Links to Chapter One and Chapter Two
Edmund slipped and shivered through the snow until he eventually found the Witch’s castle. It looked quite creepy, but bolstered by thoughts of Turkish Delight (oh, his Saracens – and the Scarlets were his favourite Welsh side), he crept through the imposing main gate.
He found himself in a courtyard filled with statues. They had snow settling on them, and they all looked very sad. Near the gate, there were a couple of magnificent Lions, and then he spotted a statue that looked very like Lucy’s description of Mr Iknus. There was a collection of stone rugby balls, and what looked like a few referees. (“Those referees probably deserved it,” thought Edmund.)
Suddenly, Edmund was rooted to the spot by a chilling low growl. He turned his head to find himself staring into the eyes of Maugrim, chief of the Witch’s Very Secret Police.
“Come,” said Maugrim, “Her Majesty is expecting you.”
* * *
“What!” said the Witch, not at all friendly like the last time, “Have you come alone? I told you to bring the Daughters of Maeve and the other Son of George.”
“B – b – but,” stammered Edmund, afraid of her icy stare and stern manner, “I couldn’t get them away from the Beavers. They were all talking about the return of Paulan to Narnia.”
The Queen turned even paler, if that were possible.
“Paulan!” she muttered to herself, “No, it cannot be possible. My spells are strong.”
Before Edmund knew what had happened, she had crossed the room and spear-tackled him with one strong arm. “Tell me all,” she said, preparing to drive his head into the ground.
Edmund, quaking with fear, told her all that he knew.
The Witch released him with a thump on the floor, and clapped her hands to summon her minions.
“Harness the springboks and prepare my sledge immediately! Get my dwarf! Maugrim: take the swiftest of your wolves, go to the Lodge, and kill the children and the Beavers. If they have already gone, then proceed to the Stone Stadium.”
In the twinkling of a drop goal, the sledge pulled up, driven by a dwarf who looked suspiciously like a scrum-half. Edmund was bound, and unceremoniously dumped into the bottom of the sledge. There wasn’t even any Turkish Delight.
* * *
“Susan,” said Peter, “Where’s Edmund?”
“I – I don’t know. Now that you mention it, I haven’t noticed him for a while.”
“Ah, children,” said Mr Beaver, “I’m afraid he’s gone to see the Witch. We must be on our way quickly.”
“What?”, said Lucy, “No, surely Edmund would never betray us.”
“Daughter, I’m afraid he has the look of one who is in the Witch’s favour. How long that favour lasts is another matter.
“Did anyone notice when he left? Did he hear that Paulan is on the move?”
Nobody was quite sure.
“Then we must be off at once. Mrs Beaver, please pack us up as quickly as you can.”
Mrs Beaver – for of course it’s always the females who are prepared for anything – had already got nearly everything ready for travelling. She had a pack ready for everyone, and they were off in less time than it takes to reset a scrum.
* * *
They had a long, cold and weary journey, and stopped after some hours at a safe hiding place, where they cast themselves down on the floor, covered themselves with the blankets kindly provided by Mrs Beaver, and fell asleep immediately.
They were awakened at dawn by some faint voices, which became clearer as they drew closer.
“Ho, ho ho! Go left! It’s on!”
“I’m straighter than that throw-in.”
The children rubbed the sleep from their eyes and looked in confusion at the Beavers.
“It’s Father Jiffy and Father Nige,” beamed Mr Beaver. “The Witch’s magic has kept them from Narnia for so long, but her enchantment is fading. The voices of rugby have returned to the land.” They rushed outside to find a volley of rugby balls flying through the air, and the snow at last melting.
Ovally Balls 
Slade – both, I guess.
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……hmmm…
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One bin for sticks, one for grass and leaves.
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“In the twinkling of a drop goal…”
Well quite. Great work Thauma.
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Ooooof!
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/07/rolls-royce-to-cut-thousands-of-jobs-say-sources
too much focus on big engines?
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Also………….
https://www.exeterchiefs.co.uk/news/francis-edging-ever-closer-to-a-return
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@slade
I don’t think anyone is ordering aircraft of any size at the moment…
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But having said that….
I was told earlier that the Government has looked at what happened in the ventilator challenge, and while everyone was impressed with how manufacturers got together to get the devices made and assembled, they were (finally) concerned that the IP for the ventilators came from abroad, which increased the risk of them not being allowed to make them. So expect a big emphasis on engineering design in the short to medium term to make sure the UK holds sufficient IP to make it resilient. That means the likes of RR, Airbus, Nissan, Ford etc with lots of R&D in the UK will be looked after.
