tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18779806334978311292024-03-05T03:44:46.509-08:00Onetap Heating StuffAn Engineer's views on UK and European Heating SystemsOnetaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178409602191647798noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1877980633497831129.post-20976263452875399962015-03-07T15:51:00.000-08:002020-02-14T02:10:09.414-08:00The Mad Minute Myth<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><u><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Mad Minute Myth</span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These notes are the result of of my research into the Mad Minute; this was prompted by statements, on internet forums and in various Youtube videos, </span><span style="font-size: large;">that the claimed record, of 38 rounds fired in one minute by a Sergeant Snoxall is a myth, in that the accuracy claimed is incompatible with the rate of fire.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Although one would expect </span><span style="font-size: large;">an increase in the rate of fire </span><span style="font-size: large;">to cause a corresponding reduction in </span><span style="font-size: large;">the accuracy achieved, the question is whether the 37 or 38 hits claimed as the record in the Mad Minute practice is plausible, whether it is within human abilities, <b>or</b> whether it is an impossible fabrication, </span><span style="font-size: large;">as some have claimed</span><span style="font-size: large;">. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>THE 'MAD MINUTE' PRACTICE</u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Mad Minute was a slang term, originally used in the pre-WW1 British Army, to describe shooting practices that were intended to exercise shooters in accurate, rapid firing and reloading during one minute, using the standard Short, Magazine Lee-Enfield (SMLE) bolt-action service rifle.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The ‘Mad Minute’ description was used for Practice number 22, Rapid Fire, detailed
on page 252 of ‘The Musketry Regulations,
Part I, 1909 (reprinted with amendments 1912)’. This gives the details as 15
rounds rapid fire, aimed at a “2<sup>nd</sup> Class Figure” target at 300 yards.
The practice is described as ; “Lying. Rifle to be loaded and 4 rounds in the
magazine before the target appears. Loading to be from the pouch or bandolier
by 5 rounds afterwards. One minute allowed”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In the 1914 reprint, this practice was changed to “Lying.
Rifle unloaded and magazine empty until the target appears. Loading from the
pouch or bandolier by 5 rounds afterwards. One minute allowed.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The Musketry
Regulations were a 312 page handbook on the service rifle, marksmanship
principles and training. You can download a copy of the booklet <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/7f52my8nye3d7xs/MusketryRegulationsPt1%28UK1912%29.pdf?dl=0">here</a>;
some of the scanned text is difficult to read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> There is no contemporary
source that states that Practice number 22 was colloquially known as the ‘Mad Minute’,
but the essential elements (15 rounds, one minute) are present. It is
unlikely that the instructors at the
School of Musketry would have demonstrated a practice that was not amongst the many
listed in the manual. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">The dimensions of the Second Class Figure Target are given
on Plate 36 of ‘The Musketry Regulations, Part II, Rifle Ranges and Musketry Appliances, 1910”.
The target was 4 feet square, with 24” and 36” circles. The aiming mark was a 12” x 12” silhouette representation
of the head of a firer aiming a rifle from a trench.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQj3MvSlC_2gfzAwczlm78nrwETmdaaK2-Hwrg0v_3QuOAFhx8gSGxx06V3sxUOIAbEmMMCKIKhLv7PwW1ysBfXOPmM_Sh_LHIsd2DPnvRUIeAwql4JET4MKIhiwH3wWQ0vcWAEZcU-nO/s1600/First+and+second+class+targets.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="443" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjQj3MvSlC_2gfzAwczlm78nrwETmdaaK2-Hwrg0v_3QuOAFhx8gSGxx06V3sxUOIAbEmMMCKIKhLv7PwW1ysBfXOPmM_Sh_LHIsd2DPnvRUIeAwql4JET4MKIhiwH3wWQ0vcWAEZcU-nO/s1600/First+and+second+class+targets.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There was no 12" bullseye.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">The 15 rounds in one minute was the standard required for a rifleman to qualify for additional pay as a first class shot. An experienced rifleman could fire many more rounds in a minute. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Rounds hitting within the 36” diameter circle at 300 yards range
would be fired to an accuracy of 11.46 minutes of angle (MOA). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Getting all the
rounds within the 24” inner circle, as credited to Sgt Snoxall, would be an
accuracy of 7.64 MOA.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is an <a href="http://www.1728.org/angsize.htm">MOA
calculator here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>SNOXALL, WALLINGFORD AND MAPP</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The only known reference to the record of 38 rounds fired by Sgt Instructor Snoxall is contained in a footnote to page 57 of "Superiority of Fire" by Major C. H. B. Pridham, published by Hutchinson's Scientific and Technical Publications, London (1945).</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i>"Sergt.-Major Wallingford's original Hythe record of 36 rounds in 60 seconds with the S.M.L.E. rifle stood until about 1914; when Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall fired 38 rounds in one minute, at 300 yards, with all his shots in the inner ring. This probably stands as a world's record for a hand loaded rifle. In each case, the target used was a 4 ft figure target, with a 12 inch figure 5. Lower half of the target was coloured green or brown, upper half grey or green. The bull's eye figure was coloured brown. Since 1925, C.S.M.-Instructor C. Mapp, on numerous occasions, has fired 35 and 36 rounds in one minute, with all his shots in the inner ring at 300 yards range."</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonaey1zvRs-wt2MHXy9Rvzw8bk4Ma01hfJ5PdE-QlJZi9HMrUnC-dXpIcS_ahFrMpdJ5EJ0qtpt_afRZ5D_XKv4qNSx0WFgWllpqXwQafA5u7sz94Y9wJqeomcyeMetp0j7wkXIHxhEB_/s1600/SCN_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1029" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgonaey1zvRs-wt2MHXy9Rvzw8bk4Ma01hfJ5PdE-QlJZi9HMrUnC-dXpIcS_ahFrMpdJ5EJ0qtpt_afRZ5D_XKv4qNSx0WFgWllpqXwQafA5u7sz94Y9wJqeomcyeMetp0j7wkXIHxhEB_/s640/SCN_02.jpg" width="410" /></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>'Superiority of Fire' by Major C.H.B. Pridham</u></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Page 57, showing the footnote that mentions Sgt. Snoxall</u></span></b></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Pridham had been an instructor at Hythe before WW1. The 'inner ring' mentioned was 24 inches in diameter; the "12 inch figure 5" was the 12 inch x 12 inch </span><span style="font-size: large;">silhouette</span><span style="font-size: large;"> aiming mark.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> A 12 inch bulls-eye is often mentioned in connection with the Mad Minute practise. It seems that the claim that all of Snoxall's 38 rounds had hit a 12" bulls-eye was an error in Ian Hogg's book </span><span style="font-size: large;"> ‘The Encyclopedia of Weaponry’. This version has since become a firmly-established internet myth, changing Sgt. Snoxall's impressive achievement into a </span><span style="font-size: large;">super-human, </span><span style="font-size: large;">Terminator-like feat of speed and accuracy. For some reason, the forename </span><span style="font-size: large;">'Alfred' has also been frequently attached to mention of </span><span style="font-size: large;">Sgt.-Instructor Snoxall, which has only served to cause further confusion to the many people who have attempted to find his WW1 service records.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"> It is sometimes suggested that the 38 rounds per minute was WW1-era British propaganda. This seems unlikely, given that the only reference to Sergeant Snoxall's record was published in 1945, after both WW1 and WW2 had ended and near the end of the service life of the Lee-Enfield rifles with the British armed forces. It seems to me more likely that Pridham had probably known Snoxall, Mapp and Wallingford. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>THE 'MAD MINUTE' DEMONSTRATION</u></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u><br /></u></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;">It will be apparent that, when he fired the alleged record, Sgt. Snoxall had not been firing Practice No 22 from the Musketry Regulations, which only allowed the firer to use 15 rounds. It is unlikely that the Army would have permitted shooting contests that used 30 or more rounds in a minute, due to the cost of the ammunition and the accelerated wear of the rifles' barrels. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> In order to show what Sgt. Snoxall had been doing, it is necessary to quote the relevant pages (54 to 58) from Chapter VI of 'Superiority of Fire' in their entirety.</span><br />
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SUPERIORITY OF FIRE Page 54</div>
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HYTHE ENTHUSIASTS</div>
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It was left to a few enthusiasts, at the School of Musketry,
Hythe, to agitate -- against strong opposition at the War Office-- for an increase in machine-guns to meet the
fast approaching German menace.<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;">*</span></b> The blame for the
refusal to comply with this urgent request must rest between the Army Council
and permanent officials at the Treasury of those days. The former were not
interested; and the latter refused to recommend the extra expenditure, so
comparatively small, for the purpose. </div>
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Of these enthusiasts, Major (local Lieut.-Colonel) N. R.
