#Exmouth Arms

[blamemma]

30 maxiel!!!

things I wish you’d said - this literally does not fit this prompt at all really, it does if you squint really hard at the end, but anyway :)) - 2,072 words - yes we're out of the depressed daniel era, but sometimes u just need to sit down and re-visit it for a lil cry

In the end, Daniel has to take a break from everything. Racing. Social Media. Public Events. Every One. Michael. His parents. Max.

He buys a converted van, featuring a sofa that pulls out into a single bed, a tiny kitchen, and a shower he can just about squeeze into, and heads out along the coast of Australia. He turns his phone off for the most part, only using it for Maps and to message the group chat his family forced him to set up every two days, a small update and a selfie, so they know he's okay, alive.

He avoids tourist trap areas; he received enough sympathetic looks and kind words in Abu Dhabi, can't face strangers who barely know who he is or what he feels, coming up to him and passing on their condolences.

He drives and drives and drives and drives.

Open road. Sandy banks. Rock faces and dried out trees. Open barren land with a singular road cutting through it.

He avoids busy restaurants and sticks to quiet bars. Drinks too much whiskey and then passes out on his too small, cold, bed. Stops off at vineyards he's been meaning to visit for years, stock-piles bottles of wine to gift his mum and dad when he eventually arrives back home.

Max had hated the idea. Had come stumbling out of the door of Daniel's home, sleepy-eyed from jet lag, when Daniel had driven up in the van after heading out early to collect it.

He'd looked perplexed, cocked his head as Daniel had clambered out of the driver's seat.

"What is this Daniel?" Max had asked. He'd walked forward to Daniel, still in his sleep clothes, an over-sized Enchanté shirt and tight boxers, arms lifted a little higher than his waist, looking to curl into the side of Daniel's body in the early morning sun that was already blisteringly hot.

"It's my van," Daniel replied. "I'm going to go away for a bit."

Max stopped in his tracks, his hands instantly forming fists at his sides, before stretching out his fingers again.

"What?" He asked again.

"I'm gunna go away for a bit Maxy. Just me. And the Australian Road. Get my head straight."

"No," Max had responded. Daniel knew this would be Max's reaction. It's why Daniel hadn't told him beforehand, had kept the secret since Brazil, an impulse purchase after he'd crashed out in his second-to-last race. "We have just got here Daniel. You are not going to go away on your own. You can stay here or I will come with you!"

Despite Max's defiant attitude, Daniel had won. He'd left Max at his home in Perth, the first time he'd visited as Daniel's boyfriend, a promise of barbeques with family and chasing each other on dirt bikes forgotten. They'd argued, they'd cried, they'd pleaded with each other to understand, but ultimately, Daniel's mind was set.

He hasn't spoken to Max in two-and-a-half weeks now. Doesn't know what he'd say. I miss you. Your love isn't good enough to fix me. I love you. I can't stand the way you pity me.

He doesn't even know if Max is still in Perth. He wouldn't blame him if he'd gone back to Monaco.

His decision had been finalised when his Mum and Dad had arrived in Abu Dhabi. The tears prickling at the corner of his mum's eyes as she'd pulled him in sent guilt washing over him. He'd failed. They'd sacrificed everything for him to drive. And he couldn't give them the one thing they deserved. A Championship.

He'd marked Exmouth as his stopping point, where he'd turn around and head back home, but he arrives, camps under the stars for two days, rents a boat and sits for hours with a fishing rod that's never successful and still doesn't feel complete. Whole. He'd imagined, in the days between Brazil and Abu Dhabi, that this would fix him. That a solo trip would give him all the answers. Show him whether he's happy with this being the end, or driven to find a way back.

Instead, he just feels lost and alone.

He clambers back into his van, pulls out the beaten-up map that came with the vehicle and tries to pick a new place to go. No where strikes inspiration in him though. The big bold lettering of PERTH near the bottom of the map taunts him over and over again and he scrunches the map up, throwing it at the windshield.