Rather ironic that successive Conservative and Labour governments didn’t care that manufacturing was going abroad from the 80s onwards…
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OT – would ip stop companies making life saving ventilators?
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@craigs
All depends who owns the design. Put it this way the people that understood the regulatory requirements for these devices were not in the UK.Also the people that own the design know in detail the customer requirements and how to make them. So it’s quite important you retain the design.
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Monsters:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/may/07/saracens-apologise-after-billy-vunipola-and-teammates-break-lockdown-rules-rugby-union
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OT – can’t they just copy it and put it on the tab? If there is nothing else to go from (assuming that’s not the case).
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@craigs
That’s the patent bit. Another bit is having the design expertise that took it to the regulator and got approval. The designers who do that have got intimate knowledge of what it takes to make that specific device safe. That expertise wasn’t in the UK as it was done abroad so it means you have to take a lot longer to understand the device, understand where the risks are, and show the regulator you have it under control.
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OT – ah OK. Sorry, I know nothing about this process.
So I will be giving and defending to the death, all my opinions on it later.
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OT, how did this Guardian report from Monday stand up?
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/may/04/the-inside-story-of-the-uks-nhs-coronavirus-ventilator-challenge
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I missed this when it was put on youtube a couple of weeks back but am glad I’ve found. From memory this was one of the better games at the 1995 World Cup. Scotland giving it a good go against the All Blacks. Hope it’s as good as my recollection:
youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-6-w2EBLs
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@tomp
Not like me to give journalists credit but that is actually a very good piece, very reasonable and gives an accurate impression of what I think happened.
I honestly think those companies sending out press releases very early didn’t do themselves any favours. I think it was they who were feeding stories to the FT that got on my wick a couple of weeks ago.
Regarding the suggestion the government didn’t act early enough on advice saying Covid patients didn’t need simple devices I have no idea if that is true or not. I take the clinicians word for it if they day that.
But what we now have is companies like Dyson, Red Bull F1, and Babcock who now have learned 80-90% of what it takes to develop a Class II medical device. So no doubt they will be able to exploit this process for future gain.
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I thought it was ok. The FT pieces mentioned some of those things as well but went more on the numbers needed and numbers delivered. Plus they were from a couple of weeks ago and things play out.
One of the problems that I’ve seen from outside the UK is that there’s lots of ra-ra-raing about how many, how much, what and when business and government’re going to do and then it gets wound back. It’s confusing for people like me who aren’t involved.
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@tomp
Numbers delivered > numbers needed.
The FT piece muddied the waters spectacularly and only mentioned the Penlon and Smiths devices in passing. The overall tone of the piece suggested the only game in town was new devices.
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David Edgerton wrote a piece about it a couple of weeks back which talked about the PR around the start of the campaign and allusions to World War II. I imagine there’ll be more of that sort of thing tomorrow.
Also, and this is kind of important, the British innovation, the British way, British solutions is government pushing a line.
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Just looked at the Edgerton piece on his blog. He gets some fundamental facts wrong:
Dick Elsy, who chaired the successful ventilator consortium, was interviewed in the Telegraph:
He reckons there is no prospect of a significant battery industry in the UK. I wonder why JLR are building a battery factory in Warwickshire. Or why the government and industry is putting £500m into something called the Faraday Challenge.
It’s fair to say he doesn’t let the facts get in the way of a nice sounding narrative.
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Who’d a thunk two folk with only guitars could do a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes”?
Well, these two can….
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OT, Thanks for the reply.
On the first point you raise, he published that blog on April 18th and does hedge the statement with “It looks as if” and “generally” so I might give him a break there. If he’s wrong about that, he’s wrong but I don’t have the figures.
On the second point, that funding and the factory in Warwickshire is good news but how does it compare to what governments and business overseas are doing? I think that was where he was coming from. “significant” in world terms, and how that fits with the tale that Brexiteers have been telling about how Britain will strike out etc.
For me, his argument is more about the rhetoric than the results. As you’ve said, there is stuff going on, positive stuff, and the consortium you were in seem to have done a fine job. Developing a UK battery industry would also be terrific.
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Only watched the first half of Scotland v NZ last night.
