Life Is Good In The UK

I had a strange experience today. Stranger still is that I was in Blackpool for the last day of my daughter's summer holidays. I wanted her to have some fun and something to remember when she rolls up at school in the morning.

Despite giving her the chance to go to the Pleasure Beach, she wanted to go to one of the piers. She always does. It's usually the waltzers she wants to go on. If you knew her, you would understand that this is a lot funnier than it sounds.

Blackpool is a strange place. A northern sea side town that is perhaps a little past it's prime. But then it has an iron tower that looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It's usually windy and it seems to rain there more often than anywhere else I know. It has had a few problems but it's not a bad place. In fact it's got nothing but happy memories for me.

So my daughter goes on a ride. I get more enjoyment out of watching her go nuts with excitement than I do going on a ride. But for one I did get a demand for a command performance. 

So I am spinning around. There is a bit of a buzz from my daughter's reaction, I am enjoying it but I am also grateful that I have some good painkillers. 

None of this is the strange bit. As I am spinning around. Life, is pretty good in the UK. The last few years have been a problem for me. Hell the last decade feels like it has been one crisis after another. Today was different. 

Life in the UK seems to get a bad rep at the moment. Mostly by my fellow Brits. As I am spinning around I thought that most of my concerns are in the "first world problem" category. Whilst spinning around it struck me that this is a good day, in a decent day in one of the best countries in the world. Life is pretty good.

Regrets? Well there are always regrets. The only one I could really come up with was perhaps I shouldn't have had fish and chips before going on the ride.

Start Of The Week - It's Storming

So the Soviet storm continues. The work bench, not in Ukraine. Yes I know the current are not Soviets. It wasn't much of a joke to start with. I am hoping for a little more success on the table top than the current Russians manage, well anywhere. I am feeling slightly bad about painting these guys because of Ukraine. So even if I lose on table top, I probably won't feel too bad. Unlike the Russians, I have a tactic so I am hopeful they will do okay.

It's looking like a busy week again. Alhough today is looking fairly open, the long weekend ahead is looking busy. I'm not confident I will finish these this week. If I don't, they will get finished next week. Which is also looking busy. I may not even get to the bench despite being at home.

My plan was to do ten minis this week. I've ended up with a dozen. The army has several types of headgear. Each calls for a different paint job with different paints. When it comes to batch painting, the only way to paint an army, my batches look at painting similar figures together. So I have done almost the troops with helmets and this week it's mostly the minis with ushankas. Then it will be the pilotkas, the standard Soviet side cap.

If this do go to plan, I have a follow on. I'll put the rest of the Quar Crusader cavalry dismounts together. Like I say, I could do with building up a bit of a seasonal buffer for primed minis. Winter is coming. Although when I look outside it seems more like monsoon season. Having had a couple of months of brown plants, everything looks really green at the moment. The background projects are likely to stay in the background.

End Of The Week, Schadenfreude, And The Power Of Weather Induced Irony (20)+(9ish)

August Bank Holiday weekend is usually my least favourite one of the year. Setting aside it's the end of the summer holidays and I will be seeing less of her, there is a four day music festival going on. Traffic chaos and struggling to sleep are the main issues.

It has been difficult to hear any signs of the music today. I mean it might be going on but the torrential rain and the thunder are drowning it out. I suspect that is is also drowning the festival. I do feel bad. For the security guards mainly. If the rain continues, which it looks like it will, I think they will be needing gondoliers.

I got to my target for the week and made of twenty figures. So not a bad week for me. Not quite half way through the infantry now and there is a T34 to paint. But more on that next week.

On the subject of armour I have some more vehicles on the bench. I got a Fidwog Quar infantry box, not because I wanted the Fidwogs (although I can see the ten of them becoming an optional unit) but because I wanted the two Fynrydhad light tractor to use for the Coftyrans. Whilst I like the fluff, this was the cheapest way to get two vehicles. I figured that they would also work for Sludge. These need some bases. So I am calling this the equivalent of four minis.

Then I accidentally started working on the big tank, I mean tractor. This one is called a Chyweethl. This is actually a Coftyran tractor. For the sake of putting a number on it, I'm calling this the equivalent of five mins.

For various reasons it's not been an easy few weeks. This seems to have resolved itself. So I feel happier now. If anything I am in a better place than I thought. I've also got some bigger stuff done. A bit of a clean out and some work on the lawn too. I feel like I have been doing some proper adulting.

