No, I've not started writing spy thrillers. My wife and I have been on holiday in Scandinavia since early May, and just recently we were having a couple of days in Stockholm when I lost my phone. Some nice person handed it in at the Nobel Prize Museum (as it was found nearby).
So what has that to do with this blog? Well, a member of staff at the museum made it his personal quest to contact the owner of the phone and return it to him. By searching for my name online he found I had this blog, and left a comment which was flagged up to me by a regular reader, my old friend Steve Johnson. Being on holiday, I hadn't checked this blog in weeks, so thank goodness for helpful and quick thinking buddies!
Everything came together yesterday whilst Jane and I were travelling on the Stockholm metro. We managed to contact Jakob (the museum employee), and being about to finish work he was kind enough to meet us at a mutually convenient Metro station. And so I had my phone back.
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| Ah, Mr Bond, I've been expecting you... |
So, this post is to thank Jakob formally for being such a terrific person. If he had just done nothing, or forwarded the phone to the police, I would never have seen it again. What a great guy - thank you!
The Second Best Thing
The second best thing about this experience is something Jakob said to me regarding Googling my name. Of course, most of the hits referred to the guy (now sadly deceased) who used to front up The Prodigy. But apparently, if you are determined and search cleverly, mine is the next most common hit. So it seems I'm the second best known Keith Flint on the internet. Maybe. I guess it's about time I decided to be an Influencer, or something like that. Hmmm - maybe not.
Some Military Stuff
We have visited a number of lovely castles, and a couple of actual military museums, on our travels, so below are few photos that might be of interest to my usual readers.
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| The Front Museum, near Hanko, Finland. I'd forgotten what a big gun the Pak40 is. Manhandling this beast must have been a real bugger. |
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| As a comparison, the Russian 45mm anti-tank gun seems much more manageable. |
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| Outside the museum is another 45mm, mounted in a replica bunker. |
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| The enemy's view of the same weapon. Properly camouflaged, this position would have been hard to identify. |
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| Captured Soviet T-26 at the same museum. |
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| Gripsholm Castle, Sweden. These two magnificant Russian cannons came to the castle from Russia as war trophies in 1623. They were cast in the late 16th century. One was captured at Narva in 1581, the other at Ivangorod in 1612. Extraordinary weapons with wolf's heads cast into the muzzles. Whether the carriages are original I don't know. |
Forgive my grim countenance in the Finnish photos - the details of Finland's experiences in WW2 are not likely to engender happy feelings. Anyway, that'll do for now. I'm back in a couple of weeks and hope to resume some wargaming. With luck, battle reports will follow. 'Til then!