McMahon, D.S.O. † Royal Fusiliers -- Chief
Instructor at Hythe, from 1905 to 1909 -- was the most prominent. While German
opinion was still doubtful as to the correct application of machine-gun tactics,
a lecture of far-reaching consequences was given before the Aldershot Military
Society, on December 18th, 1907, by Lieut.-Colonel McMahon. His lecture,” Fire
Fighting “, laid down the tactical principles in accordance with which machine-guns
should be used.‡ His ideas, later on,
were embodied in our Field Service Regulations and Training Manuals.</div>
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So anxious was the German General Staff to
obtain further information on the subject, that, while the Regulations were
still in draft form, they were communicated to the German Military Attaché in
London, in exchange for “other official information.” Thus they reached the German General Staff, who
embodied them into their own Field Service Regulations.</div>
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One result of the
South African War of 1899 to 1902 had been that the Boers had taught us the
value of straight shooting with the rifle. Influenced by this experience,
Colonel C. Munro -- Commandant at Hythe, from 1903 to 1907-- had started a
musketry revival. His policy was to improve generally the musketry of the Army.
All officers of infantry and cavalry regiments of the Regular Army were
required to attend a course of instruction at the School of Musketry. To each
class in 1908, the Chief Instructor gave a memorable lecture. He explained how
his continued agitation to arouse the Army Council to supply the Army with
machine-guns in adequate numbers had met with no response.</div>
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In view of the increasing German menace, the situation for Britain
— as McMahon saw it— was becoming desperate. Each battalion of infantry had
only two Maxim guns, of a heavy and out-of-date pattern. With these it would be
impossible to obtain superiority of fire. “What can we do?” he asked. “We must
look to our past military history, and fall back on traditions now six
centuries old. We must aim at producing the same superiority of fire with our
rifles, as we had obtained with the long-bow in the 14th century. Our
traditions of rapid and accurate fire,” he reminded his audience, “ date back
nearly 600 years.” He was referring to the Battle of Crecy.“There is only one
alternative left to us,” McMahon maintained. “We must train every soldier in
our Army to become a ‘human machine-gun.’ Every man must receive intensive
training with his rifle, until he can fire—with reasonable accuracy—fifteen
rounds a minute.” This proposed rate of fire was more than double that of our
own, or of any other army.</div>
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McMahon was a man of
rare vision. He foresaw, in effect, six years ahead to the fighting at Mons, in
August, 1914. The small British Regular Army, when compared with the huge
conscript armies of Europe, was wholly inadequate. McMahon visualised the
divisions of a British expeditionary force as outnumbered by ten to one.
Machine-guns, each of them with a fire-power equivalent to that of fifty men — a
great economy in man-power — could have gone far to solve the problem. Yet the
Treasury—like Li Hung Chang, of China, but with infinitely less excuse—regarded
the extra expenditure for providing additional machine-guns as unnecessary, and
refused to grant the money. The Chief Instructor painted a picture of what
would happen to the few British divisions in France, when confronted with vast
hordes of German infantry armed with the latest pattern Maxim gun in enormous
numbers. Following his lecture, he staged a demonstration on the Hythe ranges,
which opened the eyes of everyone who witnessed it.</div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
THE HUMAN MACHINE- GUN</div>
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Sergt.-Major
Wallingford, an expert marksman, proceeded to show what the S.M.L.E. rifle was
capable of in the way of rapid fire, at 300 yards. Not 15 rounds only, but as
many as 36, were fired off in 60 seconds, timed by a stopwatch.<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> ** </span></b> Of these, a large
proportion of hits on the target were found to have hit the bull’s eye, with
the remainder in the inner ring and a few outers, but no misses.</div>
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Here was startling proof of the possibilities, hitherto
undreamt of, of rapid rifle-fire. The number of rounds fired in one minute
depended on the skill, and speed, of the individual firer in loading and
reloading chargers of five rounds each into a magazine holding ten. By its easy
manipulation of the bolt, the S.M.L.E. rifle was well adapted for such
extremely rapid firing. By contrast, the bolt of the German Mauser rifle worked
very stiffly, so that it was not capable of rapid firing. But the Germans, with
ample supplies of Maxims, had no need to train their men up to a high standard
of musketry. McMahon’s new Musketry Course, which included also snap- shooting
at targets exposed for a few seconds only, was introduced into the Army in
January, 1909. A compromise somewhat typical of our nation, it was calculated
to cost considerably less than an ample supply of machine-guns would have done.
This new musketry, at first, met with much disapproval and distrust but, as time went on, the Army gradually grew
accustomed to this much higher standard of efficiency.</div>
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THE “MAD MINUTE.”</div>
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By about 1910, any
soldier who could not fire his fifteen rounds a minute was put hack for extra
musketry drills, muscle exercises, and range practises. By 1912, men who were
graded as third-class shots were liable to be discharged from the army for
inefficiency. By 1914, many men in each regiment could exceed even twenty
rounds in the “ mad minute,” and very high scores were made in firing the
fifteen rounds practice of the annual course. H.P.S. (Highest possible score) was 60, and scores of 50 and over became
almost commonplace. By now, every trained soldier in the Regular Army could
fire his fifteen rounds per minute, many of them with astonishing accuracy.</div>
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Thus McMahon’s
highest hopes were realised. So insistent was he of the importance of intensive
training in “rapid and accurate fire”<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: large;">***</span></span></b> during those few critical years prior to the
ouitbreak of war in 1914, that he was irreverently referred to as “The Musketry
Maniac”!</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;">*</span></b> “ In 1909, the School of Musketry, Hythe,
urged that each battalion should have six machine-guns, instead of two. The
suggestion was declined for financial reasons, and subsequent reductions of the
Army Estimates and Vote made any such addition impossible.” (Official History
of the Great War, France and Belgium, 1914.)</div>
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†Fourth son of General Sir T. Westropp McMahon, who served
in the Crimean War. Born 1866, joined the Royal Fusiliers in 1885. Awarded the
D.S.O. for his services in the South African War.</div>
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‡ During his lecture on “Fire Fighting,” Lieut.-Colonel
McMahon stated “Machine-guns will be used in the near future in very large
numbers. There need be no fear of overstating the value of these weapons. All
tendencies in modern tactics . . . bring their good qualities more and more
into relief.”</div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;">**</span></b>"Sergt-Major
Wallingford's original Hythe record of 36 rounds in 60 seconds with the SMLE
rifle stood until about 1914; when Sergt-Instructor Snoxall fired 38 rounds in
one minute, at 300 yards with all his shots in the inner ring. This probably
stands as a world's record for a hand loaded rifle. In each case the target
used was a 4 ft figure target with a 12 inch figure 5. Lower half of the target
was coloured green or brown, upper half grey or green. The bull's eye figure
was coloured brown. Since 1925 CSM Instructor C Mapp on numerous occasions has
fired 35 and 36 rounds in one minute with all his shots in the inner ring at
300 yards range". </div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> ***</span></b> “There can really be only one rate of fire –
the best rate for every man for combining rapidity with accuracy.”</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">On the occasion that Sgt Snoxall achieved his record, he had been demonstrating the speed and accuracy with which the standard issue Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield (SMLE) rifle <b style="text-decoration-line: underline;">could</b> be fired,to a group of army officers. It was not a shooting contest. The ordinary soldiers of the British Regular Army were not expected or trained to fire at such speeds. Since the intention was to demonstrate the maximum possible rate of fire, it seems likely that the rules of </span><span style="font-size: large;">Practice No 22 were not applied, e.g., the firer may have started with 10 or 11 rounds in the rifle, charger clips were arranged to hand rather than kept in the ammunition pouches, etc.. There are no records, the details of how the record was fired is not known. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>STANGSKYTING</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> A video, of the Norwegian National Rifle Association field shooting contest known as
Stangskyting (Stang shooting), has been used to Youtube to </span><span style="font-size: large;">try to mythbust the Mad Minute 'Myth'.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> Stangskyting was
introduced by a Colonel Georg Stang in 1912. The contest is partially funded by
the Norwegian defence ministry and is screened on Norwegian national television.
