Weapons
One of those wallets has a real life Japanese mascot on it. I wonder who’s it is? I can’t remember the name of the mascot. Perhaps someone will help me out here. Things move in front of my eyes very quickly and I grab what I can get.
STEEPLE – A Scary Go Round Comic
by John Allison
Kumamon! (https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-topics/b02503/)
An aside, “kuma” means bear in Japanese.
Clovis in the slammer!
🎶 I know, I know, it’s serious 🎶
“There are times when I could have strangled her, but you know I would hate anything to happen to her – won’t you please let me see her?” – Maggie, to the prison guard
I feel as if this has been a long, long time coming. There’s always been a bit of an aura of mystery about her. I’m looking forward to learning… the dread SECRET of MRS CLOVIS!!!
Theme music begins:
🎶 He used to give me roses,
🎶 I wish he could again,
🎶 But that was on the outside,
🎶 And things were different then…
I don’t understand if Mrs Clovis was arrested for crimes she committed (like the probable murder of her husband), if she’s on a jury or if she has somewhere become a judge, but I love this page. It shows very well how much Maggie and Billie love Mrs Clovis, expecially Maggie. About the mascotte, it looks like Misha from Moscow’s Olympic 1980.
HMP stands for Her* Majesty’s Prison – they don’t usually send juries to prison even if they return very bad verdicts
*or His
Bring back the Writ of Attaint
“[…]very terrible was the judgment which the common law inflicted upon them [the jury], if the grand jury found their verdict a false one. The judgment was, 1. That they should lose their liberam legem [free law], and become forever infamous. 2. That they should forfeit all their goods and chattels. 3. That their lands and tenements should be seized into the king’s hands. 4. That their wives and children should be thrown out of doors. 5. That their houses should be razed and thrown down. 6. That their trees should be rooted up. 7. That their meadows should be plowed. 8. That their bodies should be cast into jail. 9. That the party should be restored to all that he lost by reason of the unjust verdict. But as the severity of this punishment had its usual effect, in preventing the law from being executed[…]”
1. That they should lose their liberam legem [free law], and become forever infamous. 2. That they should forfeit all their goods and chattels. 3. That their lands and tenements should be seized into the king’s hands. 4. That their wives and children should be thrown out of doors. 5. That their houses should be razed and thrown down. 6. That their trees should be rooted up. 7. That their meadows should be plowed. 8. That their bodies should be cast into jail.
Quite right. They’re far too soft on juries these days.
Thank you. I should have checked what HMP means before writing my comment… Is there really no way Mrs Clovis is there because she’s in some weird, extreme witness protection program?
Just remember, the trial apparently hasn’t happened yet. Maybe, despite appearances, she’ll be found innocent? We’ll see.
Her maker left her well armed.
Got legs, too. 😉
And she knows how to use them.
Is this a jail or an asylum?
I’m going to guess a jail as an asylum or mental institution is for long term mental health issues until one is declared well enough for a trial. Clovis’ situation sounds like a trial is expected relatively soon.
She’s in jail. HMP = “His Majesty’s Prison”. Mrs Clovis was evidently denied bail after being arrested.
Do they put people in prison awaiting trial in the UK (instead of temporary holding, aka jail?) idk
You don’t have to pay for bail bonds in the UK like you do in the USA, bail is free, but it’s not always automatic. A judge can refuse to grant you bail if he thinks you’re a flight risk or likely to commit further crime while on bail depending on your past record. Anyone on remand is put in prison.
“Do you have any weapons on your persons?”
“I think there’s a bit of person left on my weapon.”
So all that Clotted Crime-watching was just occupational research?
This might also explain why Mrs. Clovis was so averse to Lottie poking her ever-so-sticky beak in things.
Mrs. C might not have survived a direct “J’accuse!”
Who among us could?
Indeed.
Let’s be honest. No one.
Maggie is showing great restraint, here. Only a glimmer of snark is peeking out!
They of course don’t recognize Mad Terry — who I’m “sure” has been visiting his mom …
somebody should make 2 hour bobbinsverse deep lore videos
Tedburn St Mary is a real place in Devon, a village about five miles west of the city of Exeter. It doesn’t have a prison in the “real world”. Exeter does, and if you look at it on Street View or its Wikipedia article you might just recognise it in panel 1. Maybe Tedburn overtook Exeter to become the county town of Devon in the Bobbinsverse.
