Hurrah

Tis Ali's buffday today, she's erm 33? I think she is....or is it 34? Oh dunno. Nice bum still tho. Probably still passes the pencil test.

Keef got her some Chanel shades a la Mrs Beckham & she is reet pleased with them. A pic s doing the rounds. If I get a copy I'll share. Just look like big sunglasses to me, nowt "designer".Just makes her look like a fly. Oh well.

In other news, Jonny Howson, the new Messiah becomes a living God. Which was nice.

He walks amongst us his children.

Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the Messiah

It's erm 14


Pips, march on together & that

Dave

It never rains but....

Well you remember the credit card problem? Yesterday the fraud squad at the CC co called. Asked if I had made any of the following purchases. Two stood out, one at the Carphone Whorehouse for 1p erm no not me...& one at McCarthys for £49.99....erm no not me, didn't think that was H either.....Stunningly & in an accusing sounding voice she said....





"It appears your credit card has been compromised" No chit eh? We all knew that at least week or so back... genius.





"Do you have the card with you"





Resisting the temptation to say, "no I sent the kids into town with it to get some gin & crack" I said I had. She went on.....very sternly......(I don't think she is getting any you know)





" I must ask you to cut it up, its been cancelled with immediate effect".





That'll please H. It means the shopping won't arrive this week. Swimmingly she went on to advise that a new card will take 7-10 days to arrive so that means we won't have any ( pretty essential) back up when we go away next week. Tom has a footbo tournament to try & win at the coast this coming bank hol weekend & we thought of staying on for a few days after.Ok maybe not then. Day to day cash we have but general food shopping & a birthday meal out with a chum was going on the plaggy. Hey ho. We'll just have to raid the bins, back of the Co-op again.





My pleas to see if this could be hurried along fell on deaf & pretty uncaring ears. Bet they were huge too. I pointed out we were pretty sure the card had been "compromised" before but were advised by the CC Co themselves there was no need to do nowt at that time.





"Dont you have any other credit cards?" was her best effort of help. Oh sure we both keep several on the go at any one time to make it harder to keep track of spending & increase the exposure to fraud. Obviously.





Anyway, the madness goes on.





Oh yeah & on checking my e-mails later it was my McAfee renewal, it's not McCarthy you daft bint.





Finished painting just before "The Apprentice". The last cute lass was sacked & not a moment before time too. Good stuff. I'd have sacked more than one though.Some of them would do my head in why prolong it? What a total B'stard I am. H & I both thought cake was a rubbish idea...





My resistance to gaming the Great War continues......now day 3.....deep breaths...remain strong....I can sense a small diversion coming on though. Not that I am diverting myself from owt, there's not much being done for me. If we do manage to get away I'll be taking some Beja with me. Limited paints required & quick to do. Watch out for the forthcoming blog "To the Sudan with Michael". Well "with Gordon" wouldn't make sense, I don't know any.



Trying to post some pics supplied by WI but the old lappie ain't happy about opening them. Sigh.



In the interim you can view pics of H getting all hot & sweaty here -http://www.marathon-photos.com/index.html



He bib number was 5566.... almost the number of the beast. Actually 666 is a valid bib number, let's take a peek oh... wonder if she realised....Ok the task for MikeH today is to type in random bib numbers & come up with a hottie......over to you Mike!



Best so far is 5550...Hours of fun.

This message will self destruct in 5 seconds....cue the music...









Pips & that





Dave

On to Gettysburg!

eh oh Teletubbies!



Well been thinking about the sage words from Mr Olley & my Gettysburg diorama/distraction is complete at 24 minis. Realistically, I have too much current WIP to start on ACW. Yes, yes you all knew that didn't you? So the 24 done will be sold on to fund other excesses. If I can get a couple of quid per mini it'll be a decent return for the time spent.



Was round at North Star yesterday as the Great War Rools arrived. Look jolly spiffing & filled with yumminess. I might have to try a few EW Brits as a "distraction" or maybe take a look at the GB Anzac stuff. It's all good & Mr Olley says it's nowt to worry about. Standard!



Also took a look at the plaggy Romans from Warlord Games that arrived. Price is tempting but I reckon a metal mix on the base is essential for variety & that ever important weight thing. It was a bumper day of gaming goodness yesterday as I also got my WI subs. Some nice pics in. Renegade seem to be using a new painter, must be cheaper, oh well.

