Fighting them on the Beaches

So I return from shore leave to find the buggers have well and truly invaded - they even stole the floorboards. Apparently they need them for another room in the Barracks. I stood and viewed the devastation as, in my absence they removed all my brave lads from their shelves and housed them in temporary shacks dotted about the premises. 

For some it was their first taste of real battle and they relished the prospect of going over the top, others - particularly the elderly, took refuge in my luxury office suite below stairs, where they had to share shelf-space with Mao's memoirs and Hitler's Mein Kampf (shelved not too far from Lawrence's  Seven Pillars of Wisdom - for their own safety).

After the noise of battle receded and the sallies ceased, it was left to myself and my lovely assistant (recruited for the afternoon from the ranks of the Household Cavalry), to repair the damage caused by a team of maintenance workers whose knowledge of the Dewey Decimal system was - unsurprisingly - sadly lacking. I am now recuperating at home having been given special leave and a doctor's note.

photo copyright roh.org.uk

Back in the Indies, business continues at a rather more leisurely pace, though the welcome committee continue to ply me with drinks in order - I fear - to bribe me to obtain tickets for Wagner's Ring Cycle on the  black market. I've warned them that my contacts are unlikely to come up with the goods, but that I'll accept a glass of the finest red wine anyway. 

I wonder if I'll be able to buy time by acquiring a few anthologies of War Poetry...