Their finest hour

In these strange and uncertain times, I post a photo of the interior of the Saint George’s RAF Chapel of Remembrance at Biggin Hill in Kent, England. As some people might know, RAF Station Biggin Hill as it was then, played a key part in the summer of 1940 during the Battle of Britain. Its fighter pilots fought with distinction against the Luftwaffe, and were ably supported by courageous ground crews and station personnel who kept things going despite a number of devastating air raids.

The Battle of Britain has passed into legend as one of the times when the UK has prevailed in times of adversity, along with the myths that the Spitfire won it and the RAF was outnumbered. (The facts are a little different!) Thanks to the vision and preparation before the Second World War of the head of the RAF’s Fighter Command — Air Marshall Dowding — the Royal Air Force’s squadrons of Hurricanes and Spitfires were up to the job of keeping the Luftwaffe from British skies during daylight hours (when it could have done the most damage). Dowding — as a former fighter pilot himself — took a keen interest in the needs of his pilots (his chicks), and knew that they would be at the sharp end of things. Therefore, anything that could be done to protect his pilots (bulletproof windscreens, seat back armour) or give them an advantage (higher octane fuel, DeWilde ammunition) was organised. Then of course, there was the Dowding System, the world’s first co-ordinated air defence system.

So what’s this got to do with the COVID-19 pandemic? Well, unlike the mid- and late-1930s, it seems that in the Western Hemisphere, no-one saw this coming — or else decided the risk was too small to bother with. So we have frontline medical workers (the fighter pilots of today) working long hours, exposing themselves to high levels of Coranavirus, and struggling to source effective Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), despite repeated assurances from the UK government that this is under control. Can you imagine pilots bolting-on protective windscreens and armour plate to their fighter aircraft in 1940? Or taking off without oxygen masks?

In 1940 the UK had a mature RDF (Radar) and tracking system to show when and where the threat was likely to come from. Still as of today, the UK has limited Coronavirus testing, and no case tracking scheme that I am aware of. How is it possible to contain the spread of the disease and return to normality in a reasonable amount of time if no-one knows where the cases are? Or who has already had it (and has not been to hospital)?

My heart goes out to all frontline workers, facing an enemy they cannot see with the uncertainty of the harm it will cause.

I would like to think that this is a wake-up call for the planet, but the signs are that the world leaders still don’t understand the message. May you live in interesting times...

Using NIS with OpenLDAP on a server

Network Information Service (NIS) — formerly known as Yellow Pages (YP) — is an information sharing technology developed by Sun Microsystems in the 1980s for the Unix Operating System. Despite the introduction of an improved system named NISplus in the 1990s, the use of NIS persisted, and became supported by the Linux Operating System as well as Unix. When the time came to upgrade NIS to a more capable technology, the system of choice was often Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), or (ironically) Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD).

The 30 minute artist

I first heard about the artist Terry Harrison when I was given a useful book about acrylic painting techniques a few Christmases ago. (Despite its modest cost, the book was my favourite gift that year, if I had to chose one.) I subsequently learnt that Terry was an accomplished painter, and did much to promote painting through tutorials, classes and even his own range of brushes and paints. And a number of books, of course. It was therefore with some dismay and sadness that I learnt that Terry had succumbed to cancer two and a half years ago, while still in his 60s. He seemed like a gentle and kind person.

More recently, I was tempted into buying a pad of all-cotton watercolour paper from Ken Bromley Art Supplies, and the book Painting Water in Watercolour by Terry Harrison also caught my eye. The price was under a tenner, and as I appear to have included water in a number of my (few) paintings, I thought it might help me in the future if the inclination continues. Perhaps there would be a technique I could try after a number of months of painting inactivity?

My package arrived from Ken Bromley well-packed and in no time at all -- the usual excellent levels of service. The watercolour pad was squirreled-away for a time when I feel I will be able to do the paper justice. The book was a little smaller than I expected, at 96 pages. I was hoping it might have been hardcover with a spiral binding like my acrylic book, but it was a standard softcover and glued binding. However, the content itself did not disappoint.

Inside were sections on materials, colours, techniques and projects. (Apart from the projects, not unlike my earlier acrylic book really.) As the book's subtitle suggests, the idea is that any of the projects can be completed in 30 minutes if you follow Terry's instructions -- and are as adept and proficient as Terry was, of course! I think this is a good idea in principle, as many people have full and busy lives, and taking more than an hour out to paint can be a big ask.

Suitably inspired and wanting to try out a WHSmith Watercolour Paper pad that I had received for Christmas, I thought that there might be an exercise I could do. Sure enough, the Sky reflections technique on page 54 seemed to fit the bill, as it seemed reasonably simple and mostly within my capabilities; also, it looked effective as a painting in its own right.

The book shows an image for each step with text underneath: the text says what you need to do for that step, including suggestions as to which brush(es) to use and which colour(s). I tried to match the brush selections from my collection. The recommended colour palette was Raw Sienna, Ultramarine and Burnt Umber. I used Cotman colours throughout, but substituted Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue (with a touch of Cadmium Red Pale Hue in places) for the Raw Sienna. Otherwise, I followed the instructions as closely as I could.

