"Firing into the Brown" #13 - Genesis, books and stuff

"So Carnehan weeds out the pick of his men, and sets the two of the Army to show them drill and at the end of two weeks the men can manoeuvre about as well as Volunteers. So he marches with the Chief to a great big plain on the top of a mountain, and the Chiefs men rushes into a village and takes it; we three Martinis firing into the brown of the enemy".

Kipling "The Man Who Would Be King"

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Time for another update...  another short one this week - simply too many things competing for my time lately, and that conjoining with a period of lovely warm sunny weather (now sadly gone) has seen significant activity elsewhere (⛵)...  

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First off though, a live music event, furthermore a live music event that I've waited two years for.. yup, Genesis on their "Last Domino?" tour... 

Bought the tickets a couple of years ago when they were first announced..  then 'you know what' happened..  then we got new dates for last October..  a week before we were due to see them one of the band caught Covid and the dates were postponed 6 months (they had other dates around the world already scheduled so couldn't get in any sooner), then a week before the latest date, part of the roof of the O2 blew off, and at this point in time I was convinced that it just wasn't meant to be..  the upshot was however, that not only did the dates go ahead (the O2 was fixed in time) it also meant that the London dates then became the end of their extended tour, and quite possibly the last dates they would ever do..  ever..

I and the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer were seeing them on the first London date and to say we couldn't wait was a  bit of an under statement!😁

It was noticeable by then, that the tour name had swapped the "?" for a "!" so it was clear that were seeing the end of a quite astonishing musical run for a band that first formed in 1967, and it was also clear that the fans knew it - it was a very emotional night, every song cheered to the rafters, huge rounds of applause for the encore...  the guys are getting on a bit now, Phil has some serious health issues (he can't drum any more, or indeed stand for any period of time due to neck/skeletal surgery - his son Nick was doing the drumming duties) but they were quite simply magnificent. 

I have been a fan all my life, not known a band like them for writing and performing achingly beautiful songs with an edge... I've seen them three times (Knebworth in '92, Twickenham in '07, and this one) and I think they were easily as good on Thursday as they were on any of the previous occasions, they are a bunch of hugely and stupidly clever and proficient musicians...  I'll miss being able to see them live ever again, but the music will always be there..

So here you go - one of the fans video'd the entire show in decent video quality and good sound - watch it on your big TV and put the sound through a stereo or a sound bar, and enjoy almost 3 hours of sheer genius..

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While not working on the boat I was able to get some reading done - and there's always reading to fall back on - I finished another Nevil Shute this week as I had gotten in to the groove after "Trustee from the Toolroom", and this time chose one I'd not read before called "Most Secret"..

Set during the early days of the last war, and in the west country (Devon/Cornwall) and on the opposite side of the Channel, Brittany (or Douarnenez to be precise) the book is about a French fishing boat re-purposed for offensive operations against the Germans.

The focus of the book though are the three men in charge of the boat, from very different backgrounds, and with very different experiences of the war to date - Shute is a master story teller, and I really enjoyed the sections where he gives the back stories of each of the men.

The ship is used as a propaganda vehicle to give the French moral and physical support - it is armed with a flamethrower (something that from my reading Shute would have had practical experience of during the war because of his research work for the MOD), and used against the German patrol boats that guarded the French fishing fleet when it was at sea, and also for delivering weapons and ammunition..  good..  not as good as "Trustee" but still well worth a read..  8/10..

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I happened on this while browsing some other blogs, and just had to share it...

The figure is 1/6th scale (so slightly larger than my usual scale for this period!) and represents Tom Kitcher, who was a private in Meredith's Regiment (later the Hampshire regiment) during the Wars of the Spanish Succession. Now as it happens I did actually paint that regiment in January 2008 hence my interest.. 😀

For more pictures, the background to the figure, and why it was made click here [clicky]

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Laters, as the young people are want to say..