The contest is fired using historic and current service rifles (Mausers,
Krag-Jorgensens, H&K G3) and also the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sauer_200_STR">Sauer 200 STR</a> (Scandinavian
Target Rifle). </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> There are many
similarities between Stangskyting and the Mad Minute practice, probably because
both were intended to develop the skills of accurate and rapid firing that
would be required to counter the same threat, advancing German infantry
formations. Videos of modern-day Stangskyting are the best means available to assess the plausibility of the Mad Minute claims, since they are a rapid-fire contest using bolt-action rifles which mostly date from the pre-WW1 era.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> In Stangskyting there
are two separate sequences in which the shooters fire at a target for 25
seconds. The first target (called a 1/4) is a diagrammatic representation of a prone
figure, the second (called a småen) is a representation of a human head.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The 1/4 target is 33
cm high by 49 cm wide and is used at a range of 200 to 250 metres. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> The småen target is 30
cm high by 25 cm wide and is used at a range of 130 to 170 metres.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"> A Youtube poster, USMarineRifleman0311, stated that the småen target is “approx 20in by 30in”
(76.2cm high by 50.8cm wide); he has got that wrong as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<b style="font-size: x-large;"><u>MODERN MAD MINUTE EVENTS</u></b><br />
<b style="font-size: x-large;"><u><br /></u></b><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">The comparison below (between Mad Minute scores of 36-38 rounds and modern Stangskyting shooting) was intended to assess whether the rates of fire and accuracy achieved in the Mad Minute scores were realistic.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br />This comparison was rendered redundant by a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MadMinuteChallenge">Mad Minute Challenge</a>, held at a shooting club at Sokendal in Norway on 30th May 2015. The winner, Thomas Heøgåsseter, scored 36 hits on a 40 cm diameter target at 200 metres (6.9 MOA/ 2 mils). The average score of 11 shooters was 29.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;"><br /> Mr Heøgåsseter's achievement has proved definitively that the Mad Minute scores attributed to Snoxall, Wallingford or Mapp are plausible. I have left the text that I originally posted as a </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">comparison</span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> of Stangskyting and the Mad Minute claims </span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">below as a matter of interest. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>RATE OF FIRE</u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In this video, <a href="http://youtu.be/pK8fSVuxVaU?t=2m51s">Krag
vs Mauser vs Sauer vs (a)g3</a>, between 2:50 and 3:20 and Mr Mauser fired 14
rounds in 25 seconds (average 33.6 rpm). However, if you deduct the 6 seconds
that it took him to clear the stoppage, then he fired 14 rounds in 19 seconds,
an average rate of fire (</span><span style="font-size: large;">RoF) </span><span style="font-size: large;">of 44.2 rounds per minute.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">My best <b>estimate </b>is that he took 2 seconds to load each 5
round charger, firing 14 rounds in the 15 seconds of actual shooting time or
about 0.933 seconds per round. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>IF</b> he could sustain this RoF for 60 seconds, <b>THEN</b> he would fire
the initial 5 rounds in 4.66 seconds, and each of the 8 subsequent 5 round clips
in 6.66 seconds, total 58 seconds. 45
rounds fired.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In the same video, between and 4:25, Mr Sauer fires 16
rounds in 25 seconds (he started with a round in the chamber and 5 in the
magazine), roughly equivalent to 38 rounds per minute. The rate of fire of the
Mauser shooter is more relevant since his rifle is of the correct era and uses faster
charger reloading. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The precise rate of fire is unimportant; the only relevant
point is that Mr Mauser could plausibly achieve a rate of fire in the region of 40 rpm. The
38 rpm (Snoxall) or 37 rpm (Wallingford) claimed in respect of the Mad Minute
by School of Musketry instructors is entirely plausible. The bolt-action of the Short, Magazine, Lee Enfield (SMLE) British service rifle was generally acknowledged to be faster than any of the other bolt-action rifles in service with European armed forces. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>ACCURACY</u></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">The Mad Minute rate of fire seems possible, but the question remains as to whether the firer could maintain sufficient accuracy at this speed.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I <b>estimated </b>Mr Mauser’s group size (by scaling the
measurements from a screen print) was 43.6 cm wide. If you assume the range to
be 150m, then that group was fired within 10 minutes of angle. The group
excludes 2 shots that missed the target. Mr Sauer’s group size of 33.2 cm is
relevant, an impressive accuracy of 7.61 MOA, again assuming a range of 150 metres.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"> Again, both the 11.46 MOA accuracy (Wallingford) or 7.64 MOA (Snoxall) claimed
for the Mad Minute seem plausible. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> The standards for both accuracy <b>AND </b>the rate of fire attributed to pre-WW1 School of Musketry staff are comparable with the standards that are achieved by the top competitors in Stangskyting events. This does not prove that the 38 or 37 rpm records are genuine, it merely suggests that these scores are within human abilities and therefore plausible.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"> You can interpret
the above information in any way you please.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> The points supporting Snoxall’s, or Wallingford's, records are that;</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]-->The SMLE action was faster than any contemporary
bolt-action rifle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"> </span><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">Snoxall, Wallingford and the other School of Musketry instructors were not merely good
marksmen, such as those that compete in the Stangskyting events. They were
professional shooting instructors, responsible for training the unit instructors, they trained
with free-issue ammunition and they were selected from an army of trained
marksmen.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal;"><span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"> </span> </span></span><span style="font-size: large;">There were no formal records of the Mad Minute scores maintained,
since it was not a formal shooting contest. It was merely an exercise that was
intended to develop shooting that was both rapid and accurate. It was an informal contest, carried on at company and battalion level and did not involve competitors
travelling to national events at Bisley or similar ranges.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 39.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "symbol"; font-size: large;">·</span><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"> Wallingford and other members of the Hythe School of Musketry staff did compete in Bisley contests and were regular winners of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Jewel competitions. </span><br />
<br />
<h2>
<span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"><b><u>SERGEANT-INSTRUCTOR SNOXALL</u></b></span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> For many years the 'Sergt.-Instructor Snoxall' mentioned by Major Pridham seemed to have vanished from the records leaving no other trace of his existence. Many doubted that he had ever existed. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> In 2017, Nick Harlow published a paper ('The Mad Minute, Rapid Rifle Fire and its place in the Edwardian Army) which mentioned a Frank Snoxell as probably having served as a Sergeant-Instructor at Hythe. There were several mentions of his name listed in the London Gazette following his promotion to a 2nd Lieutenant in January 1917.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> In 2019 I obtained a copy of Frank Snoxell's army records from the National Archives at Kew. This confirmed that Frank William Snoxell had been a Sergeant-Instructor at the School of Musketry at Hythe from October 1913 until he was promoted to CSMI in March 1915.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Frank Snoxell had enlisted at Preston 31/10/03, was promoted sergeant on 26/10/10, transferred to the School of Musketry on 29/10/13, appointed SI on 30/10/13, promoted to CSMI on 13/3/15, QMSI 13/11/15 and commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant on 13/1/17 when he was posted as an Assistant Instructor to the 2nd Army Musketry Training Camp in France. He retired as a Major in 1921 and died in September 1956. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"> Prior to his posting to Hythe, </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">Frank Snoxell had served as a Sergeant-Instructor at the Branch School of Musketry at Salara in India. The British Indian Army had its </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">Central School of Musketry at</span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> Pachmarhi and </span><span style="text-indent: -18pt;"><span style="font-size: large;">Branch Schools at Satara and Rawalpindi/ Changla Gali</span></span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">. This would also explains why </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">Snoxell</span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">(unlike Wallingford, Mapp, etc.,) has no known competitive shooting </span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">record</span><span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;">; any competitive shooting he'd done prior to being posted to Hythe would have been in India.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLuNOk6-v6Ez0ykiU7_YSbh5isnJjUYO3moJMQwtfvKWIGiZV4UjeIJIL-aBkIFKkBkKJr4dDNduT1KIW8DtS1Meth6XyRdw4fOt69IZThFHxj1lzAnlEsNTAGsAoriGizY0wYYkEHCkp/s1600/WO_339_82833_059a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="989" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpLuNOk6-v6Ez0ykiU7_YSbh5isnJjUYO3moJMQwtfvKWIGiZV4UjeIJIL-aBkIFKkBkKJr4dDNduT1KIW8DtS1Meth6XyRdw4fOt69IZThFHxj1lzAnlEsNTAGsAoriGizY0wYYkEHCkp/s640/WO_339_82833_059a.jpg" width="394" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"><span style="font-size: large; font-stretch: normal;"> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Wallingford">Jesse Wallingford</a>, unlike the good Sergeant Snoxell, left many records of his shooting prowess. <span style="font-family: inherit;">He competed in rifle and p</span>istol events in the 1908 Olympic Games and won the <a href="http://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getperson.php?personID=I40346&tree=CC">Gold Jewel (Best Shot in the Army) at Bisley on 5 occasions</a>. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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Onetaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178409602191647798noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1877980633497831129.post-57343561020775590722014-03-11T11:16:00.000-07:002015-02-18T13:58:23.785-08:00Notes on ‘Heroes’ by Robert Cormier<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> My son is reading Heroes by Robert Cormier for his English
GCSE examination.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I read the book. I thought I’d make a few notes about some of the events in the novel, the
significance of which may be overlooked by the average 16-year old.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I’m not a teacher; I
haven’t studied this book, so my interpretations may not be right. However, I have the advantage of age and know
lots of random stuff relevant to this book. I’m sure I’ve missed other
significant points.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have assumed that you’ve read the book; be warned that
these notes contain spoilers that will tell you how it ends. The page numbers
alongside each quotation refer to the Longman edition of the book I have used.
