Tag Archives: Life

September Holiday Weekend Fun!

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What do you mean that is all the beer there is?

The September Holiday Weekend happens every year (duh!, you might say) in Ayrshire but most years upon its occurrence I am working so no fun comes my way.  But not this year.  This year I had four days off and I made the most of them with some ale house adventures and late lazy starts to do the say.  Debauchery you say…well not so say I.  Well deserved I say since I do (and many will tell you this) work rather hard almost all of the rest of the year.  The image above is actually a shipment of empty whisky casks waiting to go back to the Girvan distillery but it suits my purpose and implies the copious amount of ale consumed!

First off I have to tell you all about the weather on Thursday (20th September) which came near threatening to drown Western Scotland under what I think was a rather large amount of rain.  Road after Road closed and while driving forging through ‘puddles’ which lapped the very bonnet of the car!  This was not on the scale of the 2011 or this summer’s flooding but it was amazing how fast it came on and just how deep some of the new lakes on the roads actually were.

Friday saw me twiddle my thumbs something awful as I had made a promise to myself that over the four days off I would do NO WORK and while that was obvious in as much as me not being in the office but it also mean no blogging here or on TTWG Blog and no writing wargaming material what so ever.  None.  I had decided to do this after filling out a survey in one of my good lady’s magazines about ‘how much do you work’.  My result was off the top level of the scale and put me in the ‘woman get yourself a life!‘ section.  Ever a lass who listens to tabloid crap I decided that I would give it a try.  So instead of my early morning checking and writing online followed by work preparation and then actual work and so on I sat and watched television (having decided that watching anime for later review here was also ‘work’).  Eve Hallow said he would meet me for a beer (I had already sworn off a game of Flintloque…seemed like it might also be deemed work!) so hours and hours passed.  I walked, I went for a drive…lord help me I even went clothes shopping with my wife.  A long day before an evening of fun which I enjoyed especially the several attempts at the end of it to get my key in the front door.

The weekend was given over to my good lady in preparation for her birthday (see next post) and included more shopping and eating out.  My three little wonders were away with grand parents and with my no work promise it was a wonder of open time and idle speculation.  Many of the little things I observed I have now typed up for ‘idle muse’ postings in weeks to come; all for your amusement of course.  But I do have a visual treat for you below…I believe it to be the only picture of Eve Hallow which exists anywhere.  I broke several cameras and had to settle for the image below since anything with his demonic face shattered the lens and drove onlookers to gibbering madness!

Eve Hallow…as far as the camera would allow!

I cannot recall or recount what actually happened in the darkest hours of the weekend nights but by Monday morning I was truly ready to return to work and put off beer for at least a while.  I may well do a posting about my thoughts on Man’s need for Work or perhaps the Pleasure and Pain of Alcohol but that is for another time.   The holiday weekend achieved what I wanted from it.  A break, some amusement and a change in pace.  And if you are wondering just how much time I ‘wasted’ it is roughly enough for me to have written an entire new USE ME Title.

GBS

Senior Student Badge for The Thinker

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The Badge!

The Thinker, my eldest son, was selected for an achievement at school just before the Ayrshire September Weekend Holiday (he also had an adventure over the weekend in the south of England but more on that later).  You can see the badge on his shirt above.  The Senior Student badge infers a sense of responsibility and extra duties in class only given to the most reliable.  Well done lad!

GBS

Mail Chimp for Alternative Armies

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Mail Chimp Logo

Back in June 2012 I put up a posting that 15mm.co.uk would be switching over to Mail Chimp for its email marketing.  Well since then the company has enjoyed using Mail Chimp and has built up a large mailing list which is responsive to weekly or fortnightly messages about new releases, special offers, support materials and more.  The time arrived this week for Alternative Armies to do the same and move across to Mail Chimp for its email marketing.

You can see my motivations for switching in the previous posting and I stick to them.  It is an excellent service.