Across from where he's parked, just across his van on a grassed area sits a family, at a picnic bench, fitted with a barbeque. Two dads sat side by side, a young son and daughter sat opposite them. Daniel can't tear his eyes away from them, as the kids sit eagerly awaiting their dinner, laughing, conversing. They're happy.

He'd promised Isaac and Isabella in Abu Dhabi that when they got back to Perth, they could come round to his house, and they'd spend hours in the pool and have a large barbeque, and end the night around the fire with smores.

Instead, he'd been too chicken to say goodbye to them.

He'd promised Max that he'd take him hiking at his favourite spot. Take him out on a date to his favourite Italian restaurant. Promised trips to the farmers market, and out for brunch, and endless beach days. Promised him a winter break of relaxation. A Christmas at Daniel's parents, one filled with sunshine and shorts and a mountain of presents.

Instead, he'd made Max fly all the way out here, and then abandoned him. The guilt hadn't left him, not since he'd pulled out of his dusted driveway and away from Max.

He props his feet upon the dash and watches the family as they move about their evening. Burgers eaten far too quickly by the children. A plea from their fathers to at least try the salad they'd purchased. A rugby ball emerging from their bag that they kick around and throw to each other. Small gentle kisses shared between partners, an arm around the waist, one thrown around the shoulder. Kids piling on top of their dads as they fall to the ground in a tackle. Laughter. So much laughter. And joy. And happiness.

Daniel calls Max.

It rings and rings and rings. Then Max's voicemail sets in. Daniel tries again. It rings and rings and rings. He puts his phone down on the seat and starts his engine. He'll follow a road somewhere.

His phone rings. A photo of Max curled up asleep in the sheets of their Monaco bedroom fills the screen.

He answers immediately, clutching the phone to his ear. It's silent on the other end of the line.

"Max?" Daniel asks gently.

"Daniel," Max repeats back to him.

"Max." Daniel says again. "I miss you, I'm so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking, and I'm just so lonely and I hope you're okay, please tell me you're still okay. Are you still in Perth? I'm so sorry Max. I'm gunna drive home. Yeah? I'm gunna drive back okay. You'll be there right? When I get home? I'll make this up to you. Okay--I'll drive home tonight and then tomorrow we can do whatever you want. Whatever you want. " He's crying, and his words are coming out so fast, but the simple sound of Max's voice, the Dutch intonation speaking his own name, collapses him.

"Where are you?" Max asks. Daniel can hear his voice quiver on the other end of the line and a fresh wave of guilt washes over him. He should be there right now, Max shouldn't be feeling this way.

"I'm in Exmouth, it's almost at the tip of Western Australia. So it's about 13 hours to Perth but I can drive through the night Maxy, and then I'll be back home tomorrow. Yeah? Does that sound good?" Daniel selfishly, wants Max to beg him to come home, tell him how much he's missed him, and needs him. Daniel can't even tell if Max is still in Perth, too scared to outright ask.

"You should get some sleep Daniel. And then come home. You should not drive through the night you might crash. And then I will not be able to shout at you for all the horrible things you have done and I will have to attend your funeral with all these unresolved issues of course, so probably my speech would not be that good." The glimmer of teasing that comes through in Max's voice makes Daniel clutch at his chest in want.

"Yeah, okay baby, I'll see you tomorrow yeah?" Daniel asks.

"Yes Daniel. Come home. I will cook dinner for you when you get back. We can have a lovely evening."

"Sounds good. I love you." Daniel responds.

"I love you also." Max says, and Daniel has to hang up quickly before Max catches on to his desperate sobs.

---

He does what Max asks, and sleeps. Not very well, and not for very long, but the next morning, he starts the van up at 5am and drives, joins the open road and heads home. He turns the stereo up, his Max playlist on loud and proud, singing along to the lines that resonate most to him. Whenever he stops off for fuel, and snacks, he texts Max, updating him on his journey and when he'll be home. Max responds to Daniel's first message, when he'd left Max know that he was leaving Exmouth, with Drive safe ❤️, the second message with See you soon! 😁 and the third message with I hope your bum is not feeling too numb!