You may find some unexplained quotes; these are ones for which I will write an
accompanying note if/when I get around to it. This is a work in progress, I’m not sure that
I will finish it, but I hope the notes that I have made prove useful. </span></div>
<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u>CHAPTER 1; </u></span></h2>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>P1 Frenchtown in Monument.</b> Frenchtown is an
enclave of people of French descent. Most of the characters’ names are of
French origin (Cassavant, Lasalle, LaFontaine, Richelieu, Marie La Croix, Touraine,
etc.. They would probably be the
children or grand-children of French-speaking French-Canadian immigrants. Cormier’s name, is also French.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Frenchtown is based on Cormier’s real-life home town, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leominster,_Massachusetts"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">Leominster In
Massachussets</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">, USA.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Leominster has an area called ‘</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leominster,_Massachusetts#Villages"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">French
Hill’</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">, where French-Canadian immigrants had settled, a park/common called
Monument Square, a Spruce Street (Ch 14) and a Mechanic Street (Ch 3)..</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Frenchtown is a thinly disguised version of Leominster. It’s
possible that the characters and events in the novel are similarly based on
real-life.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">P1 ‘That’s the way he
pronounced it; arse.’</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>An American would
usually say ‘ass’. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dr Abram’s use of the British pronunciation is not explained, most probably he had served in hospitals in England
during the war treating the casualties from the US Army Air Force and ( after
D-Day) US Army ground troops. </span></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial;">P2 Red Sox cap</b><span style="font-family: Arial;">. A Boston Red Sox ( US baseball team) baseball cap. Boston is the nearest large town to Frenchtown/Leominster, about 40 miles away.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P3 Three decker; </b> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_decker" title="Triple decker">triple decker</a> house with 3 floors.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The French Hill area in Leominster ( and the fictitious Frenchtown) has blocks of triple decker houses. It is a distinctive type of 19th and early-20th century housing that is common in Massachussets. A family would be housed on each floor. There is a balcony (piazza) at the front of each floor which provides an outdoor area and also shades the windows in summer. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The term "three-decker" originally referred to a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-decker">man-of-war sailing ship with three gun decks</a>. The three-decker houses originated in the ports of New England, on the east coat of the USA and would have originally housed sailors and dock workers living near the ports.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></b><b style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></b><b style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="font-family: Arial;">P4 Damaged by the grenade </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The injuries Cassavant describes would be unlikely to result from a hand grenade, although it’s not impossible Grenades usually contain a small amount of high explosive and cause injury by the fragmentation of the metal casing. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Anyone suffering such facial injuries would probably also have been blinded.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Major General John Frost (commander of 2<sup>nd</sup> Battalion, Parachute Regiment in WW2 ) in his autobiography described a withdrawal through German lines from a position in North Africa at night, leading an injured man whose face was held on with a field dressing, having had it virtually severed by a shell fragment during an artillery bombardment.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> Artillery and mortar shells contain much more explosive than hand grenades and the shrapnel fragments generally have more energy.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">P6<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later, I light a candle in St. Jude’s
church....</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">A </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Votive_candle"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">votive
candle</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“To "light a candle for someone" indicates one's intention to
say a prayer for another person, and the candle symbolizes that prayer. A
donation box intended to defray candle costs generally accompanies votive
candles.” </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><em> </em>He <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">does not</b> light
the candle because it is dark in the church; this was an idea I found<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>expressed on the internet, although that
would be a reasonable assumption, if you didn’t happen to know much about
Catholicism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">P6 St Jude’s Church.</b>
The local parish church in Frenchtown. .</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">St Jude is the patron
saint of hopeless causes, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">'The Saint for
the Hopeless and the Despaired', There is no St. Jude's church in the real French Hill. Cormier could have chosen a name from amongst hundreds of saints and picked St. Jude; he would have known of the association.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">P6 The smell of burning
wax and the fragrance of old incense, the odours of forgiveness, fill the
church. I remember the days.....</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> </b>Smells<b> </b></span><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9042019/Smells-can-trigger-emotional-memories-study-finds.html"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">have
the power to bring to mind emotional memories associated</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> with those smells.<b> </b>The
smells in the church bring back memories of Cassavant's childhood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The powerful memories evoked by an odour are the subject of Rudyard Kipling’s poem Lichtenberg.</span><br />
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Smells are
surer than sounds or sights</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">To make your heart-strings crack--</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">They start
those awful voices o' nights</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">That whisper, " Old man, come back!
"</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">That must be
why the big things pass</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">And the little things remain,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Like the smell
of the wattle by Lichtenberg,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Riding in, in the rain.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">P6 ........the days I served as
an altar boy for Father Balthazar and the Latin responses I had trouble
memorizing.</span></b></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">The Roman Catholic mass was said in Latin
until 1967. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">A Catholic priest is usually
addressed as ‘Father’.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Frenchtown is Catholic; this is important. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> P6 .</span><b style="font-family: Arial;">.. Rub Room of the
Monument Comb Shop </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">Leominster/
Frenchtown was the centre of an industry manufacturing combs and was nicknamed
‘Comb City’. Combs had formerly been manufactured by sawing slots in strips of animal
horn or, later, celluloid. They are now made cheaply from injection moulded
plastics. The</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Rub Room was a workshop
where the final polishing processes were carried out using abrasive polishing
wheels.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 39.7pt 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
opened the door of the rub room at the comb shop and a blast like purgatory
struck your face. The workers sat on stools, huddled like gnomes over the
whirling wheels, holding the combs against the wheels to smooth away the rough
spots. The room roared with the sound of machinery while the foul smell of the
mud soiled the air. The mud was a mixture of ashes and water in which the
wheels splashed so they would not overheat at the point of contact with the
combs. Because the rub room was located in the cellar of the shop where there
were no windows, the workers toiled in the naked glare of ceiling lights that
intensified everything in the room: the noise, the smells, the heat, the
cursing of the men. On the coldest day of the year, the temperature in the Rub
Room was oppressive: in the summer, unbearable.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 252pt; text-indent: 36pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Robert
Cormier ‘Fade’</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>P6 Nicole Renard; </b>another French name.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Renard means fox. In American, </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">WW2-era slang, fox meant a sexually attractive woman.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> P7 “Great strides have been made in cosmetic surgery, Francis. One of the few benefits of the war.”</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The USA had entered WW2 2¼ years after the UK. During that time, the UK had become a centre of expertise in innovative plastic surgery usually used in treating facial burns.</span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;">See the</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guinea_Pig_Club" style="font-family: Arial;"> Guinea Pig Club</a><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">(patients of Archibald McIndoe) or</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Enemy_(autobiography)" style="font-family: Arial;">‘The Last Enemy</a><span style="font-family: Arial;">’ by Richard Hilary (a Spitfire pilot severely burned during the Battle of Britain in 1940).</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Dr Abrams would</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">probably have acquired</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">his knowledge of cosmetic surgery and English pronunciations in English hospitals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;">P8 </span><b style="font-family: Arial;">Silver Star</b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">A US medal awarded for gallantry in action, the
third highest US</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">military decoration.</span></div>
<br />
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<br /></div>
<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;">Chapter 2</span></h2>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYJuGsYy_Q_SdKSKIufPYfQuA2SJmlfPoerSNx0lMHE_fP9DinDQMMPBmhNlYV1kyaHmhh9vRqzIqZpgYs-TN-ZGKKmbyB5fVSXsuZeF18kTQJ9cczhXB5CN678wQUkLDFscMV1jsvGp3/s1600/Teresa13anni.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijYJuGsYy_Q_SdKSKIufPYfQuA2SJmlfPoerSNx0lMHE_fP9DinDQMMPBmhNlYV1kyaHmhh9vRqzIqZpgYs-TN-ZGKKmbyB5fVSXsuZeF18kTQJ9cczhXB5CN678wQUkLDFscMV1jsvGp3/s1600/Teresa13anni.jpg" height="320" width="241" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-image: none; border: currentColor; mso-border-insideh: none; mso-border-insidev: none; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-yfti-tbllook: 1184;">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 308.35pt; mso-yfti-firstrow: yes; mso-yfti-irow: 0; mso-yfti-lastrow: yes;">
<td style="height: 308.35pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 231.05pt;" valign="top" width="308"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P10 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Therese">St Thérèse of
Lisieux</a>; Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin<b> </b>(1873 to 1897) a French
nun and catholic saint.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St Therese lived only 50 years before this story is set and so,
unlike most saints, there are photographs of her. Francis Cassavant is
familiar with these images.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St Therese would have been especially venerated amongst the
Frenchtown Catholics because she was French.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St Therese at 13 years of age, about
the same age as both Nicole Renard and Francis Cassavant when they
first meet.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
</td>
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</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>P10 Seventh grade </b>The
7<sup>th</sup> years of school for children of 12 to 13 years of age.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>P10 St Jude's parochial school.....</b></span><br />
<span data-dobid="hdw"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span data-dobid="hdw">Parochial is an adjective which means '</span>relating to a Church parish.'</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St. Jude's school is adjacent to St. Jude's church and is managed by the parish.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Some of the teachers are nuns who live in the adjacent convent. Their teachers' salaries are paid by the state and are paid to the convent. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P11. .....on the third </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>floor of our
house </b></span><b style="font-family: Arial;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">In the UK the street level of a building is</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">called the ground floor. In the USA the street level is called the first floor; so the “third floor” is what a UK reader would call the ‘second floor’, or the top floor of a triple decker house.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">P12 </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> ....</span><b style="font-family: Arial;">players from the shops </b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> i.e., workshops,
factories</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> P12. </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">....the men drinking beer they had brewed
in big crocks</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The sale and
production of alcoholic drinks was illegal in the USA between 1920 and 1933. Home
brewing became popular during the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition_in_the_United_States"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">prohibition</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">
and continued afterwards. This incident occurs in about 1938, after prohibition
has ended. The
Frenchtown residents are poor, working people and h</span><span style="font-family: Arial;">ome brewed beer is cheaper than bottled beer or buying beer in a bar.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">P13<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">...how selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees had
brought a curse upon the team.</b></span></div>
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babe_Ruth"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Arial;">George Herman “Babe” Ruth</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial;">
(1895 to 1948), the most famous baseball player of all time.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Babe Ruth’s contract
had been sold by the owner of the Boston Red Sox to their rivals, the New York
Yankees, in 1919. The reasons for the sale aren’t known, it is believed that
the Red Sox owner needed money for another business venture. Babe Ruth’s sale so
outraged Red Sox fans that Cassavant’s father is still regularly
complaining<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>about it some twenty years
later.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">Imagine the outrage
if Manchester United had sold David Beckham to Liverpool in the early years of
his professional career.</span><br />
<br />
<h3 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd;"><span style="font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u>Chapter 3</u> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span></span><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: #76a5af; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A CONVERSATION WITH NORMAN ROCHELEAU IN FRANCE</span></span></u></h3>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">P18 <b>‘.....he told me about the family’s sudden
departure from Frenchtown. More than that; ‘All kinds of rumors about her, Francis.