So if you are a customer of Alternative Armies expect your inbox to feature some shiny new messages soon.  In addition to product news I intent to feature links to Barking Irons for scenarios and such that are related to releases and also links to featured blogs for hobby and painting and so on tips.  Plus some special offers too of course!

GBS

Roadway Rock and Deer

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Roads and Hazards

The end of another busy week is upon me so its time for a little muse about life and this time its about driving and the roads here in not so sunny Girvan.  A few of you will know already that I had a very nearly bad accident in the middle of the week but no one yet knows of what happened only a couple of hours ago.  Let me fill you in.

Back on Tuesday I was puttering back home in the car along the some of the same roads I usually drive.  These roads are on the whole winding country roads with many little hazards such as blind corners, steep hills, tight bends, missing verges and the occasional insane tourist standing in the apex taking pictures for the folks back home.  On the whole this is ok as I know the roads and drive with care but on Tuesday as I listen to some Peter Green (upcoming music posting) there was a flash of red and then a bullet like crack before a splash of blood and broken bones shot across my wind shield.  I  did not see what I had hit as it jumped out of the forested verge and its head connected with my wing mirror.  After stopping (I was in the car on my own) I collected myself and after stopping went to investigate.  It was not a person….   I had hit a Deer.  Deer are common around here but I have not see many.  It had been killed instantly, its head obliterated by the wing mirror.  The car was not damaged at all aside from marks on the mirror.  I think myself fortunate for this as if it had been a fraction of a second earlier then it could have been through the wind shield or worse.  The poor animal and I met by fluke chance at that precise moment.

Today as I drove home…on the same road…another event took place.  Not as dramatic but potentially more dangerous.  The road in question is prone to weather related debris and this time as I rounded a bend I saw something in the road.  Small items like branches you drive around, likewise little rocks.  But this was a ruddy great rock sitting in the middle of the lane.  It had rolled down from the slope next to the road.  I could not in all good conscience just leave it there.  So I stopped and put all of my warning lights on; then went to move it.  So in the rain and mud I sized it up.  It must have weighed more than 70lbs and it took some effort to lift.  I pushed it down the opposite slope into the river.  Despite being muddy and wet and the risk of being hit by a mad courier driver or big rig loaded with timber I feel I did the right thing.  A bit of stone that size, in the dark, is invisible, and could easily cause a fatal crash.  If I had heard of this later, having done nothing, it would have been heavy on my mind.

So there you go.  It ain’t all just wargaming and such for me.  Sometimes adventure awaits!

GBS

Boxes and Bags in the Loft of Doom!

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Where was I said the emails at Alternative Armies this morning.  No blog posts over the weekend and few last week too.  It is great to know that people miss my musings but alas I was working hard doing the things that I can later tell you all about here…but wait you say, this only covers the week days since we all know you don’t go to the office at the weekend.  I hold my hands up in placating fashion and by way of reply I say that it is not my fault…I was captured and made to work…on the house.  Yes, those who know me will know that handiman jobs and such make me break out in a cold sweat but it was not that oh no…we were emptying out the attic!

I have lived in Girvan now for nearly eight years and in that time the dark recesses of the attic have seen me only a dozen or so times.  Those times mainly just to chuck stuff into it!  We had managed to file quite a large space with boxes and bags of stuff right to the rafters and my good lady said it was time for it all to go as it was creeping into the spare bedroom.  I did manage to avoid the sorting phase but, and I kid you not, the fifty big bags that went to the tip, the thirty or so that went to charity and then and only then in a drip of sweat the nine boxes of mine that ended up in my own room.  But just what was in them?  They had been sealed ten years ago…

A small look at the piles. There are five in total.

It turned out to be a hundred pounds of papers from my university days (why did I keep them?) and a box of clothes…all too small, and then…yes…the remains of my vintage wargaming collection!

