So where did that week go!!

Difficult to believe that yet another week has gone by, but so it has, in fact, do you know it's Christmas in nine weeks time this Friday??! 😏

Apologies for the lack of posts - part of the problem is that this is my first blog from a new PC. I've been meaning to upgrade for ages, but with life as hectic as it is I finally managed to get round to it on Saturday, and have spent the time since then putting it together - not in any physical sense, but reloading the software, applications and settings that make a computer your own... all done now though, and all I need to do is a refresh on the old machine to have finished the swap over. All takes time, however..

So what else have I been doing in the interim??

I finished "Gladiator" the latest Scarrow offering in his Roman series featuring Macro & Cato. While it was, as ever, a brilliant read - real boys own adventure stuff - I am increasingly of the view that basically his stories could be set in any period. Macro speaks like a British army sergeant (he actually said "you horrible little men" at one point I'm sure!), and their thoughts and attitudes seem very 20th century to me... compare it, if you will, to O'Brien or Mallinson. If you read one of their books you immediately know where you are historically - it seeps from the pages both in the description of the action & events, but also the attitudes of the main characters... when I read Gladiator I couldn't help thinking that the period was a little interchangeable, if not irrelevant, which is a shame really as Scarrow obviously knows his (Roman) onions... Bottom line - a very enjoyable read, but light on Roman "feel".. Steve the Wargamer gives this one a six and a half out of ten...

Elsewhere, and following an interesting chat with Steve Tuner (the Old Dessauer) [click here for his blog] via the comments section of his blog, we discussed an upcoming NW Frontier project, and whether Dervish figures from the Sudan theatre could represent Pathan tribesmen, so I set up a photo shoot to give a snapshot of some of the Dervish from the Peter Pig 15mm range... for the record, I think "yes"..

I have to say like Peter Pig figures very much - there WWII range are just as good - so it was no trouble to do, and I've been meaning to add these to my Sudan page from some time anyway.

Just for reference these are a selection from pack 1... I'll definitely be getting more...

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..and of course the week wouldn't be complete without at least a little jaunt on the water, and that was completed on Sunday...

A beautiful day, but no wind at all, hardly a breath in fact, and not enough to move us against the tide so I anchored up (with new kedge anchor!), got out the flask, and did a little fishing with my cup of tea handy... caught nothing, but not a care in the world, trust me my friends there is nothing, simply nothing, like messing about in boats...

All the more sad as it has to end soon, and just another few weeks and out she comes - she needs some work doing on her so the timing is good....

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So what's coming up?? Well Steve the Wargamer is on the move; he and the current Mrs Steve the Wargamer, plus spuds, are off to Scotland in the nearish future to visit my Dad for a week. Among many other pleasures to look forward to (I do like the Scots, Edinburgh, and especially their beer!), I've been promised a visit to Bannockburn which I'm very much looking forward to - may be it's time I finally hooked out "Freedom's Sword" from my bookshelf and actually read it... it will only have taken me 11 years as there's a receipt from the book club in the front dated July '98!

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Oh, and "Palmerston's Folly"??? Named after the Victorian forts that ring Portsmouth which were built at the behest of the aforesaid prime minister to counter the French threat posed by Napoleon III, this is a rather pleasant beer brewed by Suthwyk Ales and made using barley grown on their own farm on Portsdown Hill (site of at least three of the major forts).

As I was going to pick up the PC it seemed churlish not to stop in at the Southwick Brew Shop [click here] and pick up a four pint carry out on the way home... an inspired decision, it was absolute nectar!