I am reading a book at the moment, or
perhaps a more apposite way of saying it would be I am reading a spiffing yarn
at the moment. The title is ‘Steel
Chariots in the Desert’ and the author is S.C.Rolls - not to be confused with
the Hon C.S.Rolls.
Sam Rolls was a lowly-born, tough little
artisan motor mechanic, a noble and passionate young patriot who joined the
throng at the recruiting offices when the call to arms rang forth in 1914. What
he and others accomplished with their Silver Ghosts in the desert was
absolutely incredible and their courage, humour, skills and amazing capacity
for improvisation makes for a darn good read! It is written in the style of the times and
full of ’old fashioned’ phrases which I much enjoyed. “Before dawn we were all
astir…”. I don’t think I have ever used
the word ’astir’ (and ’before dawn’ is a time of day I usually try to avoid!). It really is a delight to read. Sam drove many thousands of miles with
Lawrence (yes THE Lawrence of Arabia) over some of the most car-shattering
terrain you could imagine and yet the Ghosts were more than up to the task and
when problems did arise, the crews quickly solved them.
Until next time
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