He pulls up onto his track road and into his driveway just after 8pm and is greeted with a house decorated and ready for Christmas. Lights strung across the porch, pretend Snowman's just beside the front door, mistletoe hanging from above the entranceway. Max had put out all his Christmas decorations from years past.

He's already crying as he fumbles to undo his seatbelt, and stumbles out the drivers door.

The tears start falling when he sees Max running out of the front door towards him, jumping over the steps of the porch and bounding towards Daniel. Max stumbles into his chest, his strong arms wrapping around Daniel and pulling him into him. Daniel collapses into him, exhaustion and want and love all seeping out of him.

"Your mum showed me where all the Christmas decorations were kept last week. I asked her if she could show me. I thought that maybe if you would come home, it would be nice for you to come home to." Max finally says, his voice shaking, speaking into Daniel's neck. "Isaac and Isabella helped. They kept on asking where you were. And I didn't have an answer for them Daniel. I had to tell them that you'd gone on a trip. And then they would ask when you were coming back and I would say I do not know. And then they would ask if we could go and join you and I said I do not think we can. You were cruel, Daniel. You were so cruel."

Daniel finally wraps his arms around Max, kisses the crown of his head and cries with him.

"I'm better now Max, I promise you, I am better." He whispers into his hair. Max's grip around his waist gets tighter, pulling him impossibly closer.

"You never said you were bad, Daniel. I could tell and I tried to help, but you would always shut me down. You never said--"

"I know baby, I know. I'm so sorry."

Max's hand comes to the back of Daniel's neck, holding him tight, his fingers moving through his hair. It's all Daniel needs, he's realised. Is Max. Is Family. Is simple moments.

They both stand there, crying, in each other's arms, birds singing above them, the last remnants of the evening sun warming their backs, until Max, pulls away, intertwining his hand into Daniel's.

"You have to come inside now and eat," Max insists, stepping forward and tugging Daniel's arm. "Your mum has been giving me food every few days and I think that Brad is going to have to work overtime."

Daniel laughs then, his first proper, from-the-gut, endearing, happy laugh, in a long time. Max watches him, the way his eyes light up and his broad smile make up his whole face.

Daniel's back.

Daniel's home.

[ltwilliammowett]

A pair of flintlock duelling pistols by Twigg of London, owned by Captain Jeremiah Coghlan (1774-1844), English, circa 1785

Captain Jeremiah Coghlan (1774-1844) was famous for his extraordinary daring in a series of naval engagements. After going to sea in the Merchant Service, Coghlan attracted the attention of Captain Pellew when he secured a line for the troopship Dutton before the ship sank off Plymouth in 1796. Like the fictional Hornblower, for whom he was the godfather in real life, Coghlan was taken on by Pellew as an ensign on the Indefatigable, where he continued to impress in a series of daring boat actions. After his rapid promotion to lieutenant, Coghlan was given command of the cutter Viper, from which he led the elimination of the Cerbère at Port Louis in Brittany against almost insurmountable odds. He surpassed this exploit when, greatly outnumbered and outgunned on both occasions, when he destroyed General Ernouf off San Domingo and captured the Diligent off Puerto Rico.

Coghlan was also successful on land, leading 200 marines in the capture of the citadel battery at Cassis in southern France in 1813, before forcing the surrender of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, in May 1815, securing the city and its treasures for the restoration of the Bourbon royal family. Having dined with Nelson in 1800, Coghlan was given the double honour of dining with Napoleon when the Emperor was taken to Elba for short-lived exile.

During his career, Coghlan received a number of presentation arms, including a 100 Guinea sword from Admiral Earl St Vincent. Given the date and nature of the weapons, it is likely that his dueling pistols were also a gift, possibly from his patron Admiral Edward Pellew, Viscount Exmouth.