She began to stay at home, didn’t come out of the house except for the
five-thirty morning mass, the nuns’ mass, that nobody else in their right mind
ever goes to. She was like ...’ he gestured with the cigarette, trying to find
the right word.’......A hermit. Then she was gone. Her and her family. Left
Frenchtown without telling anybody. ‘</b></span></div>
<br />
<ul style="direction: ltr; list-style-type: disc;">
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal;"><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">All kinds
of rumors about her, Francis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>People
in Frenchtown were gossiping about Nicole Renard and her family’s sudden
disappearance.</div>
</li>
<li style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold;"><div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0cm;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">She was
like ...’ he gestured with the cigarette, trying to find the right
word.’......A hermit. Then she was gone. Her and her family. Left Frenchtown
without telling anybody. ‘</b></div>
<div style="color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 10pt; margin-top: 0cm;">
Nicole Renard’s unusual behaviour ( acting
like a hermit) is not explained here, nor is the sudden disappearance of her
family from the town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">Frenchtown is a small catholic village within Monument,
everyone knows everyone else, everyone knows the priest, the teachers and the
doctor. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Norman Rocheleau has no direct knowledge of why Nicole
Renard’s family left Frenchtown; everything he has heard is hearsay, gossip. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He does not say what the “all kinds of rumours” were, it
would be distressing for Francis to hear those stories. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicole Renard’s unusual behaviour ( acting like a hermit) is
not explained here, nor is the sudden disappearance of her family from the
town.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> One possible explanation is that, if Nicole Renard had been raped by Larry
LaSalle, then she may have become pregnant. This is never mentioned, but It
must have been one of the possibilities considered by Francis Cassavant. It is an '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_in_the_room">elephant in the room</a>', throughout the book.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Nicole’s behavior,
and the sudden disappearance of her family may have been the result of her
being pregnant because she, and her family, were devout Catholics.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The doctrine of the Catholic Church is that a human life
begins at the instant of conception and that a termination of a pregnancy, an
abortion, is a homicide, even if the conception is the result of a rape. It is
the teaching of the Church that the unborn baby is a victim of the rape, as
much as the mother, and its life should be protected. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You may disagree with this view, but the important point
here is that Nicole is a devout Catholic, as are her parents, the priests, the nuns, her doctor and anyone else in Frenchtown to whom she may turn for help. They share this belief. If Nicole Renard was pregnant, she would not
get an abortion.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It would have been a great disgrace for the family if an unmarried daughter had become pregnant; it is still in many cultures. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Catholic Church would often arrange accommodation for
unmarried mothers, where they could have the baby away from their home towns,
and then arrange to have the baby adopted or fostered. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> What <b>might</b> have happened
(it is never explicitly stated) is that Nicole had become pregnant and had avoided meeting people in
case they should notice. If her parents had supported her, then, when it became
impossible to conceal Nicole’s pregnancy, the entire family would have left Frenchtown,
without telling anyone the reasons, and moved to an area where they were not
known. Nicole would be accepted as a single mother, without the associated social
stigma, if she were to pass as the widow of a serviceman. Her parents may have
raised the child, whilst she completed her secondary education (see Chapter 15),
rather than have it adopted. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The evidence against
this is in Chapter 16, when Francis finally meets Nicole again; she
does not mention a child and Francis does not ask. She also says that she never told her parents about the rape. It is possible that she did not have a
child, but this does not adequately explain the sudden departure of her family from Frenchtown. The alternative explanation is that she has a child but she does not want Francis to know that. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nicole had not made a complaint to the police that Larry
LaSalle had raped her because she thinks it unlikely that she would be
believed. Larry LaSalle is the local hero. A criminal case against LaSalle
would have resulted in a trial, with all the details in the local papers.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If she had become pregnant, then it would have been her word
against LaSalle’s that he was the father. DNA had not yet been discovered.</span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> P</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">22</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><b style="font-family: Arial;">GIs in my platoon</b></div>
<b style="font-family: Arial;"> </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">A GI is a member of the US Army
or the US Army Air Force. The initials originally referred to all Government
Issue equipment and has come to mean US service personnel.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A platoon is a small
infantry unit, usually of about 32 men, commanded by a 2<sup>nd</sup>
Lieutenant assisted by a platoon sergeant. A platoon is usually organised into
4 sections, or squads, each of 8 men. The entire platoon would be deployed as a
unit and is small enough that all the men would soon know one another. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">P23<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Two
German soldiers in white uniforms.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial;">The German soldiers had
white coveralls and helmet covers that were worn when there was snow on the
ground. The Germans had previous experience of winter warfare from fighting in the USSR.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The US Army did not
have any similar equipment; the GIs' green uniforms made them conspicuous targets against
snow.</span></div>
<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u>CHAPTER 4</u></span></h2>
<div>
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u><br /></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P26 Land mine<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P26 Furlough </b>(pronounced fur-low) Leave of absence granted to a serviceman. The word has been rarely used in the UK since WW1.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P27 St. Jude’s club <o:p></o:p></span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A social club owned and operated by the parish. The parish council
ensures that no immoral or illegal activities (e.g., gambling) take place on
the premises and the profits from the
club are used for the benefit of good causes within the parish.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P27 </b><a href="http://youtu.be/PPJZTRqQ1Xw?t=48s"><b>Don’t
Sit Under the Apple Tree</b></a><b> </b>A
popular song during WW2, the most famous version being the recording by Glenn
Miller and the Andrews Sisters.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P28 Big Boy, who weighed about three hundred
pounds before entering the service...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">21 ½ stones or 136 kilograms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The average man’s
weight would have been less than 200 pounds. Big Boy had been overweight before
he joined the armed forces.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P28 ...piece work at the shop... </b>A method of employment in which the
worker is paid for each piece of work produced or each work process performed.
