Aqua Scutum!

No I Don't Mean The Clothing Brand

If I did it would have been a single word.  No, what I refer to today is things being proofed against water, as 'Aqua' is Latin <hack spit> for 'Water' and 'Scutum' is Latin <spit hack> for 'Shield'.  Art!

     Enjoy this depiction of aqua scutum, it being a nuclear-powered atomic umbrella.

     SO, in days of old, when knights were bold, and monkeys chewed tobacco, nobody had heard of the spaceship 'Sulaco'.  They were quite adept at rendering clothing waterproof, on the other hand, because The Allotment Of Eden is gifted with frequent downpours throughout the year.  Anyone who had to work outside, or sailors, required waterproofs, which were fabrics such as linen or wool, treated with melted beeswax or lanolin oil.  Art!

     ART!

     That's better.  

     What else needs occasional waterproofing?

     Exactly!  Tanks!  How clever of you to guess right away.  Yes indeedy.  I am going to poach a picture I created a couple of weeks ago, because I can.  Art!

     These are still from a film clip.  The vehicle you see here is the Tiger I, a barely mobile metal mastodon that weighed 57 tons and was thus far too heavy to cross most European bridges.  The solution?  Issue the first 495 with a waterproofing 'wading' kit that, when applied, allowed it to cross rivers up to 13 PROUD IMPERIAL FEET deep.  Sounds groovy, right?

     Not so fast!  All the hatches, vision ports and engine louvres needed to be sealed, with a large inflatable rubber tube proofing the turret ring, as well as the erection of an 8 foot snorkel tube over the commander's cupola to allow for the ingress of air.  Art!

     Such a process took 30 minutes to manage, and used lots of rubber, of which the Teutons were desperately short, so they did away with the kit in mid-1943, after which they could only ford bodies of water up to 6 1/2 feet.  My guess is that Naughty Hans* was sent to walk across the river bed and if it didn't go over his head, they followed him with the tank.  Art!

     I've put up this illo as the one to port incorrectly shows what might be a Comet, not a Churchill, and the starboard illo is of a Churchill, but the wrong kind as it's an AVRE model - Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers.  Art!

     A Mk VII, the type that Foley commanded a troop of.  Actually, looking closer, this one has a flame-gun in the hull, instead of the usual machine gun.  ANYWAY AGAIN from this picture you can appreciate all the hatches there were on such a vehicle.  Foley's crew had to waterproof the tank prior to D-Day, which they did by laying explosive 'det cord' underneath the waterproof sealant around the turret and hatches.  The cord was wired to an ignition switch in the hull front.  

     Enter Young Matey, a replacement crew member, who was being shown the interior of the tank a couple of days later.

     "What does this switch do?" he asked, idly flipping it.

     BANG!

     All the waterproofing was blasted away.  The crew had very harsh things to say to and about Young Matey.  Art!

     I simply cannot find any photos of waterproofed Mk VIIs, so here's a side shot showing even more hatches.

     When the crew returned to their tank in the morning, they found a dirty and exhausted Young Matey, who had stayed up all night re-applying the waterproofing.  Bless the lad.  Art!

     Back to Ol' Angelo, and one of the more obscure factors that prevented extensive training was - you may be ahead of me here - waterproofing.  The 21st Army Group planners were a bunch of nitwits about this, insisting that all vehicles landing up to D+42 - six weeks after D-Day - be waterproofed, in the fond illusion that they'd be wading through surf to reach the beach.  Art!

     That's one of the 'Mulberry' harbours in operation after one week.  

     Why was this an issue?  O I thought you'd never ask!  Because the process for 4th Canuckistanian Armoured Division began at the start of May 1944, to get every vehicle done in time for their deployment soon after the invasion.  Art!

A waterproofed Sherman

     A waterproofed vehicle had severe restrictions on how far it could move once the waterproofing began, and it wasn't allowed to move at all once the process was complete.  Consequently, as May wore on, less and less vehicles were available for training.  In reality the arrival of 4th Armoured in France was delayed for weeks, meaning the waterproofing had started to dry out, so it was reapplied when it ought to have been completely ignored.  When the division did arrive in France it went in 'dry', meaning all the effort put into waterproofing was i) completely wasted and ii) prevented training from the start of May.

     There you go, something to chew on.

The Haul

One of the reasons I sorted out my cupboard space yesteryon was to try and locate any remaining packets of loose-leaf Darjeeling, hereafter LOLD.  Art!

Before

     I did discover a couple of things a bit out of date.  Art!

     Three years out of date is practically in date, right?  Art!

     Note the absence of any LOLD.  I did, mind, rediscover where I'd put my Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling, the horribly expensive stuff I got me as a Christmas present. 

     So, first thing today was a trip into Babylon Lite and Sainsbos, for all the LOLD they had.  Art!

     Yes, eight packets of it for a total of £17.60.  There was a ninth packet on the shelf but it was right up against the rear wall and I couldn't reach it.  One wonders what the staff responsible for restocking shelves think when they see someone has emptied out all the LOLD packets.  'O that bloke who looks like John Bolton has been in again.'

     Supplies of LOLD secured for several months to come!

The Algorithm Has Gone All Donold Judas Trump

This one keeps coming up on my Youtube channel and I've no idea why.  Art!

     What on earth?  Is the algorithm confusing me with a farmer?  Have I ever posted or boasted about owning chickens?  I like scrambled egg but not enough to resort to owning chickens in order to guarantee egg supplies.  Dear Youtube algorithm, I do not own a single chicken, never mind a whole flock that would necessitate purposed accommodation for them.

     Bah!

Just At Random

Have a nuclear-powered atomic sausage.  Art!

     Probably unwise to eat it.

Jake Abroed

NO!  That is not a spelling mistake, it's an hilarious pun I tell you.  Laugh or it's the Remote Nuclear Detonator, no mucking around with the Remote Nuclear Tormentor.

     If you've been reading BOOJUM! for any length of time then you'll be familiar with the name 'Jake Broe', whom is a Youtube vlogger and who's been covering the war in Ukraine since day one.  He has gradually acquired a very large audience, thanks to his consistently excellent analysis and coverage.  Normally he puts out a vlog every other day.

     But not this week.  For why?  Because he's taking his first holiday in 7 years, and is going to South Korea.  He taught English there for 6 years, before joining the South Canadian Air Force.  He posted a short vlog with no commentary.  Art!

This really is letting the pictures tell the story

Book porn

    Not sure how you'd reach the upper shelves.  Library book-carrying drone?

      In the meantime I shall make do by watching more 'Professor Gerdes Explains", whom is another Youtube vlogger who posts at least once daily, in lengths of 15 minutes at most.  In the case of both himself and Jake it's highly amusing to see them trying to pronounce the names of Ukrainian towns and villages.


Finally -

Going out with more QI Banter - 

"A woman's guess is much more accurate than a man's certainty" - Rudyard Kipling

*  Caught swigging the mess brandy without a chit