You're a classic example of the inverse ratio between the size of the mouth and the size of the brain.

I stayed home on Friday night. Tea had been to see her consultant during the day and as a result she wanted a bit of time to herself to get her head round her results. Needless to say they were not what she was hoping for. Since most of my readers have, by now, either met her or they are aware of what the poor bugger has been through, I feel I have no need to with hold any information regarding her results. The one “lump” has shown an increase in size, this means that Tea has a couple of options. One is a treatment of chemotherapy the other is surgery followed by radiotherapy, Tea has gone for the former. She rang me when she returned home and told me the results and what would be happening next. Whilst I’m worried about her, naturally, she has said that it’s not as bad as it sounds, Hmmmmm! The problem is that herself is extremely strong willed and she has an independent streak a mile wide. This makes helping and supporting her over the next few months very difficult. She will, doubtless refuse almost any help I offer and she will certainly not permit me to accompany her when she goes to the hospital. Cancer is probably one of the most unpleasant conditions anyone could have. I watched, helplessly, as the strongest woman I have ever known slip away to a frail and fragile old lady, and when she finally went she was unrecognisable as the mother I’d grown up with. So I have firsthand experience of how destructive it can be, not just to the person, but to those who hold them dear. So I have to be strong for the girl I have every intention of marrying at some point in the next eleven months. It goes without saying that my emotional state at the moment is not good. This was reflected today at work, my fuse was more than a little short. It hasn’t been like that for a while now, so due to the fact that I was a bit snappy toward one of my bosses today I expect to be dragged into the office by the other one. I will be honest and tell my boss exactly what’s happened, hopefully they will understand. So with my emotions on a knife edge anyone who wants to take a pop at my missus had better be prepared to take both barrels. This is not a stubbed toe or a hammered finger that can be laughed at, this is a serious thing that can, and will affect everyone around her. Including a young lad who’s the same I was when my mother told me and my sisters what will happen to her. Am I worried that the same will happen to Trudes? Of course! In a selfish way I’m worried for myself, but she will never see the worry on my face. I hope that the only thing she ever sees is love and care, but if I need to blub she will not see that. I’ll happily let her see me blub because my cats poorly or I’ve had a crap time, but not when she needs me to be strong for her.

Anyway moving on, Saturday was quite eventful, I arose later than usual for a Saturday, after a bus ride to Hythe I arrive at the shop for the gaming group. We had a few new faces which is always nice; if I’m honest I was a little distracted and was a little off with my duties. This distraction was not helped by the arrival of young Mickey, who appeared with a new toy in hand. A NERF N-Series Recon. So I did what I did best and showed my disapproval of such things by buying one. These things are blooming good fun. It’s a gun that fires soft darts so it’s perfect for shooting in the shop. Initially Sue was unimpressed by such immature behaviour, that was until people started buying up the remaining stock. She had 5 recons in stock, not including the one I’d grabbed, by the end of the day they’d all gone and Sue is having to reorder to meet demand. So in one fell swoop Mike and me had gone from being royal pains in the butt to in store demonstrators.

I left the shop earlier than usual as Tea was picking me up en route to her folks. We were off to Mankys for a belated Christmas celebration. Many of my old friends were there plus one or two people I hadn’t met before. It wasn’t long before I realised how much fun the guys I was with are. We have about fifteen years of history behind us and I hope that there are more good times to be had. We reminisced about the days gone by, such as having a Klingon, a Vulcan and a (poxy) Bajoran stuck in London. Dave ruining my chances of pulling a very fit, yet very dim, blonde lass on the underground, to name but two. Ok so I may not have stood a chance of pulling, I was very Klingon, but it’s my story so that’s exactly how it happened. I miss the odd trip up to London for a trekkie night out. By 23:30, maybe later, Trudes had seriously flagged so I asked a mate if there was a chance of a lift back home. He readily agreed and we were, sadly, heading down the motorway for home. I say sadly cos it was such a fantastic evening, and no reflection on Teas state of health.

Sunday was the usual quiet affair, I went into town to grab a bit of shopping then head home to attend to my lord Moggy Bogs. He was his usual bouncy self and very pleased to see me. He is such a welcoming little chap. Whilst I was on my way home Trudes phoned. During the call she told me that her chemo had in fact started on Friday. The naughty sausage! I pottered about at home for a bit then headed up to Trudes for the rest of the evening.

Monday morning had me wake up earlier than usual, there was a cup of coffee beside me and a vision of loveliness holding a wrapped up box. The contents of the box were some individually wrapped gifts for my birthday. When the coffee had been drunk and the pressies had been deprived of their wrappings I headed off for work. After a fairly naff day I went to the health centre to see a podiatrist. Apparently my feet are in very good condition all things considered, I have good circulation. Finally some good news. Huzzah!

Well that’s about it for now, I shall leave you with this little snippet:

A woman is like a tea bag - you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water.

A wise man knows how much he doesn't know.

It’s Thursday evening, her royal gorgeousness is crashed out on the sofa, fortunately no talk of research or wooden Messerschmitt, and my poor feet are still recovering from walking millions of miles around London yesterday. Wednesday morning had me getting up at 05:30, dear god! So that I could be ready for Mickey’s arrival at 6 (am). He was 2 minutes early so off I trotted out to the car and we set off for Londonshire. The journey was fairly uneventful, except for Mike missing a turning! Whilst he was muttering something about finding a point to do a u-turn or cut across country to get on to the road that he wanted, I whipped out my spangly all singing phone, started the built in sat-nav and soon had a route sorted that didn’t need u-turns or driving through fields full of sheep. Mind you, we did at one point drive through a group of morons who had about as much road sense as a dead hedgehog, and all the courtesy of a, well, someone who’s not at all courteous. People were pulling out in front of others, no indication, they were using the hard shoulder to get further along the queue of traffic, and the concept of “right of way” was more a case of “might is right”. To be honest it was scary, I’m glad I wasn’t driving. Mike’s a braver man than I am. Anyway, about ten minutes on from motorway madness, we arrived at a car park near the O2 arena and walked to the tube station. I’ve been on the tube a few times in the past but never that early, 08:00, dear god there are so many people. After a glance around I think I may have figured out the etiquette for the tube in the rush hour. Firstly no one speaks, not even to someone they know, if you do speak to someone it’s only to say “excuse me” or “sorry” and occasionally “thank you” although I think the latter is considered to be an expletive. Secondly, where ever possible be reading something, or at least pretend to be. People seemed to be using the cover provided by a book or newspaper as a shield almost as if to say, “I have a book so don’t disturb me!” thirdly and, I suspect, most importantly, do NOT make eye contact with anyone! This is the most difficult one as the expressions people have on their faces fascinates me. The final one and I think this sort of ties in with the first, having a silly conversation with a travelling companion is also disapproved of. I was getting very unimpressed looks from the people stood next to me in the carriage after saying something about having my toes squished. We temporarily disembarked the tube at Westminster, the intention was to get some breakfast. Sadly there are no cafes of any kind in the area. We did see some people protesting about Tesco, but sadly we never really figured out what Tesco has done to warrant the protest. Anyway back on the tube to Olympia, when we arrived we found a swanky place to get nosh. After which we headed back to Olympia and in to the toy fair.

Sadly I don’t have much to report. I had planned on leaking some info about the forth coming Doctor who releases from Character Options, but because the shop doesn’t deal directly with them they weren’t prepared to admit us into the secure shed that house the doctor who merchandise. I was also hoping to get into the Hasbro display, but as we’re not a supermarket that orders around 60000 units, they gave me the brush saying that all the reps wouldn’t be available until after 6, odd as the place closed at 6. I know a brush off when I hear one. Had my badge read Tesco or Asda or the other one, I suspect I would have been having tea and biscuits with a rep and on first name terms with him. I did get a warm welcome from a guy called Oliver who was running the stand for a company called Esdevium, a long standing supplier of RPGs and CCGs in England. He showed me the most amazing boxed set for the new release of Warhammer Fantasy RPG,  with a retail of £60 it’s a bit pricey but it’s very well packaged and more than meets the high standards expected from a licensed GW product. It’s produced by a company call Fantasy Flight Games. They’re also producing some 40k tie in games, so they’re one to watch. The quality of the thing makes it worth any RPGer owning. I also discovered an easy to play card game called Jurassic Wars. It’s simple but brilliant. Published by a company called Dice Maestro, it’ll be perfect for keeping the lads occupied whilst they’re waiting for a table to become free. It reminded me of a card game a friend discover at the last Gencon I went to. The game was called lunch money, and basically revolved around play ground fighting. It too was brilliant. I wonder if Chippy still has it. Mike and I left the Toy Fair at 14:00 and headed over to the Natural History Museum. We did, what I call “my guided tour” it’s an ideal way of seeing the main attractions of the museum. We started off in the Exhibition Road entrance; we had a brief look at some of the exhibits there, then up the escalator to the active earth gallery, volcanoes and earthquakes. Then we go to the earth’s treasury, precious stones and the like. Finally on to from the beginning, this is about earth’s history, from its formation to the present day and its future. This gallery also features some beautiful fossils including a croc skull from between 83 to 71 million years old, its right next to a tyrannosaurus Rex skull. Then we headed down to the marine reptile fossils. Then in to the central gallery, Mike’s a few years younger than me and he’s never been. It was quite a treat to see that he had exactly the same reaction as a 7 year old Jay did when he first saw the Diplodocus skeleton. After he’s picked his jaw off the floor we headed into the main dinosaur gallery. Whilst we were walking along the raised walkway I was explaining the exhibits to Mike, we were about halfway along when I noticed that we had a bit of a following. We’d picked up a group of about 8 children and what appeared to be their teacher. They appeared to be quite captivated by what I was telling Mike. Then in to see the Animated Rex, He may be getting on a bit, he’s about 10 years old now, but he’s still fantastic. The technology to make these things has come on in leaps and bounds. Last year Mike and I went to see the Walking With Dinosaurs Arena Experience, quite simply “WOW!” so I really do think that as lovely as  the museums Rex is, he’s well past an update. We then set off to see the blue whale, sadly the gallery is closed until March but Mike got to peek through a window to get a rough idea of the size of the thing. The fish gallery was next, well I say fish, it covers pretty much all marine life that isn’t extinct. This was also the location of my first oops. I was looking at a preserved Horseshoe Crab; it’s up ended so the underside is visible. It looks like an alien face hugger, as I studied the thing I said to Mike “that’s horrible!” this attracted the attention of a young fella who was sat sketching a crab. He looked at me a bit odd, so I clarified that I meant the Horseshoe Crab and not his drawing. He didn’t seem amused. Shortly after that I phoned Tea, during this time I said some, possibly, derogatory remarks about the Americans. These remarks attracted the attention of a young lass who glared at me even harder than the lad with the drawing. I suspect from the Paddington hard stare she was giving me that she may have been a resident of the colony. OOPS! Oh how I laughed. So after my efforts to further English/American relations and a coffee we headed into central Londinium and the Forbidden Planet. Apart from being located at what for me is a new premises on Shaftsbury Avenue, it’s pretty much the same. Staff who don’t want you to be there and seem to want to be somewhere else. The things they have for sale are mostly good, but some of it does seem a little over priced. Still I managed to get a future sonic screwdriver and a Wonder Woman key fob for Trudes, apt I think! I also picked up two tins of skeleton mints for DTWP. As we headed away from TFP, Mike wanted to pop into a DVD shop, not wanting to myself I took advantage of the time to have a smoke, a habit I should be trying harder to quit. Whilst was doing so I looked across the road and saw a shop front decorated in black and yellow and called “Orcs Nest” I have been trying to find this shop for the better part of 25 years. I finally stumble over it purely by chance. Funny how things turn out! Back on to the tube for more train riding. By this time it’s 19:00. Where the heck do all the people come from? We didn’t get on the train as it seemed half of Londonville was crammed on it; the second one had the other half. The third train was less packed so we hopped on and after a quick change we finally arrived back at O2 and the car for the run home. An hour and thirty minutes later I got home, with sore feet, and aching back and a warm welcome from DTWP and Tea. Doogs had some mints; I gave missy her key fob and the tiger’s eye and rose quartz that I got for her at the museum. Eventually I went to bed leaving Trudes cooing over the star Images 2010 catalogue, bless!