Aside from God punishing me last night in the footbo, Monday was a fairly good day in my world. Steaken mit der chippen for tea, huzzah! H stayed home all day & made the house( outside of my vast studio) spotless although the ironing fairy failed to show up. Was allowed to watch the Gadget Show last night. Even though Suzy Perry was in tight lycra & in one bit you could see her pants.Bigger pant style than expected to be honest. Always thought her more of a thong gal. Well you live & learn.

Popped into the Tea House today & found a spiffing account of school lfe here - http://mythicallinda.wordpress.com/ Marvellous. Sort of Grange Hill without the dodgy acting. One for the teachy types of the readership.

Pips
Dave

Et Tu Fabio?

Wotcha peeps



It's footbo related soz & that.



Blues & Tom team managed to have tournaments at the same time in different places. From the teams entered the Blues might get a few mullerings & Tom's lot should do well. H took Tomster I cadged a lift with the Blues.

The Blues faced 4 division one teams, the blues of course being division 3. Still we are plucky chaps. On arrival the format was changed from tw0 7 minute halves to one 12 min game.First game up we weathered a storm & nicked a goal to win 1:0. It became obvious with no change round at half time playing down the slope was advantageous. Next game up we played up hill, never got going & lost 5:1. Shocking, gave it to them really. Third game we managed to get the slope & committed daylight robbery by scoring two late goals from corners, with headers! Now given we are generally the smallest players about the magnitude of that feat should not be underestimated. Hurrah! So against all odds....good title for a film that, we went into the last game & a win would put us through. Lordy. So our gk headed to the goal so we would play down hill. He got there first. The opposition manager sent his gk "to get ours out the goal" he was a big lad. His players then proceeded to bully ours off what they considered was their half. NowI was pretty sure the rules stated that a coin should be tossed so I suggested this to their bloke. He wasn't keen having invoked the "law of the jungle". Now if you ever want to know what is wromg with English football, you just have to look at this bloke. A pie eating champion his "coaching style" consisted of screaming "get stuck in", "do 'im" & "more aggression". It's no wonder we get outplayed. One can only hope his coronary is soon, for the sake of his lads. Anyway the ref approached & I explained the situation. I asked for a toss of a coin. the ref asked if that was in the rules printed in the programme (Great he doesn't know the rules). I said it was. After at first, reluctantly agreeing to my request he decided that as our team was listed first in the programme we "got the kick off, they got choice of ends". Jesus H Christ, they print rules then this guy just ignores them & makes something up to suit & save what, 10 seconds? The blues to their credit refused to lie down, defended brilliantly & held out for a 0:0. If our opponents lost their last game by er about 4 goals we went through. No chance really.....they indeed played their 4th game downhill.Odd that.

So off I trooped to the officials. I was polite explained I was not changing any results or not accepting we were out. I was just pointing out rules had not been followed. I was told that tossing a coin was "not in the rules". Odd that I'd read it twice that morning. I said it was.. Was also told that the refs were "told to get on with games" & that as the game had been shortened to one half it wasn't necessary to toss a coin...er hello playing it only one way was surely making it more vital to do that. Otherwise we were condoning bullying of teams.

Best I could get was "thanks we will take that on board for future games" or "nananananananana we are not listening" as it sounded to me. The last game ended 0:0 so we were out having done better than we could have expected.

Managed to get a lift over to Tom just in time for the semi final, a one nil win set up with a pass from the Tomster. He'd been mostly a sub in a 5 a side tournament. Fair enough. Got to the final & they created enough chances to win but the 10 mins went with no goals. So 4 mins of extra time with the "golden goal started". The other team got the goal picking up a ball from a throw in by Tom who seemed to cop some flak off HCD. A bit harsh he's low on confidence & once a kid is like that there's no point him blaming him for the loss in front of the others. The gk was brilliant all tournament yet for the goal he was out of position. Tom tried to cover as best as he can but if he's taking a throw how can he do that & cover the middle? Amazingly no one gets criticised for missing chances.....perhaps Tom is overdue some praise for once, he is only 11 after all.

Pips
Dave

Mid week muse

Been a funny old week so far.

The ACW are gloss varnshed now so expect a pic next week probably.I'd hope to do it quciker but H is in the "Race for Life" this weekend so after footbo we are off to Derby so she can get "in the zone". Good job I cut the lawn last night.

Been thinking over Phil Olley's excellent piece but have yet to decide on my Magners & Opium. ECW is a bit of a fave but I've not painted any for 17 months. "Mostly painting" stuff in that period has been of the Saxon variety but that has ground to a halt. I'd hardly call it my main period (James & Steve stop tittering at the back) or one I know a great deal about. So I'll probably just plod along mindlessly painting whatever takes my fancy at the time. Or not as is the case in recent months.

