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Nov. 26th, 2009

  • 2:44 PM
duff
YES!!! I got myself a new flat! Will be moving on 7th-8th December! YAY!

Nov. 21st, 2009

  • 10:02 PM
duff
OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. Is all I can say in relation to the concert I've just came from. They were performing Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" and it was simply incredible! *dies of awesome*

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Nov. 20th, 2009

  • 11:24 PM
3 muskeeters Oooh!
*FLAILS* In case anyone's interested Michael Crichton's new book "Pirate Latitudes" is out! *fondles her copy*

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Finished

  • Nov. 15th, 2009 at 4:13 AM
duff
103. "The Hawk", Peter Smalley
104. "The Eagle's Conquest", Simon Scarrow
105. "When the Eagle's Hunts." Simon Scarrow
106. "The Crucifix Killer," Chris Carter
107. "The Eagle and the Wolves," Simon Scarrow
108. "Hand in Glove." Ngaio Marsh
109. "Silk Road: A History"
110. "The Confusion," Neal Stephenson
111. "The Chatelet Apprentice," Jean-Francois Parot.

Nov. 14th, 2009

  • 7:07 PM
duff
Ahahaha, my laptop broke down yesterday, but they already reapaired it, and I rushed out today to get it back before Russia-Slovenia match was about to start. Ooo, I did lots of Arshavin gazing today and we won! ^_^

Nov. 7th, 2009

  • 9:26 PM
wooster 'manic'

On the Congress of Vienna:

Alexander of Russia: loves for all
Frederick William of Prussia: thinks for all
Frederick of Denmark: speaks for all
Maximillian of Bavaria: drinks for all
Frederick of Wurttemberg: eats for all
Emperor Francis of Austria: pays for all

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Spanish General.

  • Nov. 7th, 2009 at 1:11 AM
duff

Joaquin Blake was an Irishman who fought for the Spanish against Napoleon – and delivered a rare victory against the French.

Article by Andrew Bamford from “Military Illustrated”.

 

Son of the Wild Geese.

 

Throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, expatriate Irish soldiers fought with distinction in the Catholic armies of Europe. After the collapse of the final Jacobite rising of 1745, the trickle of rank-and-file volunteers largely dried up, but many Irish gentry families had by now established themselves in exile, giving good service as officers and assimilating themselves into the societies of their new homes. Whilst the Irish heritage of these sons of the Wild Geese led to some ludicrous names and dubiously-assumed pretensions to nobility (such as Austria’s Johans-Sigismund Maguire von Inniskillin), they rewarded the states that had adopted them with loyal and honest service.

This was nowhere more true than in Spain, where, upon the outbreak of the Peninsular War in 1808, only a handful of officers of Irish descent sided with the French, as opposed to scores of high-ranking Spanish traitors. The most distinguished of the Hispano-Irish who stayed loyal to Spain was Joaquin Blake, one of the very few Spanish generals to ever defeat the French in battle during the final six years of the conflict.



Napoleon’s Coup.

 

Read more... )

Nov. 6th, 2009

  • 10:37 PM
duff
Signed up to play Wellington on a Russian forum RPG of the Congress of Vienna. O_o *is worried*

Nov. 6th, 2009

  • 5:54 PM
duff

I found this excerpt in the "The Silk Road: A History" , Arthur Conan Doyle on camels:

"[The camel] is the strangest and most deceptive animal in the world. Its appearance is so staid and respectable that you cannot give it credit for the black villainty that lurks within. It appraoches you with mildly interested and superior expression, like a patrician lady in a Sunday school. You feel that a pair of glasses at the end of a fan is the one thing lacking. Then it puts its lips gently forward, with a far-away look in its eyes, and you have just time to say, "The pretty dear is going to kiss me," when two rows of frightful green teeth clash in front of you, and you give such a backward jump as you could never have hoped at your age to accomplish. When once the veil is dropped, anything more demoniacal than the face of a camel cannot be conceived. No kindness and no length of ownership seem to make them friendly. And yet you must make allowances for a creature which can carry 600 lb. for 20 miles a day, and ask for no water and little food at the end of it."

Nov. 5th, 2009

  • 11:24 PM
duff

Ohoho, that was an awesome day! After attending to certain matters, I met up with a friend for coffee, then as he left for work, I met up with another friend and we scouted the new mall that opened in Aberdeen over the weekend. :D They have Paperchase and Nando's! :D As we were leaving to go to the beach to watch the fireworks we met another mutual friend and so went there altogether. And then we decided on the spur of the moment to go to my favourite French restaurant, where we had amazing wine and snails and duck and absolutely gorgeous tarte tatin. *sighs, is content and warm and happy*

Oh, and I actually remembered I have written a Sharpe/Welly fic recently. It is somewhat cracky, but I had fun. :3

Title: "Drunk"
Rating: R/NC-17
Pairing: Sharpe/Wellington.