Back to work this morning, my feet are still sore and I’m completely knackered but it was a good day.

So that’s it, I suspect this is the longest entry I’ve written, hope you have enjoyed it, I certainly enjoyed the events it covers. Although I now want to take Trudes and Ben to the NHM more than ever now. If anyone’s up for a trip one Saturday let me know. I promise not to be too geeky, well, I’ll try really hard not to, I can’t promise because I get so enthusiastic when I’m there.

TTFN for now may all your dreams be monster free!

Once upon a time, (or more specifically at the dawn of time), god—lower case "g"—was getting busy with creation, as the kids these days are saying. He gave Toad a clay jar and said,

"Be careful with this. It's got death inside".

Pleased as punch and oblivious to the fact that he was about to become god's fall guy on the whole death issue, Toad promised to guard the jar. Then one day Toad met Frog.

"Let me hold the jar of death, or whatever you call it", Frog begged. With a nod to Nancy Reagan's pearls of wisdom, Toad just said 'no'. But Frog was determined, and after much whining, Toad finally gave in.

"You can hold it, but only for a second", he said.

In his excitement, Frog began to hop around and juggle the death jar from one foot to the other.

Frog... was an asshole.

"Stop" Toad cried out, but it was too late, Frog dropped the jar and it shattered to the ground. When it broke open death got out and ever since all living things have to die. Makes you wonder how much better the world would be if Frog had stuck to hocking beer. So there you have it, the mystery of death finally revealed, we all die, some of us sooner than later. Hopefully mine will be much later!

Everyday I give my best efforts, If I don't succeed I run the risk of failure!

It’s been a pleasant couple of days, as readers will know I covered the shop on Saturday, today I phoned to hint at the takings for the day but had my thunder stolen when told that she’d checked the reading when she started this morning. Still considering I took more in one day than she took over the whole of last week, I rightfully claimed bragging rights. There a bit of friendly competition going between me and Sue. When I cover for her I really want to have a good day sales wise. So presenting her with a high end of day record is always nice. Unfortunately it doesn’t take her long to steal bragging rights back. I think I have to wait until August now for another day so she’ll have plenty of time to set me a target.

This Wednesday I shall be heading off to the 2010 toy fair at Olympia. Apparently I’m being picked up at 6 in the morning. Dear god that’s early! I’ll have to have an early night tomorrow. The good thing is that the journey there and back will give me a good chance to have a proper play with the sat nav on my phone, and Google earth. Silly I know but fun all the same. I’ve also worked out that Olympia is only a mile and a half from the natural history museum, so if we leave the toy fair a bit early I could pop in quickly. The mate who I’m travelling to London with has also mentioned the possibility of visiting Forbidden Planet. I haven’t been there for years. It’s no longer on Tottenham Court Road, it’s moved to Shaftsbury Ave. I’ve seen a few things that have raised my interest, time will tell.

I was buying stuff for Obi Kat today; it occurred to me that the little fella’s quite a fussy little thing. If I buy him something like Tesco’s own brand he’ll turn his nose up at him. However if I get him Felix or Whiskas he can’t get enough of the stuff. It’s the same with DTWP, buy him supermarket own brand and he looks at it as if to say “I ain’t eating that muck!” but put pricey butter roasted chicken down for him and it’s munched up in no time. What puzzles me about this is that they won’t eat cheap food cos it may not taste nice, but they spend an awful lot of time licking their bums! How does that work?

In closing I shall leave you with this little snippet to ponder;

If a cat always lands on its feet, and buttered bread always lands butter side down, what would happen if you tied buttered bread on top of a cat?

I was built by a team of scientists, trying to create an insane robot...but it looks like they failed!

It’s all go in this part of the world, firstly Hythe high street is under threat, yes, threat! Due to the plans to build a Sainsbury’s on the site of the old seeboard offices. Hythe has two supermarkets, Waitrose and Aldi, does Aldi count as a supermarket? Both do everything that Sainsbury’s offer although Aldi doesn’t have butchers. There is a perfectly good local butcher on the high street. There’s also a blooming good fruit and veg shop. If the new shop opens, it will seriously damage the traders on the high street. It will result in more shops going out of business; it will leave a few of the more expensive shops, which will also fail as fewer people visit the high street. Whilst I rarely shop in Hythe but I do have a vested interest in one retailer, the shop where I oversee the gaming group. If that goes under I will be very sad, primarily because a good friend’s livelihood will have been lost. Secondly because I really look forward to and enjoy running the group. It would also mean that the guys would be without a structured gaming venue. I have been told that the planning permission has been suspended pending a court inquiry. One of my friends spoke to the MP for the constituency of Folkestone & Hythe asking him for his views on the matter. Mr Howards response was that he does “not get involved in local affairs!” is it me or does that sound a little odd? The local government representative is not prepared to involve himself in an issue which is going to affect around 2 -300 voters. Oh dear Mr Howard, come the next election you may find yourself looking for a new constituency. Of course him being matey with members of the Sainsbury family has no influence in his decision at all.

On a lighter note I covered the shop today, leaving the gamers to get on with it. I still had to threaten them with being eaten occasionally. Of course this has no effect on them, aside from the exact opposite. They usually roar with laughter and feign fear. The little monkeys! January has not been a good month by way of trade for the shop. People are still feeling the crunch after Christmas which means that they’re not going into town or if they do, they leave the little darlings at home. However, the first few weeks after Xmas usually means that the little darlings have oodles of cash that’s burning holes in their pockets. Of course the best place for them to part with the dosh is the shop. This is pretty much what happened today. Lots of little cherubs wanting to know more about 40k, which army is best, what paints do they need and so on. I am, of course, duty bound to give them the best advice I can and separate them from their little portraits of the Queen. The result of the day was a good end of day figure. That should please the proprietor when I take her bag down to her. Another upside of covering the shop is that, although I don’t get paid for the Saturdays I cover when herself is away. I do get stuff; this has made it very easy for me to amass such a good and varied collection.

Whilst I was at the shop I got a call from a friend saying that he was having trouble connecting to the internet. So off I went to see my bud Roger, on inspecting his computer set up I discovered that the Ethernet cable had broken at the connection and beyond my ability to repair it. Fortunately he has a wireless network card in the pc. After a bit of fiddling with WEP codes and authorisation keys I finally managed the PC to Rogers wireless router and left him a happy bunny. Then off to meet up with Trudes at her folks for tea cake. Woo hoo! Then home to feed the masterful moggie. His royal feline cuteness was as pleased to see me as ever. People who don’t like cats just won’t get how comforting being a cat owner is. You never truly own a cat; they just lodge with you until the food and the fussing run out. So far everyone who’s met my mogs has liked him, not difficult to understand considering what a great little chap he is. He does like a lap!

Tomorrow I have to make time for Obi Kat, so I’ll use the time to watch Most Haunted – The Live Series; it should be worth a giggle. Although it’s not as enjoyable as it was when Derek was in it, it’s still a very amusing pile of tosh. Well that’s tomorrow sorted, just Monday and Tuesday to get through before I have a day of to visit the 2010 toy fair which I am rather looking forward to. There’s a slim chance that I may skip out a bit early to have a quick wander through the Waterhouse and Dinosaur galleries at the Natural History Museum and a quick browse around the museum shops, the feathered Tyrannosaurs look rather cool.

In closing I leave you with this little gem:

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

If you’re living on the edge, you’re taking up too much room!

I sit here with the telly blabbering away incessantly, my main squeeze is compiling a shopping list for oriental type grub and I really fancy chocolate ice cream. Sadly it’s yet another item of food that has been relegated to the forbidden list. I’m seeing an old friend in a couple of weeks who has had diabetes for as long as I’ve known him, so I may pick his brains about how he copes. I remember him once saying that he even has to be careful with something as innocent as a grape.

