Randy | February 19, 2018
The first firearm I came to own was a Lee Enfield No.4 Mk.1* service rifle built in 1942 by the Savage Arms Company as part of the U. S. lend lease programme in aid of the British war effort against Nazi Germany. In 1973, at the age of 16 and with the approval of my […]
Randy | February 5, 2018
I had cause this morning to reflect on how often I begin a statement with the words, “Nothing annoys me more than ….” As it turns out, a great many things annoy me, and they all appear to be vying for the position of top dog.
Randy | February 4, 2018
The most fulfilling moments in my so far 37 year career as a security consultant have involved engineering nasty surprises for miscreants, mostly human but occasionally from other tribes, who thought they were smarter than everyone else but weren’t. Oh, sure, along the way we’ve saved a few lives, but that was just collateral un-damage […]
Randy | January 14, 2018
Our title today paraphrases G. K. Chesterton’s observation that, “An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” The poem was inspired by a combination of current meteorological realities here in Nova Scotia, and some reading I’ve been doing on daily life of British and Commonwealth soldiers in […]
Randy | January 4, 2018
Nova Scotia is currently swaying like a drunken sailor under an assortment of winter storm warnings including snowfall warning, heavy rainfall warning, extreme wind warning, and storm surge warning. Mostly rain in our area, falling on frozen ground leading to nearly instant ice formation on paved surfaces. Winds are expected to increase in intensity through […]
Randy | December 26, 2017
Culturally, the hospitality aspects of festivities prevailing at this time of year exist in a maelstrom of ill considered and contradictory drives. Year after year, many will attempt to answer seasonal motivations to visit people who sometimes live at a great remove and may be reached at no small peril to life and limb, even […]
Randy | December 24, 2017
Someone most of us here have enjoyed the benefit of “knowing” since our childhood embarks on another perilous journey tonight, and few have every paused to consider the strategic, tactical, and logistical realities of a Grand Mission that, done half-assed, could end up being Nick’s last ride. He’s been at this a while so it […]
Randy | December 21, 2017
Winter in Nova Scotia will arrive at twenty-eight minutes past noon Atlantic Standard Time today when the Solstice heralds the start of the long, slow plod to Spring. For those of us of whatever species who haven’t already migrated or gone into hibernation, this is a time of uncertainty tempered with incipient joy. The Black […]
Randy | November 26, 2017
In its ascension, the organization known to the west as ISIS successfully branded itself an unstoppable juggernaut, defiance of which promised a terrible retribution that included such horrors as having your immolation or decapitation broadcast to the world in surprisingly professional “official” releases. Take a nasty looking knife and cut a bound man’s head off […]
Randy | November 19, 2017
In the waning months of 1941, and notwithstanding Hilter’s postponement of Operation Sea Lion in September of 1940, Britain was facing a continued threat of German invasion. In Europe and most every other bit of contested ground, as well as on the high seas, Allied forces were losing to the Axis on every front. Desperate […]