Today was Awesome. Zak and I arrived at GW and after waiting outside for a bit Sim arrived. When we got inside Brandon arrived and we had sausage cobs that were lovingly made by the GW staff. About 20-30 mins later we set of on the coach to the NEC and Games day. When we arrived we got of the bus and went inside we had to wait for about 30min before the doors opened and games day began. First we went to a game called Top Grot where you had to”fly” a plane and shot, missile and drop bombs on the models on the ground. Then we went to the movie and games area and saw a real life space marine.
After this went and did awesome stuff after a while we linked up with one of Brandon's friends and we went and did more cool stuff after a while we went and saw the card games that where made by companies with links to GW after this we went to the seminar and saw some very confidential things that I can't tell you about. After this we went and built some conversions mine is a diorama that shows a lowly Guardsman killing a chaos daemon. After this we went and watched the winners of the Golden Daemon painting competition receive there awards. After this we went home.
I’m afraid I was guilty of SHOUTING on Twitter (hangs head in shame and begs the fail whale for forgiveness) this morning. I know how could I let it happen? Well it’s because I was tired after a long night and I then discovered the following direct message: - FlyingFree333 @suranee_ @mysickbones Nobody has ever killed anyone in the name of #atheism if you think they have you don't know what the word means. Now I’d never suggested such a thing and it took me awhile to work out what on earth this was referring to. I eventually concluded that it referred to a tweet I’d posted referencing Brian Dunning’s Skeptoid (http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4076) podcast - Who Kills More, Religion or Atheism? (the old chestnut of the religious claiming that Hitler, Stalin and the like committed genocide BECAUSE they were atheists – no they did it because, as Eddie Izzard put it, they were murdering fuckheads). I’m an easy going kind of guy but, as my kids will testify, don’t piss me off when I’m tired. So, shameful as it is to admit, I fired off a quick, ill considered, CAPITALISED, response…whoops! Anyway, I’ve yet to hear back from flyingfree333 and if I do I suppose I should apologise.
While all this drama was taking place Deb and Nat were getting ready to leave for Loughborough where the Vipers were playing rugby that morning. Nat’s got an amazing brain that remembers everything; everything that is except what he needs to immediately remember. A little while after they’d left I receive a call from Deb asking if Nat had left his rugby boots at home. Sure enough there they were on the coffee table twenty miles away from where they were needed. There wasn’t a chance that Deb could get back to collect them so Nat ended up playing in a borrowed pair two sizes too small for him. Perhaps he’ll remember next time! Loughborough, it turned out, not only creamed them but also hurt a few of our players. Poor old Ollie it seems now sports a broken shoulder and another lad had his thumb dislocated. Sport, don’t you just love it? Zak went along to watch and, despite the carnage, is apparently going to start playing for the Vipers next week.
Shortly after they’d left Hannah raised her self from her slumber and proceeded to paint herself like the Whore of Babylon; when will she realise that she is nine years old and not nineteen? We had a few words about how much make-up it’s appropriate for a Nine year old to wear but it went in one ear and straight out the other. God, I’m not looking forward to when she really is a teenager! Anyway, I eventually popped off to bed at 12:00 leaving her alone watching, surprise, surprise, some cloned production line teen comedy/drama on the Disney channel. I’m sure Disney actually does clone these kids because they all look exactly the same and certainly the scripts are all the same. Woke at Six to a cacophony coming from the garden; Nat, Jacob and Zak were being “boyish” on the trampoline and Hannah was mainly in tears as she tried to join them. While I was eating dinner Shantelle called with a large piece of wedding cake from Lydia, how kind, which I knew I’d never get to taste. I’m sure I’m psychic because as I was leaving for work Deb and Hannah were munching their way through it! Cycled to work and arrived at about 8:20, I wore a thin fleece, the weather was mild, and so for once I wasn’t soaked in seat by the time I arrived. JDM was back, from his two weeks in Cyprus, tonight and does he look fit and tanned…well no actually, I’m joking he’s looking a fit as a fiddle and you’d never believe he having an op on his knee in a couple of weeks.
Pretty quite tonight so I’ve been tweeting again and writing this…back to Twitter, let’s hope the Fail Whale’s gone!