I know that I prattle on a bit but it’s still a bit of a shock, I’m never ill, ok I get the odd cold or my back plays up now and then. But my last sick day was about 8 months ago. I surprise myself really, my managers are always going on about the fact that they eat healthy and exercising and blah blah blah! But they’re often off because they’re sick or their children are ill. Before I continue I must stress that I think the world of my managers, I couldn’t ask for better employers, they also have the most adorable kids. My rant here is the fact that they are so often ill. From the way I see it, living a healthy lifestyle should make you healthy. Here’s me, overweight, over 40, living on a diet of tea, sugar and lard and I’m never, well hardly, ill. Ok so I have high blood pressure and diabetes, but that’s my fault. It’s down to the way I’ve lived my life. Yes, if I scoffed less in the way of fast food and more in the way of green grub I wouldn’t be in the condition I’m in. But hey what’s done is done, is it too late to change? Probably not. The big question is do I want to change? Well that remains to be seen.

On a brighter note, I’m emotionally healthy. I have a wonderful girl in my life, and she cares deeply about me, and I feel the same way about her. I have some remarkable friends who do not judge me, when you consider that some of them have seen me at my lowest and most ridiculous. So I thank my friends for all the support they’ve given me over the years. You know who you are! I also wish one in particular a safe and happy journey on the road to his new life. I will miss him when he goes, I know that we don’t speak much, but he knows that I’m always about should he need me, all he has to do is pick up the phone.

It’s funny that eleven months ago things weren’t very positive, and I was heading down a very steep road to a very dark place. The realisation came when I went to bed at night hoping I didn’t wake up and I was almost angry with the fact that I had woken up. I felt as though I served very little purpose. But that all changed with the arrival of, oddly enough, Obi Kat at first. Then things between Tea and me grew and well the rest is history. It just goes to show that you never know what’s around the next corner. So I’m glad that I didn’t give in to some of the thoughts I had a few months ago.

A bit deep this one, probably not a good idea to publish as it may give a few people ammunition, but this is, as I often point out, my blog space. So if you don’t like it, naff off!

So all in all I’m a much happier bunny than I was and my life has taken a turn down a new road that appears to lead to a brighter future. So here’s to the future, raise your glass and wassail!

Until next time dear reader(s).

May you find a large slice of the happiness cake, with marzipan and icing? Yummo!

 

I’ve just seen on the telly box that channel 4 are going to run a documentary about the recent cold weather the blurb on it is “Early 2010 has been one of the coldest winters in Britain for decades. This documentary examines what has happened and why, the consequences, and what weather we can expect in the future.”

Um let’s think about this for a minute, it’s January, we live on an island just over a thousand miles from the Arctic Circle. The wind for the first two weeks of the month was coming from the north east, and a region of high pressure was sitting over the north Atlantic. As a result of this it got cold! Can we expect this kind of weather in the future, well DUH! This reminds me of a time when I was waiting for a bus, two elderly ladies were having the standard old persons moan about everything from the price of tea and small yappy dog food. I overheard them talking about that year’s summer, 2007. It had been particularly rubbish, it rained, a lot! Anyway one of the old dears pointed out this fact, the other agreed that the weather had been terrible but then ended the statement with the words, and I kid you not! “Someone really should do something about it!” ok first off, who? secondly, what?

Predicting, sorry, forecasting the weather is sketchy at best. In reality any forecast can only be accurate for 24 to 36 hours, beyond that there’s little point. Weather patterns are the finest example of the chaos theory you’re ever going to see. The best forecasts I’ve ever heard were from Jeremy Paxman and a KMFM dj. Paxman had been told that Newsnight was to include a weather forecast at the end of the show, much to Paxmans chagrin, but he soldiered on and his forecast went something like this. “it’s April, what do you expect!” the dj advised his listeners to look out of the nearest window, he then said that it would be like that, in this case slightly overcast, for the next hour at least. I read on a friend’s blog a week ago that the ecomentalists are no longer worried about global warming, as the recent weather is a clear indication that we’re heading into a short ice age. Well here’s a bit of news for you regarding ice ages. As long as there’s ice on the planet, we’re in an ice age!

Ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in the northern and southern hemispheres; by this definition we are still in the ice age that began at the start of the Pleistocene (because the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets still exist).

Right, I'll put my soap box away for now

ta ta.

I don’t care what you think, strawberry milkshake does count as one of my five a day!

It’s Saturday evening and I sit here typing this in the half light of the front room and the telly babbling away in the corner. Friday was the usual festivities that are Fridays, with the exception of one of the usual offenders, who’d chosen to go elsewhere, oh well, no real loss, and young Pete who called time early due to being a poorly pickle. I retired earlyish; to be joined by my most affectionate mogs for the duration of the night, there’s something very odd about having a cat sleeping beside you, particularly when he snores. Today was not a shop day, I cancelled it this week as I was expecting the gang down to throw some paint around, sadly this was not the case. So I’ve spent most of the day with my cat on my chest whilst I flicked through the sky channels. All those channels and virtually nothing to watch. So I resorted to the stuff I’d downloaded on I-player. Although one of the programmes I wanted to watch had timed out, oh bugger! Still heroes and being human are back on, and survivors has returned with a second season so it’s not all bad.

I’m not doing well sticking to my New Year resolution. I’ve managed to paint half a Necron heavy destroyer, and it’s not mine. So I must make more effort on my models, I really want to get on with the buildings, but I know that I daren’t start on those or none of the armies will get finished. Not to mention the Mumak for the lord of the rings. Plus there’s a possibility that GW are releasing some more scenery models, particularly two space marine statues. If the rumour’s true, they’ll make excellent pieces for the entrance to the destroyed city I’m building. There’s also talk of a couple of new space marine models, oh dear! Plus there may be some new Tau and Necron models looming on the edge of possible. Curse Games Workshop and their new releases!

Tomorrow looks to be quiet, taking care of the bestest moggie in the world, and then spending the rest of the day with the loveliest girlie in the world, and her little dog, who is, without a doubt, the bestest little pup ever.

So until next time I leave you with this...

Why is it that if someone tells you that there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you a wall has wet paint you will have to touch it to be sure?

Yes! Well, I'm polymerized tree sap and you're an inorganic adhesive, so whatever verbal projectile you launch in my direction is reflected off of me, returns on its original trajectory and adheres to you.

I have come to the conclusion that TV is a load of rubbish, well almost.

This evening (Monday) there have been four episodes of three soaps a couple of current affairs documentaries and some reality TV. I’m not adverse to the fact that people enjoy soaps, even though they’re primarily tales of human misery, if you didn’t want to open a wrist before watching one you probably do afterwards. The thing is, I like sci-fi, and I make no secret of it, all my friends are aware of it and a fair few share my enthusiasm for it. Last year we had very little by way of sci-fi, we had Ashes to Ashes, whilst technically not science fiction I do enjoy it. We also had a couple of doctor who specials. There was the abysmal failure that was Demon and Primeval. Which was cancelled by ITV, the reason behind the cancellation was that ITV wants to concentrate on more adult drama. What drama? celebrities falling on their backsides, Ant & Dec, washed up singers turning to opera, Ant & Dec, some stupid dating show which involves some egotistical twonk trying desperately to impress a couple of dozen brainless bimbos, Ant & Dec, sport, Ant & Dec, more soap and just in case we feel we’re missing out, Ant & Dec! the BBC aren’t any better, Saturday nights line up comprised of a ridiculous game show which features the contestants trying to injure themselves jumping on giant inflatable balls, another game show in a similar vein. Then there’s another pointless talent show, this one is people throwing themselves around like an epileptic octopus having 4000 volts shove up its left nostril. Sundays are just as bad, the closest thing to anything entertaining was a program that centred on some mad bloke being stuck in a jungle trying to get back to his wedding. Still, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, well sort of. There’s a second season of survivors, a third and final season of ashes to ashes, the remake of the prisoner that seems interesting. But we’ll have the usual pile of mindless rubbish that involves making phone calls to determine which talentless numpty makes it to next week’s brain melting instalment. Some people reading this may get the impression that I don’t like these sort of programs because I’m jealous of the people that have the testicular fortitude to put themselves forward for it, exactly the opposite, I think that some of the people really do have talent. Having sat through last year’s X factor the majority of the finalists could sing. what makes me fume is the fact that the ones who get voted off still get some sort of recording contract whilst the ones that get through to the final are rarely heard of again. It must make the winner angry when they find out that the fella that went out in week four has a number one single, whilst the single they released got to number 5; it makes you wonder who the real winners are. Well obviously it’s the production company. They make a fortune from the people who phone in every week and then they make a fortune from the record and merchandise sales. day time TV’s just as bad, it’s all about selling your tat and making your house look nice. Except not nice how you would like it, oh no that wouldn’t be fun. Instead they get a couple interior designers to redo the house telling you that the old broken dining chair that they spent £400 on, then another £80 doing that up is going to look fabulous in your brand new art deco kitchen. 400 quid on one chair? And that’s broken! So you need seating for a minimum of 4 people at the table, that’s at least 1600 quid gone straight away. If it were proper reality house doing up, they’d take the 1600 quid to Argos and do up the whole bloomin’ kitchen.

Now I know I'm old, I’ll be saying things like “what happened to tunes you could whistle to?” Right I’m off to watch I’m a celebrity’s opera skating big brother on ice, followed by the latest tragedy on East Coronation Farm.

Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. then you’re a mile away, and you have their shoes!

It’s the weekend, only another eleven to go until I can have a decent amount of time off work. It’s a bit daft really, here I am having just returned to work after having a week and a half away and I’m looking forward to April already, that’s when my leave renews. I plan to have a long weekend with Tea where we can just kick back and chill. It’s possible that we’ll be living together by then, which also means that Jedi Master Obi Kat Kenobi will be living back with Tea as well. I’m sure he’ll settle right back in with few issues. Although April may be a bit ambitious and the move may occur later in the year. There are a few things to consider before the final decision is made.