The commentary is terrible, the reffing is hit and miss, some of the skills are super, some are shocking, Scotland really tried to mix the game up and did ok.
NZ cheated massively as soon as the ball got near their line.
Jonah Lomu simply brilliant in attack but made to look very poor in defence by Craig Joiner.
Mehrtens goal-kicking was, surprisingly to me, very inconsistent. Bachop was a very very good half back, Redpath as well.
The scrums are so quick compared to modern times, and the commentators still complain that they’re eating into the clock.
It was a shame Townsend wasn’t playing for Scotland, Chalmers got battered a few times by the canny All Blacks and had to leave the field.
Very enjoyable so far.
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Genuine message from a friend of mine who’s a football obsessive about who was who in the Korean football league, which starts up today:
“Sorry. too busy arranging media rights in Australia and India for Czech Cricket.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/08/brian-may-hospitalised-gardening-injury-tears-buttock-muscles
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Ouch
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Never thought Mr May can have had much of an arse anyway but, yes, ouch indeed!
Pre-hip and knee replacements I used to have what one might call a sports players arse – large, round and still no sag.
Since the ops my trousers fall down on their own- no arse any more. Yikes!
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I once stood next to Dean Richards at the bar in the Sun Inn, Richmond. I can confirm he has the biggest arse of any man I have encountered.
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Some Embra signing news
“Edinburgh have today completed the signing of Scotland age-grade trio Nathan Chamberlain, Ben Muncaster and Dan Gamble, who all pen FOSROC Stage 3 Academy contracts moving into professional deals with the capital club.”
Very chuffed with Chamberlain coming to us. I know nothing about Muncaster, we already have two very good 19 year old backrowers in Connor Boyle and Rory Darge in the Embra academy, still extra strength in depth can never be bad.
Dan Gamble is a tighthead who was part of an impressive Scotland scrum in the U20s 6N this year
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What position does Chamberlain play?
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Outside half. He’s not bad.
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Good. Here’s hoping he develops into a good ‘un. Embra have struggled for a really good stand off since Duncy Weir.
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FOSROC sounds like a fertilizer input. Hope they’re not shit.
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“FOSROC – for a fosse septique that will never leak or burst”
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music to dump by…………………………..
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Watching Cardiff v Tiggers in Champions Cup. The mister’s gonna be in a bad mood.
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Dan Gamble is a great name.
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Blasts from the past! Castrogiovanni, Gethin J, Tito, Alain Rolland….
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” I know nothing about Muncaster”
I’s on the A595 not far from Drigg.
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It is. I’s not as I is observing the lockdown what with it being a Bank Holiday that was unneccessarily moved to the day of the week when I only works a half a day anyway.
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The Guardian’s got a few strange film things running at the moment. “My favourite film when I was 12 “is one.
The latest one is about the rubbish Apartheid Sanction-busting Roger Moore film Gold. The guy writing the column doesn’t even write half of it. Let’s his mate sum it up. It begins in an ambiguous way:
Despite Moore’s passing? If you’re being very literal about it (which I am) “despite” is deeply problematic.
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DNA watch.
I remember the old days when something was “in (someone’s) DNA. Paul O’Connell’s gone beyond that saying that the Lionz captain needs to be confrontational because:
“‘When you go South Africa you probably need someone confrontational because that is their DNA. “
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BB, there are a couple of Chamberlain scores in this year’s 6N game against Wales, these things are cyclical and Wales weren’t as strong as they have been.
One of the knock ons of this pandemic, and of course all things in proportion, this is small potatoes, but Scotland have a good crop of U20s right now and they are due to play in the secondary competition in September where they would be favourites to win and gain promotion back into the top tier for next summer.
Hey ho.
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I’ve always like POC, both as player and pundit, but this stuff is annoying.
Being confrontation is learned behaviour, it is not DNA-related.
Under different circumstances Bakkies Botha could have been a flower arranger who spent his spare time painting watercolour landscapes with a penchant for musical theatre
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Last year 20 or so South African kiddies went abroad out of school, mostly to France.
Earlier in the week the majestic Marcell Muller and the very good George Cronje signed for the Cheetahs earlier in the week. And Kyle Wolhuter, the very decent Paul Roos outside half of 2019 -Jordan Venter played with him a few times, signed for Western Province today.
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Ticht, the main under 20 comp is off this year. Scotland may not have the chance to get back in for 2021.
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