[ukrfeminism]

2 minute read

A 30-year-old man has been arrested after a woman was stabbed to death in an apparent random attack.

The woman, 74, was attacked in Ludwell Valley Park, which is popular with dog walkers and families, in the Wonford area of Exeter at about 4pm on Saturday. Bystanders had rushed to help her but she died at the scene.

Police started hunting a suspect seen on CCTV outside a sports centre earlier that afternoon and members of the public were warned not to approach him. Residents who live near the park were told to stay at home and lock their doors.

The suspect was later spotted by an off-duty police officer on Exeter High Street and detained by armed officers at just after 9.30pm. The man, from the Exmouth area, was arrested on suspicion of murder and remains in custody.

Devon and Cornwall police do not believe that the victim and suspect knew each other and described it as an “isolated” incident. Officers believe that they have found the knife that was used in the attack.

The victim has not yet been named but her family have been informed.

Chief Superintendent Dan Evans, from Devon and Cornwall police, said: “At this time we do not know the motive for the attack but we do not currently believe that the victim and suspect are known to each other.

“I would like to reassure people that this is an isolated incident but there will be a heightened police presence in the city over the next few days. We are still searching the Wonford area as part of our investigation.

“Whilst this type of incident is very rare, Wonford is a very close community and I know this death will be felt deeply by all who live in the area.

“My thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the victim at this tragic time. We will be supporting them over the coming days and weeks with specially trained officers.”

The police have created a Major Incident Public Reporting page as part of the murder investigation. This allows anyone with information to send large files such as doorbell, dashcam and CCTV video directly to detectives.

Evans reassured the community that Exeter was “absolutely” a safe place to live.

Ludwell Valley Park is a public park rich in wildlife owned by Exeter city council and managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust.

[petnews2day]

Proper Exmouth locals pub loved for its banter and its dog

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/jeNuc

Proper Exmouth locals pub loved for its banter and its dog

If you have ever walked past popular locals pub The Exmouth Arms, it’s more likely than not that you will have been greeted with the sight of its unmissable golden retriever dog Charlie sitting contentedly looking out of the window. He is now as much of a renowned part of the pub as the banter […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/jeNuc #DogNews

[dyntr]

27.03.23 | The Great Below.⁣ ⁣⁣ ⁣HS2 upgrade works at Euston Station, looking towards Cobourg Street and the Exmouth Arms.

[chilled-ray]

International Emergency Medicine

My friend Annie is squeezed beside me in a booth at the Exmouth Arms in Clerkenwell (north-central London). She and I used to work together at a coffee house in New Jersey, but we last saw each other in Chicago. Now, she’s telling me about a recent visit to her Dutch girlfriend.

Lydia’s house in the Netherlands is tall and narrow with a winding staircase that wraps along the perimeter to access the floors on each level. One day, Annie slipped when exiting a room on the second floor. She fell hard and slid – rapidly, awkwardly, dangerously. Her head hit steps and wall before her body came to a stop.

The others in the house heard the bangs and came running. Annie, at the bottom of the stairs, was dazed and embarrassed. She assured her friends she was okay and tried to stand up. Then she passed out.

Annie’s friends called emergency services. An ambulance arrived on scene, and EMTs ran tests on the young woman then and there. After determining that she was healthy, not concussed, and in all relevant terms safe from harm, the medical professionals had to address the uncomfortable business of payment for the house call.

“I’m terribly sorry,” said the head EMT, with genuine remorse in her voice, “but since you aren’t a citizen and did not purchase traveler’s insurance, you will have to pay for this medical bill out of pocket.”

My friend braced herself for the number.

The total of the bill poor Annie had to pay for emergency treatment? 44 euros (almost exactly the same amount in USD).

Relaying this story, Annie is so amused that she struggles to convey the ending. Coming from the land of notoriously outrageous medical bills that bankrupt families and destroy lives, we Americans laugh and laugh. We lament the lack of such affordable care in our homeland, but thank goodness we’ve moved to Europe.