As you can see from the picture (one of several piles out of the boxes) I have quite a lot of stuff from the 1980’s and 1990’s.  I cannot go into detail but I do have among the gems the following:

  • Battletech Boxed Set.  First Edition.
  • Stargrunt II along with a pile of GZG miniatures.
  • Chainsaw Warrior (GW)
  • Block Mania (GW)
  • Mega Mania (GW)
  • Dark Future boxed set (GW)
  • Mighty Empires boxed set (GW)
  • Robotech Miniatures and RPG Books.
  • Cyberpunk RPG books.
  • Centurion boxed set.
  • Every Issue of Valkyrie Magazine.
  • Twenty or more small press RPG titles.
  • Thirty plus small press  Wargame rules titles.
  • Chronopia.
  • Raven.
  • 1st Edition Flintloque, Deadloque, Grapeshotte (bought with my own tin!).
  • Star Fleet Battles boxed set and books.

So a useful job done.  Not at all interesting or productive to me though.  But not wasted time certainly.  I enjoyed flicking though books I had only fond memories of.

GBS

Moshi Cake Madness

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Happy Birthday Boy!

The grand day is almost upon us.  My eldest, The Thinker, turns ten years old upon the morrow.  I am so proud of him, he is a super lad.  Polite, resourceful and a hard worker to boot.

As part of his birthday celebrations it is customary for us to get him a unique cake that will serve thirty to forty people for his party.  This year the party is at an activity centre in nearby Dailly (a mile or two from Girvan) and the cake is all about ‘Moshi Monsters‘.  As you can see it is a great creation and proves there is a lot of talent in Ayrshire beyond the gaming sector!

I will post about the big day (assuming I do not overdose on Cake, Jelly and Ice-Cream) but I had to just show you all this icing coated treat before it is decimated by a horde of children.

GBS

Girvan Gala 2012

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The annual Girvan Harbour Gala happened on Sunday there and it has taken me until now to do a posting about it.  Despite attending my workload plus a bad bout of heartburn put paid to me doing anything last night.  But lets press on!

The Thinker along with his Granny and Great Aunt (bottom picture, middle and right)

The Gala actually began with a look back at last year when my good lady showed me a page of the current Carrick Gazette newspaper which you can see above.  The picture was taken last summer at the Girvan Gala 2011 during the event and you can see not only my little Thinker but also me Mum and me Aunty too!  This was nice as it was a good day and it brought the memories back to me.  It was also a nice sunny day…not like a lot of the last week here in Ayrshire.  Torrential rain caused a lot of flooding and also other problems.  While I was caught in some of it driving home I found this video on YouTube which gives you an idea as it was only up the road in Kilmarnock.

At the Harbour visiting the ‘Car Boot Stalls’.

So moving on to Sunday there the Gala kicked off just after noon and it went on until four and while the sky was overcast it was warm enough and it did not rain so that was super.  The Gala was smaller than on previous years but this is not a surprise to me since the economy is still down (despite what anyone says) and people have not got as much money to spend.   But a lot of people turned out and there was some loud live music too along with some organised events and demonstrations.  I amused myself with the ‘car boot sale’ stalls and rummaged about while the kids went to look at the pet owls, the slides and other things.

The end of the Fire Service Car Rescue Demonstration

A highlight was a demonstration by the Strathclyde Fire Service on removing a casualty from a vehicle.  The process too about fifteen minutes and involved taking a poor Volvo estate to pieces starting with the windows then the doors then the roof before finally taking the ‘injured fellow’ out on a stretcher.  Very informative and the only time I have seen this outside of watching it on TV.  After this we wandered about and then headed on home but on the way we stopped to watch the Girvan Lifeboat give some lucky people a little ride inside the limits of the habour.  The sheer noise of such a large engine echoing off the boat sheds was intense!

Lifeboat Joy Ride!

I missed the next part of the Gala as I was eating my lunch but I came out again just in time to see the Sea King Helicopter from HMS Gannet near Prestwick perform a sea rescue and then do several fly bys over the town.  Sorry for the rubbish picture but its hard to snap a helicopter in flight even though it is so big!

