James Blunt and His Part in Stopping World War 3
The story isn’t quite as dramatic as that, but it shows the different in attitude between US and UK forces, when it comes to dealing with a little local difficulty over Pristina airfield in Kosovo with the Russians.
In the end the view of General Mike Jackson prevailed over that of his commander, the US general, Wesley Clark. So Blunt and his troops, encircled the Russians and when the Russians food and water ran out, the Russians felt it prudent to co-operate and share the airfield.
But even so, Blunt admitted that he wouldn’t have fought the Russians, as he didn’t want to be the man who started World War 3, even if he had been court-martialed later.
Colonel Tim Collins Shoots From The Hip
Colonel Tim Collins, was the army officer who gave the inspirational speech to his troops before the last Iraq War.
He’s just been on Kate Silverton’s program on Radio 5, being as forthright as anybody I’ve heard in the last few months.
A few points.
- He said that Tony Blair had surrounded himself with obsequious advisers who weren’t up to the job.
- He wished that the second Iraq war had been more like the first, with a coalition of sixty countries.
- On Northern Ireland he said that Yesterday’s men are still trying to get the war going. But the real problem is lack of jobs and especially for young people in the province.
- He was very scathing about Defence Procurement, saying that they squandered all the money.
- Asked about the defence cuts, he said something like if Virgin could do the long-range troop deployments, the Navy the strike and the battlefield helicopters were under the Army, then what is there for the Air Force to do.
- As Colonel Tim is a proud Irishman, I was surprised he would want to have dinner with Oliver Cromwell. But then he said he wanted to get to know the man.
It was an amazing interview full of common sense and humanity.
Drinks at the Horse and Groom
I read yesterday in the East Anglian Daily Times, that the Horse and Groom pub in Melton is to be turned into three houses.
I’ve never drunk in the pub, but I suspect some of the locals will miss the hostelry.
I remember though a story about this pub that was told to me at a dinner party in the mid-1970’s.
One of the guests was involved in a project with the Borstal at Hollesley Bay, where on a Saturday or Sunday, they took a group of young offenders and got them to do up the homes of elderly pople in Ipswich. He told how after the work, he usually took them into the Horse and Groom, as it was a very quiet pub, to give them half of shandy or a soft drink, to show his appreciation, before returning the youngsters to the Borstal at seven. I have a feeling that the Govenor knew what he was doing, but I can’t be sure.
Anyway one night the landlord says that someone wanted to see him out the back of the pub. He was greeted by the local police Sergeant, who asked if he’d got lads from the Borstal with him. He said yes and the sergeant said that they’d been a complaint. The sergeant then asked what time, the boys would be leaving and the story-teller said they’d definitely be gone by seven. The sergeant then said they’d better be as they were raiding the pub just after the hour.
Of course the complaintent got their satisfaction that something was being done, but the quiet drinks were able to continue.
I just wonder where those kids ended up in life. Did treating them like real adult human beings help? I certainly hope so!
The Sting in the Tail
There always is, isn’t there!
I’d decided that the best way to get home from the hospital, would be to take a bus to Haverhill and then take a taxi.
As I left the hospital the 13 bus was there, so I ran to get on it. I may have had a stroke, but I can still run ande walk a few hundred metres or so.
I assumed that the bus would go straight to Haverhill Bus Station, as the previous one had done a couple of weeks ago. But this one did an unguided tour of all the delightful estates and I ended up being dumped in a place I did not recognise. It hadn’t helped that because of the rain I couldn’t see out of the bus in the dark.
So it was a long walk to the Bus Station and then I couldn’t get a taxi without half-an-hour’s wait.
So something that should have been easy, made me late!
I get more fed up with the countryside every day.
A Worst Nightmare Avoided
My house isn’t totally electric, but everything from the central heating to the cooker relies on electricity.
So my heart sank, when the power went off this afternoon at about two-thirty. I was left with no heating, internet, landline telephones and lights. My trusty mobile wasn’t working as it looked like the ariel on the cell might be down, as I wasn’t getting a signal. I diodn’t have a battery radio, but I did have a wind up torch. I suppose too, there was enough heat in the AGA to keep me in hot food.
I was just trying to work out what I would be doing for the rest of the day, when it came back on.
So the nightmare was avoided.
The funniest power cut we had was when the power went off at eleven at night and we had to go to bed by candlelight. In the morning we found a massive Scania truck in the front field. It turned out, that the mains had blown near the prison and as we were on the end of the line, Eastern Electricity had installed the generator on the transformer for our house.
To be fair, in the perhaps week it was there, the generator was no trouble and it eventually sneaked away in the manner it had arrived. It even had an en-suite flat for the operator. He didn’t even ask for as much as a kettle of water.