[sometimeslondon]

The Exmouth Arms in Exmouth Market, Clerkenwell

[josefavomjaaga]

Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 6, Part 1

Waiting won’t make it any better. Let’s get this over with.

6. The tragedy of Pizzo.

October 1815.

Ferdinand's unfortunate adversary had landed in the gulf of Frejus on May 28th, had stayed a few days in Cannes, then had gone to Toulon and had taken up residence nearby in a country house belonging to General l'Allemand. He had lived here as a simple private, but some of his followers had started to join him: in addition to his travelling companions Bonafour and Roccaromana, General Rosetti, all three of his former adjutants, the naval officers Blancard, Donnadieu, Langlade, one of his former orderly officers Obrist Maceroni, and finally a Corse named Galvani, whom Joachim later appointed as his confidential secretary.

It seems that Murat wrote to his imperial brother-in-law soon after the catastrophe at Tolentino, asking him for permission to come to Paris; Napoleon, however, had Monsieur de Baudus tell him that he was to choose a place to stay between Sisteron and Grenoble until the people of Paris were sufficiently prepared to see him again in their midst; it would also be advisable for the queen to appear before him "so that the public might become accustomed to his obscurity".

Here the author inserts a footnote in which he doubts the date of the letter he has just quoted from, April 19, 1815, and suggests dating the letter later, to April 29 or even May 19. Napoleon's current correspondence still lists the letter under the old date:

Paris, April 19, 1815. Note for the Minister of Foreign Affairs Baudus is to leave at once to go to the Gulf of Juan. He will tell the King of Naples that His Majesty wishes him to choose a suitable place between Grenoble and Sisteron to live in until the arrival of the Queen and until the news from Naples is determined. He will testify to him in honest and reserved terms the regrets the Emperor feels because the King attacked without any consultation, without treaty, without any measure taken to be able to instruct the faithful subjects of Italy of what they should do, nor to direct them in the direction of the common interest. The king decided last year the fate of France by paralysing the army of Italy, since it resulted in a difference of 60,000 men to our disadvantage. It is not very suitable that the king comes to Paris. The queen must come there before him, so that the public becomes accustomed to his disgrace. Baudus will console him and assure him that the Emperor forgets all his wrongs, however serious they may be, to see only his misfortunes. But he does not want him to come to Paris until everything that concerns him has been decided. Baudus is charged with this mission of confidence, because it is known that he is very agreeable to the king. He will correspond directly with the minister. He can tell everything about the private and political conduct of the king. Baudus, agent of the Emperor, must make him feel: That, if the Emperor had wanted him to enter Italy; he would have made known to him his understandings; That proclamations dated from Paris would have produced a completely different effect; That he lost France in 1814; in 1815 he compromised it and lost himself; That his conduct in 1814 lost him in the minds of the Italians, because they saw that he was abandoning the Emperor's cause.

This is, if the date is indeed correct, only four days after he ordered an investigation into Murat’s conduct in 1814. The tone seems to be somewhat friendlier. So, did Napoleon have a change of heart? Helfert continues:

From Toulon, Murat had sent a courier to Fouché to offer the Emperor his arm and his sword, but he had received a cool, evasive reply. In the meantime the ex-king's stay had grown more uneasy with each passing day, until at last the news of the event of Waterloo, June 18, brought the whole of south-eastern France into arms against Napoleonic rule. Murat had to find a hiding place, wrote to the departmental authorities, to whom he pledged calm behaviour, and wrote to King Louis XVIII, whose magnanimity and generosity he invoked. He turned again to Fouché, who might procure him a passport to England, where he would live quietly and subject to the laws as a private citizen while waiting to see what the sovereigns would decide about him. For the same purpose he sent Colonel Maceroni to the Duke of Wellington in Paris and approached Lord Exmouth with the request to take him under the protection of his flag. But Maceroni was arrested in Paris, and word came from the Admiral that he could only receive the ex-king on board his ship as a prisoner.