The worker does not have a guaranteed weekly wage and may have no income if the
employer has no work for him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Piece work was widely used in the garment industry, with a
fixed rate paid for each component piece (sleeve, cuff, collar, back, etc.,) of
a garment manufactured and another
amount paid to another worker for each complete garment assembled. </span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P28 GI Bill<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Bill">The <b>Servicemen's
Readjustment Act</b> of 1944</a> ‘<i>known informally as the G.I. Bill, was a law
that provided a range of benefits for returning World War II veterans (commonly
referred to as G.I.s). Benefits included low-cost mortgages, low-interest loans
to start a business, cash payments of tuition and living expenses to attend
college, high school or vocational education, as well as one year of
unemployment compensation.’</i><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P29 I’ll be with you in
Apple Blossom Time<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span><br />
<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u>CHAPTER 5</u></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P31 ...municipal programme<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P31 ...quick gulps from hidden bottles...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_open_container_laws">Drinking
alcohol in a public place is illegal in most parts of the USA.</a> It is a common practice to conceal opened
bottles of alcohol inside the brown paper bags that are available from liquor
or grocery stores, so that the bottle cannot easily be seen by police
officers. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P32 Marx Brothers movies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P32 empty lots<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P34 yardman<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P34 Autumn Leaves.....
dying cowboy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P35 ...born in
Frenchtown...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P36 ...didn’t remind me
of St. Therese<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> P37 ...who died on a beach on Iwo Jima in the South Pacific....</span><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; font-size: medium;"><u>CHAPTER 6</u></span></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJOyhxzdIriGaYtFUin_tytf7h1t9Ih3UlSSz6Rm3KlkMSIG62_n5H3sshJlXS_6XJ9MiC7w3xN3Kq6ebnmNyCcmqf_41R5FTxy1hox5jgtMq7_K-X5qFiw8bsM27c77SlV-7PoGgM86Q/s1600/St+Cecilias2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwJOyhxzdIriGaYtFUin_tytf7h1t9Ih3UlSSz6Rm3KlkMSIG62_n5H3sshJlXS_6XJ9MiC7w3xN3Kq6ebnmNyCcmqf_41R5FTxy1hox5jgtMq7_K-X5qFiw8bsM27c77SlV-7PoGgM86Q/s1600/St+Cecilias2.jpg" height="457" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Cecilia's Church, Leominster</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P38 St. Jude’s Church at the corner of Third and Mechanic...</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">St. Cecila’s Church stands on the corner of Third Street and Mechanic Street in Leominster. The town probably now looks very different to how it looked after WW2, when it was an industrial town. </span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P38 ..whether the
mystery of what has happened to Nicole is hidden within those walls...<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Francis suspects that Nicole might have entered a convent to
become a nun.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> See also Chapter 15.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P38 The talk now is of the new Chevvies and
Fords coming from the Detroit factories ....<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chevrolet is a trade
name used by General Motors in the USA; Chevrolet cars are nicknamed
Chevvies. General Motors also trade
under the brand names of Vauxhall Motors (UK), Opel (Europe), Holden
(Australia) and Daewoo.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Chevrolet and Ford were the major US motor manufacturers; both are based in Detroit, Michigan. Detrot was the centre of the US motor industry
and was nicknamed Motor City or Motown. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Manufacturing
industries in the USA had been massively expanded to supply war materials. At
the end of the war, production efforts had been changed from war materials to consumer goods. There was a
post<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post%E2%80%93World_War_II_economic_expansion">-war
economic boom</a>, which, for the blue-collar working people, meant that jobs were plentiful and wages were
high. This was almost the exact opposite of the economic conditions before the
war, during the years of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Depression">Great Depression</a>. Many manual workers were able to afford a new
family car. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Since the 1970s,
motor manufacturing in Detroit has greatly declined, due to the 1973 Oil Crisis,
competition from European and Asian manufacturers, multi-national manufacturers relocating
factories to countries with lower labour costs and the automation of many
manufacturing processes. The population of the city has decreased by 60% and
Detroit has the highest unemployment rate of the big cities in the USA. The
City of Detroit was declared bankrupt in 2013 and large areas of the city are a
post-industrial wasteland, with many
abandoned houses and factories.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Detroit%23Population_decline"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Detroit#Population_decline</span></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html</span></a></div>
</div>
</div>
<h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>P38 Arthur and Armand and Joe are always
there, fixtures in the club until they become cops or firemen....<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">The ‘52-20 clause’ in the GI Bill allowed provided veterans
with payments of $20 per week for 52 weeks whilst they looked for work. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"> Arthur, Armand and
Joe are probably living off the $20 per week allowance from the 52-20 clause of the GI Bill, but none are actively seeking work or pursuing their stated
ambitions of becoming cops, firemen or teachers. They are not functioning. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>P41 ...but only the Silver Star is for
heroism. For gallantry.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="font-size: small;">The Strangler meant
that the Silver Star was the only medal awarded to the ‘Frenchtown Warriors’
for heroism. All the other awards detailed in his scrap book were for
outstanding service.</span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> While there were
other US awards for gallantry
(Congressional Medal of Honor, Bronze Star, Distinguished Flying Cross,
etc.,) no Frenchtown resident had won such an award.</span> </span></span></div>
</h3>
<h3>
<span style="color: #3d85c6;"><u>CHAPTER 7 </u> </span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;">TABLE
TENNIS AND THE TOURNAMENT</span><span style="color: #674ea7;"><o:p></o:p></span></u></h3>
<h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">P43 Happy Days are Here Again<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">P43 ‘You have a natural
athletic gait.’ He spelled out the word. ‘G-a-i-t.’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"> Gait is a word which may not be in the
vocabulary of many 15 year olds. Larry La Salle spelled the word out to ensure
Francis did not misunderstand or take the word for ‘gate’. </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">P47 Dancing in the Dark.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">P 54 7 December 1941</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> <span style="font-weight: normal;"> Sunday</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;">7</span><sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup><span style="font-weight: normal;"> December 1941 marked the beginning of the USA’s involvement
in World War 2. On that day, the</span> <span style="font-weight: normal;">Japanese Imperial Navy made a surprise
attack on the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawai. The Japanese had hoped to
destroy the United State’s Pacific Fleet, which was at anchor in the harbour.
The attack used bombers, torpedo bombers and escorting fighter aircraft which
were launched from 6 aircraft carriers. Five midget submarines were also used, these
being launched from conventional submarines 12 miles from Pearl Harbor. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Four US battleships were sunk, 188 aircraft were destroyed and 2,403 Americans were killed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor</a></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> There had been no prior declaration of war by the Japanese;
Japanese diplomats were still engaged in talks with the USA. Public opinion in
the USA was outraged at the Japanese duplicity.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The attack on Pearl Harbor marked the start of a Japanese offensive
throughout the Pacific. The Japanese began an invasion of the Philippine
Islands on 8th December. At that time, the Philippines were occupied by the
United States, although independence had been planned for 1943. The US armed forces had numerous bases and airstrips in the Philippines.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"> On 8<sup>th</sup>
December 1941, within eight hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the
Japanese began attacks on the British colonies in Hong Kong and Malaya, again
without any prior declaration of war against
the British. Great Britain and the USA declared war against Japan on 8<sup>th</sup>
December.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Germany and Italy
had made an alliance with Japan </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">in 1940, </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">the Tripartite Pact, which committed
the three nations to provide “one another with all political, economic and
military means if one of the Contracting Powers is attacked by a Power at
present not involved in the European War”.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Although they were not obliged by the wording of the
agreement to declare war on the USA, (since the United States had not attacked
Japan) Germany and Italy declared war on the USA on 11<sup>th</sup> December
1941.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> Until 7</span><sup style="font-weight: normal;">th</sup><span style="font-weight: normal;">
December, the USA had been neutral and there had been strong opposition to US involvement in the war in Europe. Within 4 days,
the USA had become involved in the wars in both the European and Pacific
theatres and there was overwhelming public support for the war. </span></span></div>
</h3>
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><u>CHAPTER 8</u> </span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6;">FRANCIS
FINDS ARTHUR RIVIERE DRUNK</span><o:p></o:p></u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P55... his lips turned
downwards like the mask of Tragedy high above the stage at the Plymouth.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeb_LT8SwyEyy38cMB8mm2yuMEF-OxG00OIz-F4vdYv4PH32kRLlO5EJK_yMMkiP3c8a0-KVK0ZLhrNQ0Vxb2SV0Z86GzeU5SQ1oa-WY8azWzYEWjA1VWLmANaZkBz0TJreodomA6EvWwJ/s1600/Dramatic+masks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeb_LT8SwyEyy38cMB8mm2yuMEF-OxG00OIz-F4vdYv4PH32kRLlO5EJK_yMMkiP3c8a0-KVK0ZLhrNQ0Vxb2SV0Z86GzeU5SQ1oa-WY8azWzYEWjA1VWLmANaZkBz0TJreodomA6EvWwJ/s1600/Dramatic+masks.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Masks were used in ancient Greek dramas as an aid to portraying the emotions the actors
were expressing. The pair of Comedy and Tragedy masks are a common plaster decoration
in theatres and the image is often used as a decorative motif in scripts or any literature
associated with the theatre. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<br />
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><u>CHAPTER 10</u></span></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P64 London had always
been linked in my mind with foggy days and evenings...</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">London suffered frequent winter smogs (smoke and fog) until 1962.
