Monday, 27 October 2025

A Week of Varying Fortunes


A welcome addition to the 1815 section of the man cave library - £2 compared to the published price of £45!

 It has been a miserable week. On Tuesday I managed to stumble whilst exiting the man cave and whilst I did not fall down the whole length of the ladder I did manage to ‘pinball’ between both sides of the hatch opening. The result of this was a badly bruised left elbow and a rather battered right wrist - the latter was not broken but I managed to, to quote the doctor at A and E, “Push some bones in the wrong way.” My planned meeting with Mr Manley was duly postponed and so I spent some time working on the rules for the new book.

That was a bit of a mixed blessing.

It was uncomfortable typing to start with, and to make matters worse, I decided that a chink of it needed changing. The change was relatively minor - mainly the gunnery range tables - but of course there is the inevitable knock on effect, changing the sections that reference back to the tables in question. This in turn meant that the ship specification tables needed changing (again!) so all in all, it meant a week of reinventing the wheel, so to speak, with a large degree of rather clumsy typing!

It is all taken care of now though, and I am far happier with the direction the rules are taking so I should be able to run the first test next week.

Boot Sale Bargains

Laurel and I visited our local boot sale on Sunday - the drive was not too taxing on the arms as the route consists largely of straight roads - and quite surprisingly I was able to pick up a few bits and pieces that certainly lifted my spirits somewhat. Aside from the book above - I am a sucker for anything that has Waterloo on the cover and whilst this is not the most detailed account I have read it is certainly worth having, I also scored the following:


A pair of very slightly used A4 cutting mats and a couple of unused A4 display folders - £1 for the four items


One for Christmas methinks - I am a sucker for old games and this one dates back centuries! 50p and worth it for the 30 D6 alone!

So after a miserable start to the week and a few days of considerable pain and discomfort, the heavens decided that I needed something to cheer me up and guess what? These modest acquisitions did just that!


 


 

14 comments:

Archduke Piccolo said...

David -
It's an ill wind.... or so my spies tell me. An I were a superstitious fellow, I might have said that sometimes misfortune presages good. Some very fine scores there, perhaps worth a little pain to acquire?
Cheers,
Ion

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David,

Sorry to read that you’ve suffered a number of injuries as a result of your fall. I hope that you recover quickly and that it hasn’t proved to be too painful.

I’m currently in a bit of a slough of despond. I am making slow progress on the Compendium and I’ve been painting some buildings that I hope to use on my tabletop … once I can sort my plans for the future.

All the best,

Bob

Mark Cordone said...

Nice finds. I guess all's well that ends well...

david in suffolk said...

Sorry to hear about your tumble, David, hope the arms are bit less sore by now. Car boot finds hopefully soothed the pain a bit!

tradgardmastare said...

Hope you feel better soon.

Aly Morrison said...

I’m sure Laurel wouldn’t mind you putting in a neat little spiral staircase , so as to avoid any more injuries…
The Waterloo book looks like a suitable reward for putting on a brave face 😁
And not swearing like a trooper 🤬

All the best. Aly

David Crook said...

Hi Archduke,

It was nothing serious - just uncomfortable and sore so the boot sale finds did serve to raise the spirits somewhat. At least I was able to make some progress with the new book!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Bob,

I have had worse but as it was both arms it meant that I had to things quite slowly for a few days! I still have a little tenderness but by and large I am over the worst of it.

I am sorry to hear about your 'slough' but I am sure you will get through it - recharged, refreshed and raring to go!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Mark,

It took the sting out of what was a pretty miserable week!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hello Mr Barnes,

Sadly I no longer bounce as well as I did but I am feeling a lot more with it thank you. The car boot stuff was unexpected but most welcome.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Thank you Mr G! I am feeling a lot more with it now.

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Aly,

Mush as I like the idea of a spiral staircase I do not think that the Memsahib would approve of such a folly!

The book offers no great insights but is a well written account with lots of colour plates so I am pleased and for the record at the time of the accident some Anglo-Saxon profanity was heard.....probably several streets away....

All the best,

DC

Glenn said...

Sorry to hear of your injuries, but well done on the colorful response! I’m sure the neighbors enjoyed your no doubt clever use of the language.

David Crook said...

Thanks Glenn! Probably not so clever with the language but it was certainly colourful!

All the best,

DC