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Behind the Dial

I retired when I was 50, and settled in a very pleasant town in the south of England, which I’d prefer remained nameless.

I’d always messed around with clocks as a hobby and over the years had built up quite a collection. Most of them didn’t work, but now I was able to sit down and repair them and generally increase my knowledge of horology.

You never really leave the Service. I was attached to the Secret Intelligence Service, known variously as S.I.S. or M.I.6., concerned with foreign threats to the country.

Officially, I didn’t exist, I and the half dozen men I worked with. We were trained by the S.A.S. and before being drafted into the ‘black’ section, we had to be up to their level. Following this came further ‘dirty tricks’ involvement before we were sent on any mission.

My name, Jonathan Barlow, is fictitious for obvious reasons. I’m 62 now, but at the time this happened I’d been out of the Service for three years.

This chap walked in one day with a clock and asked me to repair it. I’d been on active duty for 20 years, and you know them as soon as you see them.

“What’s the matter with it?” I asked.

“Um, are you alone, Sir?” He was young, about the same age as I’d been when I joined M.I.6. originally.

“I’m alone. What’s the problem?”

“Well, Sir, we’d just like you to hang onto this for a few days. There’s, er, something in it.”

“Where in it?” I asked him.

“Behind the dial, Sir.”

It was a large, antique fusee mantel clock, and very heavy. It struck the hours on a huge, coiled gong, and chimed the quarters on a nest of bells.

“Actually, Sir, it doesn’t really need repairing. It’s just that we want someone we can trust to hold it until the owner can pick it up.”

“I guessed that. How will I know the customer?”

“As soon as he walks in, he’ll start counting out dollar bills on your workbench. In fact, he is an American. Then he’ll ask for his heirloom. Just let him take it, Sir, and that’s that.”

“Who’re the villains?” I asked him.

“The Russians are rather interested in the piece, Sir.”

“I see. You’re sure you weren’t made coming here?”

“No, Sir, of course not. Too careful for that.” His tone bordered on the indignant.

“The Ivans are just as good, my lad, and probably a damn sight better. Always remember that.” It was a bit like scolding a puppy.

“When should I expect the owner?”

“One week, Sir, definitely no later.”

“And if he doesn’t come, what then?”

“Then I’ll be back, Sir, but we have no doubt he’s going to make it.”

“Right,” I told him. “See one of you in a week.”

He said goodbye, opened the door and I watched him stride off down the street. From force of habit I had a look around. The youngster had turned left. There was a car parked further up the road to the right on the far side, and the bloke inside didn’t drop down behind the dashboard quite quickly enough.

I watched chummy get into his car, pull out and start to drive away. The other car did the same. Why wasn’t I surprised? This meant that I’d been made as well. Precautions would be taken that night.

My workshop used to be the garage and was attached to the house, which was accessed through a door set at an angle in the far wall.

I carried the big clock through into my drawing room and set it on the table in the middle of the room. I’d examine its contents later that evening.

I made all the usual precautions. My bed looked as though someone was in it. I dug out my Sig Sauer P226, cleaned it, made sure the action was good and loaded it. I strapped my knife to me, then went around the house and made sure all was secure. Then I set about seeing what secret the clock held.

Very carefully, I removed the dial and a piece of paper fell out onto the table. It was written in Cyrillic, but the only words that made sense were something about artificial gravity. The rest of the writing consisted of equations and complicated mathematical formulae. Languages were another thing we had to learn, and I was reasonably literate in Russian. I also knew that artificial gravity concerned manned space flight.

At a guess, we’d copped this from the Ivans and naturally enough, they wanted it back. I was pretty sure I could expect a visit.

I strongly recommend a visit to this site. One of the finest clock establishments in the country, it sells antique pieces, both longcase and mantel, as well as modern clocks by Howard Miller, America’s leading clock manufacturer. They have a full service department too.
http://www.mywebcashstore.com/bond9241

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Virto Ajax Calendar by Virtosofware: Now in Russian and Chinese

Virtosoftware releases Russian and Chinese localization for its web part for Microsoft SharePoint – Virto Ajax Calendar. With Russian and Chinese in addition to English, German, Spanish and French Virto Calendar supports now six languages.

Virto Calendar is built on Ajax technology, designed for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5, and aimed to provide SharePoint users with new features that are not available in the standard SharePoint calendar. Virto Ajax Calendar substantially expands the functionality of the default Microsoft SharePoint calendar by a wide range of features and capabilities.