The (uncorrected) result is shown here, warts and all! It took me around 45 minutes in total, allowing time for the paper to dry between two of the steps. (I imagine that Terry would have been able to do this comfortably in about ten minutes using a hairdryer.) As I suspected, the paper did not really lend itself to wet-in-wet painting, but nor did it cockle too badly either. I am pleased with how it turned out, given the unfamiliar paper and lack of prior practice. But clearly I need to work on my technique (and my observations!) if I am to achieve more convincing reflections in water... (Can I say Axis of Symmetry?)

Terry Harrison's book is definitely worth having if you are learning to paint in watercolour and expect to depict some sort of water (lake, stream, sea, puddle, waterfall) in at least one of your pictures. Fortunately, being a 30 minute artist is optional.

No nuts please, we’re British?

A Happy New Year to all my non-existent readers!

On a seasonal note, I am still partial to a little Christmas pudding at this time of year. Over time, tastes seem to have changed, and the sweet course of mince pies and Christmas pudding may be skipped altogether — or there might be an alternative dessert. I suspect that the rich fruit and pastry are not to everyone’s liking now. As a reasonably young person, Christmas pudding was the highlight of the festive meal and I recall that sometimes a second helping was out of the question as it had all been eaten!

In the mid-1970s I moved to Canada. I soon discovered that nuts were a lot more common in cakes and confectionery than I had been used to. They even put them in ice cream! I couldn’t see the point: I disliked nuts, and could not see the pleasure in their hardness and bitterness. (Although I did like savoury peanuts and cashew nuts.) Thankfully I never had a nut allergy.

The first time I was aware of nuts in a Christmas pudding must have been the early 1980s. My father had been given a homemade Christmas pudding by someone he knew, and I’m sure we were told that it was rather good. Well, expecting wonderful things, both my parents and I were disappointed to be munching through significant quantities of nuts, and much adverse comment and moaning ensued! My father spared us from the ordeal of a repeat helping of the unfortunate pudding, when with good intentions he attempted to reheat it in our relatively new microwave oven and somewhat overestimated the time required. Result: one rather charred and inedible pudding! Phew.

But this was only a portent of what was to come. Some 30 years later, and back in the UK, we seem to have become North Americanised (globalised?). Noticeable quantities of nuts are now standard ingredients in our so-called traditional Christmas puddings. Pecans? Come on! The Waitrose one pictured above is a typical example, regrettably.

I don’t dispute that nuts may have always been a key ingredient of Christmas pudding, but back in the day they were chopped or crushed finely enough that you were not aware that you were eating them. I don’t think we even knew what pecans were in the 1970s! So if the manufacturers insist on putting nuts in, make sure they are finely chopped, dammit.

Equalised Springy Beams -- 1

More years ago than I care to admit, and with great enthusiasm (and ambitious ideas), I started work on a Comet Models etched chassis kit for a Fowler LMS 4F 0-6-0 locomotive in 00 gauge. I think I even got as far as fitting electrical pick-ups to it. But it was shortly afterwards that I discovered that there were serious problems in my handiwork, and it was pointless trying to go any further. It was packed away in a convenient storage box, and every few years it saw the light of day briefly, if only to remind me that things don't always work out as anticipated... (Actually, experience has shown that things rarely work out as expected!)

The idea of having sprung model railway rolling stock like the real thing has appealed to me for a long time. Although I never owned any, Peco Wonderful Wagons were the first exposure to the concept of springing in models.

HMS Royal Oak (1916-1939)

A fortnight ago, I made a special trip to the Orkneys, a place I had never been to before. (They are located off the north-eastern tip of Scotland [technically the tip of Great Britain] if you are curious.) The reason was the eightieth anniversary of the sinking of the battleship HMS Royal Oak, and the loss of so many lives.

A laser-cut work station

Although not readily apparent in this blog, I like to make models. Unfortunately, sufficient time to do so has been in short supply recently! One hurdle I have is that there is but one suitable table to work on in the house, and I do not have the luxury of a dedicated work bench where I can leave projects in progress. Consequently, I need to allow time to both set up and put away my work space, which eats into valuable model-making time and is a deterrent to doing anything constructive at all.

A couple of months ago I spotted a laser-cut work station on a blog, similar to the one shown. I decided that this was exactly the thing I needed for small projects, as it was little bigger than an A4 sheet of paper and would fit in the cupboard when not in use. It also seemed to be an ideal size for working on my lap when I couldn’t be bothered to sit at the table!

In a rare moment of enthusiasm I ordered this useful aid. I had been directed to the British Railway Modelling (BRM) Website, so I had to go through the faff of registering first. Eventually I was able to place an order (I resisted the pack of miniature BRM staffers!), and was pleased when a large padded envelope was delivered to my front door within a week.