I finished work at 8:00 and cycled home burdened with much wet weather gear; once there I was again soaked in sweat, will this humidity never clear? I didn’t immediately go to bed but was sufficiently tired that I remember little of the morning. At some point the kids woke and Nat eventually went into town with Zak and Sam to the Warhammer shop. If I recall correctly Deb drove them in leaving Hannah at home, with a semi-comatose me, annoyed she couldn’t go with them. I think, at some point, I went to bed but I honestly don’t recall whether I did or not; I suspect the once more the CIA were interfering with my brain waves because I’d forgotten to wear my tin foil hat. I’m fairly sure that, somewhere or other, I think I went to bed as I’ve a vague memory of Hannah coming into the bedroom to kiss me goodbye before she and Josh went off to Cub Camp for the weekend. In fact, I’m now sure she did do this so …NaNaNa you CIA barstools you’ll never break me and I will reveal the truth about the reptoids and the Royal family…bless you David Ike.
Whatever happened, Nat was home by the time I came downstairs and we looked forward part one of the big brother BIG eviction, five housemates would be leaving but which five? Somehow we managed to miss the beginning and didn’t see big Steve get the boot; something he himself doesn’t, unfortunately, have. I think Nat decided to remain upstairs talking to friends (?) on his X-box. The evictees and survivors were exactly as we expected with the one exception of Corin and JJ; she went and he stayed which took us both by surprise. Andrew, Dave, JJ, Mario and Josie were the final five.
It's the Mossdale Meadow Summer Festival today, I don't know if this is the first time it's been held or that we've just missed the previous ones. Anyway, we were all planning to go and see what's what but Deb was still quite unwell and decided to stay home. Nat, Hannah and I walked to Mossdale and we arrived there around 12 PM, as it's at the top of the Kingsway it's hardly a hike. It was a lovely day and, luckily, it held off raining until after the festival ended at 4 PM. There weren't a huge number of things there, as you can see from the photos, but it looked fun so we hastened, hastily, to discover, uncover and delve into ALL it's hidden secret treasures of mystery (OTT or What???).
Nat and Hannah immediately joined in the tug-a-war and, according to Nat ,that's what won it for their side! Somehow Han managed to break the strap on Mum's N73 while tugging but eventually we found the broken strap and tried it back to the phone.
Just after this Shantelle showed up; Han demanded her money then she and Shantelle set off on their own. Nat and I stayed together; the first stall we visited was that of the Air Training Corp. As a teenager I'd been a member of the ATC and done quite a lot of exciting things, including gliding, so I wondered whether we could crowbar this into Nat's already busy schedule. They meet twice a month but, unfortunately, the meetings are on a Monday (kick boxing and Queen's Scouts award) and a Thursday (judo) so it doesn't look like a feasible option.
We continued round, the stalls, to see what there was to see. We bumped into Maxine with daughter Amelia, broken ankle freshly plastered* , in tow and had a brief chat. I'm sure Nat gave thanks that Henri wasn't with them, he absolutely detests Henri.
The first thing we bought was a golf club for a whole £1! We thought we could buy few balls and when walking Monty over on the sports ground we could have a knock around. This might aid in countering Nat's eye/hand coordination problems. Just beyond the stall where we bought this was the cream teas stall. Fifty pence for a Cream Tea!!!! The OAP's were queueing to get a seat and the sign said it was fully booked for the rest of the day. How could they do it for 50p, I hear you cry? It was a church stall and they, like drug dealers who give free samples to reel in new users, were using it as a lose leader to gain new converts.
We acquired another golf club, this time a left handed driver (I know...Why?) at a further stall and proceeded to use them to mug pensioners! Having recouped our cash through this inventive use of our golf clubs we wandered on. Off and on we were joined by Han and Shantelle and while Nat was queueing for a burger I saw them again. They were with Shantelle's Dad, whom I'd not met before, and he turned out to be a charming fellow. Han and I walked over to the boxing ring that had been set up in the middle of the meadow.
Han decided to give boxing a try and turned out to be quite good at it; after all she spends enough time, at home, punching the karate pads she makes me hold. Below are the videos of her in the ring:
I phoned Nat, who was still queueing to buy a burger, to tell him where we were and shortly after he joined us. If Han was going to box then, of course, so was he. Below are his videos:
The bearded chap who was instructing, a settled former traveller would be my guess given the accent and the van, was very complementary about them both and both of them expressed and interest in attending the club. I got the details and we're planing to visit one evening next week. The club runs from 5:00 PM Monday to Thursday and charges a £1.00 per session.
Han, once more, departed with Shantelle and Nat and I went to see the fencing; Nat has fenced before, at scouts, so once more he joined in.
