The Journey Begins!

Or So I Thought

For we are casting our narrative back to Friday, when Your Humble Scribe began his epic journey to BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM!  Lest ye be unaware, this is located a stone's throw from the south coast in Dorset, a mere rock chuck from 'Monkey World'.  Art!

     Hmmm no thank you.  They may look amusing in the 'Brooke Bond' adverts but Conrad considers them far too ugly and intemperate to want to visit. No, what we want is TANKS!

     I get ahead of myself.  I walked up to the bus stop outside the Pleasant Inn, as it gives a clear field of view for a mile and the bus cannot steal up on you undetected.  Ten minutes later a passer-by took mercy on me and informed that the buses were on strike, so there was no 409.

     Erk.

Conrad's reaction: an artist's impression

     Luckily for me MVP Degsy gave me a lift into Oldham and the King Street tram stop.  Once in Gomorrah-on-the-Irwell I caught the Piccadilly tram and made it to the Warrington train platform ahead of time, hooray!  Then it was off to Warrington and, even better, it was an express service that only called at two other stations en route, so I made good time.  Art!

The fleshpots of Warrington beckon!

     I'm going to put up the photo about Birmingham Royal Ballet again, as you may not have seen the Facebook post it was tagged to yesteryon.  Art!

     I have to admit I am curious about just what this involves, and may see if there's a trailer on Youtube.

     ANYWAY I had arrived a little earlier than expected, so it was time to inform my luxury chauffeur service - Darling Daughter and Quiet Tom - that I'd arrived and wait outside.  This might have been a bit of a bore and a chore, as Conrad rarely uses his Devil's Digital Device to pass the time, except there was a crew at work down the car park road, cutting branches off a tree.  Art!

     There's the cherry-picker itself and the mount where a chap with a chainsaw was doing the cutting and lopping - DON'T confuse the two - and dropping the sawn timber to the ground.  That little van in front of the big one housed a woodchipper that they fed all the lumber into and it was a touch peculiar to see all those branches vanish into apparent nothingness.  Perhaps it was a household disintegrator unit?  Or - was that 'Forbidden Planet'?

     ANYWAY AGAIN, Sal and Tom set off and we were away to BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM!  Art?

     This is just random countryside I took a photo of as proof that we actually travelled there, or you might accuse me of sitting at the bottom of the garden and confabulating the whole thing.  Art!

The irony was not lost on me, hence this photo

     Here is where our fun and games began, since we had arrived before Col and Julie.  Tom had to badger the letting agency for this Air bnb into getting a code for the lock box that the house key was secured in.  When we all tried the combination, in turn - nothing happened.

     Ooops.  Conrad was getting a litttttle concerned here, as his bowels were informing him that they were feeling a tad antsy, shall we say? not wanting to be any more descriptive.

     HOWEVER! (yes that word again) we found a second, not-quite-hidden lockbox in a different location and that one worked.  Phew, said Your Humble Scribe's insides.  Art!

Ignore the thumb!  Ignore the thumb!

     Here we are in the back garden, where it was quite pleasant, although Sal kept her cardigan on, and 'twas a relief to breathe fresh air again and listen to distant seagulls as a reminder about that stone's throw.  Art!

     Conrad's bedroom for the duration, with some set dressing added for the occasion.  We were only staying two nights but I needed a carry-on case to accommodate the clothing and toiletries required, for I was going to be in polite company and it wouldn't do to be my usual scruffy self.  Art!

     This peculiar wall decoration is from 'The Ship Inn', an hostelry mere minutes from our house and we fell on our feet here as the food was great, and lots of it.  So much so that Col booked our table again for the next night.
     I realise we've not even gotten to BOVINGTON TANK MUSEUM yet, but rest assured we most certainly will.



Cultural Update

On any meeting with Sal and Tom that involves alcohol there are always interesting cultural insights brought up, and this weekend was no exception.  Thus, I was informed about 'Flavour Trip'.  Art!

     That's Amii and Jimmi, who travel around Europe in a van, whom find an exotic location and do a DJ set there, also cooking up a meal on the spot.  This location is at a national park in France, but we left No. 7 before we could see what they intended to cook.  All of us were wondering whom got permission to build a house in a national park, and Conrad speculated that they may have had planning permission if it was made only of wood.

     ANYWAY AGAIN Colin was mightily offended at their cueing up the next track, because it appeared that they were flicking switches and twiddling dials with no effect on what was currently playing.

     For anyone wondering at how they manage their roving lifestyle, they now have circa 775,000 subscribers and rake in as much as $600 per month as income.  It may look glamourous, but they'll never get rich.  Though they will have happy memories.  Art!

Very Very Hot Rails To Hell 

We've covered this before, and Hay Pesto! we are back again to do a bit of gloating.  Art!

     A Ruffian fuel train was attacked by Ukrainian drones, meaning that the Ukrainian SBU knew where it was travelling, when it was travelling and which tanks were loaded with fuel.  Which is a worrying level of either leaked or observed information and the FSB must be anxious about being blamed for failure or collusion and may accidentally fall out of windows.  Art!

     Here's the railroad map for south and eastern Ukraine.  Art!

     The line affected in close-up: the central one running east-west.  Note that it's a single track line.  Why is this important?

     Because that destroyed train is still on the line, blocking it completely for any through traffic.  Any trains passing between Urozhaine and Tokmak now have to make a great big detour north, south-east and south.  Apparently one of the rare Ruffian repair trains attempted to clear the destroyed train and was immediately attacked by Ruffian drones and badly damaged, so they've given up and the line is still blocked a month later.  Oooops.

     Further to that - the Ukrainians last night malleted a large electrical substation at Kanevka, which used - past tense - to supply electrical current for Ruffian locomotives.  Ooops again.  Art!

     That's the first of five high-speed gift packages.  Bad news because the substation is in Krasnodar Krai, inside Mordorvia itself, and was completely undefended, as they all are.

More Of Stones

Not the cyborg zombie band, thank you very much.  Nor any of the other musical bands associated with lithics.  Art!

     This is from a Youtube vlog about scary children's television programs, and Conrad can affirm that this was a spooky and atmospheric program, where the protagonist and his son realise that, having arrived in the creepy village surrounded by a stone circle, they have to escape or become assimilated into the cult that exists there.  Who greet each other with the worrying phrase "Happy day!" even when it's manifestly not.  Art!

The stones in question

     

Adam and Margaret - one of them gets assimilated.  But who?

     It deals with time loops, psychic powers, petrification and brainwashing into a sinister cult, with a possible happy ending.  It was all very moody and forbidding and rather scary for younger children*.

They Seem To Be Throwing These Up A Lot

Art!

     I don't know how these are getting generated by a speculative algorithm.  Perhaps it's witchcraft? or have I been watching too much "Children of the Stones"?

*  And Conrad (the horrid truth courtesy Mister Hand)