You know there are times when I really wish I could tell certain people to just grow up, I try very hard to keep this blog fairly family friendly so I won’t express my full thoughts here, but there are a few things I’d like to clear up. I don’t need Viagra, nor do I need any part of my anatomy lengthened or widened. I also have no use for a Rolex watch, real or fake, to be honest, I don’t like Rolex watches. In fact I think they’re a bit dull. I don’t require a Russian, Vietnamese, Philippine or Taiwanese bride, besides; I don’t think the missus would be too impressed. I don’t want to give my bank details to some nutter in Nigeria, and I don’t want a share in the finances of a dead banker. So would you please stop putting my email address forward for all this crap! Dear god there are some morons around, I mean any idiot with half a brain will realise that I’m bound to figure out who the complete back-birth is, fortunately I don’t use the e-mail address that’s being put onto all these stupid sites and only a handful of people have it. I think it only fair that if you’re going to put some ones e-mail address forward for a ton of useless crap, they’d have the courtesy to provide it to some useful ones too. I’d love free samples of useful stuff like beer and chocolate, but seeing as the person I suspect it to be don’t have a real world address for me, I guess I’ll just have to continue adding the junk I get through to my spam filter. I thought I’d seen the last of brain dead morons when I quit working in catering, but I guess it doesn’t matter what you do and no matter how hard you try you’re still going to encounter those who can only count to 20 by taking their shoes and socks off, and are clear evidence that cousins shouldn’t breed.

On the brighter side of things we still have snow and the country is in the grip of yet another ice age, and there’s now a shortage of rock salt and grit. A man on the news, probably related to my phantom spammer, said that the winter was unexpected, what were they expecting? That autumn was going to give it a miss and slip straight into spring? Apparently a third of the world’s rock salt comes from a mine in Northern Ireland, so if we stopped exporting it and importing less from Russia we’d have enough. But then that the mind set of this government, export 6 million tonnes of stuff out of the country and import three million to meet demands.

I’ve just been reminded of something I miss, well more someone than some thing. That someone is a fella called Derek Acorah. Now for those of my readers who are not familiar with him, Derek is a spirit medium who was involved with a program called Most Haunted. He is hilarious, if you have a spare few minutes go to you tube and search him out, in particular look for a video labelled “Most Haunted, Mary Loves Dick!” no it’s not rude, it’s in connection with a notorious highwayman. It is, without a doubt one of his funniest moments.

So I shall leave you with that and hope that it brings smile to your face.

Stay safe and warm and I like Galaxy chocolate!

Superior?! You're not superior to an amoeba with special needs..

So here we are, 24 hours later and we still have snow, woo hoo! We’ve had about 4 inches, yes, dearest readers, and a whole four inches. I know I’ve opened up the potential for rude comments and other opportunities, but they’re all a bit too obvious so I wouldn’t bother. When I look at the photo’s from t’other side of the Atlantic, I sort of feel I’m missing out on something. Wisconsin has had a few feet of snow, and parts of Massachusetts have had about the same. Still I got sent home from work early and it looks like we’re closing early tomorrow. The problem is that the snow could affect the plans for the weekend, but they’re a hardy bunch so I doubt that a bit of snow will deter them.

I haven’t let Obi out in the snow, although he did have a look out of the kitchen window and gave me a look that said “sod that!” he then went and curled up next to a radiator, can’t say I blame him, I’d do the same if I could fit under one.

Apparently England is experiencing the lowest temperatures for around 30 years, so much for global warming; oh I do love a bit of controversy!

In just under three weeks I’m off to this year’s toy fair, I am a tad excited, particularly seeing the character options display, at the last toy fair I went to I had to sign a nondisclosure form before I went into the doctor who section, not disclosing anything was very difficult. Sadly I know for a fact that I won’t be allowed to take pictures, you need a media pass to do that, so I won’t have any sneaky peaks at the new releases to publish. Still, it’s still worth a visit, and I shall be with good company too, which is always good. The other thing I’m looking forward to is the release of a game called Mass Effect 2. I haven’t bought a good game in a while and ME2 looks to be very good. I’ve gathered up all my Never winter disks, seeing one of my mates mentioning it quite regularly in his blog has given me the bug again. I’m fairly sure that my laptop will run it and the expansions, it won’t run NW2, for which I discovered yesterday that there’s another expansion set for it. Something else I have to start visiting again is Guild Wars; I would imagine that my character’s extremely bored as I haven’t played in well over a year. Sadly my laptop won’t run it all so it’ll have to go on the main PC. Which is a shame, I don’t even think it’s worth trying. Still it’ll be nice to stomp my way through the Forgotten Realms again. Now if only I can remember where I left my sword...

Oh how I miss the regular Monday night role-plays, we used to have such fun. Especially a certain mad spell caster who had a passion for incinerating donkeys. My our PC’s dined well that night. Fireball in a hay loft, I ask ya! I need to start writing a campaign for The Call of Cthulhu RPG; it’s been a while since I last ran it. I have basic story outlined but fleshing it out is the hard bit for me. My friend Philip was probably the best ‘thuhlu ref I’ve ever known. He could run the game on the fly and no matter how hard we tried; he always managed to get round anything we threw at him, although I’ll never forgive him for the incident with the mirror in the basement. (Toe rag)

So the weekend may be closer than usual due to the weather, and probably not as long as I’d like.

That’s it for now, fairly random this one, but I shall leave you with this thought, why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

I'm sorry, guys. I never meant to hurt you. Just to destroy everything you ever believed in.

And lo he did look upon the land and saw that it was white and fluffy. Yes my precious little minions, we have SNOW! Not real snow, you know, the 6 foot deep in 35 minutes kind. NO! We have the 2 inches over night and the whole of England goes into panic buying and stocking up on bread milk and custard, or is the custard bit just me?

DTWP made the best of the snow, running around like a little Tasmanian devil snuffling in the snow. Every time he lifted his head, he had a chin full of snow, he did look very cute, bless ‘im

Anyhoo here we are, half way through the week and I’m absolutely shattered. My health has taken a bit of a down turn. A visit to the doctor revealed that my BP’s a bit high, although I think other things that are ailing me have lead to that. Still not much to worry about I’m sure it’ll sort itself eventually.

I’ve been discussing a short break wiv da misses, those who read my last entry may remember that I wrote about returning to Lyme Regis for either a long weekend or even a week. After much consideration I thought that the Isle of Wight would be a better venue as there’s more things to do when not fossil collecting or star gazing. I planned to visit the IoW in September of last year but other things got in the way of it and I didn’t actually do any of the things I actually planned to do, ah well, there’s always this year.

I wonder if the snow will affect work, a few years ago we had to close because of the stuff; I’d quite like a snow day. I very much doubt the minibus will get out so at least one of the team will get a snow day, which good cos at the mo, he very much needs a bit of time. Having gone through what he’s going through, albeit much younger, I can empathise with him. I know that those who know him and have a faith will be saying a prayer for him.

Well that’s about it for now, until next time.

Be careful out there, it’s cold, wet and slippery. Unless you’re located between the tropics, in which case it’s mild at worst.

I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an overabundance of schooling. So why don't we just ignore each other until we go away?

So where’s this snow everyone’s babbling on about? I have friends and family in the USA, the friends aren’t too far away from Chicago and the family are south of Boston, and they’ve had snow. According to the met office this is possibly the coldest winter we’ve had for about 30 years. Ok it’s cold. But so far the best we’ve had in my end of the country is an inch, and that’s bought the region to a standstill. It’s a shame really cos I really like snow, I like the way it seems to muffle sound and how cool, no pun intended, everything looks covered in a big white blanket. I’ve half a mind to create an e-mail address so my loyal reader can send the best of their snow pics, but I think that would open a door to all manner of unpleasantness so I best not. Shame really! Still the people who really know me have ways and means of mailing me their pics so I shall settle for that.

I know it’s only January, but I’m actually thinking about a spring or summer break. I’d love to head back to Lyme Regis and Charmouth again but the problem with the Jurassic coast is that it gets heavily harvested by professionals and nothing much gets left for the amateur. South Wales has quite a few areas of Jurassic rocks so there’s always an option. I’d also like to return to Cornwall but there are very few fossiliferous areas. The places I’d really love to take my hammers and chisels are, of course the Dakotas and Montana in North America and Alberta in Canada, but financially speaking that extremely unrealistic. Unless, of course there’s a lottery win between now and then. Of course a trip away would have to involve the other half, DTWP and possibly super kid. I really want to take him and herself up to the Natural History Museum. I will never forget the expression on my lads face when he saw the Diplodocus skeleton. He was absolutely awestruck, it took him a few minutes to pick his chin up off the floor, and that was after seeing all the marine reptiles in the Waterhouse Gallery. Another visit is well over due but I think I shall leave for another few months until the Deep Sea exhibition opens.

The other thing I’d like to do, if I get the chance, is to return to Lyme is take my telescope, the camp site I like there is in a designated area of dark skies, so the light pollution is at a minimum. This means that so much more is visible; not only with the naked eye but through a good pair of binoculars or a good scope the wonders available to see are phenomenal. So a trip to Lyme would allow me to indulge two of my hobbies, three, if I take a couple of books. The only problem I foresee is keeping my two companions amused. If you’re not collecting fossils or looking through a telescope, there’s not a great deal to do whilst you there. There is a good pub called the Talbot Arms, they do a great selection ales of ales, including some from Sharp’s in Cornwall which is where Doom Bar comes from and Otter Brewery which makes an ale called Otter Head which I also find a bit good. The food was also good the last time I was there. I had a steak that was done to perfection. Getting back to the issue of things to do there are a few local attraction to visit, so a rainy day excursion wouldn’t be ruled out.

