Wet day in Thame and other musings

Backtracking a bit.

A wet Bank Holiday Monday in Thame. James and Sarah have made a splendid decision to move to Number 31. A bigger house, closer to the town centre and 5 minutes walk to Sarah's place of work. Such a quiet area too. Just an old people's home at the end of the road so just the sound of wheelchairs and zimmer frames to disturb the tranquil air. We went for tea and cakes and had a lovely day. Didn't see Charlie the cat though. Hiding in splendid isolation in the bedroom. Well that was then.



Now is the end of a frantic week at work. Oh yes, the weight! It is my considered opinion that the scales are malfunctioning. How could I have put on 1lb? I have been trying, but I am ashamed to say that a night at 'Masooms' has undone me. This splendid Indian restaurant in Goring has the preternatural quality of making your eyes think that your stomach can absorb far more than it is physically capable. I shall avoid it (for the time being).

The guitar practice continues.

As it is nearly 18 June I thought it appropriate to re-read some accounts of the Waterloo Campaign. The Battle took place on the 18 June 1815 and the account of the battle by Captain Alexander Cavalie Mercer is, in my opinion, worthy of note. It might be considered as an excellent basis of a film about the Battle. The only previous film I know of is 'Waterloo' a Soviet-Italian film (1970), directed by Sergei Bondarchuk. It was the story of the preliminary events and the Battle of Waterloo, and was famous for its epic battle scenes.
It starred Rod Steiger (Napoleon Bonaparte), Christopher Plummer ( Duke of Wellington) with Orson Welles (Louis XVIII of France), Jack Hawkins as General Picton, Virginia McKenna as the Duchess of Richmond and Dan O'Herlihy as Marshal Ney.

But it is too epic and misses the intimate nature of the conflict.

The film I propose could be called 'Mercer's Campaign' (that's my working title). Mercer's account of the part his troop played in the Waterloo campaign is entitled "Journal of the Waterloo Campaign" published in 1870 after his death. Born 1783, the son of a General in the Royal Engineers. Commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Regiment of Artillery in 1799. Promoted Captain 1806. He commanded G Troop Royal Horse Artillery at Waterloo. He eventually achieved the rank of Major General in 1854. Retired to Cowley Hill near Exeter. Died 1868. The film would be a far more personal account of the Battle. Mercer's prose is evocative, exciting and ultimately moving.

"The cavalry column now once more mounted the plateau. On they came in compact squadrons, one behind the other, so numerous that those at the rear were still below the brow when the head of the column was but at some sixty to seventy yards from our guns. Their pace was a slow steady trot. None of your furious galloping charges was this, but a deliberate advance, at a deliberate pace, as of men resolved to carry their point. They moved in profound silence, and the only sound which could be heard from them amidst the incessant roar of battle was the low thunder-like reverberation of the ground beneath the simultaneous tread of so many horses. On our part was equal deliberation. Every man stood steadily at his post, the guns ready, loaded with a round shot first and a case shot over it; the tubes were in the vents; the portfires glared and sputtered behind the wheels; and my word alone was wanted to hurl destruction on that goodly show of gallant men and noble horses. I delayed this, for experience had given me confidence. The Brunswickers partook of this feeling, and with their squares much reduced in size - well closed, stood firmly, with arms at the recover, and eyes fixed on us, ready to commence their fire with our first discharge. It was indeed a grand and imposing spectacle! The column was led on this time by an officer in a rich uniform, his breast covered with decorations, whose earnest gesticulations were strangely contrasted with the solemn demeanour of those to whom they were addressed. I thus allowed them to advance unmolested until the head of the column might have been about fifty or sixty yards from us, and then gave the word "Fire!" The effect was terrible. Nearly the whole leading rank fell at once; and the round shot, penetrating the column carried confusion throughout its extent. The ground, already encumbered with the victims of the first struggle, became now almost impassable. Still, however, these devoted warriors struggled on, intent only on reaching us. The thing was impossible. Our guns were served with astonishing activity, whilst the running fire of the two squares was maintained with spirit. Those who pushed forward over the heaps of carcasses of men and horses gained but a few paces in advance, there to fall in their turn and add to the difficulties of those succeeding them. The discharge of every gun was followed by a fall of men and horses like that of grass before a mower's scythe. When the horse alone was killed, we could see the cuirassiers divesting themselves of the encumbrance and making their escape on foot. Still, for a moment, the confused mass (for all order was at an end) stood before us, vainly trying to urge their horses over the obstacles presented by their fallen comrades, in obedience to the now loud and rapid vociferations of him who had led on and remained unhurt. As before, many cleared everything and rode through us; many came plunging forward only to fall, man and horse, close to the muzzles of our guns."




This is the only portrait of him I could find. Casting? How about David Tennant!