I may even finish the odd project now & then.

Or not.

Having just started ACW I wonder if I will get enough done before I get side tracked by plastic Napoleonics or EIR......or something else totally different. With the ACW is was not an interest in the period, it was the minis that sparked the interest & getting them on the table quickly with a simple paint job. The painting was the thing. They will probably end up getting sold.

Some pics just up here of a bit of my painting - http://www.touchinghistory.co.uk/

See "Paul's battles" & "Paul's Projects" I did the Spanish & my lone French unit pop up as "guests" too. Some fine looking terrain too.

Hmmmmm Spain, now there's an idea....,,,

Looks like Paul's next book will cover "the Dark Ages" so it'll be back to the building of Snottnum for me around Xmastide......

Seems I dont have a core period at all. Tis the paintin' dat is the ting.

Bugger


Pips
Dave

Cheers
Dave

Sound thinking

From the gaming Guru Phil Olley

http://www.warcabinet.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/broadside.htm

This doesn't worry me http://theminiaturespage.com/news/250532/ I have too much metal already lol

Pretties here - http://www.mikehobbs.co.uk/ More of those MM GNW Swedes & that. Plus more 40k stuff - http://www.mikehobbs.co.uk/siegeofvraks/

Pips
Dave

Wot I did at the seaside.

We set off on the Friday about 6pm, madness I know. That said the journey was relatively stress & delay free.On arrival we set off toye olde chippie & tried the Yorkshire fish cakes. 'Appen they were fish & mash potato in batter. Champyun it wa'. The advantage of going the Friday was that woke up Saturday at 6am & set about the ACW. Unfortunately in getting up I also woke H but she seemed ok about it. By the time the kids woke up, 6 ACW were done. I managed another 6 before H decided we'd better think about brekkie at 9am. My mind was ticking over as to how many I could get done in a week there.Certainly 2 boxes/two units of 36 was easy enough.In bad weather H would allow me to stay in & paint so who knows what could be done on a traditional English holiday.

Technical stuff - I painted the ACW in the traditional manner stuck on a paint pot & undercoated black. Two shades on tunic cap & trousers. Three to faces & hands. Black was just left black. Muskets had two shades but there really was no need.

A paint order had just arrived from one of my suppliers. On ordering I was told "Inscribe" were being replaced by "Multi" Turns out to be a Frenchie paint made in China. Had a first run out with them & not that impressed with an earth brown or the white. Coverage is a bit poor. Black seems ok. Got little hope for the red I am yet to try. Not recommended so far peeps.

On out our travels I found Tom a cheap Rugbo ball to belt about. Put back a huge/mahoosive ACW book with lots of pics of men in marvelous beards. Only £8 but......not really needed. Retired to the pub to watch Forest gain promotion despite finishing 9 points behind where Leeds should rightfully have finished. I won't go into the whys & where fors but all you have to do is look at the fact there was no rule in place for the deduction prior to it being issued. So it was made up on the hoof & voted for by the very teams Leeds would have to compete against. Yeah that's very fair. Let's try that in the Premiership one year. There was no precedent for the deduction. In fact the Mighty Pies of Notts. County were allowed to start one season in administration a few years back. No points penalty & it dragged on for ages. All teams should start the season with equal chance of winning. Well outside of the Premiership .......Any way well done to the Trees at least they might stick with the manager now, who seems a decent chap.

There were a couple of rather nice blonde eastern European ladies manning the bar very efficient & smiley. Standard! Oh yeah & as fit as erm very fit lasses.

Evening meal was at the Italian. I went for Pollo Thermidor, basically chicken & prawns in a mustard, creme & wine sauce. Very nice. There were at least 4 parties in that night. Luckily Tom & Jack didn't see the lasses kissing behind us, but H & I did. Kissing at the table, shocking manners. Must let my MP know.

Went back to watch a "Pink Panther" DVD. Seems the lads are rather taken with Mr Sellers.

Sunday I was up slightly later but still managed to polish off 6more ACW before popping onto the beach with the kids & the dog for a run about. For a dog that avoids stepping in puddles, he seems to like the sea. Got back & MoTD was on so I set about the next 6 & watched that. Very nearly finished them. 6 figs takes about 75 mins. I could do them quicker but I was happy with the pace & finish so I'll stick to that I think.