The Mighty Sea King!

All in all it was a good afternoon  and while not on a par with the Gala’s of 2007-9 it served Girvan well and brought a good number of people into the town.  Roll on next year!

GBS

Graduating your first year at Girvan Nursery

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Well done wee man!

Well done to my little warrior who ‘graduated’ from his first, of two, years at Nursery School this afternoon.  Nursery (or Kindergarden if you prefer) covers every child in Girvan from the ages of around 3 to 4 with most being just under five when they head off to Primary One at the big Primary School next door.  I managed to finish early enough today to get to the Nursery and get a seat in the front row (after being treated to a free drink and Strawberry Tart before the little ceremony started) where I sat as the certificates were given out and then some songs were sung.

I enjoyed it a lot and clapped when prompted and laughed at the antics of the little people as they shot about like a horde of hyperactive Goblins.  While I did not see the point of the ceremony and it seemed like a bit more of the ‘celebrate anything’ culture we now live in; it did seem to matter to the children and that is important to them.  Rewarding good attendance and good behaviour is I suppose never a waste especially when it is for the very young just starting out.  I left more convinced that it was a worthy event and glad I went.

While on the subject of Girvan Nursery school I have to say that my little warrior is now the third of my children to attend it and it is without a doubt one of the finest places for the education of pre-school children I have seen.  It was recently inspected and given very high scores, but it is more than that.   It is a dedicated nursery, which is increasingly rare now, staffed by a group of ladies who are all brilliant at their jobs who honestly care for each and every child there.  These ladies start these kids on the journey to school but also importantly to society.  Lessons in shapes and colours rub shoulders with lessons on teeth brushing and eating fruit.  Children who attend begin school with a big bonus over those who do not.

Well enough from me.  So well done my lad and a big thumbs up to Girvan Nursery too!

GBS

A week of Admin and Planning

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Am I the hand or the mite?

Those of you who come regularly to this blog will have noticed that my usual rate of a post or two every couple of days has slowed. In fact a few emails have arrived asking after me so it seems only fair for me to tell you all what is going on.  Simply put for the last week or so I have been working on a few needed but not creative projects which include mailing lists for 15mm.co.uk (see the Mail Chimp post), catching up with paperwork, clearing the inbox at work in the email, learning new web software, speaking to a professional webmaster and lastly my wargaming blogger blog.  It has left me with little ‘oomph’ for posting.

While all this is tedious and you do not wish to hear about it the last one on that list I just gave is fun, fun fun.  I will post about it properly when ready but for now I will say that I am now on Blogger and have amassed a few postings and pictures and I am working on some scenarios for use on Barking Irons Online.  The game…HOF Fire Team.

So normal service will be resumed soon….I assure you all.

GBS

Mail Chimp for 15mm.co.uk

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Mail Chimp Logo

After some thought and consideration in the last few weeks I have decided that it is time to move 15mm.co.uk across to the use of an Email Marketing and Email List Manager service.  Due to the increase in legislation and also the sophistication of ‘spam’ as well a situation has arisen where we can no longer get out all of the email that our customers want.  With thousands of wargamers to contact about new releases, new games, special events and offers and so on I needed something more.   Why 15mm.co.uk and not Alternative Armies.  Well it is smaller and smaller is better with new ventures in my book!

The internet is a great place for reviews and Mail Chimp came up trumps over and over with extra features and great pricing but what sealed the deal was my best buddy Jim Brittain saying it was the service to choose.  He is an expert in ‘netjitzu’ and I greatly value his opinion on these matters.  While this upgrade will go pretty much unnoticed by most of the wargamers it reaches the change to Mail Chimp will mean more and higher quality HTML email being delivered along with new pages on the 15mm.co.uk website for opting in to the service.

Plus I really liked the company’s cute approach to the subject and the wealth of support material they offered.  Gives me more to read this weekend 🙂

GBS