Boot Sale Bargains and a Notable First

Despite managing to forget to change the clocks (you are in good company Bob - it must be the weather!) SWMBO and I managed to get to not one but two boot sales and the results were pretty good to say the least! I managed to add to the library three books - two at 10p each and one for a pound. The first of these is a biography of Lawrence of Arabia - The Secret Lives of Lawrence of Arabia by Phillip Knightly and Colin Simpson. My interest in the life and career of this most enigmatic historical figure is well known and this is a book I had seen kicking around on ebay for some time although I had never gotten around to acquiring the same. It is an ex-library book complete with stamps and a ripped out frontsheet but for 10p that is hardly a disadvantage. Should it prove to be any good then I will probably acquire a 'proper' version in due course.

The next of my 10p bargains was a book of which I had never heard of ; neither have I heard of the author. The book is titled A History of the Balkans by Ferdinand Schevill and it covers the region from the Byzantine era up to the end of the Great War. Needless to say I was very pleased to get this and am looking forward to reacquainting myself with the region prior to tackling the 15mm armies I have for the war of 1912-13. The final book of the three and the most expensive at a pound is 1812 - Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow by Adam Zamoyski. The campaign in Russia in 1812 is often cited as the beginning of the end for Napoleon and certain as an epic of high drama and human endeavour it would be hard to find anything comparable. Many years ago I started a 28mm Napoleonic Russian army and over the years I have read and owned a number of titles on the subject. This book then will be a welcome addition to my modest Napoleonic library - especially given my recent acquisition of Command and Colours Napoleonics although I suspect that the Russians will be sometime in the future as far as availability is concerned! The notable first referred to in the title was the fact that this is my first post I have written using my new netbook. Prior to this I had never even used a laptop so getting used to not having a mouse was a unique experience - I think I have gotten the hang of it though. Setting the netbook up was very easy and I now have Office 2007 (I am still getting used to this so the 2010 version will be some way off yet!) in place as well as some of my other desk top features and software. To say that I am really excited about the potential of this new toy is a massive understatement and I was suitably impressed with appropriateness of the logo on the outside of the box - The Computer has just become Personal again'.

All in all then it has been a busy weekend but a rewarding one - next weekend promises to be more of the same but I will be able to spend some time at the Navwar shop on Saturday so the domestic round will be nicely balanced out with some 'me' time.