#bydbach

Note: The chapters are broken differently and numbered differently in Oxford vs. Subscribers versions. This chapter follows the Introduction and begins Book I.

****** Upon the Lama Storrs and I crossed the Red Sea Aziz el Masri giving him good company With three non-English languages to skirt the fuss The seamen found us odd (as suited both of us) With Captain Scott on cooler decks I went to talk Of coral reefs and marine surveys on our walk

The heat that had been distanced by the cool sea air On reaching Jidda’s harbor caught us in the glare Of noonday sun with arid wind that stole our speech While mirage buildings floated up and down the beach

Our landing was auspicious: Hussein’s second son Sherif Abdulla newly to the town had come We walked through flies like squadrons in the soaking air Which gave the scarlet stain from Storrs’ red leather chair - Gained in four days on Lama’s deck - a varnished shine While sweat deepened the brown o’er all my khakis’ line

By sober Colonel Wilson in the Consulate (We’d argued once in Cairo over native kit) We were received: and soon after Abdulla came In noble fashion as perhaps befit his fame As mastermind of Hussein and of the revolt Though I had doubts: though he was cheerful as a colt Abdulla had a politician’s balanced care Humor, not Prophet’s fire, was his daily fare.

At first our talk landed on civil government A measure of which still retained a Turkish bent For towns, which were diverse, had certain different needs Than tribes all self-sufficient in tradition’s creeds But law, which heretofore was Turkish civil code, Had been replaced by Kadi, a Koranic mode (Abdulla joked that time would find that the Koran Freed modern practices, now under blanket ban.) This hurt the towns, but what they lost Beduin gained As it supported judgement styles they had retained

From musings on this rule o’er human frailty And all of Eden lost, Storrs now distracted me Asking Abdulla tell me how their forces stood So, swiftly serious, he gave news, none of it good His brothers, Feisal, Ali, Zeid, were all hampered A loss or two and soon defeat would be assured For Feisal in the hills had not enough supplies And Zeid and Ali stood among unsafe allies At this moment the Grand Sherif by telephone Joined to confirm surrender would not be condoned But rather he would die on wreck of rebel’s work Than cede the rule of Mecca’s shrines back to the Turk

To voiced concerns I made what few answers I could First, that the rail uncut they’d once called to the good Next, dynamite we sent had swiftly been returned Then, Feisal’s more specific needs we’d never learned As for a thought of help in a British brigade For Rabegh, ‘twould take time and give but little aid As none were Moslem, and just ships could do as well - Abdulla recalled here the loss at Dardanelles Had made a mess of British sea supremacy And shrugged we’d be there only temporarily As his own work would make Medina soon to fall So Arab volunteers could just replace us all.

cael well cyn bor hir.

the tags in european h&m products usually carry "multi-country" tags. but that still doesn't mean anything at all. because they must have been sewn in by numerically illiterate tailors. which is why i've lost *all* trust in h&m lables.

jeans size 12 at h&m don’t even all come with the same measurements as i had to find out myself one day.

& some brands at h&m come in european sizes?? which are incomprehensible 2 me as an american but all the ones i picked up last time I was there were too small :<

5. What countries did you visit?

u know what, i stayed in the good old US of A. 

24. What was the best book you read?

I have been going through everything John le Carré ever wrote and really, really enjoying it...

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

bydbach replied to your photoset:Eva Green’s deleted scenes from the Kingdom of...

i will be eternally sore that FOX forced ridley scott to make the cuts for the cinematic release.

Reasons why everyone should watch the director's cut and not the theatrical:

pretty much Sibylla's entire motivational arc - there's a whole other king (her son) between Edward Norton and Marton Csokas

the Hospitaler played by David Thewlis, has a few extra scenes where he's much more clearly shown to be if not explicitly supernatural, at least symbolically a Messenger of sorts. Makes much more sense why he seems to be a) against the whole concept of the european occupation and b) magnificently chill

Martin Sheen's entire character basically - so evil he basically twirls a moustache and looooooves it

expanded scenes of Godfrey's knights doing cool historical shit like greasing their armour, and their more educated african colleague teaching them how not to get dysentery

another scene of Nikolaj Coster-Waldau being evil if that's your thing

more cool historical shit like Imad and Saladin discussing how the war that they need (ironically to placate elements in their own camp) will be instigated by Lusignan bc Lusignan is a fanatical tool

joint honours? do both.