First, it enables users to view all their events, even from different SharePoint lists, in a single calendar. Moreover, with Virto Ajax Calendar not only SharePoint lists but also SQL tables can be used as a data source for calendar events. Second, it provides extremely simple and user friendly interface allowing for creating new calendar events with a single click, and using drug & drop to change event timeframe. Further, Virto Ajax Calendar allows for full customization of the information displayed in the event tooltips. Finally, it supports MOSS Audience Targeting that allows restricting the access to list events only to specified users and user groups.

Virto Ajax Calendar with the support of six languages can be found on the Virtosoftware web site. In the nearest future Virtosoftware will release Russian and Chinese localization for its other web parts: Alert Customizer, Workflow Activity Kit, Clock & Weather and Password Changer.

Virtosoftware Company uses the most advanced technologies trying to predict today what our clients may need tomorrow. Visit our website http://www.virtosoftware.com for more information about Virto Ajax Calendar and other Microsoft SharePoint web parts by Virtosoftware, download evaluation versions to test the quality of our products, and learn how they can help your business.

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Posted in Clocks And Watches | Tags: Ajax, Calendar, Chinese, Russian, Virto, Virtosofware | No Comments »

Date Russian Women And See The Difference

It is not unusual for men from all over the world to consider Russian women as their love interests. If you are one of those smitten, here is some good advice for you to impress your Russian lass!

Naturally, men are falling for Russian women left, right and center. There is Anna Kournikova, the Russian tennis sensation who is currently setting many a male heart aflutter, and then there is Maria Sharapova, the topic of many male discussions in bars.

Then there is the female Russian duo of Tatu – Julia and Lena, two women who have consolidated the fact that Russia is the home of feminine beauty. When Tatu toured the US only a few years back, their beauty was only overshadowed by their singing talent. American men could not get enough of both of these talents of the duo!

Russian women are endowed with an incomparable natural beauty. They have baby blue eyes coupled with a lethal figure, along with a very sexy manner of walking. Watch any international fashion show. You will surely discover that most of the lissome beauties out there are Russian. Clothes love their bodies, and simply accentuate their beauties, which make these Russian women absolutely hot with couturiers from all over the world.

It is not a surprise that Russian women top male desire everywhere. However, when you date Russian women you need to realize that it is more important what they might find in you also. One of the best ways to make Russian women realize that you are genuinely interested in them is to learn their language and converse with them in it. This is a very difficult thing to do, but there are rich benefits too. Russian language is very soft and good to hear, and it will be a very good addition to your knowledge. It is not necessary to learn the whole language, but if you know some phrases that can help you compliment your Russian girlfriend, you would do quite well.

Like, you could greet them with “Zdrastvui” or “Privet”, which is akin to saying “Hello” in English. Or, if you think a Russian woman is lovely to look at, you could compliment her by saying “Tiy preekrahsah vigleedesh”, which means you do find her beautiful. Say this when you date Russian women. She will certainly appreciate the effort you are putting in impressing her.

When you date Russian women, it is very necessary that you learn to romance her in the right way. Russian women are quite sentimental, so they will appreciate your little sweet nothings. Gift her something. You will see them reciprocating by doing something with their own hands, like knitting a sweater for you. In fact, you should give small tokens of your love each time you have a date with her. Russian women are not materialistic, but the small things make them realize you took time out to get something for them.

Communication is important too. Russian women are not like their counterparts in the advanced countries of the world where they take it for granted that their men are busy when they cannot call them up from work. Russian women will want your attention all the time, and it would be a very good way to show your attention if you were to call them several times in a day. When you are not on a date with a Russian woman, keep in touch with the phone. Let her know what you are up to all the time; she will want to be reassured time and again, especially since you are foreign to her.

You must definitely go all the romantic way to build your relationship with a Russian woman. Have dates with Russian women often, but keep the romantic fire burning also. Make it very clear that you are serious about her. If you take this much care at the outset of your relationship, you can rest assured that you will have a very constructive relationship with her for life.

Russian women are known to be amongst the most beautiful, stylish, well dressed, educated & family orientated women on the planet. If you are serious about finding a Russian bride, you must read our hard hitting and honest reviews of the top Russian dating web sites. Don’t be a victim of Russian dating scams. Learn more.

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Posted in Clocks Glass Clocks | Tags: Date, Difference, Russian, women | No Comments »

Russian Cuckoo Clock “Majak”

The lastest edition to our expanding collection…a RARE Russian cuckoo clock. Russia’s popular watch and clock maker Majak’s version of the normall German clock. This clock dates from the late 50′s to early 60′s and is clearly marked on the face with CCCP. Looks like it’s made of chocolate! ***The gong was not working properly in this video, but I have posted a video with the gong sounding a lot better!

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Posted in Clocks And Watches | Tags: Clock, cuckoo, Majak, Russian | 9 Comments »