 

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Nov. 4th, 2009

  • 7:24 PM
duff

My nano novel, let me tell you about it.

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Nov. 4th, 2009

  • 4:10 PM
iron man 'awesome'
I have actually started my nano novel. *shock* And I settled on fantasy. OMG. *flails*

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Nov. 3rd, 2009

  • 10:25 AM
duff
Floods. Yay. Had to change from the lovely train to a nasty bus at Edinburgh and spend 4,5 hours on it. Not cool. I can't feel my knees and I broke a nail. *hissy fit*

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Nov. 2nd, 2009

  • 3:09 PM
mfu_russian appetite
The Marquess of Wellington's 'household' as of October 1813 (from S.G.P. Ward's "Wellington's Headquarters")

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Nov. 2nd, 2009

  • 1:00 PM
dexter eyes

Last night, after an awesome day out with [info]sharpiefan and [info]latin_cat , I stayed up late reading "The Man Wellington Through The Eyes Of Those Who Knew Him."

First of all, let me say "OH. MY. GOD". The author (Muriel Wellesley) didn't fangirl him. Oh, no, I believe she worshipped him. And had a dodgy altar where she sacrificed little animals in his name. It is not a bad thing in it's own right *hides her own altar*  but combined with the constant cropping up of passages that I believe can be filed under the heading of purple prose it is MERCILESS. I groaned. I scoffed. I puked.

Let me give you an example, actually several examples, cause I am just cruel like that.

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Secondly, despite the "interesting" style, the book does quote numerous first-hand sources, sometimes in rather delicious big chunks, which is always cool. There are lots of good ones, but I will give you two: one, I think, is rather widely quoted, but still makes me go Aaaw, and the other makes me squee over Alava. :D

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Phew. *crawls away*

Oct. 31st, 2009

  • 6:38 PM
duff
God, I am going to miss two precious Nano days due to being in London. But that's not the worst thing. The worst thing is that I was going to write a science fiction novel, but now my brain keeps returning to a pet fantasy idea I have. Damn. Damn. DAMN!

*off to give candy to kids*

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Oct. 30th, 2009

  • 10:23 PM
duff
My friend has kindly allowed me to use her computer since apparently she can't be bothered to move after our huge dinner. :D Which means I can boast about my new books (LONDON, I HATE YOU. XD )

1. "The Grand Duke", Arthur Bryant
2. "At Napoleon's side in Russia: Memoirs of Armand de Caulaincourt"
3. "Men of Steel: Surgery in Napoleonic Wars" by Michael Crumplin
4. "Memoirs of Baron von Muffling, A Prussian officer in the Napoleonic Wars"
5. "On the road with Wellington: the Diary of a war comissary in the Peninsular campaigns," by August Friedrich Schaumann
6. "Wellington's Headquarters" by S.G.P. Ward
7. "The man Wellington through the eyes of those who knew him." by Muriel Wellesley.

8."Marco Polo: from Venice to Xanadu," by Laurence Bergreen.
9."Silk Road Folio"
10. "On Alexander's track to Indus: Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West frontier of India" by Sir Aurel Stein.


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Oct. 29th, 2009

  • 6:50 PM
duff
Just a flying appearance to say that... LAWYERS MAKE ME BRAIN DEAD!!! And I am very pathetic because I went and bought 3 more Napoleonic Books which I will boast about in due course i.e. when I am back in Aberdeen. :D 

Also went to Nando's for dinner and had Extra Hot chicken. *feels awake finally*

Oh and the night train was totally awesome! And I was reading the History of the Silk Road on it, so I kind of had a very interesting feeling. O_o

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Oct. 27th, 2009

  • 9:57 PM
duff

For the drabble meme [info]latin_cat requested Wellington/Hunter, 'secrets'. Here it is. No stoning. XD

 

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Oct. 27th, 2009

  • 5:02 PM
duff
From [info]teh_elb

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request a drabble of ANY pairing/character of their choosing (of ANY fandom) from me (with a prompt, if it pleases you to give me one). In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level (I won't hold you to this, but it would be awesome if you did).

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Profile

duff
[info]le_russe_satan
le_russe_satan

Russia & Russians

“An intelligent Russian once remarked to us, "Every country has its own constitution; ours is absolutism, moderated by assassination”

“The relationship between a Russian and a bottle of vodka is almost mystical.”
(R. Owen)

"Napoleon is a torrent which as yet we are unable to stem. Moscow will be the sponge that will suck him dry."
(Mikhail Kutuzov)

“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”
(Peter the Great)

"Even some American scientists told that mankind was born near Voronezh in Russia."
(Mikhail Zadornov)

“Whoever does not miss the Soviet Union has no heart. Whoever wants it back has no brain.”
(Vladimir Putin)

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