Forgive me father for I have spent some money on minis. The important one was XCOM. I have been waiting to do this. Not gone for the full hit but enough to get me started. I've also got a few frames for the Quar Crusaders. A frame of specialists and enough infantry and cavalry to finish that part of the plan. I've also added some plastic cargo containers.

I need to start working on a plan for the winter. So building some more minis is on the cards. I had a bit of a blitz on putting stuff together a few months ago. I am not through that pile yet but I will be soon. So need to get a wiggle on. Some crew for the tanks at least.

Getting On With It

A short one today. The struggle continues. It's not quite 1984 yet. I am trying to keep to my new rules. Not perfect. I never was. But I am doing better. 

I have made some progress on the bench. My Soviet.forces are looking a lot less beige. For the bodies I need to do the skin, the helmets and a wash. A couple of highlight colours as well. This should be done by tomorrow.

Hump Day - RIP Tim Curry

It's been a long day and I got to the bench late. But I did get there. Although I didn't get a huge amount of surface coverage done, I got three more colours done. So I. Terms of painting the plastic, about a third of the way through. There are probably four or more colours on the base but these will take a little less finesse. Everything is still on track 

I was saddened to hear about the passing of Tim Curry. A local lad for me and he grew up down the road from my dad although I suspect the two moved in different circles. I noticed some posters of him in town yesterday. Frank n' Further has caused me a few problems over the years. I may explain it to you if you know me. Don't get freaked out by the an.....tici....pation. Quoting the character has gotten me into trouble more than once. Using the phrase "you got caught with a flat, how about that" sounded innocent enough when I said it his portrayal of Darkness was amazing. I've evoked that character many times.

It's been a good day. Having my daughter around makes me smile and she is apparently happy about it too. I will get back to work proper after she goes tomorrow. I've managed all of my targets for the day. So a win all round.

My thoughts about the future are all over the place. I see some changes in the next year or so. I am also looking at the bench. There is a new English Civil War era wargame from Osprey coming. I've had various ideas about Witchfnder type games over the years. Not least of which is using The Silver Bayonet and replacing the men of Wellington for those of Cromwell. I mean a musket is a musket right? I might also get drawn back into Sludge as I have a few units missing from the roll.

Bigfred Jacks' Diary

This morning I experienced something I haven't done for some time. I was sat in the house and felt cold. Well cool. Maybe the series of heatwaves that have been the British summer is now over.

I have been doing a thing lately. It started here really. A while back I started setting myself a target again. In all honesty the bar has been pretty low. Back in the day I was painting thirty figures a week. When I was painting anyway. Despite an increase in available time, this total has dropped significantly. Yes I know I tried to put that number up yesterday.

So I started using this in day to day life. With the little things. You, like food. Reading has also been a bigger part of my life recently. I managed two books last year and I am up to four. Reading has been given me headaches if I do it for too long. Reading is something I have always loved. I used to read two or three books a week so about temwrnty five times what I read at the moment. That's at a minimum. So whilst not approaching the heights, if I could get it to a book a month I would be happy. That's a much greater page count than I can manage.

An ex made me read High Fidelity and more pertinently, Bridget Jones's Diary. Whilst I have no plans to own big pants, the character does try to keep track of things like cigarettes smoked and alcohol consumed. As I don't smoke and I know ten year olds who drink more than me, keeping track and setting goals helps. I've seen it help me. Maybe it can help you.

Today has been pretty full on. I don't normally get to the bench until late but tonight was especially late. I have just got to finish the one colour on the figures for the week. So definitely some progress.

Tomorrow is looking even more full on. I should probably be in bed by now. It is looking like it's going to be a fun day. Maybe I get to the bench and maybe I don't. The end of the week is looking clearer. Ish. So I remain confident that I am on target.

Start Of The Week - The Soviets Advance

Back to the start again. I've put twenty Soviets on the bench this week. Last week I thought I had a bigger window. Rather than painting, I did a lot of farting around at the end of the week. So I rationalised and decided to go against recent policy and put up twenty figures as a form of aspiration, rather than the ten I have been managing recently.

It would be nice if I could manage it. Even if I get close and say maybe manage thirty over this week and next. So far, and it's only Monday, I haven't made that much progress. 

Still it's been a great day in other respects. I feel like I am doing a bit better of late. Things are on the up.