Anyway, that’s a while of yet, when herself reads about the possibility of a break in Dorset she’s bound to mention our forth coming nuptials, have we settled on a date yet? Last I heard it was October, Davey, you may want to take it off your forth coming events list until we can confirm a date. Oh she’s gonna hurt me.

I wonder how difficult it is to type with broken fingers.

Until next time, be good to yourself, and each other!

Love & blessings

Kalon

Kalon’s blog additional: still no luck on the Christmas Pud situation, I may have to rally the troops and declare war!

Kalon’s blog, Stardate 63513.7: there has been a development on the Christmas pudding front, all hands have been ordered to stand down and red alert status has been deactivated.

I reckon you've got concussion - I couldn't give a tart's furry cup if half your brains are falling out. Don't ever waltz into my kingdom acting king of the jungle.

It’s been an interesting day; I was late for work, only by five minutes, but all the same late. I do hope this isn’t going to be a trend for the coming year. I get really cross with myself when I’m late; it sets me up for a bad day. Fortunately today was the first day back after the Christmas break so seeing the guys was something to look forward to. That helped to set me up for a good day.

I had an interesting series of e-mails today, all from a women’s health clinic, I suspect some simple minded fool thought that it would be amusing to put my address on the mailing list. It’s some complete brain below with too much time on their hands. It’s all well and good but I’m fairly sure I know who it is and I hope they enjoy themselves looking for new and interesting ways to endeavour to bother me. With luck they’ll visit the wrong kind of site and pick a virus or spyware and then have a hacker go through their drive. I know it’s very unlikely but I do find the image I have in my head of the look of terror when they realise they’ve had personal details copied very amusing.

Something else that amuses me is how people find it ok to treat others with contempt and disrespect but don’t like it when the tide turns. A few months ago I posted a few somewhat unpleasant remarks on my blog, one person felt that the remarks were aimed directly at them and demanded that I apologise and retract the post. So in the interest of peace and harmony I did as I had been asked. Now irrespective of who or what the remarks were in reference to, I never once wrote anything unpleasant about serious illness, mental or otherwise. However, it has been bought to my attention that it’s absolutely fine for other people to make unpleasant comments about a serious that can, and does, devastate lives and effects those left behind for years to come. Now that’s wrong! Not to mention downright nasty. I don’t care what disputes people may have with each other, but wishing someone had died of said illness is beyond evil. Because what that person is doing is basically saying that they wished that every person closely involved felt the pain of losing a mother or father, daughter or son, sister or brother, and some people have the nerve to consider themselves human! It’s a shame that people carry grudges, I for one try my hardest not to. I like to think that I’m a fairly easy going chap, yes I can be annoying and a bit full on, but I like to think that everyone has some good in them. There are a few exceptions, Hitler, Idi Amin, Osama Bin Laden, Papa Doc, the list is endless. How one person could wish another die a painful and agonising death is beyond me. Having firsthand experience of how such an illness does affect people and families, I would never express such thoughts toward another person. I’m no saint; in fact I’m far from it. I may have a laugh at another’s expense but not where it result in serious injury or illness. I think that such attitude is bad enough when you know the person the remarks are aimed at, but formulating an opinion on someone you’ve never met and your basing such an opinion on hearsay and second hand information, well that’s just stupid.

Anyway the long and the short of it is this, this is my blog, and I shall post what I wish. If you feel that any of the comments I make are offensive then feel free to express your views in a mature and adult manner. Don’t try to use the text here to endeavour to gain information about my friends or family by reading between the lines. If reading my blog makes you want to vomit, don’t read it! If however, you find that something I write makes you smile or stirs up an emotion then I’m pleased!

Anyway, peace, love and harmony to you all,

blessed be.

One cries because one is sad. For example, I cry because others are stupid, and that makes me sad.

I’ve had a nice weekend; the 40k group had its first session of the year. Whilst it was quiet it was good to be back in the swing of things. I’ve introduced a new set of house rules; sadly they’re already upsetting Imperial Guard players. I was assailed with cries of “I can’t make a combat patrol squad limited to 500 points” “wah blub”. Oh dear, what have I done? Now I know that my loyal readers won’t have a clue what I’m talking about, but rest assured the new rules will make for some unhappy bunnies, ooh I’m so wicked. (Tee hee)

On my return from the shop, I spoke to the missus as I got a text saying she needed to ask me something. She phoned me and said that her wee man was coming over for the night and that they would be off to the flicks on Sunday, it turned out that it was, in fact, two things she needed to ask me. The first was if I could keep DTWP company whilst they went to see Sherlock Holmes. Now anyone who knows me well will know that I’m not overly keen on small dogs, but this little fella is one of the most friendly and affectionate pups I’ve ever encountered, the second in fact. The first being a very distinguished Cairn Terrier. So the opportunity to spoil DWTP was too good to miss, plus it would give mother and son a chance to spend some quality time together. They haven’t spent a great deal of time with each for a while, he was very ill before Christmas and given the fact that my girlies immune system is shot it wasn’t a good idea for them to be around each other. Then herself became poorly. So finally they got some quality time together. Oh yeah, the second favour, the boy plays 40k and about a year ago he bought a Necron battle force. He made a start on painting and putting them together, but with homework and schooling and family time, he hasn’t had much time to get on with the models. So I was asked to give him a hand, I like painting miniatures; it’s my favourite thing about the gaming hobby. From opening the box, prepping the components and getting the model finished is something I really enjoy. Fortunately Necrons are easy to paint and I should have them finished in a few days, although I have to leave a few for my future step son to complete. Bless ‘im. He’s a fantastic lad and I think we’re gonna get on really well. He has a sense of humour, he’s polite and respectful, (most of the time) but every lad around his age can have their moments. But all in all he’s a nice kid. The worst thing about the whole thing is seeing missy virtually broken over the fact that he’s not with her. New Year’s Day was probably the worst; fortunately the departure of a certain time travelling medic gave her the perfect chance to let some of the pain out. Which in a strange way, I think it did some good.

Tomorrow I return to work, oh joy! Still it could be worse, couldn’t it? Seriously I am looking forward to Monday, how scary is that? It’ll be nice to see the guys and hear all about their Christmas break.

Oh yeah I would like to express my displeasure at the way I was teased with Christmas Pud earlier today! Using one of my favourite examples of festive fare is decidedly naughty! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! (Tee hee!)

Luvs ya hunnee!

I bought these Star Wars sheets but they turned out to be much too stimulating to be compatible with a good night's sleep. I don't like the way Darth Vader stares at me.

Well here we are firmly placed in 2010, out with the old and in with the new. It was a fairly un-typical Christmas for me, aside from the standard sitting in with the telly box and going to bed at stupid o’clock in the morning then getting up sometime close to midday, the main difference was, dare I say it, DIET! Foul word indeed. This blooming diabetes thing is, to be honest, a right royal pain in the wrongun, the 25^th December came and went and not a crumb of Christmas pud, I had trifle, which I think is the best dessert in the world, but I also really like Christmas pud. Well this year I had none and I feel robbed, yes dear readers, ROBBED! Those who know me well are more than aware that I have a very sweet tooth. When I go out to eat I choose my pudding first then base the main meal on that, it means I look forward to pudding more because I choose a meal that has strong savoury flavours which tends to bring out the richness of something containing high quantities of sugar. In fact my ideal meal would be three courses and every course was some type of sugary naughtiness. In fact as I’m typing this I can smell treacle sponge. All I need now is a whiff of custard and I’m sorted. I got some really good pressies, 3 fossils one of which is 70 million year old reptile poop, otherwise known as coprolite, a Spinosaur tooth and a Mososaur tooth. Each one is a thing of beauty. I would love to visit Montana, North Dakota and Alberta to dig for fossils; A Tyrannosaurus Tooth would be a joy to find. I also received Star Trek and half blood prince on DVD plus a really cool book titled “why Steve is late” it couldn’t be better suited. Over the last few months I’ve regularly been late to work in the morning. If I were my boss I would have given me my marching orders. I consider myself very fortunate to work with brilliant folk.

I have a shop day on the 23^rd of the month and a trip to this year’s toy fair at the Olympia on the 27^th and astronomy club at the end of the month. On the 30^th there may be a chance to resolve my Xmas pud dilemma when we all meet up at casa Manky for a very special event. One of my close friends has a calendar of sorts that lists the years forth coming events, it impresses me how he does it, I can just about manage a month ahead, let alone a whole year. So far I can think of five upcoming events for the next 12 months and that’s not including birthdays. So I shall sit back and watch the next 363 days pass by, hopefully without too much strife.

Finally, if you want to see some really amusing, buy your missus a transformer, then sit back and giggle your socks off, inwardly of course, don’t let her know that you find the expression of pure frustration on her face absolutely side splitting. I think I may have to by her another one just for the giggle.

I realise, of course that I’m going to be severely chastised for the above comments, but what’re you gonna do!

So as I prepare to howl in agony, I shall bid you farewell until more random thoughts leap into my head like a leapy, springy thing.

Ttfn!

At this point I should inform you that I intend to form my own team, and destroy the molecular bonds that bind your very matter together, and reduce the resulting particulate chaos to tears.

So, in the words of Noddy Holder, here it is merry Christmas. I finished work at about 13:00 yesterday, being the 23^rd, and after a quick pint in the pub I bid my colleagues (minions) the best of the season and headed into town to make the last of my chrimbo purchases. Oh, by the way, I had a pint of Bombadier in the pub, don’t like it and won’t be having it again! So there! Ner!