This is the beauty of fiction. John Allison doesn’t have to replicate the world exactly, he can make things up, and play pretend with his imagination.
What?
Fiction?
I thought this was a documentary?
Also, HMP Exeter is a Men’s prison in the allegedly real world
That question “Do you have any weapons…?” I wouldn’t be surprised if they did ask that but would they expect an honest answer from someone who was actually carrying a weapon? Years ago when I applied for a shot gun license there was a question on the application form along the lines of “Are you a sane and fit person to have a shotgun?”
Bureaucrats put those little gotchas because for them, lying on a form is the worst crime. Haha! He really was a terrorist so he lied on the immigration form! We GOT HIM NOW
No one is expecting that a violent criminal will go “Hey, sure, I have this live grenade which I was planning to throw into the warden’s office, and here is the pin as a present for you.”
Nevertheless the question actually does serve some important purposes:
1. Normal people sometimes do forget that they’re carrying a weapon, and can remove it before entering a restricted zone. (For instance, you do not want to forget that you have a firearm in your bag before entering security at a U.S. airport, unless you want to pay fines which *start* at $11,000.)
2. Actual, professional liars who say “no” can be arrested solely because of the lie, and cannot then claim that they didn’t understand the process, and you don’t have to wait for them to actually attack someone with the weapon before you can arrest them.
Now I’m wondering whether the guard’s wrist tattoo is just a throwaway detail.
I don’t have a tattoo, myself, but I’ve been told they’re fairly permanent.
The guard has a lovely red fingernail
Well spotted, lilfly!
I missed that detail (my eyeballs are old and full of cataracts).
It is a women’s prison, so the screw that’s taking their belongings is also likely to be a woman herself hence the painted fingernails, I don’t think it was intended to be a major detail.
I’m so confused. Why is the old bird in jail?
We’re not sure but the assumption is that it’s to do with the human skeleton buried under Mrs Clovis’ patio. The skeleton was shown some pages back when Maggie and Billie found that bottle of Brut in her bathroom cabinet.
Oh, come on!
Which of us hasn’t got a human skeleton buried under the patio?
Surely that’s what patios are for. I have always assumed that anyone with a patio also has a homicidal secret and an account at B&Q.
My skeletons stay in my closet.
It’ll turn out that she did kill her husband, but it was a righteous takedown because he was really a literal demon all along but try explaining *that* to the authorities in 1975. Our Mrs. Clovis was… a different person, fifty years ago.
I suspect that the truth may be much simpler:
Mr. Clovis was indeed a “right bad ‘un” with a violent streak who liked to beat on Mary until she’d finally had enough.
I thought that skeleton was just something imagined by Billie’s big fantasy and not a reality.
I think you’re right. It seems there may have, somewhat coincidentally, been an actual skeleton, as well, though.
“Our chief weapons are…”
I didn’t expect that!
I was expecting the Spanish Inquisition. They were supposed to be here at 10 to extract a confession with the comfy chair.
I hope they show up soon. I’ve been looking forward to their shiny red capes!
What did she do? Skeleton under patio? Ridiculess
a) Who dug it up?
b) Every self-respecting British citizen has one, just watch some episodes of Inspector Barnaby
No, the REverend told her who hexed her vac and then she laid her holy vengeance on the two witches – who possibly are still in traction.
And the REverend is absent because he is ashamed of himself.
“Who dug it up” was covered several pages ago. It was Wales & West Utilities. https://steeple.church/comic/disturbed/
Four = several? I’d have said “a few”, but then these English expressions are worse than the comfy chair. They will be the death of me yet.