Most domestic heating was by a coal fire in each room and the smoke emitted by
thousands of fires could linger in the city for weeks in still, cold weather conditions. Smogs do not occur now due to Clean Air Acts (legislation allowing only the use of
smokeless fuels in cities), the widespread use of gas-fired central heating and, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">since the 1970s, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">the use of natural gas from the North Sea .</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><a href="http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teens/case-studies/great-smog"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/education/teens/case-studies/great-smog</span></a><o:p></o:p></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P65 Eisenhower jacket<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtkYAfyOkk3j4RiCywRw_4dUw6z2ZfWtQ-zKC2JtGwteSbqCX8VkZDPkj383qIxcVWnH94pzU-ZZKomT_t5GNxRz1HbjYI78tgRn2VUvsnXi-3v22vmmTk9gmSrVnYdeicOTPPz2LQybu/s1600/Eisenhower+jacket2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVtkYAfyOkk3j4RiCywRw_4dUw6z2ZfWtQ-zKC2JtGwteSbqCX8VkZDPkj383qIxcVWnH94pzU-ZZKomT_t5GNxRz1HbjYI78tgRn2VUvsnXi-3v22vmmTk9gmSrVnYdeicOTPPz2LQybu/s1600/Eisenhower+jacket2.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A US issued military jacket, the ‘Wool Field jacket M-1944’
also known as the Ike jacket, named after
General Dwight (Ike) D. Eisenhower. The Eisenhower jacket was a short
jacket with a belted waist introduced by General Eisenhower, the commander of
the Allied Forces in Europe. Eisenhower intended that the jacket could be worn as both a parade uniform and in combat, so reducing the number of different
uniforms required for the huge armies recruited by the USA during the war. The design was
loosely based on the British battledress blouson. </span></div>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><u><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria;"><br /></span></u></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #4f81bd; font-family: Cambria; text-decoration: underline;">CHAPTER 13</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">F</span></b></span></span><u><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>RANCIS OVERHEARS A
CONVERSATION AND DISCOVERS LASALLE’S ADDRESS</b></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>P83 They are talking in French</b>.... Mrs
Belander and her neighbour, Mrs Agneaux are probably first generation French
Canadian immigrants whose first language is French.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">P84 ‘The green house, cheap paint, bought
discount, fading already.....’<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Building timber is cheap (compared with the EEC) in North America and Canada, due to the vast areas of forests.The cheapest method of constructing small
buildings was to use a timber frame with timber weather-board cladding on the
outside. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three-decker houses in Frenchtown are of timber
construction. The external weatherboarding needs to be repainted regularly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Comparable artisans’ terraced housing, built during the same period in the UK, were built of brick, with a slate or tile roof, since this was the
cheapest construction method in the UK.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mrs Agneaux has noticed trivial details of her neighbours’
lives, knows when the house was painted and criticises the work in gossiping
with Mrs Belander.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Very little goes
unnoticed or escapes the gossips in Frenchtown. </span></div>
</div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<h3>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><u>COVER ILLUSTRATION</u> </span></span></h3>
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO4YZY-KSwE5_VpGeYnxfVZ4yK4mk5JHspMU9u3Id2kLbJtL60oUcYIXmXELsdlDp6QogW9ioGDkO4dmq4v9J00kPG-y81ByW0uqHGkmw6Bt7lLLNDV8V3IfZote_ye2DKHAcSEfqnlOr/s1600/scan0030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzO4YZY-KSwE5_VpGeYnxfVZ4yK4mk5JHspMU9u3Id2kLbJtL60oUcYIXmXELsdlDp6QogW9ioGDkO4dmq4v9J00kPG-y81ByW0uqHGkmw6Bt7lLLNDV8V3IfZote_ye2DKHAcSEfqnlOr/s1600/scan0030.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The cover illustration isn’t a part of Cormier’s novel, so
this won’t be mentioned in an examination; this is just another couple of bits of random information. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The medal in the illustration is the Purple Heart, a medal
awarded to US service personnel who are killed or wounded on active service.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>500,000 Purple Hearts
were made in anticipation of the casualties that would result from the planned
invasion of Japan in 1945, an event that was avoided by the atomic bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki and Japan’s surrender. That stock of Purple Hearts is
still being used.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;">The flag is a folded US Stars &Stripes. In the USA a
military veteran is entitled tom a military funeral; the flag on the coffin is
folded in this manner by the bearer party and handed to the Next of Kin. The
flag is usually kept folded, as a memento of a lost family member. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few of the fatalities
in WW2 were repatriated, since they did not then have jet aircraft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The book is about the lives and deaths of
returned, wounded veterans.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The uniform seems to
be a Vietnam-era (early 1960s) camouflage uniform. SFAIK the only camouflage
uniforms used in WW2 were those issued to the German army (the Wehrmacht), the Waffen SS and the Denison smock
issued to British & Commonwealth airborne forces. The photographer probably
didn’t know or care much about WW2 uniforms.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
Onetaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178409602191647798noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1877980633497831129.post-8554951089898201852013-05-03T11:42:00.002-07:002014-03-21T13:47:58.713-07:00<br />
<h2 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;">
<o:p> <u>THE GREAT UK POWER FLUSHING CONFIDENCE TRICK</u></o:p></h2>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Calibri; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><o:p><u></u></o:p></span><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
</div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;"><u>1.</u>
<u>UK Power Flushing
Industry</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> In the UK, there is a thriving power flushing industry.
It’s a big business<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">.</span></span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">2.
<u>What is PF?</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Power flushing involves pumping water and/or chemical
cleaning solutions at high speed through a heating system to dislodge solid
particles that may have settled in the pipes and fittings.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">3.
<u>How is PF carried
out?</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> A contractor will typically remove the central heating pump and
temporarily connect hoses to a power flushing machine. The flushing machine
consists of a powerful pump that draws water from a tank, circulates it through
the heating system and back into the tank. The high-speed water stream will
entrain loose particles of swarf and sludge and deposit them into the tank. The
denser particles sink; others can be trapped in a filter or on a magnetic wand or
will be dumped into the drains with the cleaning solution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By shutting radiator valves, all the flow can
be concentrated through one or two radiators at a time to dislodge more of the
debris. The flow direction through the heating system can be reversed by
opening or closing valves on the flushing tank. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The water in the tank will typically turn
black with suspended particles of suspended sludge.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">4.
<u>Why is PF done on new
installations?</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Flushing is recommended for new systems, to remove any
particles of swarf and residues of soldering fluxes that may have got into the
pipe work during assembly.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;"><u>5.</u>
<u>Why is PF done on
existing systems?</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For existing heating systems, power flushing is
usually recommended to rectify sludge problems; the usual symptoms are
radiators that are cold at the bottom, where sludge has settled, blocking the
waterways. The sludge particles can also settle in the boiler’s heat exchanger,
where they obstruct the transfer of heat from the hot flue gases to the water,
causing hot spots and eventually, perforation of the heat exchanger. The sludge
is mostly the products of corrosion, mainly composed of magnetite (Fe<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sub>O<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span></sub>)
a black iron oxide. UK home-owners have been subjected to persistent
advertisements for power flushing services and seem to believe that domestic
heating systems will inevitably accumulate sludge and need regular power
flushing every few years; this is not true. Power flushing will usually be
unable to remove all the sludge in a heating system; the hardened deposits of
sludge adhering to the pipe walls will be usually be untouched by even thorough
power flushing. </span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">6.
<u>Sources of sludge</u></span>
</h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The iron (Fe<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">3</span></sub>) component of magnetite usually comes from the inside
surfaces of steel radiators, but may start life in other steel or iron
components of the system. The oxygen (O<sub><span style="font-size: x-small;">4</span></sub>) component is a trespasser within
the heating system, which shouldn’t be there; it is either absorbed from the
air, carried in dissolved in fresh water or else it is generated within the
heating system by electrolysis, which breaks the water down into oxygen and
hydrogen. The oxygen corrodes steel and iron, transforming it into sludge. Keeping
oxygen out of your heating system will ensure you won’t have problems with
sludge and your heating system will never need power flushing. Sludge is a product
of corrosion, ferrous metals reacting with dissolved oxygen. Others symptoms of
sludge contamination are leaking radiators and recurring pump failures. </span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">7.
<u>French Power Flushing
Industry</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">In France, there is no power flushing industry.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">8.
<u>French Sludge</u></span>
</h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You can get sludge in French heating systems and you can find power flushing pumps
for hire in France, but most French plumbers are unaware of power flushing
pumps and will never have had a customer who had requested, or whose system
needed, power flushing.</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">9.
<u>Desperately seeking
French Power Flushers</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> A search for “Power flushing pump” in the UK
on Google gives about 3.1 million hits. A web search for the equivalent French
terms give many fewer hits; “Pompe à détartrer” (51,000), “Pompe à désembouer” (22,700)
or “<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">pompes de rincage hydrodynamique”
(51).</span></span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="color: red;">9.1.
<u>Les pompes à
détartrer’</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">Of these, ‘</span>pompe à
détartrer’, literally means a pump for removing lime scale, which is an
entirely different problem to the black, magnetite sludge so familiar to
British plumbers; the flushing machines are much the same, but they are being marketed
in France for a different purpose. There is virtually no French market for
services to remove sludge from heating systems.</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="color: red;">9.2.
<u>Les
pompes de rincage hydrodynamique</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Most of the pages containing the
phrase “<span style="color: black; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;">pompes de rincage hydrodynamique”
are British manufacturers’ French language web pages.</span></span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">10.
