Meet the 1,800t destroyer HMS Glowworm. In April 1940 she faced down the 16,000t German Heavy Cruiser Admiral Hipper, plus escorts, single handed.
The action earned her captain one of only three WW2 Victoria Crosses recommended by the enemy /1
In April 1940, HMS Glowworm was escorting the battlecruiser HMS Renown during minelaying off the Norwegian coast.
The weather was terrible, and one of her crew was swept overboard in high seas. Her captain, Gerard Roope, was given permission to fall back and search for them.
Glowworm spent a day searching for her lost crewman without any luck, before getting underway again and heading off to rejoin Renown.
It was at this point she spotted two destroyers amid the rain and seas.
Don't care if you're a cat person or not. This kitty has had no affection her entire life. She's a feral cat who has fought to exist. We're not allowed to touch her. Or get near her. But she comes in now, and has decided we won't murder her.
Look at those eyes. She is boss cat❤️
She was so hungry when she turned up. But she already had fire.
Y'all on Twitter worried about her getting preggo, but we watched her kick the shit out of all the bro cats who tried.
We hope she'll accept she has a home with us. But that means catching her which is hard.
In the meantime she will always find food here. She lets us get with a couple of feet of her which we accept is a big trust ask.
And if we don't provide food at the exact times she mandates she only chirrups in disappointment, not annoyance. Which we accept is an honour. 😆
Little Stray Kitty's dinner today is Chicken & Salmon, with a side order of biscuit and warmed milk.
I have been meowed at with mild disappointment for going into the office today and thus delaying dinner from its preferred 4pm serving time.
I don't have any pics to hand of how skinny and desperate she was when she first turned up, but long time followers can hopefully see how much healthier she is now.
She's getting a full winter coat, too. You can see her puffing up.
Still zero chance of getting her to stay in the house with the door closed, or let us touch her in any way.
The other night though she did meow outside the door when it was closed and she had decided it was dinner time. Which is a good sign.
New Cowboy Bebop is deffo interesting. I mean, they've basically taken the Danger 5 approach but done it serious. i.e. "what if we LEGIT did live action like anime?"
Not sure if it's GOOD yet. But definitely interesting, and different.
Different is better than a lazy adaption.
It's definitely going to absolutely piss off the people who never realised the original was as much a spoof of a whole bunch of genres as it was an anime show though.
i.e. the people who want to BE the leads rather than realising you're meant to view them as human and broken.
watch for lots of "wwaaaaaaa they've made [Spike | Jet | Faye I Ed | My fave character] a bit of a dick. don't watch."
Pro-tip: they were in the original too. You just don't really spot it as much because we're conditioned not to see it through the anime tropes/medium.
Yes. Sometimes under government pressure: most notably Tube maintenance (Metronet/Tubelines) under PPP deals. These were a disaster and bringing it back in house cost upwards of £5bn.
More commonly though, most TfL services you use that AREN'T the Tube are essentially privitised. Overground, buses etc - all are delivered by private companies operating under heavy sets of consistent rules set by TfL.