The local shop-lifting centre and ASBO’s were thronging, it was chav central, oh how I wished for more time to nurse an unfeasibly large coffee and watch the mad people running around screaming at the offspring or at significant others from 2 feet away or into a mobile, why do people insist on having complete hissies in public? The shop rang out, not with festive music but the high pitched squealing of Chardonnay or Tiffneeeee, get your F**kin’ ar*e back ‘ere an’ ‘elp me sort yer bruvvers sh*t aht! By sh*t I believe the 17 year old mother meant Christmas gifts, honestly chavlish is truly a foreign language to me. I have, however, worked out that in order to be fluent in the lingo you have to swear every other syllable. It’s quite an art form really. After the claustrophobic hell that was the town, I headed home to the peace and tranquillity that is home and a few hours with master Obi Kat before heading up to her royal scrumptiousness. We had a quiet evening watching the telly box and doing general nothingness. Today I arose feeling less than festive and had quite a severe case of the grumps. But Tea challenged me to a wrapping paper tube fencing match. After declaring myself the victor, mainly down to the fact that Tea broke her sword, I felt a touch cheerier and headed off to tend to Lord Obi Kat. I won’t see him now until Saturday so I made sure that he has plenty of nosh to cover the time I’m away. We’re off down to Tea’s folks for the 25^th.

There’s a small possibility that young Al and his new lady love will visit tonight, it will be nice if they do as we’ll get to meet the lass that’s put the smile back on the face of a very good mate. I must admit that I was starting to worry about him. But now he’s all loved up and that’s fantastic. A few months ago both of us had given up any hope of the chance of happiness and then it smacks us in the face saying “OI, I’m here! All you need to do is notice me!” so here we both are turning into big old sop monsters and being all besotted and stuff. Good innit!

It’s less than 24 hours until David Tenants penultimate performance as The Doctor, I really hope it’s worth the wait. So that’s it for now, I don’t expect this to be my final blog of the year; I’ll have tomorrow and pressies to babble on about. Woo Hoo.

I hope that my readers get everything they wish for this year; to be honest I just want the world to get on a bit better!

Joyeux Noel!

I am a leaf on the wind…watch how I soar.

So it’s nearly Christmas, I covered the shop on Saturday it was a bit of a dullness. After being told that it would be really busy due to it being the last Saturday before chrimbo. It wasn’t! I froze half to death and all for very little. Tea visited which was cool and when I got to the shop in the morning two mates were waiting for me to open up. Custom came in slowly, and not a great deal of them were spending. I really enjoy covering the shop; I quite look forward to it. But I can see how frustrating it must be for Sue, considering her livelihood depends on it. A couple of bad days can mean the difference between carrying on or giving up. If I have a bad day at work I can go home and leave it behind, and if necessary I can deal with it the next day. If sue has a bad day, she has no choice but to take it home, worry about it and the worry if the next day’s going to be as bad. So I have a deep respect for what Sue does. That includes the fact that she hands over a quarter of the shop floor to the gaming group every Saturday. It’s only December 21^st and 2009 has just over a week to go but I’ve made a resolution already, only a silly one but a resolution none the less. Next year I plan to put more effort into my miniature painting. I’ve had some of the models almost 2 years and they’re still in cellophane wrappers. So I intend to devote at least 2 evening per week to finishing the space marine army. Although considering that it’s my main army I don’t expect it’ll ever be truly finished. Certain games show where the weak areas in the force are and that result in me buying models to fill that gap. I will get on with the Tau and complete it, all I need for that is another 2 – 3 piranhas. The Necron are my only complete army, well I say complete, there’s one or two units that I could benefit from having in the force but I’m waiting until they get released in plastic before I add them to the ‘cron force. The other thing that I need to concentrate on are the buildings. I have some beautiful buildings waiting to be put together and painted, when it’s finished the game board will look amazing. After an uneventful day at the shop I had to rush home to get ready for the staff Christmas night out. Earlier in the year there had been much discussion as to where we should go. Last year we went to a local hotel for dinner and a disco. We had such a good time that we agreed to go again, and again we had a really good time. I got home about midnight-ish and watched the latest episode of lie to me. Then off to bed, accompanied by the bestest moggie in the world. I woke up not too late and mooched about for a bit, then I phoned Tea, who had spent the night with her son and her folks. I suggested that I made my way down there and we could go back to hers from there, I bussed down to as near as I could get then walked alongside the canal. Seeing the canal all frozen was nice, I like seeing it like that, it makes me want to walk along it. Although I think it would have to get considerably colder for the ice to be thick enough for it to be walked on. When we got home we settled down to some telly and a take away, naughty I know but neither of us felt like cooking. Although Tea has yet to sample my culinary skills. I have some provisional dates for fun things in the first few weeks of 2010. I’m covering the shop again one Saturday in January, the 30^th of Jan is going to be a sort of second Christmas party for a good mate. The 6^th of February is the fossil road show at the museum of Canterbury. This is a really good, if somewhat small event, fossil enthusiasts from all over gather together to show off and discuss all things paleontological. Also in February is a trip to Tenterden to see an ELO tribute band. I like ELO so that should be a cool night out, particularly as my girly’s going to be coming with me and some of my closest friends. Not forgetting the toy fair at the end of January, woo hoo! Apparently there’s a horde of us going. So all in all the first few weeks of the New Year are going to be rather busy.

Well that’s about it for now, until next time. TTFN

a little festive funny

I hope it makes my readers giggle as much as it did me, enjoy

All this talk of dry fruitcake made me pine for the days of yore when I would help grandma make Christmas cake. Here's the recipe (as best as I can remember it, it's a little fuzzy):

You'll need the following: a cup of water, a cup of sugar, four large eggs, two cups of dried fruit, a teaspoon of baking soda, a teaspoon of salt, a cup of brown sugar, lemon juice, nuts, and a bottle of whiskey. NOTE: Whiskey may be replaced with your favourite beverage. Being of Scottish ancestry, me and grandma naturally used Scotch.

Directions:

Sample the whiskey to check for quality.

Take a large bowl. Check the whiskey again. To be sure it is the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat. Turn on the electric mixer, beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar and beat again.

Make sure the whiskey is still okay. Cry another tup. Turn off the mixer. Break two leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers, pry it loose with a drewscriver.

Sample the whiskey to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who cares? Check the whiskey. Now sift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Spoon. Of sugar or something. Whatever you can find.

Grease the oven. Turn the cake tin to 350 degrees. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Throw the bowl out of the window, check the whiskey again and go to bed.

yup, that went well!

Hello my little crispier crumb cookies. Well it’s been some time since I last put finger to keyboard and writ something down. To be honest not a great deal has been happening, except for the regular painting parties attending the abode of #6 and I. A couple of trips to see nursey, apart from a drop in BP, nothing new there either. As I type this out, I have to say that I am once again hacked off with the county’s weather, the Geminids, a meteor shower, are set to be astounding with a ZHR of up to 100. my knees have been very bad this weekend. It’s quite uncomfortable walking and kneeling is extremely painful. With Christmas looming I received an early chrimbo pressie from my girly. She took me to see pink at the O2 on Thursday 10^th December. Wow! Not that that sums it up, it was spectacular. The small blonde one performed most of the songs from the funhouse album, some of her earlier stuff and a couple of covers, the most fantastic of which was Queens Bohemian Rhapsody. The main guitarist was absolutely awesome, although when we were at the show and he was giving it the large I thought Tea said he was awful, silly me! We stayed with a friend of teas, Poppy. She seemed sweet enough and a very good hostess. On Friday we had a saunter around Bromley. Initially I was unimpressed. It’s just another town on the outskirts of London, but then we found the market stall to end all market stalls. I found three of my Christmas pressies there. Now when I say three of my pressies, I actually do mean pressies for me. As much as I enjoy the festive season, I don’t like leaving people to guess what to get me. I’ve told Tea what I want and she’s passed that info onto others. So back to the stall, after some serious thinking I suggested to the light of my life that I would like to buy myself a piece of coprolite and a Spinosaur tooth. Whilst browsing the rest of the beautiful fossils on display I noticed a large Mososaur tooth in matrix. It is amazing to think that a couple of hundred million years ago it was being used to eat marine beasties. So Tea said that if I bought it, she’d refund the money and I could have it as a pressie. I also found a stall that sold note books, not just ordinary notebooks. These are the kind that could easily belong to a magic user from any sword and sorcery RPG or some ancient forgotten tome such as alazifs necronomicon. So in the New Year, tea and I plan to visit Bromley again this time armed with a bit more cash. Not to mention the brilliant little comic shop she spotted for me. That girl knows me so well. The problem with buying fossils is that you’re not the first person to see it. When I’ve cracked open chunks of blue lias at Lyme I know that I’m the first human eyes to see the fossil inside, and daylight hasn’t touched it for millions of years. It does give you quite a buzz. So now I really want to head down to Pett and stroll along cliff end. Even more than ever, to return to Lyme and Charmouth. I have a couple of things in mind for my betrothed, and I plan to do a bit of shopping in the next few days. I also have to find a clockwork radio for my secret Santa at work. Both Tesco and boots claim to have one within the price range agrees, but I also have one reserved at Argos, should the need arise.

The maintenance on the house is coming on well, the kitchen is looking good and just needs a lick of paint on the ceiling, the bathroom is also done and now just needs the shower curtain re-installed. The guys have stained the banisters and it looks spectacular. All that needs to be done now is paint the dining room and bathroom ceiling, and then do the gloss work. I also need to have a major sort out and tidy both the front and back rooms, and sort out my bedroom. Whilst it’s not painfully important as I won’t be using it a great deal, I will need to use for a couple of weeks at the end of January/beginning of February.

Whilst the guys were down today we discussed whether we would be buying pressies for #6s Christmas. It’s been agreed that a contribution towards buying him a bike would be a good idea. If enough people put in on it he should end up with a fairly good one. Tea understands that when he comes home I will be spending some time with him, but he will, hopefully, be spending time with us. I don’t really want him spending too much time on his own shut indoors too much for the first few months so I will try and get him out as much as I can. With luck he’ll start coming along to astronomy club on Fridays. I know he’s talked of getting a new scope and we shall make a day out of that. I think a trip to telescope house is in the offing. Hopefully the old chap will get use of a vehicle from time to time.

