With Apologies To All Our Slovak And Czech Readers
If there are any. Let me just check a moment. Art!
Well, there may have been some in the past. It's all the Czech's fault for having a national name that chimes so appealingly with our verb 'Check', which itself has a bit of a history - from Old French "Eschec" which itself derives from the Arabic which itself derives from the Persian 'Shah' meaning 'King'. 'Czech' comes from the Polish, because the Czechs call themselves 'Čech'.
"Okay, Conrad, aged dipso, what brings on this sudden interest in Mittel European nations that gave us the words 'Robot' and 'Wenceslas'?" I hear you call. Pausing only to inform you that Conrad intends to go sober for December, I shall refer you to the bizarre appearance of a vlog on my Youtube page. Art!
You can see the Czech flag in the bottom port corner. A quick peruse of the video proves that yes, Čadca and Svrčinovec are two towns, but I could only get subtitles in Slovak or Polish. I went for Slovak, as it's very closely related to Czech. There's no way I can Google-translate ten minutes of Eastern European dialogue, but lets at least attempt it with the title. "
So much railway!
In case you were wondering, and even if you weren't, the reason it looks so sunny and cheerful is because it was filmed in August. This is proof that other parts of the Continent do, indeed, have as many as four seasons in a single year. I have to say, the Slovaks and Czechs are very public-spirited, because the channel, "Popradska okruzna' ('Popradsky District) has lots of subscribers and appreciative viewers. Art!
O go on then. Art!
As you can just see from the title at bottom, this is 'Prelozka Trate' which I think means 'Preparing track) as our industrious Slavic chums are busy beavering away levelling and grading and other construction words. Art!
This is the old station at Svrčinovec. Whilst charming and bucolic, it has no future in a transport network looking to the 22nd Century, made of carbon steel and pre-formed concrete, plugged into the internet and looking for speeds of 300 miles per hour. Art!
'Move Station'
So - they are going to move the station and build it anew. Hurrah for the march of progress! Not quite so much for the soundtrack, which is a bit bland to be honest without any proper guitar. You might argue that they don't want to distract you from your civic responsibility of being proud of a new rail link.
Conrad wonders if it isn't actually taking place in Slovakia; let me just Google one of those towns to get a bit of clarity here.
Ah, yes, it looks like this is in Slovakia. I am going to ignore that as I cannot think of any suitable puns to be generated from that nation's name. Although ...
It's now 00:11 and I had no idea I was going to create a whole Intro from this ten-minute video, so Conrad is off to bed. He cannot afford to lose his beauty sleep.
The Hair-Splitting Pedant Rides Again!
I'm sure you're all very happy for me. This is one I've been cogitating about for a while, concerning "The Last Of Us", the television show not the computer game. The first problem I have is an exposition given by John Hannah's character, about how awful things would become were a fungal species manage to survive in the human body, by virtue of not being temperature-disabled. Art!
That's John to port
We then go on to learn that the source of the infection was contaminated flour from an Indonesian flour-processing plant - and I have to give props to the creators here, this detail was a very nice touch. People eat the spore-laden flour, then become fungi-infested mobile infection vectors, in best zombie fashion.
Except that's not quite right, is it? Because those victims were chowing down on things like pancakes and bread. Art!
Here is where we need to assume another change in the fungus, that is, having it's spores able to withstand being roasted or fried at temperatures in the hundreds of degrees Celsius. This is quite besides things like frozen products containing flour that need to be microwaved to defrost them. Of course, the other edge to this logic is that there are certainly foodstuffs containing flour that don't get cooked at Gas Mark 7, and I'm thinking of things like sauces, where the flour acts as a thickening agent. However, even there this is no longer the exclusive domain of wheat flour, because gluten-free thickeners are increasingly being used. Art!
Bogasari Flour Mill, Djakarta
I'm glad we were able to straighten out a few things that were bothering me, BUT we're not done with "The Last Of Us" yet. O noes.
"If It's Mouldy Or Rotten - Give It To Conrad!"
Because Conrad is pretty much the definition of 'Omnivore'; if it will fit into his gaping maw, then in it goes. I do draw the limits somewhere, but if that three-week old sliced ham has gotten slimy why then a quick rinse under the tap will see it right! Art?
These are mentholated, which is a distinction from 'Mint-flavoured'. They were far too strong for Wonder Wifey, so I got them. Conrad approves! The only downside is that they are definitely full of sugar, so this aged diabetic will ration himself to one per day. Sweet!
"City In The Sky"
The Doctor has been snooping around.
Both men stood outside the unglamourous
exterior of a sheep-dip and looked at each other with sudden understanding,
that the greener grass on the other side of that electrified barbed-wire fence
laden with directional anti-personnel mines, that greener lawn was only greener
thanks to the mould that infested it.
‘What do you say we find your mate Doctor Smith? He sneaked off an hour ago. I don’t suppose he could’ve got up to
mischief in that time, but Don’ll want a report on what he did.’
Alex didn’t know the Doctor like Ace and thus didn’t snort scornfully
when the words about mischief were mentioned.
They found him in the company of a young male Aborigine, sitting under
the awning of New Eucla’s only retail food outlet, a combination café-cum-shop-cum-hotel,
listening intently.
‘’Lo, Bill,’ waved Mike.
‘Skiving, eh?’
‘Stuff you!’ replied the young man, hotly. ‘I’m filling in the Doctor. He’s important!’
‘My fault entirely,’ beamed the small man. ‘Billy’s been a fount of information. Very helpful indeed.’
‘If you’ve finished being entertained by him, then he can get back to
the forge. His dad ain’t paying for him
to sit and jaw.’
Billy stood to go, pointing over the limits of New Eucla to the outback.
‘Twenty miles that way, Doctor.
Be seein’ you.’
Snooping productively.
Here's One I Made Earlier
I do apologise, this picture got omitted from "The War Illustrated" yesteryon, where it would have made rather more sense than it does as a singleton here. Art!
This is the interior of the Convoy Rescue vessel that tagged along at the end of every convoy by this time in the war, a splendidly simple idea that, of course - obviously! - took ages to formalise. There was a fully-equipped operating theatre in each of these vessels, as you can see at lower port.
Another Subculture You Never Knew Existed
Conrad was perusing the BBC's News website, because one likes to feel informed about the world, and Hey Pesto! what did I espy but the name "Manchester" in a side-bar article. How could I not investigate my adopted home city, where the streets are washed every day? Art!
Yes, 'Away' is where I will stay. Good luck and all that!
I am hammering this blog out at lunchtime, all the better to have time tonight to make a Tuesday Stew. We shall see how it goes.
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