Several- “more than two but not many.” Which is more or less the way I’ve always used the word.
https://www.google.com/search?q=several&sca_esv=601135296&source=hp&ei=VlyxZZSLD–aptQPnYi50AQ&iflsig=ANes7DEAAAAAZbFqZl59-57JmD_iFv6_uvYZUX2NFhHq&ved=0ahUKEwiUjsz52PaDAxVvjYkEHR1EDkoQ4dUDCA8&uact=5&oq=several&gs_lp=Egdnd3Mtd2l6IgdzZXZlcmFsMg0QABiABBixAxhGGPkBMgsQABiABBixAxiDATILEAAYgAQYsQMYgwEyCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBMgsQLhiABBixAxjUAjIIEAAYgAQYsQMyCxAAGIAEGLEDGIMBMggQABiABBixAzIFEC4YgAQyBRAAGIAESLtBUABYoSVwAngAkAEAmAF4oAGQB6oBAzQuNbgBA8gBAPgBAcICERAuGIAEGLEDGIMBGMcBGNEDwgIOEAAYgAQYigUYsQMYgwHCAgsQLhiABBjHARjRA8ICCxAuGIAEGLEDGIMBwgIOEC4YgAQYsQMYxwEY0QPCAggQLhixAxiABMICDhAuGIAEGMcBGK8BGI4FwgIIEC4YgAQYsQPCAgsQLhiABBjHARivAcICBxAAGIAEGArCAhMQLhiABBgKGLEDGIMBGMcBGNEDwgILEC4YgwEYsQMYgAQ&sclient=gws-wiz
This is something I clearly ought to learn. I tend to equate “several” with “many”. Such nuances are a neverending challenge for the non-native speaker.
I don’t think I know the difference between several and many, and I suspect that if pushed, most other native English speakers would not make the distinction.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot, and I have to thank you, Titia, for bringing this up, as I’d never really thought about it before. I think all these “inexact amount” words in English can vary their meanings depending on usage, and that often different people use them in different ways. “Several’ to me usually means something like “between 3 and, oh, maybe 12”. “A few” can mean wildly different things depending on what I’m talking about, and sometimes on other factors- in my usage, “a few minutes” is more than “several minutes”, but “I pickled up a few things at the store” is less than “I picked up several things at the store”. And if you combine “a few” with “of”, to me, it becomes proportional, so “I’ve read a few of those books” could mean more books depending on the size of the book collection you’re talking about. I think “many’ works similarly. Again, though, different people use these words somewhat differently- I’ve known at least one person for whom “a few minutes” meant anything less than an hour, which definitely goes well beyond what I’d use the term for. I suppose all these words are inherently subjective.
“Several” and “few” are a bit elastic based on the context. If you had 1000 eggs and broke 8 you might say you broke “several” or “a few”, but if you only had a dozen to start with you would not say you broke “a few” (unless being ironic, of course) but you might say that you broke several.
Couple: Two
A few: Three to five
Some: Five to seven
Several: Seven to ten
Many: More than ten
One, two, few, four, five, six, several, eight, nine, ten, eleven, dozen, thirteen, heaps, etc
You mean, one, a couple, three, four…
“A couple” means “two” specifically, I know, but I often use it for Some or A Few, such as “I had a couples of cookies with my coffee” or “It took a couple of tries to start my car this morning” .
“A couple” usually means “roughly two.”
I’m from California, we get more leeway with that word out here!
Mrs C will have resolutely kept silent, biding her time, because the real culprit is Maggie’s dad and Mrs C knows he will have to spring a twist in the trial that sets Mrs C free so that he is not implicated!
…yeah, I’ve watched many. many murder mysteries and this fits the standard plot like a glove in the correct size!
Because Mrs. C is actually… Maggie’s true biological grandmother!!!
It would explain why Mrs Clovis has always seemed to have a soft spot for Maggie, despite Maggie being, well, Maggie, and Mrs Clovis being Mrs Clovis…
Big fan of Clotted Crime, are you, Alan?
Everyone is assuming that Mrs Clovis is guilty of Murder Most Foul but it’ll turn out that she’s being sent down for something relatively innocuous like she tapped the main town pipe and West & Wales Utilities fou d out that she’s been abstracting water for years. That’s why her garden’s so green!
I just think it’s odd that everyone seems to assume that whatever she’s accused of doing, she’s guilty. Come on. The trial hasn’t even started yet.
If Clotted Crime has taught me anything, it’s that the third-act twist will be that Mrs. Clovis is not, despite appearances, guilty. The vicar did it. Possibly Penrose’s predecessor.
…who later became a Bishop, eager to shut down the parish before anyone could look under the patio
“And if any of these predictions is correct, you’ll hear about it on the next Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.”—Bill Kurtis
I want that Kumamon wallet!
Billie looks *so proud* of Maggie!