The Man Who Would Be God!

I'm reading "The War Of Wars" right now which is about the first proper World War. At it's heart, the man above... Napoleon Bonapart, clearly a very able General if a little bit on the short side. He was hardly the dwarf that many said he was, but at 5' 6", he was hardly a giant of a man. Like any good general, he was probably a closet homosexual, the book said that, I'm not just making it up. Men who win battles seldom have a way with the female species, that's for sure.

I still haven't got past his first campaign in Italy anyway, so it remains to be seen what feats of military derring-do he will achieve, although I have an inkling that just as he was born on an island, he is doomed to die on an island. Anyway he totallly revolutionized warfare. Just before his time, Generals liked to line their men up all gentlmanly like and have them all kill each other before tea time if possible. Napoleon mixed in some guerilla warfare, diversionary tactics not seen since Alexander or Caesar, and forced marches not unlike the Romans were acquainted with.

The stuffed coats of the aristocratic warring classes never saw it coming, and if the man hadn't been encumbered with God-like pretensions like great leaders before and after him, then who knows how far he could have gone... and those before and after him also. Once again I'm talking utter nonsense, howabout I finish the book and let you know how it goes?

Some Books, Some Clothes!

Yes, today we took a trip into Aberdeen, under the guise of stocking up on some early Christmas presents. My son and I headed off to the Bon Accord shopping centre for a nose around, so that on our return to Union Street, my wife and daughter would have done most of what was required. You know my clothes shopping hate, so I did this in order to survive!

I came back with two books; The War Of Wars by Robert Harvey (described as: the definitive one volume account of the Napoleonic Wars) and The Lords Of the Isles by Ronald Williams (describes the kingdoms and conquests of the Scottish Western Isles). My son was looking for PS2 games, but there seems to be a famine as far as those go. I wonder why, could it be that they're pushing the PS3 real hard at the moment?

Anyhow, surprise surprise, when we returned to Union Street after about an hour, my wife and daughter had acquired a blouse and a pair of boots. I'm convinced that they'd much prefer to spend the whole day just looking, they're good at looking and acquiring nothing. So I'm in a clothes shop 15 minutes and I have a pair of jeans, a pair of trousers, 3 shirts and 2 ties. That's how to shop! So, there were no early Christmas presents after all, only the ones I bought for myself.