Murat's situation became increasingly dangerous. The royal commissary in Toulon, Marquis de la Rivière, whose life he had saved years before when he was one of Cadoudal's co-conspirators, but who now could not show himself sufficiently devoted to the old dynasty, ordered a police officer, Joly-Claire, to seize the person of the he-king; the latter, however, refused to carry out such a spiteful measure, for which he later lost his job. Even a price was offered on Murat's head, and the idea was spread among the populace that he was carrying immense treasure, in order to incite them still more against him. It was now decided by Murat's followers that the "king" should remain hidden on the lonely coast nearby, while they themselves would find an opportunity to bring him to Havre-de-Grace, from where he should return to Paris and place himself under the protection of the allies. The pursued man now wandered about for two days and two nights without a morsel of food, until he found lodgings with poor people, who recognised him, but did not betray him; for patrols passed through the whole region. He stayed in a hole in the ground, the entrance to which was covered by his protectors with wood and dry leaves.

In the meantime, his aides had managed to hire a merchant ship in Toulon, while the three naval officers were supposed to scout out his hiding place with Galvani and bring him to the beach. However, due to a misunderstanding, the rendezvous failed; by the time Murat arrived at the appointed spot, his men had long since set sail again and could no longer see the man wandering on the shore, who was now forced to return to his good-natured lodgers. Finally, on the 22nd of August, on the same day that Murat sent a new letter to Fouché from his deep concealment "du fond de son ténébreux asyle", the three naval officers succeeded in providing him with a small vehicle from Toulon, on which he entrusted himself to the waves with them. The waves were very high, however, so that the journey was fraught with danger. Then they discovered a merchant ship sailing for Toulon, towards which they drifted, calling to the captain to take them on board and, for good money, to set sail for Corsica instead of France. But they were not heeded and the ship brushed against them as it sailed past, so close that their frail craft was about to tip over and bury them in the waves. The daring sailors were already beginning to despair when, towards evening, they spotted the Balancelle, which provided the regular mail service between the French south coast and Bastia. The captain seems to have been in agreement or at least to have known that the Muratists were seeking passage to Corsica, had them approached and took them on board while the vessel they were leaving was sinking before their eyes.

[pigpogm]

Dancing at Pride (Posted on PigPog: https://pigpog.com/2019/06/24/dancing-at-pride/)

[dontstoptrying]

Send a 👫and I’ll write four headcanons I have about our muse’s relationship @secretsandspies (ian)

Eve got Ian to start watching Bake Off with her and he loves it, though he still claims he only watches it because of her. She’s had less success with getting him to watch Strictly Come Dancing with her.

The first time they visit his parents is for drinks with a bunch of his parents’ social circle. Eve and Ian end up sneaking off to his bedroom simply to escape and have a cigarette together out his window. His brother eventually finds them and tells them off, but it’s the most fun they have all evening.

Conversely, the first time they visit her dad in Exmouth after they get back together Ian and her dad stay up and share a beer long after Eve’s gone to bed. When he eventually comes to bed it’s the first of many times that Eve jokes she’s worried he’ll leave her for her dad.

At their wedding Eve’s uni friends surprise them with an album of pictures of them back at university. Eve got rid of all those pictures after he ghosted her so it’s a truly heartwarming surprise. It’s easily one of Eve’s favourite possessions.

Although they’re never a defined thing at university, they still have evenings that (to everyone else) are clearly date nights. It quickly moves beyond a friends with benefits even if neither of them explicitly acknowledged it, to the point where Ian splurges his parents’ money on taking her to a fancy restaurant more than once.

They’re both so besotted with Charlie after she’s born that they have more than one night where they fall asleep on the sofa with Eve in Ian’s arms and Charlie in Eve’s.

