I've had this little cartoon in my files for many years, just waiting for an opportunity to use it. Now seems as good a time as any. We've had cold nights, hard frosts and very cool days for about a week now, though the weathermen promise improvements to come.
.jpg)
I get through a fair amount of murder mystery stories in my leisure reading, and recently came across a series new to me, though the number of titles available show it must have been going for some time. While most titles involve the same couple of protagonists, a naive monk and a peddler of pornographic tapestries, a few are more specific. The first is The Domesday Book (No Not That One).
Set in the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings, Wiilam finds out that the body he has been told is Harold is not. Harald has been wounded, not in the eye, but somewhere more personal, and spirited away by a group of supporters. William sends a mismatched group of retainers to find, and 'remove' Harold for good. They are to pretend to be doing a tax survey of the country to disguise their true intent.
Odd and comic adventures follow, with an ending that leaves Harold in a situation open for the second book.
There is also a volume on the Magne Carta, where the original, sent by John to be copied, is lost, and the shenanigans following to get a 'true' copy written in time. Barons, King and others trying to get their own version produced as the official one.
History as it could have been written by Terry Pratchett, these titles can be found under the name of Howard of Warwick, and I can reccomend them.
I had hoped to put up a picture, but can't seem to get one donloaded, so you will have to google it for yourselves.
As I'm getting on a bit and have a house, shed and garage full of a lifetime clutter my wife recently suggested I might like to have a clear out. "After all," she said "it will be no use to you after you've gone, and the children are unlikely to want any of it". She is right, of course, and we are mostly all in the same boat. What is to happen to our collections when we have shuffled off to wherever we belive we are going? To this end I am taking a good look at what there is, and making lists with appropriate reccomendations (charity shop, auction, local club, whatever) of disposal.
As it happens, on top of the wardrobe in our bedroom, among the boxes of family tree ephemera and memerabilia (including my dad's little diary of his trips across the Atlantic and back aboard a corvette during WW2) is a large box of old fashioned negatives from the late 1950s onwards. Most of which are torlly unimportant, but were obviously thought worth keeping at the time. A cursory glance through these threw up the negatives for the following picture.
This photo was taken by me in the early 1960s, with my dad's camera and guidance, on our kitchen table. It was taken for sending in to the old Airfix magazine when they ran a monthly reader's photo competition. I didn't even get a consideration, not surprising when you look at the photo. Mind you, the negative has suffered over the years. Here is the story behind it.
Back in the War of 1812 the British navy had a number of actions against the American ships, one of which was that between H.M.S.Shannon and the U.S.S.Chesepeake in June 1813.
The figures were mastered some years ago by Kieth Over of Whittlesey miniatures (anyone remember his Waterloo range?) but I've only just dug them out of the pile. I feel that my painting has definitely deteriorated, probably because of weaker eyes and more wobbly fingers, but I'm reasonably satisfied with the result. Apart from the Union Flag, which definitely needs a retouch, though it's not going to get it.
Next on the table, a couple of units of the Eureka 'Toy Town Soldiers' range, just to get back in practice and continue another project that got sidelined.
Every now and then, about once a month, I have a trawl through e-bay to see if I can find anything of interest towards my various interests. While rooting through todays offerings I came across item number 225956576570 - described as follows;- Large lot Traditional Toy Soldier metal castings moulds business, 60 plus moulds plus 100s (742 in total) of castings, price £12,000.
I did a quick search for the name in the advert, but though it seems familiar I could not track him down. I can only assume that this is an estate sale from someone who had a large range at one time. I hope it finds a buyer soon, as knowing the cost of moulds and metal the price seems reasonable. If I were younger I could have been tempted.
but when the top is lifted it has a couple of work surfaces. It sits in the corner of the room with a light behind it, and back to the telly. I work on the front surface with paints, brushes etc. on the top. It only gets folded away when we have visitors. Grandchildren have been trained not to touch anything, though they do like to look at what I'm doing.
