The British Grenadiers

With the drip, drip, drip of a septic...but no. These words spring to mind because this weekend's re-enactors are British troops of the Napoleonic period and include a drummer and fifer amongst their number. sadly, they only appear to know one tune and I don't know the proper words.

There are half a dozen or so of these chaps and I went down to watch five rankers (note to self - check spelling) being ordered through loading and firing drill by an NCO of some sort. It was all very interesting; I'm always surprised by how complex the operation is. The effect was pretty impressive up until the point that on the command 'fire' they all shouted 'bang' in unison. Then they just looked silly.