It was after 21:00 when I eased the VFR800 in to Tallangatta, running on fumes. Most of the people in the Victoria Hotel had been drinking since 14:00, and it took a while to explain that before joining them I had to get petrol out to Bly, who was sitting on the side of the road sixty clicks outside of town next to his dry Ducati Streetfighter.<\/p>\n
The merry wassailers rallied around brilliantly. They borrowed a hose from the publican, and drained a motorcycle tank into Bly\u2019s fuel bladder, and even found a car and a sober person to drive the fuel out to Bly. I went with him.<\/p>\n
Bly was surly when we got back, and I was very hungry.\u00a0The publican said the kitchen had closed, so I had beer for dinner. I am told it is liquid bread, and good for you.<\/p>\n
There were already fifty or sixty people there. I renewed my acquaintance with my Victorian friends, and met some new people. One guy I met said he found my forum posts educational. That surprised me. I don\u2019t post that much on the forum. \u201cEducational?\u201d I said. \u201cHow so?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t even know who Schlieffen was before I read your stuff\u201d, he replied, swaying slightly. He pronounced Schlieffen to rhyme with \u201chyphen\u201d.<\/p>\n
I remembered then. Some hand-wringer had posted in some forgotten thread something along the lines of \u201cHow did we get into this mess?\u201d I think he\u2019d been drinking. I had replied \u201cWe ignored von Schlieffen\u2019s dying words.\u201d I think I\u2019d been drinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cYep\u201d, my new friend continued. \u201cYou\u2019ve educated the shit out of me, Al.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cVon Schlieffen\u201d, I replied, pronouncing it correctly, \u201cnot Schleiffen. In German, I E is pronounced \u2018ee\u2019, and E I is pronounced \u2018eye\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
He looked at me and swayed a bit more.<\/p>\n
\u201cGeez, Al\u201d, he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve done it again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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