In my new house, I’ll be very much prepared, as I can’t be doing power cuts in my paranoid state!
Returns at GAP
A couple of months ago, I bought a bag in GAP in Islington. Unfortunately, it had started to come apart at one of the seams. So I took it back yesterday and I was surprised to get a refund, as I didn’t have the receipt. So I spend the refund in the shop on a jumper for the winter!
Don’t be Conventional!
On the BBC tonight, they had a program about a pilot who in the Second World War used to insert and extract agents of the SOE into German-occupied territories. One of the aircraft they used was the remarkable Westland Lysander, which although it wasn’t too good at its original job of Army Co-operation, was a superb aircraft to sneak in and out under the noses of the Germans, due to its slow speed and superb STOL performance.
But then the Second World War had its fair share of what could be described as unconventional aircraft.
The Mosquito didn’t look unconventional, but who’d have thought that an unarmed bomber built out of wood, would have been so successful. It was just that because it was light, aerodynamically efficient and could carry the same bomb-load as a B17, it could get to its targets fast and return. In fact Mosquitos often bombed Germany twice in one day.
But the theory of the heavily-armed four-engined bomber prevailed and we lost 250,000 aircrew bombing the Nazis, as did the Americans. Mosquitos incidentally had a much higher return rate and it could also be argued that because they were so much more agile and fast, they could have hit strategic targets, like ball-bearing factories, morning, noon and night. So there was also a moral case for using de Havilland’s wooden wonder.
The Mosquito is probably the only Second World War aircraft, that has a legacy in modern designs. Bombers these days are not armed and British ones haven’t been for some decades. This is because de Havilland’s fast unarmed concept was shown to be so superior, to any armed one. But the biggest legacy is in the wings of Airbuses, which like the Mosquito are glued together, rather than riveted. You can trace the technology back through Tridents and Comets to the Mosquito and before that to the Albatross.
Supermarine is well-known for the Spitfire, but another of its products was the distinctly unconventional Walrus, designed like the Spitfire by R. J. Mitchell. It was an amphibious aircraft that could be lauched and recovered from naval ships like cruisers and battleships, but it found its major use in picking up downed airmen out of the sea. This maritime-rescue role has been taken over by helicopters, but perhaps the role could be handled better, by a modern fixed-wing aircraft of unconventional design. The Americans have experimented with using Lockheed Hercules and pick-up systems, but nothing sensible has emerged.
The Americans too had an unconventional amphibian, the Consolidated Catalina. Like the Mosquito, the Cat seemed to revel in every task thrown at it. But unlike the Mosquito, you can still see a few examples flying.
And then there is the Swordfish or Stringbag. This aircraft was probably obselete when the war started, but went on to sink large amounts of Axis shipping. The Swordfish also destroyed a large part of the Italian fleet at the Battle of Taranto. Was this battle the blueprint for Pearl Harbor? The Japanese certainly gave what the Fleet Air Arm did with a handful of obselete bi-planes more than a cursory glance!
I have always thought unconventionally! It has never done me any harm! Although it’s got me into a few scrapes.
Living Alone
This is not a moan, but today, I’m having supper from the freezer, as the fridge is getting empty. The reason is that the weather is so awful, that I really didn’t want to go into the shops today. I will have to tomorrow, as I’ll be out of bread and milk by lunchtime. As it happens, I won’t be here then, as I’m going to London, unless the weather is really bad again, in which case I’ll go to Cambridge and then take the train from there to the football.
It will be so much better in London, as I can walk to a couple of decent pubs and if it was raining, I can even take a bus somewhere warm and nice. Not that my kitchen isn’t warm and nice. It’s just that it’s lonely and I have to do the cooking.
But that is not really cooking tonight, as I’m just putting a Waitrose Indian meal in the oven.
Zopa and the Davids
According to their site, the most common name for both borrowers and lenders is David. Is that because it is the most common name amongst the general public.
When I worked as a consultant to Lloyds Bank, they always joked that most bank managers were called John, as they were so boring!
But then the only good one I ever knew was called David. Where is he biw, when the world needs him?
The Things You Find When You Turn Out!
C’s father was a bit of a collector and I know she was rather annoyed when her mother threw away a lot of his things, when he died.
However, I’ve just been going through some of his old books, as I really don’t want to take them with me when I move.
There were a few gems.
First editions of Winnie the Pooh and Now We Are Six! They are in good condition, but sadly there is no dust jacket on either.
First editions of five Neville Shute books including Requiem for a Wren!
First editions of two Hornblower books.
I’m now searching the rest!
The Anonymous Widower 