[if-fortunate]

John Parry Backstory Headcanons

We don’t know much about John Parry aside from the fact he was a Colonel in the Royal Marines at the time of his disappearance, and that he knew enough science to pass as a scientist when he got stuck in Lyra’s world. I really realised this when I started writing about him. HOWEVER, my brother is a war studies student and friends with a bunch of soldiers so knows a lot about the British military. We had a massive headcanoning session. I did a stupid amount of research. I thought it might be useful to share on here for anyone who is interested.

This is based on the series chronology rather than the books, so a world in which he heads off for that last expedition around 2006/7.

By the time you’re a colonel, you’re going to be in your late thirties / early forties. Here is a handy chart of data about career progression in the Royal Marines. Also here’s a chart of ranks in different parts of the armed forces for comparison – the Marines are part of the Navy, not the Army.

This means that he probably joins up around 1993, after university (as I believe many people in British officer training programmes do uni first). In my brain, he does physics at university in Cambridge but idk – could be anything, really.

He trains at Lympstone in Devon, which is on the Devonshire Coast. Fun fact: it has a train station called Lympstone Commando which is a request stop on the line between Exeter St Davids and Exmouth. She says, totally not taking detail and accuracy to really stupid levels. You can dm me if you want to know more about the trains.

The Royal Marines Officer training programme lasts about 60 weeks. It is intense (think hiking 30 miles in full gear in under 7 hours as part of your final exam). You can read about it here. There is also an award called the King’s Badge which is given to the best recruit in a troop (but it isn’t given to all troops). I don’t know if it applies to those in officer training, but I’d imagine John might have been awarded it.

He passes out of training, and I think he joins 45 Commando as a lieutenant. This is based at RM Condor in Scotland. It is made up of six companies and is part of 3 Commando Brigade.

The Royal Marines are specialists in (especially) amphibious landings. You can see a clip from Top Gear showing a Royal Marines practise landing here – take out the yellow car with Jeremy Clarkson in it and you’ve got a good sense of what happens.

In 1994, the unit deploys to Kuwait to reinforce the border between it and Iraq (possibly Operation Vigilant Warrior – at least, that was the US mission in the same time/space).

In 1998, they are on exercise in the Caribbean with HMS Ocean when Hurricane Mitch hits central America. They are involved in the aid efforts in Honduras and Nicaragua.

Sometime in the 1990s – maybe 1997/8/9, he is training in the Arctic (not strictly true this bit, but it’s a thing that easily could have happened, considering a team of female soldiers skied across Antarctica the other year and the Marines do polar training). They hike to somewhere near the magnetic north pole on an exercise.

In late 1999/early 2000, he’s a captain, an executive officer (XO – second in command) of a company of 103 soldiers. His company have been deployed to Kosovo as part of KFOR, the peacekeeping arm of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). KFOR is operating under the umbrella of LANDSOUTH, the NATO Command which operates out of a base near Verona.

In my mind, this is when and where he meets Elaine, who is spending a year as an au-pair in Verona after her mother died.

He is part of Operation Jacana, Britain’s initial conventional deployment to Afghanistan from April – June 2002; most of 45 Commando are sent on sweeps through the countryside; limited contact with the enemy, little accomplished. Operation commanded by General Roger Lane, who was relieved mid-operation – some allege due to lack of results.

John is promoted to Major after he gets back from Afghanistan and is now in command of a company of 103 soldiers.

In March 2003, he commands a company from 45 Commando in operations on the Al Faw Peninsula alongside US and Polish marines. This is part of the invasion of Iraq.

Unit go on to Northern Ireland in 2004, but John is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and gets a PhD funded for him on a physics topic (that in my mind involves travelling to go use a lot of telescopes and things because road trip) at the University of Oxford. He comes back and moves in with Elaine and they are very happy together.