After a clean up we sat in holiday traffic for Fantasy Island's "May Bank Hol grand meeting of the Chavs". Finally got to Skeg. & trotted about the town. I had that Aussie beef sandwich again. Yum. Went back to Trev. Holland's gaff for Tiffin & a chat. He'd been approached to carry that there "Armypainter" stuff. He'd been impressed with the samples he'd been given & the figs he's used it on looked good standard wargaming pieces done in just a few mins. I mentioned MikeH's blog & that there Swede. Sadly Trev. might not have the space at his house needed to buy the stuff in. He is, however, musing over a move into a marsh. So if anyone would like his rather palatial current home. serious enquiries are invited.H would normally have jumped at it, but in a previous discussion I had used the kids future as a bargaining tool. Yes there's a High School in Skeg but careers ops are a tad limited.

Trev. is a lifeboating dude & the H & S brigade have got hold of them too. Each shout requires a "risk assessment" & warning that there is an element of danger in going out. As Trev points out erm "no chit dude".

Bought some paints & brushes off Trev, the idea being to have a set up at the van to save bringing it back & forth. My Union boys have a limited palette so the main paints can be left there. Just need a selection of browns taking over for the hair really.

Got back to finish off those last 6 ACW, hurrah!

Sunday evening was a meal out at the very cheap pub, I had a steak. Bumped into one of the U9 Blues & had a chin wag. H was not amused as I had left her with two unruly,sugar filled boys. Went back & watched some more Pink Panther.

Sunday, woke to the sound of belting rain just as forecast, Nowt to paint, oh bugger....When I got up about 7:30am the rain had stopped & bits of the sky looked Foundry Tomb Blue Shade. Took out the beast for a play on the beach. The kids opted for Nintendo instead so I flew solo on this op. The pooch was doing ok with his fave game of "ball".Well at first... I hadn't noticed him bite a hole on his ball until he'd split it well & proper. 15p that cost too! Eventually it would float no more & his game was ruined by the ball sinking without trace. It was quite amusing to watch him still searching though. So we went for a walk, quite a long walk. In fact we were out & about for almost 2 hours in total enabling H to commence cleaning & packing. Got back for morning coffee at 11 on the new veranda. Hurrah! The van was almost all clean. H had been very busy, but was still only dressed in her pants & a very ickle top What would the neighbours say?

We then went out for lunch & H decided on "The Bell" at Ingoldmells. Now we have eaten there in the past & it caters for the masses. Chips wi' everything innit? It was ok value wise last time & I could see her thinking. Sadly it was neither good value nor in H's case, tasty. As we said after the clues were there. We were about the only ones eating, inside was dead. Agonisingly we could see a new beach bar opposite doing a roaring trade in snap. I had the hot & spicy chickwich which to be fair was ok.

We set off back for lashings of ice cream at "Lizzies" the spouse of one of Trev's lifeboating chums. We should have eaten there. Not an overly varied menu but top value plus they had ostrich burgers! Not a bird one has sampled yet. Lizzie was the source of the info vis a vis the Eastern European knocking shop opposite/ The one raided by the boys in blue a while back. She asked how I knew Trev. Thinking on my feet & thus avoiding telling her about toy soldiers I told her my Wife was a dancer & that Trev had been one of her best punters. "Mr VIP they called him" I added, fleshing out the story.. Lizzie tested this by enquiring "pole? I would possibly have been found out if I had said, "no she's English". Luckily I thought on my feet & said "yes or lap, she's very versatile". Phew close call eh?

Went back to the van to kill time & drink tea on the verandah. Weather was still stonkingly nice. Tried to get a pic of H in her rather nice skimpy top but she kept running off saying something along the lines of "you're not putting a pic of my boobs on that bloody blog". Harsh but true. So here she is all wrapped up. She's having a great time, honest. Woof, woof, I would, she pretty.

Note the sky. In this pic Foundry Night Sky mid tone.

I also have pictures of the inside of the 'van in an "ideal homes stylee". Should anyone be interested in pics of the rooms including two lavvies & shower (empty). No I thought not..

We set off home at totally the wrong time, hitting all the traffic leaving Skeggy Stadium. Looked like it had been a bumper day of F2 action, cars a plenty on the one road out of town. If we had just left it another hour......The kids were fine, still Pink Panthering with the 6 disc box set. H & I passed the time by being rude about other motorists. Naturally as with all Bank Hols, there was the traditional journey home accident. The stupid bint that was gesturing to us & others to move faster through the debris got a mouthful. She was basically trying to force a way through a line of traffic several miles long. A line that was negociating a mostly blocked road. Her having just arrived at the side of the scene herself, unprepared to be delayed despite the average carnage. Twas just not on.

Right back to the grind,typically the day after a British Bank Hol, there's never a cloud in the sky is there? The dog seems unusually miserable too. I think he's missing the sea.

Pips

Dave