Anyways it’s Monday tomorrow and the start of a new week, as of tomorrow there’s only eleven days until Christmas and 48 days until my birthday. Well that’s it for now, I know only a handful of folk are reading my blog at the mo, and I hope they continue to drop in. So until the whim to ramble on about nothing in particular, ta ta all, and if I don’t write a blog in the next 11 days, I shall take this opportunity to wish my handful of faithful readers a very merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous new year.

Deck the halls and all that.

I do what the rice krispies tell me to do!

You won’t see me write this that often; I’ve had a cracking day at work. I was let loose in the workshop and got to play with the band saw. Oh such fun! Every time I go into the wood work area I look at all the machinery such as big drills, cross cut saws, table saws, belt sanders and the like I cringe. Particularly when I see any of the guys using them, I should think to myself “wow, they’re really empowered” instead I find myself thinking “dear god that’s a hand gone!” it’s even worse when I see someone using a lathe, I mean a length of wood spinning at 1500 rpm could strip the skin off your arm. The band saw is one or more lost finger and as for the belt sander, let’s not go there. Fortunately the workshop instructors are amazing, health and safety is the number one priority. The worse injury we’ve had in all the years I’ve been there is a splinter. Now I’m no expert, but I think that’s a fairly fantastic track record. So today I got to play with these instruments of pain and death. I can almost envision my faithful reader on the edge of his/her seat in anticipation of what I did in the workshop, well wait no longer. I was cutting out wooden animals. I can do carpentry me. Maybe I was the son of a carpenter in a past life! Hmmmm! I dunno, all these new found skills that are coming to the fore, I can do gardening, carpentry, and yesterday I repaired a leak in the ceiling of the numeracy & literacy room. Damn, I should hire myself out as a handy man, if it’s broke I can fix it, well, sort of, I can bodge it to the best of my abilities. You’re impressed I can tell.

So on to a different subject, do you know what a 419 is? Well it’s an e-mail that you get from some poor sap who claims that they are the heir to a not unsubstantial fortune. Several million to be precise. Well they send you a mail and relate a tale of woe about how their parents, husband, wife was killed by some very dodgy people and they now have to get shot of the money before the bad guys catch up with them and get their mucky little mitts on it. So they ask you to provide your bank details so that they can make a goodwill deposit to show how genuine they are. Oh how I chortle when I get these. And I have such fun with them. Sending fake bank details is hilarious. They get really stressed and tell me that they’re gonna get me and my families, always worth a giggle.

Three days until the weekend, tomorrow’s hump day, not as rude as it sounds. When Wednesday’s over and done with it’ll be the downhill run to Friday.

My wedding plans have encountered a hiccup and we may have to put it back a bit, oh she’s gonna be miffed when she reads that. It looks as if I won’t be taking new wifey and stepson off to Lyme for a few days. The way things are looking we may have to settle for a weekend at new beach. Seriously though we must sort the whole shebang out, madam’s getting fretty and I think the fact that I’m remaining laid back about the whole thing is bothering her. Something will come up and everything will be fine. There is a strong possibility that I’ll be eating my words in a few months, and an even stronger chance that I’ll have a few bruises after herself has read this paragraph. Tee hee!

Well I’m off to try out my new found skill of saving the planet, saving the planet from the evil that is chocolate, and as for the vile doughnut of doom, I shall end its reign of terror.

Wish me luck faithful reader, ‘tis a rotten job, but someone’s gotta do it. Hand me the spoon, for I see the fruit trifle of despair approaching. Have at thee foul beast!

Splat, squelch, nom, nom, nom aaaaaaargh. The dreaded curse of indigestion, but I shall soldier on!

there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophies!

I was recently asked what made me want to start up a paranormal research group. To be honest there’s a couple of reasons, the first is simple, those who know me well will know that my interest in such things has been long. I’m open minded to these things but I think I’ve also become a little more sceptical in my progressing years. Secondly, and here’s the odd bit, recent events have triggered my interest again. Back in the summer I was frying a couple of eggs, I was stood in the kitchen, on my own, as I went about the business of egg frying; I heard a distinct voice say “food!” I’m not easily spooked but I did have a shiver run down my spine. Another event happened at night, a few weeks later I was in bed all snuggled up and dozing off. I was thinking to myself that I should take the covers off for a bit as I was getting too warm. Moments later they removed themselves. Now I’ve put this down to the fact that I was half asleep and as I moved I made the quilt fall. Sometime later, again in the kitchen, I heard the sound of cutlery being rattled on a plate. I’d not long had dinner and the plate was on the side waiting to be washed up. When I went to the kitchen to make a cuppa I looked at the plate and wondered if the knife and fork had been placed on the plate together or spread apart as they now appeared. Having read many publications on the subject, I decided to do a simple clearing. So of I trotted to my local Wiccan outlet and purchased the necessary bits. As I went to pay for them, the nice young lass in the shop asked if I had a problem. I asked what she meant and she pointed out what the things I was buying could be used for. I told her about the three events, to which she suggested that I offer a choice. She went on to say that I should ask if he/she/it meant any harm and that I should ask three times. She was adamant that I would get some form of response. If I was uncomfortable with the provided response I should ask it to leave. If anything happened after that which made me ill at ease, I should do a clearing, if not then leave it be. So armed with this newly gained knowledge I pootled home and carried out the instructions. So far I haven’t needed to do the clearing and there’s been no further activity. But the interest is still there and every now and then I catch movement in the corner of my eye. But it no longer bothers me.

I realised on Sunday that I’m getting old. The 22^nd of this month was my daughters 22^nd birthday. The last time I saw TJ she was six. I was 23 when she was born and she was the most beautiful thing I have ever had the good fortune to look upon. I have absolutely no idea where she is or what she’s done with her life, but I think of her often, and I truly hope that I will one day get the chance to tell my precious little girl how much I love and miss her.

So the day closes on a bit of a sad note this time, rant free and somewhat restrained by my usual standards. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll be back to normal soon. Back to the shop on Saturday so I’m sure the pleasantness of 20 screaming 13-15 year olds will provide plenty of reasons to rant. There’ll also be a chance to catch up with my friend who was hurt in a fire last week.

Ta ta my little silver skin pickled onions.

Seven deadly sins Seven ways to win Seven holy paths to hell, And your trip begins

What an interesting weekend thus far. After work I had a pootle around the local ASBO, I need a new mouse for the laptop, I got the current one there and there’s a loose connection in it so it needs replacing, of course they had none in stock so I’ll have to wait or find an alternative. My visit to ASBO’s beings fruitless I went home. I had every intention of doing a bit of sorting out before the lads arrived. However, the Jedi master that is Obi Kat Kenobi had other plans. I got in, sat down for a quick cuppa and ended up being assailed by the mogs, bless ‘im. Two of the guys arrived at around 18:39ish, then the third member of our party arrived, albeit a bit under the weather. So we started to set about with killing of nasty beasties. Then I got a text from the missus saying that she was on the phone to the rozzers, my immediate reaction was unprintable to say the least. Anyhoo it transpired that some twat faced hoodie wearing drain on humanity had tried to make off with her bag. Fortunately the low life had no luck as her royal gorgeousness smacked him round the head with her key chain, I knew that’d come in useful at some point. The twonk squealed a profanity and made a run for it. He got off lightly if you ask me. Of course herself is a little guilt ridden for her violent outburst, I, on the other hand, feel the little shite should have been kicked square in the nuts. Anyway, due to my betrotheds dismay we drew the evening to a close and headed up to spend the evening with her. One good thing was that I got to see the Doctor Who preview on CiN last night. Saturday morning I headed home to await the arrival of manky Llewellyn Bowen, nippy chippy, Boo and last but not least foreman Matty. They were coming down to carry out some maintenance work on the house. Now I’m totally useless at this sort of thing, but I managed to do a bit of gardening, well, I say gardening, what I mean is, picking up the rubbish and putting it in the bins. I also got stuck in with the repair work on the stairs. I was squeezing thick sticky white stuff on the gaps. This resulted in a great many humorous comments, all of which are also unprintable, but I’m sure you get the gist. The changing room’s team left around midday, so I lounged on the sofa with my cat and caught up on this week’s Bones, Lie to Me and two episodes of Merlin. Then back up to casa el Birdos, collecting a fine meal of kebab meat and chips on the way, DTWP likes kebab meat. After sitting through the mindless twaddle that is X Factor, (Stacey, woof!) we watched 300. Sodding good film that.

Payday at the end of the week and there’s a couple of films out that I plan to buy, the primary one is the new trek film, also a sodding good film. I may also get terminator salvation and land of the lost.

I had a message from the shop today, it said that my friend who was hurt in a fire earlier in the week is out of hospital and up and about, although his right arm is described as “a mess” it’s good to know that he’s ok and on the road to recovery. I look forward to seeing him next Saturday. I also have to head into water stones as it was a very good friends birthday Saturday, so I shall get her a book token, they always go down well. I also need to sort out a card and contents for a friends little lass. A tenner shall be winging its way to Surrey soon.

So that leaves Sunday to go, I don’t anticipate much happening except a trip home to spend some time with the mog and perhaps a spot of painting, even if only to finish off the Terminators that have been a WIP for the last 3 months, I’ll be glad when this lots finished.

So that’s it for now.

Qapla

whatever you do, don’t fall asleep

Hello my little treacle tarts, Sunday was quiet, didn’t do a great deal, had a brief sortie into town to shop in ASBO, sorry ASDA. I’m really disappointed with Folkestone’s shoplifting centre. Aside from the supermarket, there are eight food outlets, I think there are more places to eat and drink in Folkestone the actual shops. So after a fruitless browse I headed home, where I spent a couple of hours catching up on bones and lie to me. Then up to the OH’s for Doctor Who. I really enjoyed it; it was tense and a good old fashioned Dr Who story. Although I thought the end was just a bit daft and a bit sad. At first I thought Adelaide was going to shoot the doc, I never expected what happened. I’m really looking forward to the next two episodes.

