Essay: A Shot in the Dark

This writing every day wheeze is a bit more of a challenge than I had realised. :-) Well, let's take another trip to the Middle East, this time to the Arabian Peninsula.

It's not every day that a British officer shoots at a monarch he's supposed to be serving.( Read more... )

distance meme

gacked from skill_grl

Longest distance ever traveled?

Farthest North? - Probably when I drove around central Skye in September 2005. Knott is the most northerly village on that portion of the A850, but I prefer to refer the reader to the village of Flashadder. :-)

Farthest South? - An anchorage off Norman Island, British Virgin Islands in December 2006, where I went snorkeling with shy_kat and redactrice

Farthest East? - Tilbury Fort, Essex, where I attended a 1985 drill session with a UK Napoleonic French reenacting group, my first introduction to close-order drill.

Farthest West? - Portland, Oregon, for a friend's wedding.

Highest Mountain - Seen? Probably Longs Peak, Colorado. Climbed?

Hottest Place - Almost certainly the bloody awful Tidewater, Virginia, where I grew up. I recall summers it went over 100*F multiple times, of course with the added benefit of high humidity (and, when I was a kid, no A/C). Second place would be DC, where I've spent the last 20 years. Given that I *hate* being hot, I've been bloody stupid about where I've lived.

Coldest Place - Not sure, but probably either Fort Drum, NY (where I went to do some work for the Army) or Williamstown, MA (where I spent several winters during college).

Personal Notes: Historic forts (or fortified places) that I've been reenacting at include Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène, Montreal, PQ (twice); the stockade of Sainte Marie among the Iroquois, Syracuse, NY; Ft Ticonderoga, NY; Ft Niagara, NY; Ft Pitt, PA; Ft Ligonier, PA; Ft Frederick, MD; Tilbury Fort, Essex (as mentioned above); the Magazine, Williamsburg, VA...can't think of any others right off.

Places I've been kayaking, canoeing, or rowing include Lakes Washining and Washinee, CT; Lake Onota, MA; Grand Lake, CO; Cape Henlopen, DE; Mabou River, Cape Breton Island, NS; Grasmere, Cumbria; Sound of Raasay, Highland.

Places I've been sailing include Mobjack Bay, VA; Hampton Roads, VA; Potomac River, DC; Penobscot Bay, ME; Bahamas; Virgin Islands; Bay St Lawrence; Loch Leven, Loch Linnhe, and the Sound of Mull

Essay: A Mention in Despatches

For today's essay*, we return to Dhofar. We're not traveling far, maybe 30 miles, but we're jumping ahead two years. Instead of a sultan's palace in a leafy coastal city, we find ourselves in a dry, dusty,mud-brick fort, worthy of Beau Geste. And instead of the short, Strackenzian combat of a near-bloodless coup d'etat, our objective is the middle of a blistering, deadly firefight.

( Read more... )