<u>Black sludge; a
British epidemic</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> It seems that black magnetite sludge is a British
disease and power flushing is a uniquely British phenomenon. Why should this be
so when French heating systems use the same materials as those in Britain and
use boilers from the same manufacturers? What do les plombiers français do that
British plumbers don’t do? To answer that question, you need to note that there
are two critical differences between French and British plumbing and look at how
oxygen, the cause of sludge, gets into a heating system in the first place.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">11.
<u>Vive les différences</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>There are two critical
differences between French and British plumbing;</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> 11.1.</span></span>French domestic heating
systems generally do not use feed and<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>expansion tanks.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> 11.2.</span></span>French plumbers do not join
copper pipes by soldering, they braze them. </span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">12.
<u>Sources of oxygen in
heating systems</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are 3 routes through which
oxygen usually gets into a heating system, namely; </span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; tab-stops: 78.0pt; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> 12.1.</span></span>dissolved in fresh water, that
enters the system to make up water lost due <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>to leaks;</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> 12.2.</span></span>absorbed from the
atmosphere, and;</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 39.6pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level2 lfo1; text-indent: -21.6pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"> 12.3.</span></span>electrolysis.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">13.
<u>THE F&E TANK</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The feed and expansion (F&E) tank is, like power flushing, a British
institution. The F&E tank is a small tank, typically of 4-gallon’s
capacity, that is found in the loft of many UK homes. Its function, as its name
suggests, is first to provide a cold feed, a supply of cold water (via the cold
feed pipe, connected near the bottom of the tank) to ensure the heating system
is always full and, secondly, to provide a space to accommodate the expansion
of the system water when it is heated. There is also an open vent pipe that
terminates over the F&E tank which serves as an escape route for air and as
a pressure relief device, allowing steam to be discharged harmlessly from the
boiler in the event that the water does boil. This is very rare with modern gas
or oil boilers, but it can happen with solid fuel boilers where the flame
cannot simply be turned off. The water level in the F&E tank is maintained
by a float valve, connected to the mains water supply. There is nothing
inherently wrong with F&E tanks, they are cheap and reliable devices which
do the job of several more complex, but less reliable components on sealed
systems. The problem is that they can conceal a fault, or create a fault where
they have been incorrectly installed. Two of the common sources of oxygen,
mentioned above, are usually attributable to the use of F&E tanks.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">14.
<u>F&E tanks in Europe</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>F&E tanks are rarely used in
France, or in most of Europe, or in the USA; although they are not unknown, their
use is mainly restricted to solid fuel systems. The main reason is that most of
Europe endures winters in which the periods of cold weather are both colder and
longer than in the UK, so that any tanks or pipes in a loft, outside the
insulated envelope of the building, are much more liable to freeze. In the UK,
we enjoy the benefit of heat imported from the tropics by the Gulf Stream, our
winters are warmer than other places on the same latitude and the cold spells are
usually brief. We can usually (but not always) get away with having a tank of
water in the loft without it freezing, providing the tank is insulated. Conversely,
we cannot cope with any significant snow fall, which invariably brings the
country’s transport systems to a halt and provides other Northern Europeans
with regular amusement. </span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">15.
<u>Leaks and F&E
tanks</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>On a
properly installed system, the exposed water surface in the F&E tank will
absorb some atmospheric oxygen, but the amount is negligible and will not cause
significant corrosion. A problem arises if there is a leak from the system. A leaking
sealed system (with an expansion vessel but no F&E tank) would lose pressure
and the boiler would lock-out regularly. The chore of regularly refilling the
system should alert the home owner to the fact that there is a leak that must be
found and sealed. However, a heating system with an F&E tank will keep
itself topped up automatically; if the leak is under the ground floor, or into
the hot water storage cylinder, it will not be apparent and the system can keep
running, with no obvious problems for years, or even decades. The fresh, make-up
mains water contains dissolved oxygen (and dissolved lime-scale in hard water
areas). The dissolved oxygen corrodes the radiators from the inside; the first
the home-owner knows of the problem is when he notices the cold spots on his
radiators caused by sludge.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">16.
<u>Pumping-over</u></span>
</h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The other problem created by the widespread use F&E tanks in Britain is
called ‘pumping-over’; this happens when the F&E tank has not been
connected correctly and there is a pressure difference between connections points
of the open vent and cold feed pipes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
the pressure difference is big enough, water will trickle from the open vent
pipe and into the<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>F&E tank, from
where it flows back down the cold feed pipe and into the heating system. This
mini-waterfall, trickling into the F&E tank, churns up the surface of the
water; it is very effective at aerating the water, allowing it to absorb air from
the atmosphere. The dissolved air then gets carried into the heating system
where the oxygen converts the inside surfaces of the steel radiators into
sludge. The remainder of the dissolved air is nearly all nitrogen; the nitrogen
is less soluble is hot water, so bubbles of the gas reappear when the water is
heated in the boiler. Nitrogen is unreactive and will either escape through the
open vent pipe, or will cause air-locks in the radiators, requiring frequent
venting.</span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">17.
<u>Detecting
Pumping-over</u></span></h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Pumping-over
can be elusive and intermittent, for example only happening when there is a
demand for hot water but not space heating, or occurring briefly whilst zone-valves
are closing. Since the F&E tank is out of sight in a loft, it may not be
noticed by the home-owner who, in addition, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>may not know that water trickling from the
open vent pipe indicates a fault. It may also start happening on a system where
a partial blockage, of sludge or lime scale, has created an obstruction. In nearly
every case, it happens because the F&E tank has been incorrectly installed.
</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">18.
<u>Electrolysis</u></span>
</h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The third source of oxygen is electrolysis; passing an electric current through
water will cause the water to break down, releasing oxygen at the anode
(positive) and hydrogen at the cathode (negative). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This should be irrelevant, since there
shouldn’t be any electrical currents passing through the water in a heating
sytem. However, since heating systems are generally made of different metals,
typically copper pipes and steel radiators, the system can act as a galvanic
cell, generating DC electricity at a very low voltage. This can only happen if
the water is conductive and can act as an electrolyte. If the water is acidic,
the conductivity of the water and the likelihood of galvanic corrosion is
greatly increased. Obviously, no acidic compounds should be allowed to get into
the system water, if galvanic corrosion is to be avoided. </span></div>
<br />
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">19.
<u>Soldering</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Britain, plumbers usually join copper
pipes with soft-soldered joints. Soldering requires cleaning the two metal
surfaces, applying a soldering flux and heating until a solder wire melts on
contact with it; the liquid solder is drawn by capillary attraction into the
fitting where it cools and solidifies.</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">20.
<u>Active Soldering
Fluxes</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The cleaning can be reduced, or eliminated, if an active,
acidic flux is used; the flux turns into acid compounds on heating and the acid
removes the oxidation tarnish on the surfaces of the copper pipes and joint. The
acidic flux residues have to be cleaned from the outside of the joint or they
will continue to cause corrosion, typically leaving stains of green verdigris
around the joint. The flux residues can only be removed from inside the pipes
by flushing; this is often neglected, since it costs the installer time and
money and the home-owner/customer usually doesn’t know that it should be done. Residues
of active flux will cause accelerated corrosion within the system, but the
effects usually will not become apparent for some years. Active fluxes are prohibited
on UK mains gas systems, which obviously cannot be flushed clean, because of
the dangers of later corrosion.</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="color: red;">21.
<u>Soldering v Brazing</u></span> </h3>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt 18pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is the other major difference between
French and British plumbing techniques. French plumbers usually do not solder
copper pipes, they braze them, at a higher temperature. There are no acid fluxes
used and so no soluble acid compounds that may cause corrosion and sludge
problems if they should be allowed to contaminate the water in the heating
system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Soldering is adequate, reliable,
cheaper and causes less heat distortion of the pipework. I have never seen a
correctly soldered joint that had either leaked or separated. There is only a
problem if the installer uses an active flux and fails to thoroughly flush the
system out before commissioning it.</span></div>
<h3>
</h3>
<h3 class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 304.8pt;">
<span style="color: red;"><u>Conclusions<o:p></o:p></u></span></h3>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 304.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">UK consumers spend millions on
power flushing services which should never be required.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; tab-stops: 304.8pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> The reasons are;</span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">the lower standards of technical competence
amongst heating installers in the UK than in France</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">the installation and amendment of many UK
systems by DIYers, and</span></div>
</li>
<li><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the lack
of preventative maintenance by maintenance contractors.</span></div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Power flushing to remove sludge from a heating system is not the confidence trick here; it is the best that can be done to restore a system that has been contaminated with sludge. </span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> The confidence trick has been perpetrated on the UK public by some UK heating installers using installation techniques that will cause irreparable damage to a heating system after several years.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt 38.25pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: 304.8pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"> If you were confident in the technical competence of your heating installer(s) and you've later suffered sludge problems, then it's bad news; you were conned. </span></div>
Onetaphttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14178409602191647798noreply@blogger.com0