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Sunday 1 September 2019

A visit to Falconwood Tansport and Military Book Shop

I should have been at a wargame on Saturday, but a cat-related domestic crisis prevented me from going.

We had been looking after an aged cat for one of our neighbours, who had been in hospital for nearly three weeks. The cat is 23-year-old, and since last weekend it had become increasingly frail and kept walking into things, making us think that he might be going blind. We had been trying to get in contact with his owner for some days, and this morning we decided that we had to take the cat to the vet even though we did not have his owner's permission. We made one last attempt to contact the owner (I left a note that I posted through his letterbox), but were told by his direct next door neighbour that he had been sent home from hospital on Friday ... and almost immediately returned because he was running a fever!

The vet that we use runs an emergency out-of-hours surgery, and Sue and I were just about to put the cat into the cat basket to take him there when there was a knock on the door ... and the cat's owner was there! He had just returned from hospital, had read the note I had left for him, and he had come round straight away to collect his cat so that he could take him for treatment.

Once this minor crisis was over and we had eaten lunch, Sue sent me off to buy some bits and pieces that we need over the next fortnight. As I had to park almost outside the door of Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop, I popped in for a couple of minutes ... and came out with a copy of DIE DEUTSCHE KRIEGSMARINE 1935-1945 by Ulrich Elfrath.


The book contains a large number of photographs, all of which are captioned in both English and German, as is much of the text. This is the first volume of a four-volume series, and deals with the history of the Kriegsmarine from 1935 to 1945, concentrating on the histories and specifications of the larger units (i.e. the pre-dreadnoughts, the Panzerschiffe [armoured ships or pocket battleships], the Schlachtshiffe [battleships], and the cruisers).

Many of the photographs are new to me, and I have already spent a couple of hours just looking at them and reading their captions. I will now look out for the other three books in the series, and will acquire them as and when I can.

DIE DEUTSCHE KRIEGSMARINE 1935-1945 was written by Ulrich Elfrath and published in 1985 by Podzun-Pallas-Verlag (ISBN 3 7909 0261 6).

The contact details for Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop are:

Falconwood Transport & Military Bookshop
5 Falconwood Parade, The Green, Welling, Kent DA16 2PL
Tel: 020 8303 8291

4 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Nigel Drury,

      When I spoke to his owner last night, it appears that the cat is all right now and is being treated for a minor eye infection.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Glad to hear. At that age, starting to repeatedly bump into things is a worrying sign.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nigel Drury,

      We are hoping that the cat will last a bit longer, although we doubt that he’ll reach 24.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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