In the front drive of their breeze-block house, there is a motorbike, still with its Alabama license plates.

BBC: Heading back across the border

In contravention of the planning regulations, many of its gardens have been filled with breeze-block sheds to house the latest arrivals.

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The launcher shoots the bottles at a velocity of 984 feet per second, fast enough to smash a double-layer breeze-block wall and allow assault troops to enter a building, according to the manufacturer, BCB International.

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The hero of 15 books by Lawrence Block, Scudder is a winningly smart-assed private eye who can shoot the breeze (and the bad guys) with the best of them, and has a capacity for abstract thought to boot.

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