We'll Get To That In A While
It doesn't feature on my CV ('Curriculum Vitae' <hack spit Latin>) which our trans-Atlantic cousins call a 'Resumé', but Your Humble Scribe spent four weeks working for Ashton Social Services in their Child Services branch as a temp way back in the summer of 2017. I don't list it since it was such a short period, yet also awfully interesting. Mostly the 'awful' part of 'awfully' because they were dealing with squalor, misery, neglect, abuse, drink, drugs and mental illness. You could not pay Conrad enough to do the job of the social workers there. Art!
Because a "Giant flying tank powered by coal" is a whole heck of a lot more pictorial that the Trifecta Of Doom. It must be an HQ tank to judge by the number of aerials, and if i
ANYWAY the South Canadian equivalent to my old employer is "Child Protective Services", run by each state as a part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Bear this in mind for later.
OKAY! this tale from Youtube's Reddit stories involves Young Child-Free Narrator, who went on a holiday jaunt with a clutch of other couples, all of whom had left their children at home with relatives or sitters. Child-free holiday, you see. Art!
Except M and L. They brought their 6-year old son, Luke, along. Reading between the lines, this is because they were too cheap to hire a sitter and none of their relatives wanted anything to do with them.
On Day Two, YCFN left the hotel to do her sightseeing solo, realised she'd forgotten her sunglasses and returned to the hotel to acquire them. The rest of the party had gone on a sea cruise.
Who did she find sitting outside her hotel room? NO! not Algernon Swinburne, who would have been several centuries dead at this point, you bafune. Luke. No sign of his parents. He didn't know where they were not how long he'd been sitting there. YCFN tried calling his parents, who didn't pick up, so left voicemails with them. Art!
You can't <ahem> overlook this
When YCFN called another adult in their party, she was informed that M & L were there and about to embark on a boat tour with the rest of them.
She informed this third party that if the parents weren't back in 20 minutes, she was calling the police.
You can see where this is going, can't you?
No sign of either M or L after 45 minutes so YCFN called the police, who came out and interviewed her, then called M & L.
Surprise! Getting a call from the police concentrated their minds wonderfully, and they appeared an hour later, whereupon the law had a quiet little chat with them. Art!
The group atmosphere after that was frosty, to say the least.
Remember that title? 'Frosty' because M & L lied to the rest of the group, saying that YCFN had agreed to look after Luke, then ditched him to go bar-hopping. At 09:00 in the morning. Yeah, right.
YCFN clued everyone else in, and M & L immediately became the villains of the piece. O DID they become the villains!
Because Child Protective Services got involved. This was due to the police getting involved, and I wish YCFN had been able to earwig on what M & L were told by the cops in attendance. As it was, L sent her a picture of an empty bed and a comment "I hope you're happy now". Art!
Luke, she learned, had been taken away from his parents and sent to live with his grandparents, which is an action of last resort for CPS, who will try and work things out with the parents before taking this step. That this happened is implicit recognition of abuse or neglect. Art!
It did for M & L!
They were both arrested.
M, the husband, worked with children and immediately lost his job, because being arrested for 'Child abandonment' and 'Child endangerment' looks bad on your resumé and employers rather jib at this.
YCFN, having re-set the narrative index, ended this harrowing tale by saying that M & L were still in jail as nobody - not even their parents - would stand bail for them. She promised an update, but the original story is only 3 days old, and South Canadian justice grinds very slowly, so I reckon it will be well into 2025 if we hear anything.
An unpleasant New Year for the parents, admittedly. Luke is apparently thriving. Get your Kleenex out*.
"The War Illustrated Edition 199 2nd February 1945"
Let me remind you, gentle reader, that the events being reported in this edition will have a cut-off date of circa 21/01/1945, as this seems to be the concatenation (not a word you ever expected to read today!) of their censorship date and how long it took information to reach This Sceptred Isle from combat on the Continent. Art!
In case you were unaware, there was another campaign being waged in Italy, which God had designed to be as awkward as possible for an attacker, with lots of rivers and mountain ranges running perpendicular to the central 'spine' of the country. At top port you witness the ingenuity and improvisation that allows a gunner to create a home away from home, in the depths of a Roman winter. To starboard is General Lucian Truscott, who took over 5th Army when General Mark Clark was booted upstairs.
Below that, to port again, you can see that Italy had quite as much snow as anywhere else in Europe, which has been deposited upon this Motor Transport..
To starboard of this are the men of the African Pioneer Corps, clearing snow. One has to ask if they had ever experienced the solid white precipitate before? If not, they were going to experience a whole lot of it. Art!
The last picture shows a 'mortar platoon' - actually a single section - plotting their next move, and good lord aloft, do they look grubby! Winter mud camouflage, one suspects.
Say Hello To Bernie-O
Let's have another work in Mr. Wrightson's "Master Of The Macabre" in the 1993 FPG trading cards pack. First, allow me to do due diligence. Art!
This essay is entitled "Newts To You" and is #52. Conrad feels that this behemoth is more akin to a smooth-mouth alligator than a newt, which would totally align with the 'A' puns Bernie is trying to get across here.
The Spirit Of "Talvisota" Is Strong With This One
For those unaware, "Talvisota" is an epic television series from Finland, about the Ruffian Empire sorry - The Sinister Union - attacking Finland because The Little Sod With The Moustache** thought he could overwhelm them in a matter of days.
Yes, sounds familiar.
ANYWAY a couple of Finns on Twitter have posted about a Finnish television series currently being shown, which deals with a conventional invasion of Suomi. Art!
'Konflikti'
The Finnish Army lent out kit to make this look realistic. From what Tweeters have said, it's a dark, unheroic portrayal of modern warfare, although it lacks enough drones.
Suomi's standing army is quite small - Putinpot rubs hands with glee - but their reserve amounts to 900,00 personnel who can be activated and deployed with Finnish efficiency, or about the time it takes Conrad to snap his sausage fingers - Putinpot weeps into hanky.
Don't forget, Finland would neverrrrr have joined NATO were it not for the Gremlin Kremlin. He is a self-fulfilling <insert obscene noun here> after all.
 |
| "No, no, I just have some grit in my eye. Honest." |
Finally -
I know tomorrow is a Sunday, wherein we post a couple of blogs, one an original and the other a collection of links, BUT! real life may intervene.
You have been warned.
* No, no, I have a bit of grit in my eye. Honest.
** - and the withered arm, which nobody mentioned for fear of gulag or death.
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