Does his PhD, he and Elaine spend some time travelling together. When it’s done, he agrees to go on this mission to the North Pole as a joint Army/University of Oxford project. Before he goes they realise that Elaine is pregnant, and he’s able to stay for Will’s birth and the first few months of his life. He and Elaine agree that he has to do this trip because he can’t back out now and he really does love the Arctic, despite the fact that all he wants to do is hunker down in Oxford and look after the baby with Elaine. But then he says he’ll see if he can take a staff job with the Marines and if not, he’ll retire and go into academia instead. When he comes back, he’s not going out again.

And then we all know what happens instead. Sobs.

[hepdenerose]

Ruination and Hipsterfication in Clerkenwell

We arrived at King’s Cross just after 3 p.m. on a grey Thursday and embarked on a walk through Clerkenwell.  Starting down Grays Inn Road for a short stretch, we soon turned left onto Acton Street.  The Prince Albert gave the aspect of a traditional pub, unlike others we encountered further down.  At the corner we turned right onto King’s Cross Road where a historic courthouse now housed the…

[imkeepinit]

HMS Britannia Entering Portsmouth (1835) by George Hyde Chambers

George Hyde Chambers (23 October 1803 – 29 October 1840) was an English painter. Born in Whitby, Yorkshire, Chambers moved to London in 1825, where he was greatly helped by Christopher Crawford, formerly of Whitby, but then landlord of the Waterman’s Arms at Wapping. His work, hanging in the gentlemen’s parlour of the inn, proved popular with its nautical clientele and won Chambers his early commissions, although he also worked as a scene-painter (1827–28) on Thomas Horner’s Panorama of London at the Regent’s Park Colosseum and at the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel (1830–31). In 1829, two of his pictures were purchased by Admiral Thomas Capel who drew his merits to the attention of other officers including Admiral Lord Mark Kerr. The latter in turn secured him the patronage of King William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831–32 and thereafter Chambers was an established artist. He only showed three works at the Royal Academy 1828–29 and 1838, but many more at the British Institution, 1827–40, the Society of British Artists 1829–38 and the Old Water-colour Society 1834–40, of which he was elected member in 1834. Chambers was a talented draughtsman and watercolourist and an accomplished painter in oils, often working with fluent, colourful bravura in such views as A Fresh Breeze off Cowes and A Dutch Boier in a Fresh Breeze (National Maritime Museum, Greenwich), the latter a product of his one substantial artistic tour to Holland in 1837. His most important later ‘set-piece’ commission was The Bombardment of Algiers, 1816 by Lord Exmouth, commissioned by the admiral’s friends for the Naval Gallery at Greenwich Hospital in 1836 (and now in the National Maritime Museum) probably through the agency of E.H Locker of the Hospital, Exmouth’s former secretary. He also painted two other pictures for the Gallery. Chambers’ career was hampered by personal diffidence in promoting himself and, when he began to succeed, cut short by chronic ill health. A voyage to Madeira in the summer of 1840 failed to bring improvements and he died of heart failure at Brighton on 29 October 1840. His son, also George (1829 – after 1870) was a marine and landscape painter. 

--Text from "Scarborough and Whitby Water-Colourists", Colin Bullamore.

[petnews2day]

Proper Exmouth locals pub loved for its banter and its dog

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/EvglI

Proper Exmouth locals pub loved for its banter and its dog

If you have ever walked past popular locals pub The Exmouth Arms, it’s more likely than not that you will have been greeted with the sight of its unmissable golden retriever dog Charlie sitting contentedly looking out of the window. He is now as much of a renowned part of the pub as the banter […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/EvglI #DogNews

[spandex-revival]

Come join the band this Saturday @ The Exmouth Arms, Cheltenham to support the Sue Ryder Hospice in Cheltenham…an amazing place and a very worthy cause..!

[guncelkal]

Australia calls Chinese spy ship's visibility off west coastline an 'hostile act'

Australia calls Chinese spy ship’s visibility off west coastline an ‘hostile act’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated the navy knowledge ship Haiwangxing’s existence was ‘worrying’ after it cruised near to an armed forces center in Exmouth.