Whilst I was at work today I got a call from the shop, Sue told me that a mutual friend had been taken to east Grinstead burns hospital after his house had been all but destroyed by fire, poor bugger; I really hope he’s as ok as possible. Sadly the news Sue had was not good, so I wish him a speedy recovery and hope he’s back on his feet soon.

Work’s been fairly good this week, although I was running around like a thing possessed today. I think the guys had been given blue smarties and cheap cola again today. I’m having trouble grasping the fact that tomorrow’s Thursday, it felt like a Thursday today so lord only knows what the real Thursday’s going to be like. I hope it’s not as bad as today. Roll on Friday!

I can’t believe the prudishness, is that a word? of some people. Apparently eight people have complained about the M&S advert, the one with Philip Glenister says something like “bring on the girl prancing around in her underwear” well it’s been cut. I ask you! What could anyone find offensive in that. They can broadcast adverts with girlies frolicking around in their knickers and no one bats an eyelid, but as soon as it’s pointed out that there’s cute lass doing it folk get all PC and start moaning. So no more girlie prancing, BAH HUMBUG! Even the misses is miffed. Still there are the famous grouse adverts to come, I like those. No one can find anything offensive in them.

Got some mates coming down on Saturday to carry out some much needed work on the house, I’m total rubbish at that sort of thing. I have to have a good sort out of the kitchen so as it’s presentable as possible, and I have to go shopping, again, to buy stuff for a lasagne, these hard working types need feeding, and plenty of milk, tea and sugar. I may not know one end of a paint brush from the other, but I do know how to make a decent cuppa. I think the guys at the shop are starting to think I’ve quit, I haven’t been down there for a month. The last time I was there I unleashed the full fury of the chapter Aurelius upon the mechanical menace that is Necron, my Necrons, suffice to say the 9^th were victorious, claiming an early victory with the destruction of the Necron Monolith, and then it was a simple case of cleaning up the remaining forces. I really must get on with the painting of the rest of my models. I want to start fielding the Tau. Lots of other players have said that the Tau are bit rubbish, but I have plans. [Insert evil laugh type thing here] I’m not sure it would be appreciated if sat painting miniatures on Saturday, Tee hee.

I’ve had a go at recreating a picture that I created many years ago using software called Deluxe Paint on my old Amiga. Tea very sweetly bought me some proper drawing pencils and a sketch pad. I’ve done a preliminary sketch, whilst I’m not confident I’m going to give it my best effort. It’s strange how you never use something and think to yourself “it’s time to get rid of it” and when it’s gone you really miss it. I loved my Amiga, I miss frontier and I really miss deluxe paint. I’m not even sure I still have the disks that the pictures I’d created are on, which is a shame really as there were some really good pics, even if I do say so myself. If and when the drawing’s finished I’ll put a photo of it on the blog.

No major interest in the ghost hunting thing yet, a few of my friends have said they’d be up for it, so I’m going to have a look round for some possible venues and sort out dates and get a “team” together for a trial run. I want to stick to the Kent area to start with, ideally somewhere that’s easily accessible by train or bus. So I’m off to do a bit of research.

Fare thee well my little mince pies, and bear in mind that as of 18/11/09 there’s only 36 day to Christmas. Woo hoo; bring on the turkey, stuffing, roast spuds, carrots, sprouts, gravy, Christmas pud, mince pies, tree, tinsel, lights. Satsuma’s, nuts, crackers with stupid jokes and crappy novelties in them, in fact all things Christmassy. Yay! :o)

byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

there’s a hole in my mind, and three days seem to have fallen into it!

A bit of a gap since my last entry, the astronomy talk went well, and the visit from the sister wasn’t anywhere near as bad as my WTB had built it up to be, Oh how I chuckled. Had a standard Sunday, quiet and restrained. Had doctor who to look forward to and the new series of top gear. I have to say that I enjoyed tonight’s episode, I’m going to miss David Tennant as the doc, I’ve really enjoyed his run. I really hope that matt smith does well in the role. As for top gear, what can I say but excellent stuff, as usual, I know a great many people dislike the program and its main presenter, but it’s something that I find entertaining, more so than talentless numpties howling into a microphone, except, of course, Stacey. Her rendition of “who wants to live forever” was phenomenal.

Not much occurring on the health front, I have no idea if any of the meds I’m on are actually doing anything. all I really know is that the side effects are NOT good, it's a bit worrying that stuff that supposed to help you recover makes you feel so bloody awful at times. On the other hand I shouldn't moan really, there are folk I know that are much worse off health wise than me so I guess I should count my blessings. But this is my blog thing so ner!

Well that’s it for now; I’ve run out of stuff to write about, I guess I need the French to misbehave so that I have something to rant about.

Ta ta.

You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain I go get and beat you with 'til you understand who's in ruttin' command here!

It’s been a good couple of days, tonight I spent the evening prepping a model that I’m painting for a friend. The model’s a war mumak for the Lord of the Rings table top wargame, those not familiar with the films; a mumak is a huge elephant like beastie with lots of big tusks. It’s the thing that Legolas kills only to be told “that still counts as one!” by Gimli. It’s a beautiful model, with a lot of detail. I’m only doing the main beastie and the howdah, which I’m pleased about. Lord of the rings miniatures are slightly smaller than the standard 40k models, and having never painted any I don’t really fancy cutting my teeth on someone else’s models. I have the mines of Moria boxed game which includes the fellowship. I’m looking forward to painting them, even if they only end up as display pieces. I’ve always wanted to paint the fellowship, Gandalf in particular. I also really like the model for Sam, he’s holding a frying pan as if he’s about to lump someone or something with it. If I only buy one more model from the lord of the rings range, it has to be the Balrog. The figure is probably one of the best in the range. The only set back I can see with the Balrog is that it’s a metal model. Whilst metal figures are extremely well detailed, they are notorious for going together, lots of pinning and buckets of super glue.

Friday night is alternate plans, instead of the usual Friday night shenanigans,, I shall be attending the local scout group as part of their astronomy evening, should be fun, astronomy twice this month, yay.

I have tomorrow (Wednesday) off work, I’m still getting up early as my littlest mate is off to see the doctor in the morning, he’s having an operation which will stop him marking his territory and should also calm him down a little bit, in a way I don’t really want him calm, I like the fact that he’s a little bit bonkers. Every time I get home he bounces around the room until I sit down, and then he comes up for major fussing. It’s odd that I never really liked small dogs, but DTWP is the second little chap to win me over. The first was a lovely little fella called biscuit, and if I’m honest, I miss that fella.

Well enough of my ramblings for tonight, I shall update when something interesting happens.

Via con dios

there are 2 goldfish in a tank, one fish looks at the other and says “so, do you know how to drive this thing?”

It’s the weekend, huzzah! It started off in the usual fashion, an evening of D&D with the lads, pizza and booze, them not me, I don’t drink that heavily. This morning saw my return to the shop for the Warhammer 40k group. I got a bit annoyed with a couple of the lads today. It seems that one of them was unhappy with the fact that he was losing, so he started messing around with the other lad’s miniatures. Hiding them and then messing around with the ones that were still on the table. It resulted in a model being “lost”. Now I know that the majority of my readers will have no idea what I’m prattling on about. Miniatures are the most important part of the game. People spend hours building, painting and converting their models. There’s a lot of work that goes into each and every model that gets painted, personally I take pride in my completed models. I’ve painted hundreds of models over the years, and I may be bragging a bit when I say that my painting skills are above average, not to the standard of Citadels finest painters, but I’ve been told by a few people that my work is on the right side of good. I am starting to get worried with the fact that one of the lads who comes to the shop, and claims he can’t paint, and then he proceeds to show me the most amazing painted models I’ve seen in a long while. Anyways, I’ve digressed a bit so back on track. What really annoyed me about the “lost” model is that the dad of the boy that owned the lost model has spent many hours painting his sons miniatures and has read books, watched videos on YouTube and chatted with professional painters at GW. His work is incredible, even more impressive by the fact that he’s been painting for a few months. I put a lot of effort into the Saturday war gaming group, and I also put a lot of trust in the lads that come along. I get really annoyed when that trust is abused. I’m fairly certain that if the situation were reversed and one of the little snots who are responsible for the loss were to “lose” one of theirs, then mummy or daddy would be in the shop demanding the issue be addressed and put right. I often reinforce to the lads that they need to watch their stuff, and keep their hands off the other guy’s models. I know that if any of my models were to go missing there would be hell to pay.

So next Saturday I have to get all authoritarian and inform the culprit that unless the model is returned and he learns to leave other peoples things alone, he will no longer be able to game at the shop.

I’m going to have to go to the shop on the 14^th for just that purpose. My sister’s coming down from Birmingham in the afternoon, so I’ll have to get back before she turns up. The missus is a little nervous about meeting her. I think she’s worried about what my sister will think of her. I’ve tried to explain to my betrothed that she won’t be bothered about judging her, as long as we’re happy and work out, that’s all she’ll be concerned about.

It’s now Saturday evening and I’m listening to/watching A Knights Tale, blooming good flick. Tomorrow I shall head home to feed my super mogs, and catch up on some of the stuff that I’ve recorded over the last week. Not sure what’s happening Sunday evening, I know that I need to head up to Canterbury for some Nag Champa and a bit of browsing, hopefully my fiancé will be able to tag along. It’s been a while since we had an outing, and I did feel particularly proud having her most royal gorgeousness hanging on my arm.

On the health front I’m trying to slowly change the diet and start eating healthier, I had chicken salad for lunch today. Oh joy! I ate green stuff, GREEN STUFF! Then there’s the meds, they’re not good, wind is the main problem, I’m getting terrible farts. Another problem is the fact that I need to pee every ten minutes, this can be quite annoying when you’re sat at a workstation trying to paint models that are just over an inch and a half tall and have the tiny intricate details that only a war gamer can appreciate. There’s a couple of pieces to accompany this entry so that my doing readers can see my work, and, may haps, comment on them.

 

 

So that’s it for this instalment, I hope your weekend is fruitful and relaxifying.

May the gods watch over you!

Ttfn