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The Coolest Thing I ever Found

What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

I suppose there are two that fit this criteria. The first was a piece of Roman amphora from 20 metres down in the Mediterranean. It was from a second century wreck. I may have been the next person to touch it in the 1800 years since it was lost.

The second thing was another piece of pottery this time Samian from the Roman period. This one is cooler than the first as I know the person who touched it before me was from the first to second century AD. How do I know this. Well a little rabbit had made a burrow and kindly kicked it out just before I came along.

Luckily for me both were outside of any protected area so they were both classed as waste.

If I knew where they were I would add a photograph of them.

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500 Steps

So in the sort of Words of the Proclaimers

“I will walk 500 steps and I will walk 500 more just to be the man who falls down at your door.

I managed just under one thousand steps today. Most of it has been spent feeling crap in bed.

I reckon I will still be here tomorrow if my wife is anything to go by. In fact the whole family is under the weather.

I couldn’t even be bothered to watch YouTube. Well I started watching It and kind of woke up to various Christmas crafting videos.

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Waiting, waiting, waiting

So today is my bone density scan day. Arrived early for the appointment… I would like to say that the waiting area is crap. Good job I am not getting a body temperature scan… every time I move, this happens….

The seats are uncomfortable so I keep shuffling. There is no heating in this bit and the outdoor temperature is really chilly.

They have a mobile scanner up and this doorway is the closest to the truck. I shouldn’t really complain as it is free.

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I Broke Myself

Sadly I managed to agitate my poly myalgia today. Basically the track needed re levelling. Basically it was time for its biannual digger visit. Even though I was sat in said digger I still managed to set everything aching. I therefore managed no painting this evening.

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Having A Cyber Tidy Up

This evening I realised that I couldn’t get any more files onto my first external hard drive as it was full. This prompted me to have a bit of a sort out. Seemed I had multiple identical files on the drive. This actually took a lot longer than I thought it would.

I have noticed something of late to do with my Mini Factory. I follow a few designers, by a few I mean twenty odd. A while ago I got a free month of a designer’s Tribe (basically Patreon on MMF), this has happened a few more times. Actually for the last two I didn’t bother as they didn’t interest me. This week one of the ones I follow was offering 50% off. I got the same from another one last week too. It may be a coincidence, but I will now keep an eye on it

Finally… I still haven’t printed anything. Still painting the stuff I already have.

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I Won Round II

I carried on trying to get the bloody battens up. The wall beat the drill bit and basically finished it off, but luckily for me I had some wall plugs and screws that meant the last one went up.

Bet you can’t see where the batten wouldn’t attach to any stone.

This evening I pretty much spent downloading my miniatures from my tribes and Patreon. Not going to print any, but I will have them ready to go when I want them.

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When Walls Fight Back

Well I went to add the last three supports for the cladding and it all went pear shaped. First one went on fine, second one wouldn’t due to a. Finding only mortar between the stones and b. It was being a b*stard. I think one of the thunderbolts was bent. I eventually won, but it finished me off for the day. Hopefully the last one will go on without a fight, but I have my doubts.

The joys of a stone house built in at least the 1700’s. To be fair it has probably been rebuilt and altered a lot since then… never mind probably I know it has as my front door used to be the way into the Byrne.

One day I will discuss this further 🙂

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Army Painter Awesomeness

Well as you know, I said that I had written to The Army Painter for the Geek club and that they were total dudes as they had sent the kids some Speedpaints 2.0. The kids wrote thank you letters and Peder sent us a message back . He also said he would pop us some more paint.

The kids were actually doing a happy dance when we opened the package with this lot in…

So as far as the Geek Club and I are concerned the team at Army Painter have ascended from total dudes to absolute awesome dudes of awesomeness.

So once again I want to just share their awesomeness. We aren’t YouTube influencers. We are a little school club. To these few kids they have made a huge impact.

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A day of Gallivanting

This morning I was off to my Union Branch meeting. Well I thought I had better show willing as I have changed unions. I came home replaces a few more bits of floorboards and sliced some shields for the Knights.

After lunch my good lady and I hurtled off to the South end of the island to visit Jarlshof. This is a Historic Environment Scotland site. It shows that a settlement has been there since the Neolithic…some 4000 years.

The name Jarlshof was basically made up by Sir Walter Scott. He had visited Shetland around about 1814. His book ‘The Pirate’ has a location, which was basically the ruined 16th Century Manor house, which he named… you guessed it Jarlshof…the house of the Jarl.

In reality in 1814 the only bits to be seen was the ruin. In the late 1800’s a massive storm rolled in and eroded the sea front and voilà…dwellings appeared from under the sand.

On ‘Out and About in Shetland’ I am uploading a number of videos… they are taking FOR EVERRRR!

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A Massive Thank You to Army Painter

So as you know a while a go I wrote a post about the kids in the Geek Club writing to companies that I have spent a lot of money in and they basically ignored the kids.

Anyway before the summer I wrote to The Army Painter on behalf of the kids. I got a nice email back saying I should apply for a sponsorship (I cannot remember the full name). It said give as many details as I could, which I did. Basically five kids in my little school club. It said on the form that they have loads of such requests and to be honest I really thought we were maybe a bit small.

After the summer break I got an email from Peder saying they were going to send us some paints and some brushes. They duly arrived and the kids loved them. Obviously as a teacher you never miss an opportunity to get kids writing. Today we got a lovely email from Peder thanking us for the lovely letters and addressed all of the kids by name. He even said he was sending us some more paint. So according to me and the Geek Club, Peder is a totally Top bloke and The Army Painter are a totally Top Company.

I just wanted to share a positive story…

I am really happy with the Speedpaints 2.0 and after getting the set for my birthday I am probably going to try the metallics and some other colours have caught my eye.

Here is my Speedpaint knight from a couple of weeks ago.