badly people were likely to be affected.  Art!

     The bottom picture is Lower Broughton in 1946, when the area was hit by the worst flooding in 70 years.  It was up to three feet deep in places, and led to a decision to 'cut' the loop by digging a new channel for the Irwell - the Anaconda Cut.  It wasn't very long but it meant no more flooding for Lower Broughton.  Art!

     Whilst under construction.  Finally completed in 1970 and Salford's been flood-free for 53 years since then.

     Photos and pics courtesy Martin Zero.

"The Sea Of Sand"

Sarah is trying to find makework, to keep her thoughts from dwelling on how inaccessible the TARDIS is, having been stolen by the bio-vores.

Thanks,’ she replied moodily.  ‘I think I’ll try and make a meal.  Can you show me where tinned food is kept?’  It was very domestic and rather stereotypical, but it would take her mind off the unpromising situation.

          It took a while, trial and error, a broken tin opener and searching with a torch amongst tins stored in a decrepit mud hut, but Sarah managed a very passable stew, cooked in a big metal ammunition box she scrubbed clean with sand.

          ‘Tinned stew, tinned potatoes, tinned beans, salt and other bits and pieces,’ she declared proudly.  ‘Cooked over three of those little spirit stoves.’

          Tam and Davey were taken dixies of the stew, fell upon it gratefully and devoured it in minutes.

          ‘That were fu- hmph! – that were great,’ declared Tam, handing back the empty dixie.  Davey was too busy scoffing his to reply, soaking up the remains with a stale wad.

          Sarah stood back and looked at the impressive construction the two soldiers had made.  A great six-foot high arc of sandbags, behind which were ammunition boxes of .303 bullets.  Two Vickers machine guns had been set up to fire between narrow slots in the sandbag barrier.

          ‘Doctor Smith said a thick enough barrier of metal would stop the ray guns,’ explained Tam.  ‘And we’ve got the sandbags, too.’

          ‘This is solid ground, as well.  We’re not going to get glassed.’

     Good recovery there, Tam!

Finally -

I've finally started to watch "1917", one of my Christmas presents, with mixed feelings, because as you ought to know by now, I am a fearful bore when it comes to getting the details right in historical war films.  Please don't force me to relive the horror of "Battle of the Bulge" where they have M24 Chaffees pretending to be Shermans, and M47 AMERICAN Pattons pretending to be King Tigers <pause to recover and lower my blood pressure> so - my first impression is that everyone is far too clean, because being in trenches all the time meant you got filthy from the feet up pretty quickly.   We shall see.  We shall see.  Art!