In The Sense Of Putting Up An Ambiguous Title: "Going Underground"
To anyone like Conrad, who possesses a mind with the cubic capacity of Sydney Opera House and the ability to retain any old rubbish, this title immediately calls to mind that song by The Jam, a misnomer of a name if ever there was one as their songs tended to be quite citric and critical. Art!
This Jam is safe for diabetics
Conrad was never a big fan. I think I preferred the bleak nihilism of Killing Joke and Danse Society.
ANYWAY, at the same time Weller et al were slinging chords around, guess which British comic took an interest?
NO! Not "Bunty". Get out of here with your "Bunty"*! "2000AD" is whom. They had a couple of prospective strips under the title "Comic Rock", and if I prod Art long and hard with this alligator-goad -
DJ based on Kenny Everett
That demonic creature spouting fire, and the tetrahedral goitre to port, are both direct derivatives of "Terror Tube", being Nemesis and Torquemada respectively.
But none of the above are what I'm yarking on about today.
Let's have a moment's silence for a fellow blogger who published a monthly blog about the London Underground. Art!
This is the last entry, June 2014, with no reason or warning given why it suddenly stopped. Burnout and lack of content, perhaps, as she'd been posting it since 2003.
ANYWAY once again, not what we're on about today, which is in fact what we touched on yesteryon - the Standedge Canal Tunnel. Don't whimper so pathetically, I did warn you. Art!
You can see why I differentiated about the canal tunnel.
Work on the tunnel, which was to connect Diggle, in Oldham, with Marsden, in the far-flung foreign fields of Marsden, Yorkshire, began in 1796. It proved to be a lot harder to bore than anticipated, even when being dug from both ends. To cut costs there was no towpath, normally used by draught horses to pull laden canal barges, and only parts of the canal were lined with brick. Art!
Renovated and relined
There was only room for one narrow boat at a time, with only a few enlarged sections to allow boats to pass, so the tunnel operated a sequential one-way system, with one end being closed with an iron chain to prevent access whilst boats came through from the other direction.
How did they manage to travel with no horses to tow them? Why, by virtue of stout-thewed bargees who lay on their backs and 'walked' the boats forward with their feet. It could take three hours to manage with a fully-laden barge. Art!
You'll need a few statistics to impress, won't you? Okay, it is 5,698 yards long (none of that Metric rubbish here!), lies at a depth of 212 yards beneath the Pennines at the deepest point, and is 211 yards above sea level. Thus being the longest, deepest and highest canal in This Sceptred Isle, all in one package.
The Standedge Canal was never as successful as hoped, since it was in competition with the Rochdale canal originally and, latterly, railways. Somewhat ironically, there are 3 railways tunnels that parallel the canal tunnel, one of which used cross-tunnels to the canal to dispose of spoil during construction. Even now, if a tourist boat traverses the canal, it will be paced on the parallel disused railway tunnel by a service vehicle, just in case. Art!
"Derelict Places", from whom we get the overhead photo, kayaked the canal whilst a third member walked the railway tunnel from end to end and then back again to Diggle. A man's got to have a hobby, hmmm? Art!
This frankly forbidding entrance is one of those aforementioned cross-tunnels from the railway tunnel to the canal. Abandon all hope .....
The site is open for tourist traffic, if you dearly want to spend two hours in a damp, rank tunnel with no daylight where there are very probably spiders dangling from the roof.
Muggins Here -
Normally such an epithet is an insult - in fact, let me consult my "Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase And Fable" to see if it defines this word. Aha. The word 'Muggins', meaning a simpleton or fool, is derived in turn from 'Mug', meaning 'Face' or 'One who is easily deceived'. I am glad it traces back to 'Mug', because - Art!
This work has been taking up space in the kitchen for years and years - date of publication is 2014 - without ever being broached.
Until last night. Your Humble Scribe had the ingredients to make a Banana Cake, so I did. Art!
The evidence. I can claim my head-cold made me careless, because I forgot to add the oil at the beginning and it went in last. The mug was cooking in the microwave when I realised I'd not added the self-raising flour, so it was hiked out and the flour mixed in.
End result was surprisingly fine. The final product is the size of a large cupcake and was well-risen, spongy and firm to the touch, all as it should be. All in all, given the memory-deficient interruptions, it took less than thirty minutes to do from scratch. It being Weekly Shop night tonight, I may dig out a recipe to make. Only one per week because, you know, sugar and all that.
A Recherche Le Temps Of A Long Time Ago
To traumatise a French author. What the heck, if he doesn't like it he can sue.
Okay, as you ought to be aware, for many years now I have been posting pictures from "The War Illustrated", from Volume Seven onwards. TWI was a wartime publication of the Second Unpleasantness, on a fortnightly schedule, covering events on land, at sea and in the air.
Conrad, as ever quizzical and curious, wondered what Volume One covered, when the war started and the Teutons were successful everywhere. Art!
The first difference is the cover, which looks quite different from the versions I've been posting from four or five years later. Art!
Lay In More Popcorn!
We have occasionally mentioned Rudy Giuliani here on the blog, he being one of the premier bootlickers to the Orange Land Whale, and whom relentlessly pushed false narratives about the election being stolen, even going so far as to defame perfectly innocent election workers. Art!
Remember the Wicked Witch's reaction to water? This is Rudy being hit with the truth.
He tried to preserve his assets by filing for bankruptcy earlier this year, a motion which was scoffed at and dismissed by the courts. NOW he's being forced to surrender his assets, which include: his New York penthouse; his Mercedes (ex-property of Lauren Bacall); a collection of luxury watches and a baseball tee-shirt. Signed by someone called Joey Demaggogo or similar. I think he has an apartment in a luxury Florida condominium that the courts may cast an eye over. Tee hee!
I Think I Can Explain This Without Reading Further
Idris Elba is the big black dude whose been in tons of television and a few films, you'd know him if you saw him, and there's speculation he *may* be the next James Bond, which might save the franchise from becoming Jane Bond <shudders>. Art!
Finally -
Just a picture to balance out all the text. Art!
The ugly yet robust and reliable Marmon-Herrington armoured car, which I feel doesn't get enough love.
Chin chin!
* A comic for girls. See?
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